Jay Bilas: College Athletes Aren’t Realizing Their Fair Market Value Because the NCAA Cartel Sucks

All, College Basketball, College Football, Rich Old White People Jason McIntyre June 20th. 2011, 6:00pm

See what you started, Jay Paterno? Here’s lawyer slash ESPN talking head Jay Bilas, in a thought-provoking piece tucked behind the ESPN Insider wall, on how NCAA athletes are shafted:

The arguments and ultimatums of Paterno and Emmert fail. Both deserve fair market value, and the only reason to question their salaries is because they are part of a cartel that restricts athletes from realizing their fair market value while others profit. Many would gladly “switch places” with a college athlete, but that is not a legitimate argument for denying athletes the opportunity to profit in the marketplace. There is no valid argument or data to support the notion that allowing compensation to athletes would compromise the educational mission of the NCAA.
The idea that a college athlete should play only for the love of the game is nonsense. If it were true, why give a scholarship at all? A scholarship athlete at UCLA does not love the game any less than an athlete in the Ivy League, and his education is not compromised by cost of attendance. And, it is not compromised by more than that.

Bilas backs up his point by mentioning Clemson QB Kyle Parker and his $1.4 million baseball signing bonus. Then, Bilas drops some more science:

I don’t believe college athletes should be paid as employees. Rather, I believe barriers should be removed that limit an athlete from receiving fair compensation for his or her image and likeness. There is no legitimate reason why a college athlete should be denied the opportunity to enter into legitimate, legally binding contracts to, among other things, hire an agent, do paid appearances, appear in advertisements, endorse shoes and apparel or otherwise profit from their names and likenesses. It would not sink college sports, substantially limit the NCAA’s massive television profits or negatively affect the education of the athletes or any other student. It would simply be fair.

Boom. Boom. Boom. As a curtain call, Bilas brings up the Olympics. A jolly good show!

That’ll be all for today. Enjoy … the Zambrano experience tonight. Which White Sox player will he plunk?

aroundtheweb

145 Responses to “Jay Bilas: College Athletes Aren’t Realizing Their Fair Market Value Because the NCAA Cartel Sucks”

1
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 6:01 PM
Jay Bilas is smart, and has an idea how to compensate
He drives a gaudy sports car?
2
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 6:08 PM
Ever thought about writing an original opinion piece on college football, TBL? You are mostly there anyway. I’d like to see you take ownership of a fully-fleshed treatise on what is wrong with college football, and how to fix it.
3
Faulkner Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 6:12 PM
So Jay Bilas thinks coaches deserve fair market value when it comes to salary, and doesn’t think colleges should pay athletes as employees. By golly, it’s like he’s in lock step with this site’s opinion on how to compensate college athletes.
4
ms621 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 6:16 PM
Enjoy … the Zambrano experience tonight. Which White Sox player will he plunk?
With Zambrano, there’s a decent chance he plunks all of them.
5
José Ovechkin Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 6:18 PM
I’m still in favor of a baseball-like minor league system instead of these age requirements in football/basketball
6
Babar 2.0 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 6:22 PM
Rather, I believe barriers should be removed that limit an athlete from receiving fair compensation for his or her image and likeness.
This is a good theory…but there are going to be a shit ton of T. Boone Pickens commercials starring 5 star recruits. I think you will end up with a boosters arms race, paying backups 5 or 6 figures for their “likeness”.
Great for the kids, probably not good for the NCAA model.
7
cassino Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 6:25 PM
I’d like to see you take ownership of a fully-fleshed treatise on what is wrong with college football, and how to fix it.
Will never happen. People have been asking him to do this for years.
8
payaso Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 6:32 PM
among other things, hire an agent, do paid appearances, appear in advertisements, endorse shoes and apparel or otherwise profit from their names and likenesses.
I thought student-athletes were overworked? Now they have time to shop for agents and deals?
The Phelps Olympics model is a good one. Like everyone who chooses to be a D-1 athlete, he wasn’t forced to follow the NCAA’s rules.
9
Sir Spicious Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 6:51 PM
This is a good theory…but there are going to be a shit ton of T. Boone Pickens commercials starring 5 star recruits. I think you will end up with a boosters arms race, paying backups 5 or 6 figures for their “likeness”.
yup
10
Shatner, who is apparently a Spam Bot Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:01 PM
TBL has three hats, but he LOVES the way this one looks and feels.
11
spencer096 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:12 PM
boosters arm race eh?
/we’ll rejoice again, precious brutus!
12
starkweather Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:17 PM
Hey, GSG, why did you particularly hate the L.A. Noire review on Grantland? It didn’t seem particularly egregious by Tom Bissell standards
13
starkweather Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:18 PM
Apparently I’m 500 years in the future and talking about this particular individual talking like a fag about L.A. Noire
14
jim Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:25 PM
This is a good theory…but there are going to be a shit ton of T. Boone Pickens commercials starring 5 star recruits. I think you will end up with a boosters arms race, paying backups 5 or 6 figures for their “likeness”.
If boosters were able to fund college football programs, how mcuh would the payrolls be? And if the OSUs and Texases of the world had $50-60 million dollar payrolls and the Northwesterns and Baylors only had $10 million dollar ones, would TBL call for a salary cap?
15
HereForTheComments Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:25 PM
I’m curious, did you cut a check to Bilas for this article? When it is behind the pay wall, most bloggers I read won’t lift the two biggest arguments straight out of the article.
