The Knicks need some shooters because we’re not living in the ’90s.

Watching a weekday afternoon baseball game is better than day drinking. Though it never hurts to combine the two recreational pursuits.

If you are going to indulge in an afternoon beer, here are some breweries that are kicking some serious ass:

1. Upper Pass Beer Company (South Royalton, VT)
2. Schilling Brewery (Littleton, NH)
3. Orono Brewing Company (Orono, ME)

Brett Gardner will go down as one of my all-time favorite Yankees. He is the modern day version of Roy White. (A home run and a double in today’s matinee action versus the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium. Yes, Gardner has been struggling.)

I must be a hockey Neanderthal because I don’t have a real issue with the seismic hit Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele unleashed on Montreal’s Jake Evans in Game 1 of their playoff series. Odd play: Scheifele skating at top speed trying to prevent Evans from scoring – Evans in an awkward position trying to score on an empty net goal with a wrap around move – and then a collision that resembled a Hummer pulverizing a Fiat.

Naomi Osaka makes a valid point regarding athletes being mandated to speak to the media after a difficult loss. If any of us have a rough day at work, no one sticks a microphone in our face wanting to know how it feels to be reprimanded by the boss. When a kid dreams of playing a sport, those dreams usually don’t include talking to the media.

If you’re a young Trae Young, you were dreaming of talking to the media.

Please don’t equate the theatrics of Atlanta’s Trae Young with the legendary exploits of Reggie Miller.

Bob Brenly is taking heat for ripping on Marcus Stroman’s du-rag, which the pitcher wears underneath his Mets hat. Remember when Buck Showalter criticized Ken Griffey Jr. for wearing his hat backwards in batting practice.

Looking for a new show to watch? AMC’s Gangs of London is the most psychotic and ultra-violent show that makes Peaky’s Blinders look like a Disney creation. Every episode has a scene that elicits a, “Holy Fucking Shit!”

In our move to a maskless world, a guy tells me he immediately went to The Glass Slipper after attending a Celtics playoff game. This beaten down strip club is one of the final remnants of what remains of Boston’s Combat Zone. Good to see that vice is making a comeback.

Speaking of vices, liquor stores were printing cash during the pandemic.

After the Boston Celtics 2021 season ended with a desultory first-round playoff loss to the Brooklyn Nets, who are the latest and greatest NBA super squad orchestrated by elite players, Danny Ainge announced that he will be retiring as President of Basketball Operations of the Boston Celtics. Ainge will be replaced by current Celtics head coach Brad Stevens. Stevens will start the process of searching for a new head coach.

Ainge was hired by Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca in 2003. For eighteen years, Ainge has led the Celtics. It was Ainge’s ability to assemble a super team (Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen) that allowed the Celtics to add banner #17 to the rafters at TD Garden. In Ainge’s tenure, the Celtics have hired only two head coaches: Doc Rivers and Brad Stevens. Without question, Ainge’s run was successful. He assembled a championship team, took on the challenge of rebuilding the Celtics after their championship window expired, and then the last few years have been rather mystifying – and probably personally frustrating to Ainge.

Succumbing to the Nets in five games, it was evident that the Celtics were nowhere near the talent level of the Brooklyn Nets. The megawatt NBA marriage of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving brought the Brooklyn Nets instant championship credibility, which attracted The Bearded One, James Harden, to this off-Broadway NBA production.

While the Brooklyn Nets have been ascending, Ainge’s Celtics have faced growing pains and what can best be described as a disappointing 2020-21 campaign. In no small way, the success of the franchise was deeply affected by the decision of Kyrie Irving to leave Boston at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season. In Kyrie’s two seasons in Boston, the talented point guard struggled to become the face of the franchise. He struggled to connect with younger players, such as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and the locker room was deemed a toxic environment. As a leader, Kyrie had failed. The Kyrie Irving Experience would end with a second-round playoff loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, who were a franchise on the rise with the development of the supernova, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

When Kyrie decided to leave the Celtics, Ainge was left with no plan. The addition of Kyrie Irving had given the Celtics an elite player. An elite player who would ideally recruit other elite players to Boston. In a tough and ruthless business, where there is more personal drama than at a Kardashian ex-husbands reunion, the Celtics were left feeling the sting of what might have been. Ainge still had Gordon Hayward and two future stars in Tatum and Brown, but a player of Kyrie’s stature could have launched the Celtics on a very different trajectory.

