Thursday afternoon, yes! Moving right along, the end is in sight!
In sight of the weekend, that is, and one that will have us just 4 weeks from the start of college football. Actually, today is Thursday - college football starts 4 weeks from tonight at 6:00 pm eastern!!!
There was college football news today, as the Big Ten has now confirmed that we will be going to 9 game conference schedules starting in 2017. That means 5 home B1G games one year, 4 the next. And in regards to the Iowa State series, they play in Iowa City on the years that we have 4 conference home games, so that game is not at risk.
This means that for Iowa, we'll have 7 home games every year, when you add in the non-conference non-BCS directional schools. True, we might play a game in Soldier Field every now and then, but it's still a home game when you consider the fans in the stands. So, it's good for the schools revenue wise, it's good for all of us when the tv broadcast rights come up again (one more game, more money), and it's especially good because with 9 games, we will never go more than 2 years without playing someone. None of this dumb 6 year gap we are currently on with Illinois.
Onto golf, Tiger has just started his first round in about 4 months. Coverage is on Golf Channel both today and tomorrow, where I am sure you can see all of his shots if that is your desire. An event he has won 7 times before, so that should help him on the mental front.
In baseball, the Dodgers bats fell asleep last night, and they couldn't get the sweep of the Padres, falling 3-zip. They are getting away today, back to Phoenix for a weekender against the DBacks. 10 games today as other teams are hitting the road.
Baseball news away from the diamond in the past day - ARod, possible trouble for major high stakes poker, something he was warned to stop doing back in 2007. In this latest alleged incident, there was cocaine being openly used in the room, and it came to near blows, or possibly gun shots, when one of the players balked at paying up for his HALF million dollar loss. If confirmed, likely suspension when he returns from the IR. Oh, and it's onto the back half of 2011 - does ESPN really need to keep showing poker tournaments?
Back at ya on Friday, where there will mere hours until we are free! New listing below for finding sports, it seems better to me, let me know what you think.