Going to agree with WWoS here. Write your own damn article.
16
CodenameDuchess Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:31 PM
I’m still in favor of a baseball-like minor league system instead of these age requirements in football/basketball
Who is going to pay for it? MLB teams finance/subsidize their minor league teams. Do you think the NBA can even afford it? The NBDL is a shared league, maybe if the NBA stopped flipping the bill for the WNBA they would have the money but I doubt it. Has anyone here ever been to a NBDL game? In the end the leagues know that the college system provides them a free minor league/development system why would they choose to pay for it?
Now if we are talking about eligibility rules I love the baseball model. Go pro after high school or commit to 3 years in college.
17
bstr0142 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:35 PM
If boosters were able to fund college football programs, how mcuh would the payrolls be? And if the OSUs and Texases of the world had $50-60 million dollar payrolls and the Northwesterns and Baylors only had $10 million dollar ones, would TBL call for a salary cap?
This is a valid point. There would no doubt be a division of schools based on support of the boosters, which would lead to further cries. And I still can’t understand what paying athletes means within one athletic department that has a number of teams. Especially when it’s been proven that football and (to a lesser extent)basketball provide support that ADs use for other sports. The others are just left to fend for themselves?
18
rondoman Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:38 PM
Same ole same ole here at TBL.
This site is becoming a parody of itself.
19
jim Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:38 PM
Comedy Central cancels “Sports Show with Norm McDonald” and “The Onion Sportsdome.”
20
starkweather Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:40 PM
Now if we are talking about eligibility rules I love the baseball model. Go pro after high school or commit to 3 years in college.
This sort of thing really only works because of the minor league system in baseball, though. I am a little queasy on the fake free market b.s. that Bilas is embracing here even though I’m fundamentally OK with players taking money from boosters and advertisers. The NCAA could also go to its grave and “college” athletics would probably live on even if the schools were paying ringers/sponsoring teams without any defined notion of student/athletes (this is the way college football existed for the most part in the late 19th century & very early 20th century). You’d end up with something approaching the athletic academies model that sports like tennis or basketball (outside of the U.S.) have embraced. This isn’t really much of a point I’m making but I’m interested to know why the ideal of school tie-ins and amateurism are so sacrosanct in football when they aren’t necessary to other sports
21
CodenameDuchess Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:42 PM
If boosters were able to fund college football programs, how mcuh would the payrolls be? And if the OSUs and Texases of the world had $50-60 million dollar payrolls and the Northwesterns and Baylors only had $10 million dollar ones, would TBL call for a salary cap?
Exactly, I doubt think TBL or Ty have fully thought the process through. There was a reason Jeremy Bloom was denied his endorsement deals. It’s a very slippery slope.
5 Star QB Johnny Utah ponders his future….
Texas Recruiter – C’Mon down and be a longhorn and will pay you $100k/yr to do signing appearance at Bob Vance Chevrolet
USC Recruiter – Do you really want to be associated with Chevrolet? We can only pay you $75K but you be the face of South Coast Mercedes plus will give you a C350 to start and if you win the Heisman will toss you a CL55 AMG!!!
Florida Recruiter – Will give you a gatorade contract!!
Oregon Recruiter – Screw those old school chumps, we’ll give you a nike contract right now and make you the face of our next just do it commercial!!
Maryland Recruiter – I know we suck but Under Armour was started by an alumni!! How about an under armour contract? That’s way more “Now” than Nike, you want to have sizzle right kid?
22
starkweather Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:42 PM
That sucks about Sports Show because I thought it was getting better on a weekly basis. SportsDome was harder to watch than SportsCenter. I think the problem with those shows is that they need to be a 4 times/week thing, like The Daily Show, to really find a stride but nobody’s going to lay out the cash that would require
23
CodenameDuchess Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:53 PM
This sort of thing really only works because of the minor league system in baseball, though.
I understand the limitations and it’s a pipe dream. I’m just not a fan of the one and dones. There was no point in Derrick Rose or John Wall going to school.
24
starkweather Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:56 PM
There was no point in Derrick Rosegoing to the palyoffs
/Ballin’d
25
starkweather Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 7:57 PM
Jesus. I shouldn’t be able to f that up that bad without a few tumblers of booze in me
26
Shatner, who is apparently a Spam Bot Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:35 PM
Stark – Just too much in the article. I don’t want a five page review on a video game. Granted, it utitlized new technology, but the game overall was just…eh…
27
Jim Harbaugh Scramble Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:37 PM
I like Bilas, but no one is gonna convince me to that pay the players is the way to go.
28
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:40 PM
Simmons excoriated the Killing finale. Dirt would love it. I’m glad I forgot to watch the pilot.
29
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:47 PM
I like Bilas, but no one is gonna convince me to that pay the players is the way to go.
That’s because it’s not. Paying the players would be a disaster.
/They already get free tuition, food, and housing. They have zero expenses. They also get free money every game, home or away, and any other time they travel from per diem.
30
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:47 PM
Exactly, I doubt think TBL or Ty have fully thought the process through.
I disagree. They probably don’t care one way or the other. It is all about pageviews, my friend. They know which topics get the most hits. The topics with the most hits get the most posts. Brilliant, in my opinion. Everyone bitches about the same three topics getting shoved down our throats, but nobody is forcing us to click the links. And we do anyway. I think it is because we have built up a nice little online community in the comment section. TBL doesn’t usually care what we say down here (unless you question his CFB knowledge. Sore subject.) because he knows it to be true what Ty once posted, “nobody reads the comments.” They probably have the data to prove that is true.