When Ainge looks at his final years as President of Basketball Operations, he will look at four factors that significantly contributed to his stress levels:

1. Kyrie Irving’s Decision to Ghost Boston
2. Gordon Hayward’s Decision to Bid Au Revoir to Boston
3. The Decline of Kemba Walker
4. Can Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown Play Together?

Each of these factors still affect the Celtics today. Kyrie’s decision to flee Boston triggered Ainge’s decision to add Kemba Walker to the mix. Boston’s version of Kemba Walker is not the Kemba that thrived in Charlotte, but this version is a 31-year-old player on the decline, who struggles to stay healthy, and is the team’s highest-paid player.

The decision of Gordon Hayward to move away from his college coach, Brad Stevens, and land in the arms of Michael Jordan in Charlotte was another factor that plagued the Celtics. Hayward’s offensive presence, with his ability to move without the ball and create spacing for his teammates, was never duplicated. Hayward added cohesion to Stevens’ offense. Hayward’s move to Charlotte was motivated by a desire not be the fourth offensive option in Boston, but the first or second option in Charlotte.

And what has to be the most vexing question that caused Danny Ainge countless sleepless nights, can the 23-year-old Jayson Tatum and 24-year-old Jaylen Brown play together? Can these two emerging NBA superstars find a way to exist together and win a championship? The answer to that question isn’t clear.

Where is the track record of young NBA superstars choosing to sublimate their ego in pursuit of the Larry O’Brien Trophy? There isn’t. These mature decisions are usually made by players later in their careers, who have experienced a larger sample size of struggle and heartbreak.

Brad Stevens will have some interesting and challenging decisions to make as the next President of Basketball Operation. It should be an exciting time to be a Celtics fan.

And for Danny Ainge, he was a beloved Celtics player and then only enhanced his Green Team legacy by bringing another championship banner to Causeway Street. If only Kyrie Irving had loved being a Celtic as much as Danny Ainge.

Having coached Little League Baseball, I thought I had witnessed almost every conceivable zany and unconventional play in baseball.

Boy, was I wrong. This is incredible.

If I were a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, I would keep that on the down low.

https://streamable.com/m/tyler-anderson-in-play-no-out-to-javier-baez-rnodaw

Across Canada, Tim Horton’s must have been thumping this morning. A watchful nation saw the Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets play six periods of hockey that ran into the wee morning hours. (I’m on the East Coast of Canada’s southern neighbor. It was 2:00 am when things ended. It was so late that NBC Sports went right to Poker After Dark. No wrap-up show with Kathryn Tappen but straight to poker for late night insomniacs.)

Winnipeg’s 4-3 triple overtime victory was the final blow in Edmonton’s Stanley Cup playoffs death spiral, resulting in Canada’s national hero and beloved son, Connor McDavid, searching for his golf clubs this morning. Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor ended the epic affair 6:52 into the 3rd OT after Connor McDavid coughed up the puck in Winnipeg’s defensive zone. Sort of streaking down the right wing – it was the 6th period of hockey and no one was really streaking – Kyle Connor’s shot from the right wing sneaked under the right arm of exhausted Edmonton goalie, Mike Smith.

Game Over. Dreams Shattered. Canadian Kids Crying in their Cheerios this Morning.

In the 3rd OT, both teams started to resemble somnambulant zombies and the play had definitely become more ragged. (I am currently trying to get through the latest zombie movie on Netflix, Army of the Dead. How can a zombie flick be boring? Well, this one is working hard to achieve that dubious distinction.)

Getting back to Connor McDavid, who scored one lonely goal ( He scored it in Game 4.) as his team was swept. Most of Canada is now mourning (Winnipeg is rejoicing.) the departure of the NHL’s best player, Connor McDavid, from the Stanley Cup playoffs. When Canadians walked to their laptops to start today’s work day, maybe a little Irish whiskey was added to that cup of Tim Horton’s?

It was a tough morning for a hockey-obsessed country that views Connor McDavid as royalty. And with Sidney Crosby also on the edge of playoff extinction, Canadians have to wonder about the state of its puck deities.

Are they simply mere mortals?

