Yahoo team ranking story says this about the Chiefs:

15 — The overreaction to the Chiefs’ season will be fierce. People have been dying to dunk on the NFL’s current dynasty, and now is their chance. No, the Chiefs don’t need a full rebuild. They just haven’t won close games. Kansas City is still the No. 7 team in DVOA this season after Sunday’s loss, ahead of teams like Denver, Buffalo, Philadelphia and New England. Haters will get in their licks now. Level-headed people will understand it’s just an unlucky season for a team that’s still good.

A friend had an alternate theory on DP that I hadn’t heard.

He’s simply bored with college ball.

I'm seeing Flory mentioned more and more in mock drafts this year.
Good for him. I still think he's way undersized (no freaking way he's 6-10), and needs more offensive game to have a consistent NBA career.
we can dream, right?

Looks like the USA got a great group draw.

Paraguay, Australia and the winner of a three-team playoff.

The Australians aren’t a pushover, but all our games are winnable.

I hear others saying England is in the group of death, but I don’t see any really crazy groups.

Ha, seems like i'm the only one in this thread, but may as well keep myself entertained!

Well hmmmm. this got interesting.

The Titans are hiring 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh as their next head coach, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Didn't see that Saleh was even in the equation. I think he should have stayed in SF as a coordinator, but where does that leave Nagy????

Just a reminder for some...you can cancel your ESPN+ subscription if ya want. We just have one more hoops game on Dec. 22, then that's it til football or hoops next year.

Holy smokes! $31M a year for Trent McDuffie!!

Chiefs for sure could not afford that price tag. wow.

Totally not a game-related comment ... but i think Gus Johnson and Jimmy Jackson are now my favorite announcing duo. Head and shoulders above the rest IMO. Excellent back and forth, with JJ providing solid insight.

wow! i had to DVR the game, and was just finishing it up ... with BYU making a furious comeback. and the freaking recording stopped with 1:27 left!! WTF!!!!
Didn't get to see the end. incredible. looks like we won though. Assuming DP didn't make a miraculous appearance at the end?

Nicely done Chiefs! Sucks to lose, but they now own the No. 9 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft! yay.

CHIEFS ADDITIONS AND SUBTRACTIONS so far

ADDS

Travis Kelce / TE

Khyiris Tonga / nose tackle

Kenneth Walker III / RB

Alohi Gilman / safety

Tyquan Thornton / WR

James Winchester / Long snapper

LOSSES

Josh Williams / DB

Bryan Cook / Safety

Trent McDuffie / DB

Gardner Minshew / QB

Jaylen Watson / DB

Jawaan Taylor / O line

Mike Caliendo. O line

Mike Danna / D line

KC for sure needs a quality backup who may have to start the season if Mahomes needs more time. I was hoping Minshew would stick around.

@bshark Yea, the secondary is a mess right now. one reason i thought spending less on a RB would be smart. oh well. I'm no GM.

Looks like we got a D lineman from the Patriots. Dunno much about him, but he's apparently a run stuffing nose tackle.

Wow was I wrong about the Chiefs spending the cash on Walker! Didn’t think they could afford him and still sign multiple defensive backs. Wow. Nice.

Holy smokes! $31M a year for Trent McDuffie!!

Chiefs for sure could not afford that price tag. wow.

@bskeet said in Saving College Sports!:

Personally, I want the players to be fairly compensated for their contributions. "Fair" is hard to determine in a world where there is such insane discrepancy in compensation from our current system. I'm not for socialism at all. But I feel like our current system of unfettered capitalism invites a lot of greed and that invites a lot of fraud and so it's not going great.

I'm not trying to be political -- so let me bring it back to the point. The college system seems to face a similar bipolar crossroads.

What it needs is a goldilocks solution -- not what it was (players were used, other people got rich), but not succumbing to a "whatever the market will bear" (unfettered capitalism) concept. I feel like that approach would be akin to throwing up our hands and letting the product compete with the professional product (i.e. NBA) where it will certainly fail and lose its soul in the process.

There's some place in or near the middle where this needs to land and be STABLE for a while. That means key parameters (such as compensation) need to have boundaries and restrictions established which can be both enforced and adjusted over time.

Right now the approach is patch-this... patch-that, like band-aids on band-aids — and it's wearing out. I do think a wholistic look at the system would be good. I disagree that one guy (who probably ought to be spending all of his time thinking about more important things than CBB NIL) is the best way to get to that system. The best solutions usually are hashed out by a collective of experts. Should be the same here.

Just my 2cents.

Maybe Condoleeza Rice and the IARP are available? Oh wait, they folded! doh!

But i'm with ya. All good points. Hard to find a solution without pissing somebody off. we are a capitalist country, but of course have regulation everywhere you look. no need to reinvent the wheel here (i hope).

My main worry is that all these player salaries are gonna bankrupt the system and keep just a few teams at the top. well, and the year to year transfers, too. that i really dislike.

So we're back to collective bargaining i guess. Players need to unionize to see if they can get a big share of that TV revenue stream.

@mayjay said in Saving College Sports!:

@rockchalkjayhawk I have yet to hear about a single athlete forcing any school to pay him or her a dollar. The schools seem to be willing to throw millions at the elites. Most don't get that much.

Like baseball owners, schools spend like crazy (and thus my post about coaches' salaries) and keep crying for someone to stop them from destroying their sports with the high salaries they offer. "Oh, no, please make new laws to protect me from myself!"

Sure, let's talk about athletes "forcing" payment for a second.

Here's how it ends up...if the athletes at Kansas aren't paid going rates, or what top athletes get on the market, then Kansas Basketball is no longer gonna be Kansas basketball. How's that leave us fans? not that we're that important, but we are. Without fans, you really have no major college sports.

I can't speak to the laws as you can, so not sure how to argue your point.

@mayjay said in Saving College Sports!:

The solution to breaking the antitrust laws should not be disallowing protections to an entire class of people. It should be to find the same solution as in all pro sports: make the players employees. Then, yes, collective bargaining can lead to transfer and compensation rules and restrictions.

See, there ya go. "pro" sports.

Yea, not an easy topic. I don't know how to fix it, but it's broken.

I see @mayjay 's points, but i also think it's ridiculous to let students transfer to a different school every year like mercenaries to the highest bidder. It's college. I refuse to think it's a pro sport. It's not, and shouldn't be. There need to be rules. I'm not against players being paid, but i think insolvency is near when players are asking $4M+ a year. Again, it's college. That is not sustainable, or even possible for the majority of schools.

College sports could very well end up trying what the powerhouses of the soccer world tried, and failed to do: take the top 12 or so club teams and complete against each other only. Stupid. I guess they are already trying with conference realignment.

If we refuse to impose rules and regulations, just ditch the academic part and call it a day. There will be a salary cap, and players can use NIL as endorsement money. Some will get paid, some won't.

Next thing you're getting into forming unions, collective bargaining, and who knows what else. Nightmare. I repeat, it's college.

If you're fine with a player earning all he or she possibly can, i understand, but it could be the ruin of college sports.

Always nice to beat the sheep lovers.

Rock Chalk!