In short, bitching about stuff is fun. It really is, but nothing we say down here is going to affect what topics TBL chooses to post on. Pageviews do.
31
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:52 PM
Did Ryan Dunn really die? Or is it just a twitter thing?
32
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:54 PM
Ooh, shit. He really is dead. That sucks.
33
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:54 PM
Did Ryan Dunn really die? Or is it just a twitter thing?
It was on all the news sites, so I think it’s real. Apparently he posted a picture of himself drinking and then hours later flipped his Porsche into a tree.
34
RolloTomassi14 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:03 PM
Apparently he posted a picture of himself drinking and then hours later flipped his Porsche into a tree.
I think the end of the Roundup comments has a picture of Dunn’s Porsche after the crash. It barely looked like a car after the fact.
35
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:05 PM
yea Rollo. That picture is sort of fucked up- just looks like scrap metal.
36
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:09 PM
Bout to watch this Game of Thrones! Reading the thread from earlier will be the cooldown.
37
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:10 PM
Bout to watch this Game of Thrones! Reading the thread from earlier will be the cooldown.
Enjoy it. It was awesome.
38
Gaseous Clay Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:14 PM
Simmons excoriated the Killing finale. Dirt would love it. I’m glad I forgot to watch the pilot.
in a podcast, or an article?
39
Gaseous Clay Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:15 PM
never mind, I can’t get to it regardless.
40
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:16 PM
Dirt – Article.
41
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:17 PM
If I invited you to my house for dinner tonight, you would come over and expect me to serve you food. Right?
Well, imagine we were having drinks in my living room for two hours. You’re looking at your watch. It’s 8:30. You don’t smell any food. You don’t say anything. Another half hour passes. You’re on your third drink. You’re getting legitimately hungry. You still don’t say anything. And then, a half hour later, I stand up as if I’m ready for you to leave. We have this exchange.
Me: “All right, it’s getting late, we should probably wrap this up.”
You: “I thought we were having dinner?”
Me: “Tonight? No, I never specifically said that — I invited you over for a dinner.”
You: “Well, you asked me if I wanted to come over for your house for dinner. I said sure. You said, ‘Come over at 6:30.’”
Me: “Exactly. But I never said we were eating dinner tonight!”
You: “You said you were making lamb chops. You e-mailed me that you couldn’t wait for me to taste your lamb chops.”
Me: “I know, I know … I meant down the road though!”
I don’t apologize. We shake hands. You drive away. You’re kind of in shock. And as you’re looking for a McDonald’s or a Carl’s Jr., hungry, light-headed, and pissed off, part of you wants to drive back to my house and punch me in the face.
That’s how everyone who stuck with The Killing for 13 meandering episodes felt last night. There were two reasons we didn’t bail: because we wanted to find out who killed Rosie Larsen, and because the season was promoted (at least implicitly) as having a beginning, middle, and end. Only that turned out not to be true — the final episode ended with a plot twist and two “cliffhangers” — and now the showrunner (I can’t remember her name; let’s just call her Judas) is claiming in interviews that they never definitely said this storyline was ending within the course of one season.
Oh, really? You never said that? Let’s see, Judas …
1. You remade a Danish show, also named The Killing, which featured the same premise (a girl gets killed, the detectives try to solve the murder) and many of the same characters, and wrapped up the case in one season.
2. Your show wasn’t picked up for a second season until two weeks ago, and when it was, everyone made a big deal about it. Like, “I wonder who’s getting killed in Season 2! Can they keep this show going? Would it be a new location? New detectives?” You never contradicted them or said, “Hey, wait, nobody ever said this story arc was ending in Season 1!” In fact, you never said that — not ever, not at any point.
3. You allowed everyone to assume Season 1′s story arc was ending in Episode 13 to the point that (a) online betting sites were taking “Who killed Rose Larsen?” action last week, and (b) Cousin Sal and I nearly wagered on Gwen.1
4. Any decent television critic who wrote about the show, invariably, mentioned that at the very least, we’d be wrapping up this storyline within one season. Again, YOU NEVER CORRECTED THEM.
Really, this was the first TV show to pull a pro wrestling-like betrayal on its fans. (When the last episode ended, we were only missing former WWE announcer Jim Ross screaming: “Noooooooooooo! NOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHY? WHY?”) You can’t even calculate the amount of time we wasted watching/talking/dissecting a show that, fundamentally, sucked to watch. Every episode covered a day in Rosie’s murder investigation (thirteen in all). By about Episode 7, everyone watching it was in “this show royally sucks, I screwed up, I shouldn’t have gotten sucked in — but at least we’re going to find out who killed Rosie” mode. It was like being stuck in an amusement-park line for what you thought would be 45 minutes, only it turned out to be 90. Halfway through, you can’t bail. You just can’t. You just have to hope the ride is worth it.
This ride was not worth it. To say the least.
Even the line for it sucked. Forty-three percent of the show consisted of gorgeous helicopter shots of Seattle, as if Judas watched the cool helicopter shots in The Town and thought, “I wonder if I could milk a whole TV season out of an aimless murder investigation and nifty helicopter shots?”2 The weather was another crucial character: Every one of the 13 days was exceedingly gloomy, as if the show was being filmed in Alaska, only we knew it wasn’t being filmed in Alaska because, again, 43 percent of the show consisted of helicopter shots of Seattle. (“Hey look, it’s the Needle again!”) The other ingenious move: Every episode ended the same way, with pulsating music and wrapping-it-up shots of four different characters (and then one last tiny cliffhanger shot), so that when you heard the pulsating music, it was almost like crunch-time of a basketball game.
