ECisGod

I think a big part of the issue with officiating is that they are technically independent contractors with little to no accountability. For most refereeing is their side hustle. It's even worse in college basketball. They are trying to work a fulltime gig and referee 5 or 6 games a week on top of that. Game ends in Lincoln at 9 or 10 PM, shower, change and hop on a red eye to wherever their next game is. They do a little remote work for their full-time gig and then get ready for the game they are doing that night. They also work for multiple conferences. It isn't uncommon for a college basketball ref to work for the B1G, MAC and possibly a third conference in the same general geographical area. The solution is to for the conferences to hire referees as full-time employees and assign them games like the NFL/NBA does. If they do a poor job, they get reprimanded and if they don't improve, they don't get rehired for the next season. There is no reason the conferences (especially the B1G and SEC) can't just hire full time officials. In the case of basketball, they shouldn't be allowed to work more than 2-3 games/week. Veteran NBA refs do around 70 games/year over the course of the regular season, but the regular season is almost 6 months long. It works out to about 2.8 games/week. I think there would be a marked improvement if there were actual consequences to poor officiating.

A one-off lunch would not be taxed but providing multiple meals per day 7 days a week would be considered a fringe benefit by the IRS. Same with swag. If your employer gives you a coffee mug or shirt or something small it wouldn't be taxable, but with the amount of gear handed out by Adidas/Nike/Under Armour to everyone in the athletic department it would likely be taxable.

Taxes on not just the scholarship. There would be taxes on any food at training tables, and gear they get for "free" (shoes, t-shirts, etc.), tutoring, athletic training and more. They would all be considered fringe benefits and show up on their W-2 at the end of the year. It would probably be OK for the starters on the football team & some of the volleyball and men's basketball players, but everyone else would be hosed at the end of the year when it came time to file taxes.

...and the horse they rode in on?

Creighton isn't a state school. They are a private school within the state.

It may be a way out of his legal troubles, but it won't help his NCAA issues. Definitely won't be playing for the Huskers this year.

Nice to see that Keita put on about 15 pounds. Hopefully it's all muscle and he can hold his own in the post.

Japan hold on to win 80-73. Only scored 7 points in the 4th quarter. Tominaga with 22 points. Made his first 6 threes.

Tominaga with 16 poits at the half. Japan up 50-37 over Cape Verde.

You don't like watching a winning program?

Hooray - after being at the VB game last night & not getting home until WAY past my bedtime, I'm very zombie like today.

Could be beautiful in mid-October or it could be snowing. I'd pay to see them play with snow on the court.

Japan won again today in the 17-32 side of the tournament (essentially the loser's bracket). Tominaga didn't have a good game - 5 points on 2-8 shooting (1-5 from 3) in 14 minutes. Japan 86-77 Venezuela (Aug 31, 2023) Box Score - ESPN The play Cape Verde on Saturday for their last game of the tournament. At least I think it's their last game.

At least for football games they use traffic cops to control foot/vehicle traffic which would have helped a lot. There were multiple times we could see the busses, but they couldn't get through traffic at 16th & R. I agree that the busses were nice and the drivers were friendly. Like I said, they two guys they had trying to organize were working their tails off. They just needed some more people and a little more help from the athletic department to let people know which line to be in to get back to the correct place. It would have been pretty easy to put of some kind of line system with them labeled so everyone knew what line to get into. I stuck around to watch a little of Scotty McCreery in hopes that the people with kids would clear. It did as far as getting out of the stadium but was no help on the shuttle service. I never go to football games, so I don't know what the post-game shuttle traffic is like. Not a big football fan (in a general sense). The last time I was in Memorial Stadium before last night, Frank Solich was the coach.

The atmosphere in the stadium was great. First time I've been to a volleyball match live, so that was pretty cool. If they do this again, they need to work on the transportation to/from the satellite lots. It took over an hour in line to get a bus to the stadium and over an hour in line to get back. I also didn't see any traffic cops directing traffic around the drop off/pickup location near the Lied Center. After the match there seemed to be only two guys trying to organize the buses/lines. They worked their tails off, but with only two of them it was semi-organized chaos.

Really good story about the volleyball team on ESPN - featured story at the top of the main page. How Nebraska volleyball plans to pack Memorial Stadium - ESPN

Sorry you think I'm unfun. I just don't enjoy watching sports on TV. I'd rather be there in person. I have found that as I get older, I have less patience for stupidity and most TV/radio commentators fall into the "stupid" category for me. I actually spend most of my entertainment budget on live music rather than sporting events. I love college hoops and have season tickets for the Huskers (my dad & I have been going for ~45 years), but rarely go to football games because I don't like being packed in like sardines. Somehow, I always seem to get a seat next to some 400lb person who takes up their seat and mine. Hopefully the Memorial Stadium renovation they will replace plank seating with actual seats and being in the stadium will be more enjoyable.

Keisei may have shot them out of the game. Had 8 points on 17 shots including 0-10 from 3. Japan lost 109-89. Australia 109-89 Japan (Aug 29, 2023) Box Score - ESPN

I wasn't talking about them broadcasting WNBA games. I was talking about what they show on Sports Center. I know they are forced to broadcast the games because of their NBA contract. What they don't have to do is show five minutes of highlights for 3-4 games when they spend 2-3 minutes on 13-15 MLB games. I rarely watch an entire football game ever. Doesn't matter if NU is playing. In fact I seem to watch less less live sports because I find the announcers to be slightly dumber than a bag of hammers and find myself swearing at them for their inane comments.

ESPN has been trash for a long time. The only thing I watch on there is F1. Even Sports Center has become unwatchable. The anchors are morons with the personalities of a block of wood. This time of year, the only stories are preseason NFL and them trying to prove that the WNBA is worth watching (it's not). They cover 15 MLB games in about 3 minutes of highlights and any preseason CFB is SEC only - because they are the only conference they care about (it has been that way for a long time).

I know football season hasn't started yet, but it's only 75 days until the first real game (Lindenwood on 11/6), 33 for the first day of practice and 67 until the exhibition against Doane.

Very few teams seem to be able to keep HS players. They all think they should start from day one and if they don't they are looking for somewhere else that promises more PT, even if it is just lip service.

I think the MWC would disband so they can "join" the Pac and avoid the 30M+ exit fee. It would take 9 of the 12 MWC members voting to disband, but if it means joining the Pac, I think they'd do it. San Diego State & Boise State would vote to disband in a heartbeat if it gave them even the slightest chance to be part of the "Power 5".

Sounds like the ACC aren't interested in Cal or Stanford. I think the most likely scenario is a merger between the Pac4 and the Mountain West becoming the Pac16 with a TV deal better than what the MWC has, but nowhere near what the Pac4 are used to getting. MWC is currently getting around 4M/team/season from TV (they distributed 6.6M this year with NCAA hoops/bowl money). The Pac4 schools are getting around 21M/year/team under the TV deal that expires next year. I would expect that the Pac16 could get somewhere in the range of the AAC (7M/year/team) or a little more (10M at most). They would still be a third-tier conference from a TV $$$ standpoint, but if they could keep the Pac in their name, they could argue that they would still be a "power" conference because by NCAA rules there are five "autonomy conferences" (B1G, SEC, ACC, Big12, Pac12) and everyone else is in the "Group of Five" which could become a "Group of Four". I think it would be an uphill climb, but I'm sure they would make the argument.

San Diego State doing everything they can to get into a power league and failing miserably. San Diego State fails in attempt to create new 'Power Five' conference with Pac-12, Mountain West, AAC members - CBSSports.com