With the PGA Championship now a late May sporting event and not a fixture of your August sports calendar, it competes with the NHL and NBA playoffs, a full slate of MLB weekend action, and the culmination of the Premier League. In an insanely packed weekend of sports, Phil Mickelson’s victory at the 2021 PGA Championship may have been the hallmark. At the age of fifty, Mickelson became the oldest golfer to win a major and he had to achieve this august feat by surviving a horde of maskless, probably slightly drunk or ten-in White Claw golf fans, who wanted to coronate Lefty on the 18th green. The coronation was presided over by the dulcet tones of Jim Nantz and it was as if we were transported beyond the reach of COVID and into a post-pandemic world.

Mickelson’s victory will be cherished and become a precious bauble in the history of golf.

But that is not the sporting event that grabbed my attention and made me realize that we are rapidly moving to normal after experiencing the “new normal.”

Watching over 15,000 people transform Madison Square Garden into the MSG that is the mecca for hoops and not the empty reminder of sports being played in a pandemic, prompted a visceral reaction in my lapsed sports fan synapses. Real sports was back. Sports with fans. Fans rubbing elbow to elbow with each other. Knicks fans chanting “M-V-P” for Julius Randle who submitted a stat line wreaking of John Starks at his lowest playoff moments versus The Dream’s Houston Rockets. Young gun Trae Young taking over late in the 4th quarter for the Atlanta Hawks, and making The Garden faithful moan at his ability to draw fouls and flummox a parade of Knicks defenders.

Playoff hoops was back in the Big Apple. And it was magnificent.

This wasn’t your Vineyard Vines PGA golf crowd, but New Yorkers cheering on the Knickerbockers. The Knicks buried by James Dolan. And resurrected by Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau. Fans embracing the veteran savoir faire of Derrick Rose, the boundless energy of Immanuel Quickley, and the quiet but deadly game of Alec Burks. Spike Lee in all of his Spike Lee-ness was roaming the front row and basketball was back. Not back in a bubble. But back amongst the people who love roundball.

The mecca of hoops was alive. And it felt good. It felt right.

It also felt right that the Knicks lost to the Hawks, 107 – 105, giving Atlanta a 1-0 lead in their First Round playoff series. A Knicks win would have been too much. It would have been fairy tale-esque and not a drama fit for a Midtown theater that had been dark for far too long.

Phil’s PGA win will become a story for posterity. Atlanta’s victory over the Knicks will be forgotten except for those of us who realized that New York was made whole again. And all it took was 15,000 people to demonstrate their unabashed love for a city and one of its most beloved treasures: The New York Knicks

___________________________

Muddled Thoughts

I experience a perverse sense of pleasure whenever Aroldis Chapman blows a save. Chapman, the New York Yankees closer. is an athletic god with muscles chiseled from granite. Any time he blows a save is a triumph for the little guy. In Sunday’s matinee at Yankee Stadium, Chapman allowed the Chicago White Sox to tie things up in the top of the 9th off a solo shot by Andrew Vaughn. The Yankees would go on to win it in the bottom of the 9th on a walk-off base on balls to Aaron Judge. But, for a moment, the little guy could celebrate.

Chris Paul is the Mark Messier of hoops.

Does anyone remember when John Calipari did not start Devin Booker as a freshman at Kentucky, but instead started the forgotten Harrison brothers (Andrew and Aaron)?

With the amount of players the Mets have on the Injured List, they should be charging minor league prices to attend a game at Citi Field.

The Bruins’ Brad Marchand is all that is right about hockey. And sometimes he can be viewed as all that is wrong with hockey.

I wonder how much Phil Mickelson has invested in Dogecoin? Or does Lefty only invest when he has insider information?

The Toronto Blue Jays will be vacating their home park in Dunedin, Florida, and moving to their new home field in Buffalo, New York. Maybe they’ll make it back to Toronto in 2021?

Premier League Championship Sunday, where there are ten games played at the exact same time to determine each team’s placement in the final table and where berths to the Champions League can be won or lost, should be replicated by the NFL on its final Sunday of the regular season.

The Boston College men’s basketball squad will travel down to Kentucky to take on the Louisville Cardinals tonight at 7:00 pm ET.

Louisville is 11-5 over all and 2-1 in ACC play. Getting adjusted to Chris Mack’s system, the Cardinals thrived in Chapel Hill on Saturday and stomped the Tar Heels, 83-62. If you’re Jim Christian’s Eagles, this isn’t the most fortuitous time to travel to the KFC Yum! Center. (More on the KFC! Yum Center later.)

 

Boston College is 0-3 in ACC action and 9-6 on the year. The Eagles will be without one of their offensive weapons, freshman guard Wynston Tabbs.