Here we go! Stuff’s wrapping up!
But not really, because again, nothing ever happened. Our heroine was a redheaded detective named Sarah Linden, a poorly written character who didn’t wear makeup, kept her hair in a sexless ponytail, and wore the heaviest sweaters anyone has ever worn on television. Halfway through the season, she chased a suspect through a farmer’s market and we suddenly realized why she wore those heavy sweaters: because the actress (Mireille Enos) is, um, amply endowed, so they covered her assets up so we never got distracted. I know this because, during the chase scene, her breasts nearly beheaded someone who was selling corn.3 By the way, this was the single most exciting Killing moment for about four weeks.
In the first episode, Linden was leaving Seattle to marry a guy who was seedy enough that my buddy Jacoby believed he was the killer. You know what? This was the single best “Who did it?” theory I heard for three months, and here’s why: They wasted dozens of scenes with Linden either talking to this loser, talking about marrying this loser, cancelling plans to leave Seattle for this loser, or telling her son that he needed to know this loser better.4 There had to be an answer beyond, “Judas the Showrunner is trying to turn four episodes of material into 13 episodes, so she’s just going to waste our time with these scenes with no payoff whatsoever.” Nope. She postponed the move because Rosie’s murder haunted her right away, so she needed resolution or something. When they ran out of ways to bore us with the seedy fiancée’s making her feel guilty about not moving, they dragged her degenerate ex-husband into the mix. Could he be a suspect? Nahhhhh. There was no reason for him to be on the show, either. I think they were trying to humanize Linden, which was obviously hard because you can’t humanize a “strong” female character when she’s dressing like a lumberjack.
My favorite character was her detective partner, who my wife and I nicknamed “Jacoby” because he kinda sorta reminded us of a much druggier, darker, shiftier version of my friend Jacoby (mentioned earlier), and also, because we couldn’t remember his name.5 Jacoby was always up to stuff, so you couldn’t rule him out for Rosie’s murder, only every time you started thinking, “I wonder if it’s him,” they’d close the door on it. (HALFHEARTED SPOILER ALERT FROM THIS POINT ON.) You can imagine our surprise when, with four minutes left in the last episode, it turned out that Jacoby had framed mayoral candidate Darren Richmond for Rosie’s murder, and that he was working for a mystery conspirator who we never saw, which was a problem, because, you know, they made us believe the show was ending last night.6
The other good characters were Rosie’s parents, whose marriage slowly dissolved over those 13 days because of their suffocating grief. Here’s the one defensible thing about Season 1: people get senselessly killed all the time in television and movies, but we rarely if ever see the effects of those murders on the people who loved them. Just about any worthy Killing scene involved one of the two parents; in particular, the father (played by Brent Sexton) put up Monta Ellis-type numbers on a lottery team. There’s a great scene in the final show when he runs into the pregnant wife of Rosie’s teacher — someone he had beaten into a coma a few episodes earlier, only she didn’t know it was him, you know, because when someone beats your husband into a coma and gets arrested for it, and it turns out to be the grieving father of the biggest murder case your city has seen in a couple of years, you definitely won’t ever want to know what this person looks like — and as they’re making small talk, she asks him how many kids he has. He hesitates for a second and says, “Three” (still counting Rosie as one of the three), and we can see the pain in his face.
See, that’s the problem with The Killing — it was one of those shows that, once or twice an episode, had a moment like that, which led you to believe they knew what they were doing, and that everything was so painstakingly paced so that there’d be a worthy payoff at the end. The show looked cool (“Hey look, it’s the Needle again!”), and at the very least, it was decently acted and it was definitely going to end after 13 shows. Except it didn’t. Now I’m looking back at those 13 days and wondering why I didn’t realize that it was so massively sloppy and poorly thought out. For instance …
If the Larsens loved their daughter so much, why didn’t they know she was working as a prostitute, and why didn’t they care that she came and went as she pleased?7 Why did Stan Larsen spend all of their savings without telling his wife? And why was I supposed to be OK with her ditching her husband and two sons in the final episode? Because she kept a journal from when she was a teenager in which she dreamed of going to all these countries, and Rosie found that journal, which is why Rosie led such a free life (and worked as a prostitute, but whatever), and now that Rosie’s dead, it’s time for her mom to follow her destiny, and wait … what????8
What was the point of Linden’s fiancée, kid, ex-husband … I mean, why?
What possible motivation did “Jacoby” have to frame Darren Richmond for a murder? After 13 episodes, shouldn’t we have gotten a hint or three?
How did Stan’s sister in law (a waitress/escort) have enough money to bail out Stan after he beat someone into a coma? Why didn’t such a boring show have a little more fun with a prostitute ring or Richmond’s love for call girls? Why did the casino episode have to happen?
Why did the detectives wait 13 days to check the gas in the campaign car that killed Rosie?
Why did Linden show up at Richmond’s apartment in the second-to-last episode (seriously, what was she doing there?), and why did she fearlessly return in the last episode to berate him, by herself, when (a) she thought he was a murderer, and (b) he was a foot taller than her and easily could have just killed her and stuffed her in his closet for a few weeks?
Why didn’t they make even a halfhearted attempt to make me like Rosie or care about her?
