Monday Grab Bag: Basketball schedule finalized

The @CU_Video team is at it again.  Early last week they released a spectacular video that highlighted the unique beauty of the CU-Boulder campus.  For any and all who have called the University of Colorado home, it was a timely love letter to the most beautiful academic setting in all of God's creation.

If you missed it, please do yourself a favor, and spend a few minutes watching:

(The night time shot of Norlin gives me chills.)

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Today in the bag, I'm talking the completion of the basketball schedule, DirecTV dropping the ball, and the Gold Cup.

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Monday Grab Bag: More roster shakeup in football

So, the good news from last week was that I got a new job!  The bad news?  Well, I'm not yet sure how it will affect my ability to keep up with this blog.  I'm hopeful that I'll still have time during winter evenings to rumble and diatribe my way through all things CU hoops, but I just don't know for sure.

What I do know is that AllBuffs and Twitter are blocked at my new office, leaving me awkwardly disconnected during the day.  I'm essentially operating with one arm tied behind my back, and will no longer be able to keep up with breaking news, such as this from last week.  Probably for the best, anyways.

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Today in the bag, I'm talking roster fluctuation in football, a bonanza of recruiting information in basketball, and a Lefty stunner in the British Open.

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Quick Post: We have an AD

Breaking news time.

Just a few minutes ago, the University of Colorado made it official.  They have hired Rick George - a former assistant AD at CU, and the current president of business operations for the Texas Rangers - to be the new athletic director.  He will be announced at a press conference at 2pm this afternoon.

George was the hot name from the moment Mike Bohn was fired.  It was easy for BuffNation to focus on a former football star (at Illinois) who knows the program, knows Boulder, and has strong sports management credentials.  So easy, in fact, that it became the straight-forward, logical hire.

George now steps into a department that is publicly complaining about it's money woes, while still, purportedly, trying to move the ball on a transformative facilities improvement project.  Hopefully, he's the right man to balance the two, re-heal the fissure that has formed in BuffNation over the past few years, and get Colorado Athletics back into national prominence.

GO BUFFS!

Monday Grab Bag: All-Star week sucks

I know I harp on this every year, but it needs to be said: All-Star week sucks.  The game, and its attendant fanfare, is pointless, boring, and purposely slotted in a dead period where there's nothing else available to draw my attention.  To each their own, but I generally question the sanity of anyone who 'looks forward' to this non-event.

However, that doesn't mean I want the All-Star game 'fixed,' or any of that nonsense being talked about on sports radio.  Middle aged men can wax poetic all they want about Pete Rose destroying Ray Fosse's career and Ted Williams' walk-off home run, but the All-Star Game has always sucked.  They only remember it fondly because the Mid-Summer Classic was one few games televised before the modern era.  Had other baseball been readily available on television, everyone would remember the All-Star Game as the pointless distraction that it has always been.

I know it'll never happen, but the game needs to be dumped from the schedule. And if that only highlights how unnecessarily long the baseball season is, then why not shorten the season while we're at it?

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Today in the bag, I'm talking budget cut announcement, Spencer at the WUG, and 'Dre's first run as a professional.

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Roll in the Brinks truck, Tad's getting paid.

On the same day that it was announced that each athletic program at the University of Colorado was being asked to cut costs by 10%, the terms of Tad Boyle's recent extension were released.  Originally negotiated by former AD Mike Bohn, the new contract (between a slight boost in base pay, increases in supplemental income, tweaks to incentives, and the elimination of retention bonuses) calls for Coach Boyle to receive an extra $700k per year on his contract which runs to April of 2018, bringing the bottom line number to just under $1.5 million per year. The contractual focus is no longer on Coach Boyle earning his keep, but rather now on CU compensating him enough to stay.

Yeah, I'd be smiling too.

It's a well-deserved pay increase for the rock star coach in charge of the most successful program on campus.  After 69 wins and three-straight postseason appearances in his first three seasons (both program records), this raise was, in effect, a no-brainer.

While I never took much stock in the panicked rumors from the last few years that hinted that Tad was soon bound for more lucrative opportunities, I'm comforted by the continued financial commitment to hoops, and hopeful that this raise will give would-be suitors pause.  The total, cash-money number is still lower than some of the rumored/reported outside offers that Tad has received the past few offseasons, but it's a solid step in the direction of financial security for both Boyle and CU.

What's that?  You're still worried about the buyout clause?  Well, it's nothing near the lottery-sized payments included in new UCLA coach Steve Alford's contract, but, should CU and Boyle part ways before the end of April in 2015, the spurned party gets $500k.  At least it's something.

ROLL TAD!

Monday Grab Bag: ... still shaking off the post-4th hangover

Three weeks ago, I made a point of selecting the Colorado Rockies as a surrogate baseball team to follow while My White Sox surge towards true 'dumpster-fire' status.  Of course, since that announcement, the Rox have gone 5-14, slipping below .500, and into third place.  I offer a heartfelt apology to both the Colorado Rockies and their fanbase for bringing the stink of losing with me.

How about I make amends?  I'll reverse course, become a temporary 'fan' of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and drag them, kicking and screaming, into the cellar.  How does that sound?

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It's a Christmas Carol version of the bag, in which I talk Buffs past, present, and future. 

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Happy 'Murika

I wish all of BuffNation a happy and safe Independence Day. Remember, George Washington didn't slay Hessians at 3am so that you could drink Bud Ice. Be a real 'Murikan, and drink craft beer.

One more...

Monday Grab Bag: Dinwiddie headed to Russia

I'm still caught up in the euphoria of hearing Andre Roberson's name belted out by a departing David Stern last week at the NBA Draft.

I only wish I could pull off that look.

This time of year, seeing a player drafted in the first round is about as good as it gets for a program.  With players like Spencer Dinwiddie, Xavier Johnson, Josh Scott, and Wes Gordon sure to get professional looks in future years, draft-watching may become a yearly tradition for BuffNation.

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Today in the bag, I'm talking Spencer Dinwiddie and the WUG, yet another recruiting win for football, Confederations Cup soccer, and the Tour de France.

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