Louisville is favored by 10.5 points and the Over/Under is 147 points.

Frankly, the Eagles won’t be expected to do much tonight, and that will probably be the case, but that’s not the point of this piece.

Take a look at both programs:

Louisville’s program faces two scandals (Strippers & Pay To Play), which forced the school’s administration to can coaching legend Rick Pitino. David Padgett steps in, on an interim basis, to coach the Cardinals for the 2017-18 season; and then Louisville goes out and hires Chris Mack to guide the program into the future. Mack had built Xavier into a Top 20 team and was one of the hottest coaching candidates in the nation. Louisville goes big.

Ricky P. with his Louisville national championship ink

 

Boston College was faced with a coaching change, at the end of the 2013-14 season, and former athletic director Brad Bates hired Jim Christian. As a head coach, Christian enjoyed success at Kent St., struggled at TCU resulting in his dismissal, and then put together two fine seasons at Ohio University. B.C. did not go big.

Louisville simply reloaded by hiring Chris Mack. Boston College made a nice hire for a MAC school. At this moment, B.C. would struggle to win an Ivy League crown and Chris Mack is focusing on winning a national championship. Yet, both schools compete in the ACC.

The Cardinals play in the KFC Yum! Center, which cost $238 million to construct in 2010 and seats 22,090. The Eagles play at Silvio O. Conte Forum, which cost $25 million to build in 1988 and holds an intimate 8,606. Louisville’s on-campus practice facility, the Yum Center (not to be confused with the the KFC Yum! Center) cost $15.2 million to build in 2007. These two programs compete in the same conference but operate in different realities.

“Never Nervous” Pervis Ellison leading the way in 1985.

 

Boston College is an Atlantic 10 program and the Louisville Cardinals are gearing up to perennially challenge Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and Syracuse for an ACC title.

So, how will the game go tonight? You do the math.

 

_____________________________

 

 

It’s early in 2019 and two of the world’s leading democracies, the United States and Great Britain, resemble dysfunctional developing countries where democracy is an alien idea. If Great Britain can’t figure out Brexit and the United States continues with its Mexican standoff government shutdown, how do we expect other nations to embrace and understand how democracy works?

 

 

Iowa Congressman Steve King embraces Western civilization, white people and white babies: “Preventing babies being born is not medicine. That’s not constructive to our culture and our civilization. If we let our birthrate get down below the replacement rate, we’re a dying civilization.”

The Donald rummaged through the White House’s couches and junk drawer to accumulate enough dough to buy the 2018 national champion of college football, the Clemson Tigers, a buffet of fast food hamburgers and “hamberders.” Hopefully the Donald had enough class not to use coupons.

 

The Tappan Zee Bridge was detonated over the Hudson River, but nothing is going to be more explosive than a New York Jets coaching tandem of crazy eyes Adam Gase and his bounty hunter of a defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

Was ex-Yankee Chad Curtis writing prison missives to fellow Bronx Bomber alum, John Wetteland? 

Looking for a t-shirt to purchase for your favorite Boston College football fan? This is a winner.

Boston College’s men’s basketball squad is looking at a possible two-win record in ACC play. If that is achieved, would it be sayonara for head coach Jim Christian? On Wednesday, the Eagles travel to Louisville to get their heads kicked in.

Ben Mendelsohn is quietly becoming one of my favorite actors. Mendlesohn co-stars with Ryan Reynolds as a louche gambler (Gerry) in Mississippi Grind;  he plays the conflicted, confused and morally-challenged ex-husband (Anders Harris) of Edie Falco’s character in the Netflix drama, The Land of Steady Habits;  and he takes a turn as the diabolical megalomaniac, Orson Krennic, in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Ben Mendelsohn – better known as Orson Krennic. 

 

Why does Nature Valley’s Fruit & Nut chewy granola bar get thinner and thinner? Pretty soon, they’re going to have to market this as a matzo.

Lemon hummus sounds like a good idea. It’s not.

In the world of Twitter, it’s being argued that Heisman Trophy winner and Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray, who recently announced that he will make himself eligible for the NFL draft, is more famous than any professional baseball player with the exception of Tim Tebow. That may be true in some parts of the country, but very few people in New England have any interest in college football and love themselves some Mookie Betts.

Tim Tebow’s Very Private Marriage Proposal

 

In this century, the Patriots hold a 20-3 home playoff record. How could anyone pick the Chargers?