In the Danish version, the killer turned out to be Belko, the bearded half-wit who worked for Rosie’s father. In the American version, Richmond gets arrested for the murder, makes bail, then leaves the courthouse surrounded by cameras … and Belko pulls a Jack Ruby on him. Or so we think. Because that was one of the two cliffhangers; we never saw Belko shoot him. So you have to watch Season 2 to find out what happened. You know, the season that we didn’t think existed.
I will leave you with four thoughts. First, Sunday night shows have a built-in competitive advantage because the best HBO shows (Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under, etc.) got us into the groove of watching the best possible television every Sunday night, then AMC kept the momentum going with Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and somewhere along the line, that became our Smart Television Night and it doesn’t really matter what’s on anymore, as long as it feels like a good show. We never cared if Walking Dead or The Killing were great, just that they were good enough to keep us interested on Sunday nights, because that’s the night we like to watch well-acted shows with well-developed characters that creep along from week to week and keep us guessing. So really, we’re to blame for letting The Killing happen — we always knew it sucked, but we didn’t care. We allowed this catastrophe to happen.
Second, The Killing is destined to become the first example anyone brings up when the subject is, “What show did something that made its fans hate it the most?” It’s not like other shows haven’t antagonized their fans before: The Sopranos cutting to black on its final episode, Seinfeld and his buddies getting arrested, and Dallas executing a retroactive “everything you just watched never happened” season-long dream sequence are the three most famous examples. But has a TV show ever willfully misled its viewers like this, to the point that it made you hate yourself for ever watching the show? No. Never. We made history here.
Third, I always judge television shows by the dueling metrics, “If I could travel back in time and tell myself to either watch or NOT watch this show, what would I say?” and “If I could have done the MJ’s Final Shot in 1998 with a TV show and gotten out at the perfect time, then never watched another episode, when would that time be?” A good example: Lost. I would absolutely watch that show again, only I would tell myself to stop watching right before the final season started. Or Seinfeld. I’d keep watching right until George’s fiancée dies from licking the envelopes, then I’d be done.
With The Killing? I would beg March 2011 Me to not watch a single second of the show. So there’s that.9
Fourth and most important, I can’t remember a single show damaging a network’s brand this severely, to the point that AMC either needs to apologize, offer the entire Breaking Bad series on DVD for 85 percent off, or even publicly distance itself from the show the same way a sports team distances itself from a star player who does something horrible. That’s how bad this was. AMC had won our trust over the past few years; because of that trust, we endured The Killing because we trusted AMC enough that we assumed they wouldn’t screw us. It’s unfathomable that none of the people running such a seemingly intelligent network said, “We better leak to Tim Goodman or Alan Sepinwall that they’re not wrapping things up in one season, we don’t want people to be pissed off.” Nope. The ratings mattered more than the viewers.
And yeah, that’s happened before in television … but not like this. The Killing turned out to be aptly named: AMC just killed any “most creative network” momentum it had. People will not forget what happened. I know I won’t. And in case you were wondering, hell will freeze over before I watch Season 2.
42
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:17 PM
Fuck. That actually worked. I’m sorry about no footnotes.
/never reads the footnotes.
43
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:18 PM
Wow. See, people love you, dirt! Why can’t you go to grantland?
44
karma Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:19 PM
Man, summer sucks when you’re not a baseball fan.
/ looking forward to the NBA draft
45
karma Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:21 PM
Simmons writes longer pieces on TV shows than he does for sports.
46
traderjack21 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:22 PM
I was wondering why there was such a long comment.
47
karma Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:25 PM
Let’s talk about which unlucky team will be signing Vince Carter for next season.
/ Bulls
48
HuskerDawg Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:26 PM
Comments 21 and 30 are spot on.
49
Jim Harbaugh Scramble Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:27 PM
If Bill Simmons invited me over for dinner, I’d decline.
50
karma Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:28 PM
I just realized Sabonis got selected to the HOF this year.
51
bstr0142 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:30 PM
she chased a suspect through a farmer’s market and we suddenly realized why she wore those heavy sweaters: because the actress (Mireille Enos) is, um, amply endowed, so they covered her assets up so we never got distracted. I know this because, during the chase scene, her breasts nearly beheaded someone who was selling corn.3 By the way, this was the single most exciting Killing moment for about four weeks.
Haven’t seen a second of the show, but I’ll admit this made me laugh.
52
Jim Harbaugh Scramble Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:30 PM
Let’s talk about which unlucky team will be signing Vince Carter for next season.
Pistons, then we can have VC and T-mac. should be an awesome season.
53
Gaseous Clay Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:30 PM
that puts into words what I’ve already put into words. I never said lamb chops though.
I feel exactly that way. Thanks KC.
54
Gaseous Clay Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:31 PM
Why can’t you go to grantland?
maybe because I’m on a Mac. Who knows.
55
VladimirCrouton Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:34 PM
Bismack Biyombo is gonna be a great Piston.
56
Jim Harbaugh Scramble Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:37 PM
Bismack Biyombo is gonna be a great Piston.
buzz is that they are gonna take some Euro whose last name starts with V. (can’t spell it, let alone remember it). I’ll take anyone over Biyombo.
57
Jim Harbaugh Scramble Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:39 PM
Valanciunas – that’s the euro on the pistons radar.
58
ScubaSteve007 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:46 PM
Stark – Just too much in the article. I don’t want a five page review on a video game. Granted, it utitlized new technology, but the game overall was just…eh…
I finally got around to finishing the Grantland review of L.A. Noire (I could only read the first page at work, the rest was blocked). Wow.
