The much-ballyhooed Pac-12 network went dark Sunday night. It was a media experiment of arrogant proportions led by former chairman Larry Scott. The network was launched in 2012 when college athletics transcended into their pimp daddy phase. Their unpaid athletes were their product and misguided sense that there was an endless desire for that product. The PAC-12 was not in the basic cable plan; they were an add on. Collegiate sports networks sprung up across America during this period. Comcast was the underlying network for the PAC-12. The league and Uncle Larry built magnificent facilities right in the heart of downtown SF. They were in the same area as Twitter, Salesforce and all the fast-growing companies. They built a state-of-the-art broadcast facility. As a media startup, the nascent Pac-12 built their own 30 Rock without the rocks to pay for it. The rent was exorbitant for the product and the revenue it created. The location was completely unnecessary. But the PAC-12 was printing money they thought they had. Larry Scott had a 12-year media deal, but he only signed an 11-year lease. The league has since abandoned their Taj Mahal for San Ramon on the AT&T campus. And besides living outside of their means they were overpaid $72 million per year some of the years by Comcast for their product. Comcast figured this out in 2022 but Larry and the team knew about it as early as 2015. Since everyone has left except OSU and WSO good luck collecting Xfinity. Larry Scott was paid $50 million for his efforts from 2009 until his hasty exit in 2021. Good work if you can get it and you don’t even have to be that good. WSU and OSU are sitting on the $65 million bankroll that is left of this debacle. Good luck trying to recruit the Mountain West to the last reiteration.
There was mild outrage that Caitlin Clark was left off the Women’s Olympic basketball team. Clark has been the national darling since leading Iowa to the NCAA finals this past March. She broke every college scoring record, both men’s and women’s during her collegiate career. Because of COVID, Clark could have played one more season, but she graduated with her class and was the first pick in the WNBA draft. The Indiana Fever has sold out all over the country as fans clammer to see this generational talent. How could she be left of the Olympics? Many have suggested that there would be tremendous marketing potential to have Clark on the team. That could be true, but the reality is Clark is not one of the best 15 players in US women’s basketball. She could be some time but her numbers in the WNBA are down. She shot 47% from the field and 40% from 3-point. In the WNBA, she is shooting 40% and 35%. She averaged 31 points a game in college and now 16 in the pros. She is good and will get better, but the players on the US team are bigger, stronger and more experienced than Clark. Caitlin has better shoe deals than all of them. We hope to see her play on the 2028 team in Los Angeles.
In our last blog, we lamented the passing of many sports heroes in the past year. It is impossible to keep up but say hey? Say it ain’t so, Jo? The OG of five tool players died last week at 93. Willie Mays stole home and slid into the great beyond. Willie came up with the Birmingham Black Barons playing at Rickwood Field. MLB scheduled a tribute game at Rickwood between the Cardinals and Giants. Mays died a few days before the event, and it became a tribute to him. Say hey was promoted to the New York Giants in 1951. This was just four years after Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color barrier. Let’s just say it was not Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood yet. There was still a virtual color barrier, but the great negro athletes could not be ignored any longer. They brought fans to the ballpark even if they would not share a bathroom with them. By the time Jackie was finally “allowed” to play for the Dodgers he was already 28. Willie was one of those generational talents and he made it to the show at age 20. It took Jackie eight seasons with the Boys of Summer in 1955 to win Brooklyn a pennant. Mays led the Giants to their first WS title in 21 years over the heavily favored Cleveland Indians in 1954. The then Indians had won 111 games in a 154-game season for a .720 winning percentage. The Giants swept them with Willie making “the catch”. Mays moved with the Giants to SF but would never win another title. He was the first player with 3,000 and 600 home runs. He led the league in homeruns four times and stolen bases four times. He was a 24-time all-star. God bless, Willie. The Baby Bull is on his way, keep an eye out. In the Field of Dreams, a power hitting first baseman is important.
The major league baseball season is a battle of attrition. Baseball is not as physical a style of play as the NFL or NBA. But those leagues don’t have a rawhide rock that gets thrown at 98 mph at their players and can leave the bat at 114 mph. The NFL and NBA do not keep exit velocity stats. Hard balls batted hard at players without pads running bases on dirt surrounded by grass the opportunity for injury is exponential. Losing key players and injured pitching can derail any season. The Dodgers lost Mookie for 6-8 weeks, but they are hanging in there for now. The Phils just lost Harper and Schwarber to soft tissue injuries which can linger longer than a clean break. Kershaw is supposed to be back soon but for how long? Every team in first place is ahead of the second-place team by at least five games. All will all be revealed with deliberate precision. Go Dodgers!
Epilogue The conference that produced the UCLA basketball dynasty, Steve Prefontaine, USC football dynasties and eight Heisman winners, Stanford Women’s basketball dynasty, Jackie Robinson, Reggie and Cheryl Miller, Oregon State baseball championship and many others have left the building. Tiger Woods golfed for the Cardinal. Who can forget Pat Tillman? John Elway and Aaron Rogers never won an NCAA title, but they did win three Super Bowls. The Pac-12 won 561 national championships, 200 more than the 2nd place conference. The Pac-12 women’s water polo won all 23 NCAA titles. Men’s water polo won the last 26 in a row. The Stanford Cardinal Women’s golf team won the very last of those titles in May. The UW Boys of the boats won the last Pac-12 Rowing championship. So much great history is now history. Thanks for the memories.
Happy 4th of July!
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