These posts are like OT posts on a message board. In other words, these are pure vanity posts, akin to yours truly preening and prinking in front of a mirror while wondering how I got so many gray hairs.
As an initial matter — we’d like to start a new tradition on the site – the BuffsBlog.com Mailbag! In the tradition of old Bill Simmons mailbags, send me your questions (CU or otherwise) and I’ll do my best to give you my thoughts/dumbest jokes. Questions should be sent to [email protected]. So send them in — give me a chance to wow you with my dad jokes and good looks.
So without further ado….TUESDAYS ARE FOR THE HERD!
Road Trip!
Yours truly is going on a road trip this week to see my son in Ann Arbor for his 20th birthday. I’m writing this blog from Grinnell, Iowa in fact. On the way, though, I’m stopping in Iowa City to see Iowa vs. Purdue in a Big 10 men’s basketball showdown at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. When in Ann Arbor, I’m going to see Michigan vs. Oregon in a men’s hoops showdown at Crisler Center with the Boy. Then, on the return trip, I’m staying in South Bend to see Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech in a men’s hoops game at the Joyce Center and Notre Dame vs. Ohio State in men’s hockey at the Compton Family Ice Arena. If you have any suggestions on things to see or do in Iowa City or South Bend, or more broadly on I-80 between Denver and Chicago, let me know. I’ve made this trip many times but typically am whizzing down the interstate at 80+ miles per hour. This time, however, I’m going to try to get out and see some of the sites.
Also, this trip will be a good chance to compare basketball environment and facilities at Iowa, Michigan and Notre Dame and compare it to the basketball environment and facilities in Boulder. I’ll write a comparison piece sometime (probably next week ) so stay tuned for that.
Bookie
I’m about 2/3 of the way through the first season of Bookie, now showing on Max. The show stars Sebastian Maniscalco as a bookie trying to survive unstable clients in Los Angeles and Omar Dorsey as his ex-NFL player hired muscle. Unlike many comedies that try to pivot to drama when the comedy gets stale, Bookies is a straight-up buddy comedy show.
There are some pretty good cameos throughout the show — Charlie Sheen, Rob Coddry, Ray Romano, etc. Charlie Sheen, in particular, is pretty hysterical playing himself in a rehab center. Fans should check it out.
In any event, I’d recommend checking the show out, particularly if you’re — like me — someone that loves short shows (each episode is about 28 minutes long), adult humor and the heavyset guy from Lost.
Ohio State is the 2nd Worst State*
According to the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio State’s athletic department reported an operating deficit of nearly $38 million. The AD spent a record $292.7m in the fiscal year (!!!!!!!!) with revenue of $254.9m. Spending nearly 1/3 of a billion dollars on a college athletic department in one year is not great for the folks that try to pretend that college sports are strictly an amateur endeavor.
A couple of interesting comparisons to CU — CU had an operating profit of $8.2m in its last fiscal year, with $146.6m of revenue and $138.3m of expenses. The crazy thing about this is that other Big 10 schools also reported deficits, including Michigan State ($180m of expenses and $163m of revenue), UCLA (with a deficit of over $30m), and Rutgers (with revenue of $136.7m and expenses of $178.2m). This proves that athletic departments are like people — where people get a promotion and end up spending whatever “new” money they get as a result of the promotion, and end up just as poor as they were before.
It’s inconceivable to me that a Big 10 school could have less revenue than CU given that the Big 10 distributes tens of millions of dollars more than the Big 12 distributes. But, against all odds, apparently Rutgers has found a way. For more on CU’s finances, see:
* Everyone knows that Nebraska is the worst state ever. Ohio State is the 2nd worst.
Quick note to tennis players playing pickleball
COME UP TO THE NET AND DON’T TRY TO PLAY ON THE BACKLINE ALL THE TIME!!!!!!! That’s my Ted Talk.