Just the first page of the review was too excessive. The rest makes it almost as boring and tedious as some of the detective work in the game itself.
59
ScubaSteve007 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:46 PM
Ugh…quote fail.
60
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:58 PM
Gamespot does 3 page reviews for games, too. What’s better about gamespot is that they have video reviews too.
61
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:59 PM
I never said lamb chops though. Dirt
Everytime I hear of lamb chops, I think of one of the best Simpson’s episodes ever.
62
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:03 PM
did i mention how good Super 8 is?
63
payaso Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:14 PM
This.
64
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:15 PM
Why would you post an entire article in the comments section?
65
HereForTheComments Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:16 PM
Why would you post an entire article in the article section?
66
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:17 PM
So, Game of Thrones was awesome, as expected.
67
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:28 PM
Detected a tone I was familiar with in “Here for the Comments.”
He’s the jerkoff who used to go by, “ShopSmartShopS-Mart.”
He is an authority on college sports. I’m surprised he hasn’t started a blog.
Mr. Jones, did you think by signing up under a different email address, but the same IP address, nobody would notice?
68
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:31 PM
The article was posted because Dirt is an Apple user and wasn’t able to access grantland. He was the most vocal last night with the Killing hatred.
So, Game of Thrones was awesome, as expected
.
Naked chicks covered in baby dragons. Yup.
69
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:33 PM
Love scrolling through the comments of certain people and just see a dozen angry, bitter comments. Why bother visit this little corner of the internet? Guys like S-Mart should just go hang out with his like-minded friends in the Youtube comments section.
70
Gaseous Clay Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:34 PM
Why would you post an entire article in the comments section?
he did it for me, as a favor. I appreciated it, since grantland is still broken at my house, and it was relevant to me.
71
bstr0142 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:36 PM
did i mention how good Super 8 is?
I enjoyed Super 8 as well. Reminded me a lot of Lost (in terms of the way the story was structured, not the storyline itself).
72
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:36 PM
Why would you post an entire article in the comments section?
Dirt said he couldn’t access Grantland. I could. Nobody reads the comments at night, especially since TBLAD died a year ago. I was helping a brother out. I agree I’d be annoyed if this was a common occurence, but there may be five of us hanging out here tonight. I may not be much longer when this squall line approaching knocks me down.
73
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:39 PM
Mr. Jones, did you think by signing up under a different email address, but the same IP address, nobody would notice?
TBl is actually Greg Doyel? Jarring.
/Seriously, outing your commenters is bad business. Just ban the IP address and go about your day.
74
HawkEye Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:42 PM
I wonder what Duffy and TBL have to say about this: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6682234
75
STONE Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:45 PM
I wonder what Duffy and TBL have to say about this: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6682234
Tune in tomorrow approximately 5 p.m. EST.
76
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:46 PM
I wonder what Duffy and TBL have to say about this: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6682234
Oh, corrupt something corrupt playoff pay the players corrupt the internet is winning blah blah blah.
And, I’ll still read it and comment on it. Entertainment and such.
77
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:46 PM
just went through the movies that came out in jan/feb/march and without question, Super 8 is the best movie i’ve seen this year. due to the baby, i missed most of the march/april/may movies, but other than Bridesmaids and Hangover, has anything else been good yet?
78
spencer096 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:48 PM
best movie ive seen this year is an oldie but goodie…the katherine heigl vehicle under siege 2: dark territory.
79
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:48 PM
i don’t have a strong feeling about that, Hawk/Stone/KC.
do you?
80
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:49 PM
Spencer, without looking it up: Who popped out of a cake in Under Siege, the original?
81
spencer096 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:49 PM
im gonna guess erika olenik from baywatch?
82
bstr0142 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:50 PM
best movie ive seen this year is an oldie but goodie…the katherine heigl vehicle under siege 2: dark territory.
Best movie I’ve seen this year is Hot Fuzz.
83
spencer096 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:51 PM
judges better not deny that due to spelling.
84
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:51 PM
the hell did Rose McGowan do to her face? It’s like she’s wearing a mask
http://www.hollywoodtuna.com/?p=57663&folder=1847
Remember when she was initially in Scream in the mid-90s?
http://denver.metromix.com/content_image/full/772730/560/370
85
HawkEye Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:51 PM
i don’t have a strong feeling about that, Hawk/Stone/KC.
do you?
I’ve no problem with it. Duffy’s hammered the commissioners and ADs time and again on how they are overpaid, make money when the players do not, etc.
TBL – Haven’t you agreed with Duffy’s viewpoints on the ADs and commissioners in the past?
86
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:52 PM
yes, that is correct, Spencer. Butchered the spelling, but a great scene.
video of it (NSFW, obvs) http://www.joblo.com/video/player.php?video=erika_eleniak_-_under_siege
87
HawkEye Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:53 PM
the hell did Rose McGowan do to her face? It’s like she’s wearing a mask
I think it is because she actually has some color to her (finally). I’m so used to he being very, very pasty.
88
STONE Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:53 PM
i don’t have a strong feeling about that, Hawk/Stone/KC.
I assume you’d say something about how everyone is benefitting monetarily but the players.
89
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:54 PM
i believe most of the issues, Hawk, are with the suits for the bowl games who clean up.
90
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:55 PM
Nobody reads the comments at night, especially since TBLAD died a year ago.
