The world according to Jim:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Remember my suggestions that college football might someday be headed for a Super League concept,<\/a> with promotion and relegation and a clear demarcation between the haves and the have-nots?<\/p>\n It\u2019s creeping closer. And if the latest proposal for a 16-team College Football Playoff \u2013 along with the recent Southeastern Conference meetings \u2013 are any indication, it will be sooner rather than later. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 We are already seeing the SEC and Big Ten, backed by ESPN and Fox, throwing their influence around with the proposal that those conferences between them would divvy up half of the automatic slots in a 16-team field. In fact, the SEC people are making noises about turning their conference championship weekend into a play-in round for their league\u2019s third and fourth automatic qualifiers, and can we assume that the Big Ten will follow suit? \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 Meanwhile, the Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conferences \u2013 third and fourth among \u201cequals\u201d \u2013 get two spots each. Notre Dame, with no reason now to ever join a conference for football, is seemingly assured of a spot if the Irish don\u2019t trip over their own shoelaces. That leaves three at-large spots, including one token berth for whichever Group of Six team is highest ranked. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 But wait: It gets crazier. The House v. NCAA settlement still hasn\u2019t been approved yet, but programs from coast to coast are trying to figure out how to share whatever profits there might be with the athletes \u2013 or if there will be anything available to share, in the case of the coupon-clippers among the NCAA membership \u2013 while certain voices are pleading for Congress to give college athletics antitrust protection. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 And now, this headline spied on the AL.com (Alabama News Group) website Thursday, quoting the SEC commissioner: \u201cGreg Sankey: SEC prefers to remain in NCAA, but wants more power.\u201d<\/a> And this didn\u2019t just come out of nowhere. Sankey told reporters covering the conference meetings: \u201cI\u2019ve shared with the decision-making working group that I have people in my room asking \u2018Why are we still in the NCAA?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Bottom line: Sankey discussed a membership structure where the four autonomous conferences would stand alone. But given that the recent football proposal has created a schism and basically led administrators in the ACC and Big 12 to declare that they don\u2019t trust those in the two larger conferences,<\/a> how\u2019s that supposed to work? Especially when a Big 12 athletic director, not for attribution, was quoted by Yahoo\u2019s Ross Dellinger as saying of the football playoff concept, \u201cI guess we\u2019re going to war.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 Oh, by the way, NCAA president Charlie Baker picked these moments to talk about expansion of March Madness. If the NCAA tournament goes to 72 or 76 teams, how many will the two behemoth conferences demand? (Hint: There are 34 teams in those two conferences combined.) \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 And we thought the uproar over the future of the USC-Notre Dame football rivalry was loud. (Which it is, and which it should be.) But cheer up: Once everything shakes out, maybe the Trojans and Irish will wind up in the same Super League division.<\/p>\n Trust me. At this rate, it\u2019s coming. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 The Dodgers are asking for patience with Tanner Scott while he sorts things out,<\/a> as noted in Bill Plunkett\u2019s off-day story. But fans are notoriously not patient, especially with a guy who signed a four-year, $72 million contract and has five blown saves before we\u2019ve even gotten to June, three of them in the last five appearances. And so the question: How loud will the boos be when he comes out of the bullpen at home? \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 The greater problem: Most of the Dodgers\u2019 leverage bullpen arms are still on the injured list. Acquiring Alexis Diaz from Cincinnati<\/a>, after he\u2019d been demoted to Triple-A, is a stopgap move. Diaz will work out first at Camelback Ranch, and ideally he\u2019ll get to L.A. in time to catch up with his brother, Edwin Diaz, who will be in town with the New York Mets next week. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 Today\u2019s quiz: Which L.A. coach\/manager uttered the words \u201cGo, and don\u2019t dance\u201d to one of his players? Answer below. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 Shall we pause for a moment of sympathy for our friends from New England? The Boston Globe\u2019s Dan Shaughnessy noted that his region had 13 pro sports championships this century, but in the middle of this decade the Celtics seem to be headed from banner to rebuild and everyone else is, as he put it, in \u201cLoserville.\u201d<\/a> Shaughnessy wrote that the Celtics\u2019 championship last year was the region\u2019s only title since 2020, though he skipped over two Major League Rugby crowns by the New England FreeJacks the last two years. (That would give the region 15.)<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Southern California has 24 this century \u2013 Lakers 6, Galaxy 6, Sparks 2, Dodgers 2, Kings 2, Ducks 1, Angels 1, LAFC 1, Rams 1, and the late lamented rugby Giltinis 1. Since 2020 alone, we have six (Dodgers 2, Lakers, Rams, Galaxy and Giltinis 1 apiece). But nah, we\u2019re not bragging. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 For what it\u2019s worth, New York\/New Jersey has 10 titles in the 21st century and four in the 2020s, one each in the WNBA, NWSL, MLS and Major League Rugby. (But New England still has the clam chowder edge over Manhattan, so there is that.) \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 Quiz answer: Don Perry, who had been coach of the Kings 19 days when he was suspended by the league for 15 days (and six games)<\/a> in 1982 for uttering those words to journeyman forward Paul Mulvey, after a brawl had broken out during a game in Vancouver a week prior. Mulvey, who interpreted those words as an order to fight, refused to leave the bench, was subsequently told to stay away from the team and then was sent to the minors. That, in turn, reignited the debate over fighting in hockey.<\/a><\/p>\n