Barstool’s Dave Portnoy is an evil genius. Portoy removes Barstool’s comment section because of an abundance of racist remarks – but then days later – returns the comments section with a caveat: To make a comment a person must be a Gold Barstool member, which is Barstool’s new membership service that will set a person back less than a $1.00 a week. Most racists should have enough money, in their KKK rainy day fund, to handle that.

[Personal Note: I have a subscription to the New York Times that costs me a $1.00 a week. We live in a really fucked-up world.]

 

Simona Halep

Curently suffering from insomnia? The Australian Open is a godsend. U.S. Open women’s champion Naomi Osaka was a dynamo in her first-round win over Tamara Zidansek. And who created the women’s draw that requires #1 seed Simona Halep to possibly play Venus and Serena Williams in her part of the draw?

Remember when American men were relevant in professional tennis.

Remember when Manny Machado and Bryce Harper were relevant major league baseball players.

Ocean’s Eight would be more fun if you haven’t watched its male predecessors. It’s a MeToo thing.

Megyn Kelley fails and receives $69 million from NBC. America is an unbelievably great country. (And people are worried about socialism taking root.)

Kyrie Irving has an issue with the Celtics young ‘uns. LeBron James is laughing all the way down Rodeo Drive.

 

Nothing better defines politics in 2019 than watching Beto O’Rourke get his teeth cleaned.

Ted Cruz’s beard makes him look like the runt-sized cousin of Wolverine.

Hugh Jackman’s stand-in. 

 

I’d rather have the comedian Bill Burr as U.S. Attorney General than Bill Barr.

Has Bill Barr ever played the Kowloon in Saugus, Massachusetts? He looks like a guy that would like the Saugus Wings, which would pare nicely with a Six Seam from Idle Hands in Malden, Massachusetts.

 

___________________________________________________________________________

 

Cue the music:

 

The Donald will address the nation to discuss national security and the alleged illegal immigration crisis confronting the southern border, in an attempt to justify the government shutdown, which is affecting 800,000 federal employees. All the statistics strongly suggest that illegal immigration is down and that there are very few terrorists attempting to cross into the United States from our border with Mexico.  There doesn’t seem to be a crisis, but as citizens we aren’t able to read the national security briefings that The Donald also doesn’t read.

This entire manufactured crisis resembles a story line in Netflix’s House of Cards, where President Frank Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey), cites the nation’s unemployed as a national emergency and uses funds from FEMA to pay for his New Deal-type program, AMWORKS. Underwood’s goal is ostensibly to put people to work, but the true purpose is to buy votes for his re-election. A hurricane threatening the Eastern seaboard forces President Underwood to capitulate and return billions of dollars to FEMA – effectively ending AMWORKS.

In a page out of House of Cards, The Donald will pull his own Frank Underwood move this evening. A nation will watch, as a sitting president describes a crisis situation, which is fantastical and make believe to fulfill a campaign promise to “Build That Wall.”

House of Cards is fiction but tonight’s presidential address is reality.

 

 

The 2018 national championship game between Alabama and Clemson is not a negative for college football. In fact, college football has always been replete with dynastic programs that dominate different eras of the game. The current near strangulation hold that Alabama and Clemson possess on the national championship – and the national championship title game – is not new to the landscape of college football.

____________________________________________

A Selection of College Football Domination: 

From 1934 – 1941, Minnesota wins five national championships. The Golden Gophers’ run starts with three consecutive national titles (1934, 1935 and 1936) and ends with back-to-back national championships in 1940 and 1941.

Notre Dame, from 1943 – 1949, wins four national championships (1943, 1946, 1947 and 1949).  Notre Dame’s run is broken up by Army’s consecutive national titles in 1944 and 1945, and then Michigan inserts itself into the mix with a national championship season in 1948.

Two schools account for half the national championships in the 1950s. Oklahoma is named national champion in 1950, 1955 and 1956, and Ohio State enjoys a share of the national title in both 1954 and 1957.

The late 1960s are unique – in that it leads to a three-team share of the national title in 1970. Ohio State captures the 1968 crown. Texas takes the 1969 title. Both Ohio State and Texas share the 1970 national championship with Nebraska. Nebraska then goes on to be named the lone national champion in 1971

USC and Alabama each win outright or have a share of three national titles in the 1970s. USC is named national champion in 1972, 1974 and 1978. Alabama is awarded the designation of national champion in 1973, 1978 and 1979. USC and Alabama share the national title in 1978.