It wasn’t that long ago. It was still going strong during football season. Shatner would have a better take on this…
Shatner:………
91
spencer096 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:56 PM
those tatties are a fine varietal of the late 80′s/early 90′s vintage.
92
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:57 PM
Thanks TBL. Next, how ’bout the Hollow Man rape scene!
93
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:58 PM
i don’t have a strong feeling about that, Hawk/Stone/KC. TBL
I know you don’t and I don’t either. Just give me entertainment and I’ll help you get rich. I see no problem with this unspoken arrangement we have. I don’t have the writing skills or online skills to even be jealous about your situation.
And, wasn’t that the chick that was also in the movie with Flea and it was a car chase and, fuck, I don’t know, maybe Charlie Sheen was in it. Very meta-90s movie lore.
94
karma Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:59 PM
Love the tits but that is an ugly ass haircut.
95
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:59 PM
Weren’t we hitting 1200 comments in here last year during the finals? The fuck happened?
96
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:59 PM
i think i’ve been sufficiently worked up about the NBC/Pledge/”God” omission to write about it for tomorrow.
97
HawkEye Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:00 PM
KC – The Chase?
98
TheBigLead Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:00 PM
TBLAD died a year ago? Weird, i seem to remember 400/500 comments during NBA/NHL playoffs.
on that note, I’m off to bed.
99
karma Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:00 PM
Next, how ’bout the Hollow Man rape scene!
Rhona Mitra FTW.
100
spencer096 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:00 PM
if erika eleniak had an emelie haircut we’d have ourselves a winner.
101
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:01 PM
Weren’t we hitting 1200 comments in here last year during the finals? The fuck happened?
Lakers-Celtics had something to do with that. Say what you will about the pull of the Heat, it still can’t match those two teams facing off.
102
HawkEye Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:01 PM
i think i’ve been sufficiently worked up about the NBC/Pledge/”God” omission to write about it for tomorrow
What happened exactly? NBC willfully muted that part of the Pledge out?
103
spencer096 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:01 PM
i think i’ve been sufficiently worked up about the NBC/Pledge/”God” omission to write about it for tomorrow.
i can assure you they didn’t do it for the ratings.
104
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:01 PM
on that note, I’m off to bed.
Sooooo, no Hollow Man?
105
karma Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:02 PM
TBLAD was well alive during the NBA playoffs. People need to stop pining for the “glory years” and move on – the amount of people will spike from time to time but TBLAD still has around 5-10 commenters who will usually show up if an NBA game is one.
/ all you need to get to 500 comments
106
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:03 PM
If I wrote a lengthy essay on why student athletes shouldn’t be paid, would anyone here read it?
107
Gaseous Clay Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:03 PM
TBLAD died a year ago? Weird, i seem to remember 400/500 comments during NBA/NHL playoffs.
go read one of those threads. So awful. Maybe not the hockey only ones, but the in game threads for football playoffs and basketball playoffs are not good threads to be a part of.
108
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:04 PM
/ all you need to get to 500 comments
Shit, All I need are 200. There has been a big downturn, though.
109
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:04 PM
Thanks, Hawkeye. The Chase. Kristy Swanson, not Erika Ealiakninkak.
TBLAD died a year ago? Weird, i seem to remember 400/500 comments during NBA/NHL playoffs.
on that note, I’m off to bed.
Don’t be coy. TBLAD died and you know it. A couple of uptics during playoff season is not proof it died. A night like tonight a couple of years ago would have easily had 200 + comments. I blame Twitter and your aging audience.
/drops daggers.
110
spencer096 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:05 PM
i blame society.
111
HereForTheComments Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:06 PM
Really is too bad that you’ve wasted a great vehicle to help implement change in the way sports are written about and discussed. It has been proven that quality writing and commenter inclusion can drive web sites on a smaller scale.
Instead, you seem to have embraced the idea that the only way to collect pageviews is through harping on the same subject to the point of parody.
More stuff like what Lisk does, and less stuff like Duffy’s Rose Bowl post would be a great way to become something better. Duffy is obviously a good writer, but it seems you would prefer him to piss off the commenters instead of researching posts and writing something that would engender conversation instead of pointless complaining about the author and the EIC.
I only say it is pointless because you completely ignore it all. You refuse to enter into an actual discussion with the people who come here, but you are more than willing to hype the hell out of some crappy book about ESPN.
112
payaso Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:07 PM
i think i’ve been sufficiently worked up about the NBC/Pledge/”God” omission to write about it for tomorrow.
Agree that NBC had no reason to apologize.
113
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:08 PM
I blame the Jews.
114
spencer096 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:10 PM
/backs away slowly
//remembers medicine bottle with a little bud in it
///comes back in
////loudly trips over coffee table
/////loudly whispers “sorry”
//////leaves again
115
Gaseous Clay Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:11 PM
If I wrote a lengthy essay on why student athletes shouldn’t be paid, would anyone here read it?
I didn’t even read that comment. so probably not.
116
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:12 PM
Going to see Dispatch tomorrow night. Needless to say, I’ll be calling in sick Wednesday morning. I’ve literally been waiting for this since 2001 (when I “discovered” them for myself as a freshman in high school). So psyched.
117
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:14 PM
I didn’t even read that comment. so probably not.
you would say that. dick.
118
karma Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:16 PM
[Gravatar image]
If I wrote a lengthy essay on why student athletes shouldn’t be paid, would anyone here read it?
Depends on whether you use the word “poignant” correctly
/ duffy-critic’d
119
karma Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:16 PM
Whatever happened to 3rd man?
