Cleaning out the inbox-

Photo Credit: Hartford Courant

Chipping away further on the inbox cleaning, we move to this past weekend's game for the Civil Conflict Trophy between undefeated Central Florida and Connecticut, which UCF won 49-24.

As most of you that read here know that I absolutely love silly stuff like the Civil Conflict Trophy, which was created by now-former Connecticut coach Bob Diaco in an interesting, but unsuccessful attempt to make someone care about two conference teams that are over a thousand miles apart that are forced to play each other every year (for now anyway) as part of the shifting tectonic plates are known as conference alliances in college football.
Central Florida had no interest in Diaco's idea and after they defeated the Huskies last year, left the trophy on the sideline (in the picture, it is the small object around the 40-yard line) and abandoned it.
Now the question is- where is the trophy?
UCF left it, UConn claims to have searched all over and can't find it, Diaco was fired and when contacted, acted like he was recalling kidney stones and no one has stepped forward with ideas on its current location.
ESPN writes about the situation here and the Hartford Courant has a version here.
Diaco did have a point in trying to create something with the American conference being so spread out and needing some ideas to help fan interest, but this was doomed from day one all things considered.
Here's the classic explanation at the press conference following the UCF win by Diaco on the "rivalry"


Eleven Warriors is my go-to site for Ohio State news and while they didn't break any news this cleaning, they did write this piece on the former home of Buckeye basketball - St.John Arena.
The now-61-year-old arena still hosts the Buckeye volleyball teams, gymnastics teams, and the wrestling team, but hasn't hosted the team since the Schottenstein Center opened in 1998.
Arena's like St.John are so much more "home court friendly" than the latest wave of new arena's and Ohio State (much like Maryland) may have gained in dollars and facilities with the move up, but lost so much in competitive advantage.

This is a few weeks old, but the Milwaukee Bucks used a replica of their 1970's court at the Mecca for a game vs Boston.
I wish more teams would do things like this, but two notes on this- first off, every time I read an article on the Mecca and it mentions the designer Robert Indiana, I cannot help but think of the horrible "The Office" character "Robert California", who almost singlehandedly ruined the show's eighth season.
The other?
The noted expert on everything Kyrie Irving, who insisted that the Bucks were using the original court because "in three steps I could tell the difference in my knees".
I would expect nothing less from a person that believes that the Earth is flat and that men have never walked on the moon.

Most of you know my love for Group of Five (football)/Mid-Major (basketball) sports and you are currently seeing with Houston (AAC) and Boise State (Mountain West) and before joining the Big East Xavier in hoops, but I didn't if I've mentioned being a fan of Wichita State Basketball before I wrote earlier this year about Wichita joining the AAC.
I was asked recently while talking about this with someone (I cannot remember online or in-person) that asked about choosing between Wichita State and Houston.
My answer was easy, Wichita State doesn't play football and I really dislike Houston's scandal-plagued coach (at multiple schools) Kelvin Sampson, so problem solved!
ESPN writes about the Shockers starting the season ranked in the top ten and their move to the AAC from the Missouri Valley.

ESPN finishes this inbox with what I thought was a really interesting article on how college teams take care of their live mascots.
The article covers six different schools, how they take care of the mascot and routines that are dealt with on gameday appearances.
I thought it was interesting and answered some questions that I've had through the years on just this topic.

Cleaning out the inbox

Time for a long overdue inbox cleaning and we start with an ESPN oral article on the career of Bill Belichick.
I found the part on Belichick's tenure in Cleveland with the Browns most interesting.
When you read books and articles on Belichick,there is always a part where people rave about what was being built in Cleveland,what was done in New England was going to happen in Cleveland etc.
I'm not sure how much I believe of that,those Browns were an older team,not built with youth,the drafts were nothing to rave about and it could have been that Belichick learned what not to do in Cleveland and applied it with the Patriots.

ESPN returns with another interesting article on the 1976 Oklahoma-Texas which came with spying accusations,old fashioned hatred,Gerald Ford and a 6-6 tie.
If you wonder why some rivalries are just so heated,it's stuff like this that builds that heat...

After months of schools selling themselves like political candidates and renovating facilities with big bucks,the Big 12 decided not to expand and delivered a seltzer water shot to all the schools that participated in the this roundup without a winner.
The two biggest losers were also the two biggest spenders as Houston and Cincinnati spent tons of money with nothing to show for it.
Cincinnati will have a tough time keeping things rolling with a planned renovation of Nippert Stadium and Houston,despite spending massively on sports infrastructure will now be hard pressed to keep head football coach Tom Herman when the biggest wallets in the game call on Houston to call on Herman to run their program.
The Big 12 is on borrowed time....

Two of our podcast guests each have some new work available.
Christian Guidice's book on Wilfredo Gomez has been released and I'm getting ready to read it as soon as I finish the book that I am reading right now.
Anya Alvarez penned a piece for SB Nation that looks at the skill and the competitors on the Long Drive championship circuit.
The long drivers are simply the players that crush the golf ball off the tee and what it takes to win this championship.
What I found most interesting was Anya's note that many of these players have problems breaking 90 on the course,showing that even in an individual sport like golf,there are specialists in the game...

The Civil ConFLICT trophy takes two bitter rivals in Connecticut and Central Florida places a trophy that can be awarded to the winner of the game.
I write that tongue in cheek as this is another game between two schools stuck in a mid-major conference that they don't really want to be in that has little on the line are playing a game that lacks a lot of passion,
Connecticut coach Bob Diaco started the trophy and tried to create a rival in UCF and instead saw his issues laughed at by the Knights.
Laughed at to the point of UCF tweeting "We have no involvement with the trophy or a rivalry with UConn",but that was was nothing with what was to come after the Knights grabbed a 24-16 victory in Hartford.
The Knights ignored any attempt to take the trophy and left the field-with the trophy NOT in tow!
I love trophy games as much as the next guy and I would have no troubles with a trophy being introduced to a series between teams with some sort of rivalry,but this smacks of all of those Joe Paterno attempts to fit in the Big Ten,when he signed up for various trophy games with half of the conference-Contrived and Manufactured.
Diaco seems like a high energy guy that was looking to add a little interest to just another game,but this is usually a bad idea when both sides agree,but it becomes hilarious when only one side cares..




We wrap up with Hardball Times and their discussion of the return to baseball to Kinston NC and how towns that lose baseball manage to keep things afloat in hopes of getting baseball to return to their town.
It is quite interesting in the lengths of that towns have to take to keep those hopes alive and it also looks back at Albuquerque,New Mexico and Pulaski Va and their time without the game with the results of their return to minor league baseball.
It also discussed the decision to not return the name "Kinston" to the new team in the Carolina League in favor of "Down East",which seems to me to be one of the dumber names in the game...