Jimmy Johnson celebrating Miami’s 1988 national championship.

From 1983 – 1991, the Miami Hurricanes win outright or have a share in four national titles. The “U” earns those titles in 1983, 1987, 1989 and holds a share of the 1991 national championship with Washington.

In a span of four years, Nebraska wins outright or shares the national title three times in the 1990s. The Cornhuskers are voted national champion in 1994 and 1995, and then split the 1997 national championship with Michigan.

USC shares a national title with LSU in 2003. In 2004, USC establishes itself as the sole holder of the national championship.

Florida wins titles in 2006 and 2008.

Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide has dominated the last nine years of college football, with national titles in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017, and are favored to win the 2018 national title game versus Clemson.

____________________________________________

For those pigskin pundits commiserating about the ruination of a once great game rife with opportunity for any program to ascend to the national title, those times never existed.

College football is a plutocracy. The rich get richer. And the poor play in the Quick Lane Bowl or don’t play in the ServPro First Responder Bowl.

Clemson versus Alabama is ultimately a boon for college football, because it showcases the sport’s two elite programs.

Did boxing fans complain about the trilogy of fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier? Did Larry versus Magic get old? Do hardball fans complain about another tedious playoff series between the Yankees and the Red Sox?

It could be persuasively argued, by folks who believe that college football is synonymous with amateur football, that neither Alabama nor Clemson represent the quaint traditions of the college game. Both programs are college football leviathans that seek one thing: a national championship.

This is a match-up between two heavyweight coaching contenders. Alabama’s Nick Saban and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney provide the game, with two coaching stars, who have become familiar faces to college football fans.

Both schools are the from the heart of college football – the South. Neither fan base will be satisfied with the consolation prize. The stakes are higher for Alabama and Clemson than your average Power 5 Conference program – searching for seven wins and an invite to some obscure bowl game played at a time when only agoraphobic and unemployed alums can view the game.

Tonight, we get the best of college football.

 

 

 

 

Less than an hour away from the start of today’s first college football national semi-final game, between Notre Dame and Clemson, which should last for approximately four hours. This will be followed by the day’s marquee matchup, featuring Oklahoma seeking to upset Lou Saban’s dynastic program from Tuscaloosa, the Alabama Crimson Tide, and should provide another four hours of tv programming.

Before the first semi-final, we have learned that three players from Clemson have been suspended from today’s game and may face a possible one-year suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Each player tested positive for having traces of ostarine, in their B samples, and ostarine is illegal in the United States. Clemson’s players are claiming they did not take ostarine. Ostarine can sometimes be found in supplements without being named as an ingredient on the label. Clemson officials are investigating whether the players could have been contaminated by anything relating to their program, such as treatments offered in their saltwater float pool.

Saltwater float pool?

In the elite neighborhood of college football, the four programs taking the field today represent the upper 1%. These teams are not nouveau riche arrivistes, such as last year’s squad from Central Florida, who were prevented from rubbing shoulders with the big boys of college football in the 2017 mini-tournament.  These are blue blood programs. Pedigree is a must to enter this mix, and each team has written a chapter or more of college football history.

But these elite programs are rare. Most schools do not have a saltwater float pool. Most bowl games are cheap programming for ESPN and have no real meaning or merit, which was demonstrated by the decision to cancel the First Responder Bowl between Boston College and Boise St on December 26th.

The current model of selecting four teams to play in a mini-tournament, for college football’s national championship, has been in place for five years. In those five years, ten different schools have been invited to vie for the title of national champion. Below is a list populated by schools that define the college football ideal of raccoon coats, comely cheerleaders and rabid fan bases.

 

Mini-Tournament Invitees

1. Alabama (5 Invitations )
2. Clemson (4 Invitations)
3. Oklahoma (3 Invitations)
4. Ohio State (2 Invitations)
5. Oregon *
6. Florida State *
7. Michigan State *
8. Washington *
9. Georgia *
10. Notre Dame *

• A single invitation to these schools. 

 

This mini-tournament is a closed-door society that occasionally has to open its doors to a just-got-lucky squad, but make no mistake, this entire exercise is devised to favor the heavyweights and effectively prevents the vast majority of programs from rising to this elite level. This is a self-perpetuating exercise in class consolidation.