/ the most boring offense won the NBA championship
120
Shatner, who is apparently a Spam Bot Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:19 PM
Wow, fantastic review.
121
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:22 PM
I didn’t even read that comment. so probably not.
you would say that. dick.
…i thought that was funny…
122
Shatner, who is apparently a Spam Bot Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:22 PM
TBLAD died a while back. There’s no one denying this. Twitter and banning of TST/JPQ killed that puppy.
123
Ballz Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:23 PM
Wow, fantastic review.
For the Killing or LA Noire?
124
Shatner, who is apparently a Spam Bot Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:27 PM
The Killing. I was super pissed watching that ending.
125
heldover Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:27 PM
did i mention how good Super 8 is?
First Act was great, it fell apart in Act III. And you were asking about great movies this year, TBL? Go see Midnight in Paris. And read A Moveable Feast before doing so.
126
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:32 PM
I pride myself on quitting The Killing after the 5th episode.
127
ToBeFrank Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:34 PM
Seems this tread got way off topic… that’s ok because the issue of what a total moron Jay Bilas is has already been established.
In fact, there’s really no reason to rip any ESPN clowns anymore. Pretty much if they have an opinion you can bet 2 things:
1)Someone in management gave them the opinion
2)The opinion is wrong
Bilas just proves the theory.
128
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:40 PM
I fucking hate junebugs. Worse than mosquitos. Not as far as spreading diseases and whatnot. Just about annoying me.
/should have replaced the buglight off the back stoop with another buglight instead of a regular light. Didn’t seem to be a big deal back in February.
129
Shatner, who is apparently a Spam Bot Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:42 PM
I fucking hate junebugs. Worse than mosquitos. Not as far as spreading diseases and whatnot. Just about annoying me.
Bizarre Foods had them dipped in chocolate and eaten. He said it was delicious.
130
karma Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:43 PM
I hate flies buzzing past my ear.
/ most annoying sound in the world
131
traderjack21 Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:43 PM
Chicago, enjoy that concert!
132
mizerle06 asks for the autoplay to be turned off Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:44 PM
If I wrote a lengthy essay on why student athletes shouldn’t be paid, would anyone here read it?
chicago – write it, email it to me, and I’ll guarantee you a platform.
mizerle06 (at) gmail dot com
133
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:44 PM
Bizarre Foods had them dipped in chocolate and eaten. He said it was delicious.
Fuck, I can get him a hundred tonight. Does he mind if they are fucking cruched out of rage prior to dipping them into chocolate?
134
mizerle06 asks for the autoplay to be turned off Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:46 PM
KC – I love junebugs…remind me of my dad’s garden up in Tennessee. for some reason, they frekaing loved the corn stalks. during the day, there would be hundreds buzzing around and it was always fun to grab a stick and take a few practice swings at them. I have yet to see a junebug down here in Florida.
135
Shatner, who is apparently a Spam Bot Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:47 PM
Fuck, I can get him a hundred tonight. Does he mind if they are fucking cruched out of rage prior to dipping them into chocolate?
Sure. Send the bugs to him in an envelope. Unlike Richman (Who I also like in MvF) Zimmerman actually will say if he doesn’t like something. Some of the places I’ve visited from MvF and those crappy Travel Channel Sunday morning shows (Best Burgers; Hot Dog Nation) have been dreadful.
136
mizerle06 asks for the autoplay to be turned off Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:47 PM
come to think of it, there aren’t any lightning bugs down here in Florida either. WTF?
137
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:53 PM
chicago – write it, email it to me, and I’ll guarantee you a platform.
mizerle06 (at) gmail dot com
wow. Thanks, miz. Any specific deadline for this (do we expect this story to die any time soon)? It may take me some time to construct- I only have a very rough outline of ideas at the moment.
138
KC Resident Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:54 PM
Mize _ Lightning bugs and junebugs are different.* Lightning bugs are cool, junebugs are fuck. At dusk tonight after t-ball practice the lightning bug were out in full force. They do no bother me. The fucking junebugs made me want to hunt with my .12 gauge.
Shat _ I enjoy Bourdain and the gay Jewish guy. Zimmerman, who is also not gay, hates that SE Asian fruit. The only thing I’ve seen him gag on.
139
mizerle06 asks for the autoplay to be turned off Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:57 PM
chicago – I don’t expect the topic to die soon at all*. no deadline. take your time and construct it however you like. email me if you have any other thoughts/concerns.
*never with TBL and Huffy Puffy Duffy on the case
140
mizerle06 asks for the autoplay to be turned off Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:59 PM
KC – oh, I know they’re way different. I just got nostalgic for a second thinking about junebugs and summers and then lightning bugs and how I have yet to see either since living in Florida. maybe I’m too close to the beach and they prefer to be inland.
141
chicago Says:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:59 PM
sounds good miz, I’ll let you know.
142
Ballz Says:
June 21st, 2011 at 12:09 AM
Anybody else agree with me that the best episode of No Reservations is the Cleveland episode?
143
heldover Says:
June 21st, 2011 at 12:26 AM
OT:
Did anybody catch The Daily Show tonight? Did Stewart make reference to The Big Man’s passing on the show?
END OT
144
traderjack21 Says:
June 21st, 2011 at 8:26 AM
Anybody else agree with me that the best episode of No Reservations is the Cleveland episode?
I don’t know about that but it’s up there in the top episodes. What a great show.
145
spencer096 Says:
June 21st, 2011 at 8:40 AM
/high fives ballz