Throwin' it around the horn on a lazy Saturday morning:
- How good is Dirk Nowitzki? I, for one, am glad to see this NBA All-Star truly getting his due given the Mavs run through the playoffs, into the NBA Finals, and a 1-1 series versus the Heat. Game three is tomorrow on ABC, 7:00 p.m. CDT.
- Carl Edwards came out publicly and said that a win at Kansas Speedway would mean more to him than winning Daytona, the Brickyard, or any other of the major races on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Here's hoping that Edwards, Clint Bowyer (Emporia) and Jamie McMurray (Joplin) can make tomorrow a special one for local race fans--it's race number one of the NASCAR season at the local race track. Race two will take place at Kansas Speedway on October 9.
- The football revenue sharing model announced by the Big 12 makes abundant sense. It equally shares 76 percent from the league's deal with FOX Sports Net with the remaining monies split based upon the television attractiveness of non-conference games. The upside is not only more money evenly split but an incentive for schools to schedule tougher non-conference games.
- Speaking of television, this week will be an interesting one--networks/holding companies vying for Olympic TV rights will submit bids for the 2014 and 2016 Games. NBC Universal is the long-time TV rightsholder but ESPN and FOX plan to aggressively compete for the right to broadcast the Olympics. ESPN will bring the clout of the Disney/ESPN/ABC family and its sports leadership position versus News Corp/FOX's audience delivery of young adults. NBC Universal, the incumbent, is known as "the Olympic Network," and will up the ante with Comcast's video on-demand and online assets. It'll be interesting to watch what happens.
- It's summer and that means college football preseason annuals! I, being the sucker that I am for this tradition of preseason speculation, bought Athlon's Big 12 magazine, The Sporting News College Football preview, and Phil Steele's College Football 2011 Preview. Steele's book clocks in at 328 pages and is far and away the most detailed of the offerings. Athlon's book provides not only conference information but other tidbits, such as recruiting news. And, TSN's book offers up the sports brand equity, albeit aging, of The Sporting News. This is the first year of seeing these annuals without Nebraska and Colorado in the Big 12, thus there is no north/south breakdown as there has been since 1996. All three are unanimous in their belief that Kansas will finish 10th in the new 10-team Big 12, that Michael Egnew of Missouri will be the school's next All-American tight end, and that the Brown brothers (Bryce and Arthur) will likely be impact players at Kansas State.
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