Lions Fuck Up--Again

The draft was today. The Lions signed Matt Stafford for record money a day early, rather than take a left tackle. Then Michael Oher was still available when the Lions other first round pick (#20) came up, but the Lions took a tight end instead. Maybe they think we won't notice that tight ends are still receivers....aThen the Ravens took Oher with the 23rd pick. Now, very recently (yesterday, I think) ESPN did a piece where they raved about how Baltimore consistently does an excellent job in the draft, so Oher going to the Ravens confirms for me that the Lions should have taken him.

Good for Mike. At least he's not going to a crap team. It will be interesting to see how his career goes, along with Stafford and all the other early round left tackles. Of course, for the most part nobody pays attention to these guys, so keeping track of them will require some effort. Maybe I'll just check to see how many sacks their teams give up.

ESPN did a SportsNation poll asking if you were confident your team would make good picks. Michigan was one of the states that voted for "not at all." So did I, but my vote was counted under worldwide, since I'm in Cuba. Now that I'm on the record as saying that SportsNation polls are 90% stupid, they seem to be coming out with some good ones. Good for them.

I found a list of the most valuable college football programs on www.Forbes.com. Here it is.

1 Notre Dame
2 Texas
3 Georgia
4 Michigan
5 Florida
6 LSU
7 Tennessee
8 Auburn
9 Alabama
10 Ohio State
11 Oklahoma
12 USC
13 Penn State
14 USC
15 Arkansas
16 Texas A&M
17 Washington
18 Nebraska
19 Michigan State
20 Wisconsin

I expected the SEC to have alot of teams, but seven out of the top 12? Eight out of the top 15. Wow. That's right, the first USC on the list is South Carolina. Who knew they were worth more than Southern California? I thought the Trojans would be in the top 3. I didn't have the Gamecocks on my radar. Or gaydar.

South Carolina was the first team that surprised me that they were on the list. Arkansas didn't really surprise me once SC got on there. I was a bit shocked that the Aggies made the list, but I knew they had a huge following, so I guess I could see it. Once they made the list I wasn't completely surprised to see Michigan State either. After Penn State made the list, I figured MSU and Wisconsin were the next most likely, just as I figured that Washington and UCLA were the only other likely candidates from the Pac 10, though I more expected UCLA.

Nebraska wasn't a surprise, though I'd sort of forgotten about them since they haven't done much lately. Surprising omissions? I'd say Florida State, as well as UCLA. Since ticket sales probably matter more than championships, I guess I wouldn't expect Miami. Maybe Georgia Tech....No ACC teams at all....I wasn't surprised to see Auburn on the list, but I expected Alabama to be higher than them.

I wonder how much the big basketball programs are worth. If they are dwarfed by the big football programs then Michigan State probably makes more $$ from sports than Carolina or Duke. Of course, South Carolina probably does too. When I was at Michigan State, we were the only profitable athletic department in the Big Ten, except for Michigan.

Boston College had one defensive lineman drafted in the top 10, and another go early in the 2nd round. Ole Miss had two consecutive first rounders picked. I don't think draft picks are what make these programs valuable, however....

Forbes loves lists. I've looked at a bunch of them recently, especially ones having to do with emplyment and real estate. Overall, these lists will tell you that the economy is jacked up, but especially in California, Arizona, Florida, and Las Vegas. I'd say Nevada, but Vegas is Nevada's economy. The ecomomy is good in Texas, and to a lesser extent Oklahoma. Louisiana seems to be growing, though they probably had nowhere to go but up after the last couple of hurricanes. All these states are big oil producers, which probably isn't a coincidence.

They did a list of Top College Towns, based on liveability, as opposed to raw fotball or basketball prowess. I didn't expect to see East Lansing on the list. Honestly I think the list would lose all credibility for me if it was. The list did not include any big cities, which explains how Austin, Boston, and Seattle stayed off the list. Here is the list, with colleges included, in case you don't recognise these towns.

1 Ann Arbor(Michigan)
2 Palo Alto(Stanford)
3 Madison(Wisconsin)
4 State College(Penn State)
5 Lexington(Kentucky)
6 Fayetteville(Arkansas)
7 Chapel Hill(North Carolina)
8 Columbia(Missouri)
9 Charlottesville(Virginia)
10 Bloomington(Indiana)

The Big Ten did well on this list, and the ACC was included. I expected to see Ann Arbor, Madison, Chapel Hill, and Charlottesville. Omissions? Maybe Boulder(Colorado) or Burlington(Vermont). Maybe Athens(Georgia).

I'm thinking of putting together a list of locations based on quality of Universities, and proximity to casinos, and affordable housing. Ummm, make that affordable universities (read public). I may weigh in proximity to professional sports teams as well, or possibly the success of the colleges in football & basketball. Interestingly, Ann Arbor would score well on this list as well, due to the pro teams in Detroit, and the casinos there, as well as in the rest of Michigan and in Windsor. The Notre Dame/Chicagoland area would score pretty well here too. Notre Dame is private, but IU and Purdue are decent schools... There is talk that Texas could legalize poker. That would make Texas shoot up the list. Otherwise, Texas is near casinos as long as you are near Louisiana or Oklahoma. Or New Mexico. Why not live in one of those states? Easy. Texas and Texas A & M are better schools than Oklahoma or LSU. Of course, I'm not considering Tulane, Rice, or Baylor on the list, because they are private. Ditto for St Johns in Santa Fe.