For all of the whining about the BCS system that we hear this time every year, don’t get your hopes up for a playoff. I posted earlier about how vested the bowls, cities and ESPN was in the current system, but a far more important point against a playoff needs to be made. Quite simply, the men and women who control college athletics, that is, the college presidents, don’t want it. They may not be happy with the BCS system, but for the most part they do not want to see a playoff adopted. An interesting article in tomorrow’s New York Times points out the difference in opinion between the conference commissioners, who all want a playoff, or at least the so-called “Plus One” system, and the presidents who aren’t even excited by that possibility.

Another significant obstacle to any form of playoff system is the almost unanimous and adamant opposition of the Big Ten, Pac 10 and the Rose Bowl. The presidents of the Big 10 and Pac 10 would rather go back to the old bowl system, before the BCS, than adopt any real playoff system. In their minds, the BCS itself, not only jeopardizes their prized relationship with the Rose Bowl, but places far more emphasis on the so-called national championship than the regular season and league titles, which is where they feel it belongs. Remember also that ABC holds the Rose Bowl contract, while Fox holds the contract to the rest of the BCS games. It’s no accident that the Rose Bowl has always maintained its own contract. It and its two conference partners are ready to break away at any point that they don’t like the direction the rest of the conferences choose to take. If that were to happen, the dream of a national championship playoff would quickly die for what kind of playoff would there be without teams from the Big Ten and Pac 10?

The North Carolina Bar Association took the virtually unprecedented step yesterday of filing an ethics complaint against Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong accusing him of violating North Carolina ethics rules during numerous media interviews he gave shortly after a woman accused members of the Duke lacrosse team of raping her at a team party last spring.Nifong , who has been repeatedly criticized for his handling of the case, is accused of making inflammatory remarks about the team to the news media and misleading the public about evidence.

The Bar complaint took issue with the numerous public statements Nifong in the days after the party, when he granted dozens of interviews to seemingly anyone with a microphone or a camera. If Nifong saw a reporter in those days, he never failed to take the opportunity to excoriate the lacrosse team and demonize the players. According to the complaint,many of those comments were unethical because they crossed over into improper commentary about the defendants and the evidence.

More serious, however, is the allegation that Nifong engaged in “dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation” by suggesting to reporters that a condom was used in the alleged attack when he had in his possession a sexual assault examination report that indicated otherwise.

While the Supreme Court has a variety of penalties at its disposal, including disbarment and suspension for up to five years, the immediate effect is to increase the pressure to remove Nifong from the case due to his conflict of interest. Clearly, he now has additional personal interest in the case that calls for his removal as the impersonal judgement required of a prosecutor committed to the impartial administration of justice is clearly absent.

UPDATE: The pressure on Nifong to step down builds as the North Carolina District Attorney Association has now called on him to step down, saying:

“it is in the interest of justice and the effective administration of criminal justice that Mr. Nifong immediately withdraw and recuse himself from the prosecution.”

I can’t really believe I’m writing this but my son and I are watching bowl games and we (well, to be fair, he) wonders why there is nothing on the scoreboard in the corner of the screen noting the name of the bowl that we are watching. Now, this is one of those “duh” moments. It’s so obvious that you wonder why nobody that of it before. Not only is it a public service, especially on days like today when there are five bowls and you lose track of what you’re watching, but it’s a lost revenue opportunity. After all, with every bowl now having a corporate sponsor, that identity under the scoreboard is an ad that has real worth and should be factored into the next rights package. If you want to know how much it’s worth, check with FIFA and see what World Cup went for – they were almost all of the banner under scoreboard variety.

The Carnival of the NBA edition #39, the Holiday Edition is now up at Bullets Forever. It is a can’t miss edition and you should get over there now .

I want to call your attention to an excellent new blog on college basketball, long one of the blogosphere more underrepresented areas. It can be found here and while under the auspices of SNY tv is by no means restricted to teams in the NYC metropolitan area. The author ranges far and wide across the national basketball landscape and covers the entire scene from the Big East to the Pac 10. If you like hoops, it’s well worth checking out.

Nike is introducing ts latest signature line in January and its the first to feature a soccer player, two time world player of the year, Ronaldinho. He joins Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Tiger Woods among those with signature lines in the Nike stable. The future of Nike’s soccer division may in great part rest on the magic feet of the Brazilian.

Nike had hoped to make great strides at the most recent World Cup, placing a very large bet on Brazil. That bet, however, as those of many of the world’s gamblers, crapped out with the desultory showing of Team Samba. Arch rival Adidas by contrast had a great World Cup, as the official ball of the tournament and the outfitter of Germany, among others, Adidas was everywhere. It too had placed several large bets on the tournament but in contrast to Nike, it cashed most of its bets and rode the World Cup to the largest sale of soccer shoes and gear in its history.

While Ronaldinho did not have a particular good World Cup and didn’t repeat as FIFA World Player of the Year this year, he is far and away the most popular young player in the world. He is a delight to watch and has an infectious smile that makes him a marketer’s dream. The fact that his club team, FC Barcelona is the reigning European champion and one of the favorites to repeat certainly adds to his marketability. If you’re Nike and you’re going to make a bet on one player, he’s probably the one to make the bet on. He is as close to a sure thing as there is in the game today.

In the spirit of the season, let’s just call Charlotte Bobcats Principal Owner Bob Johnson Scrooge. According to a report in Sunday’s Charlotte Observer, Johnson blocked the donation of a minority interest in the team to a local foundation that supports the Carolinas Health Care System. Minority owner Felix Sabates wanted to donate the interest, which he values at $1.34 million, to the foundation, on whose board he sits, but Johnson, who would have to approve the transaction according to the club’s partnership agreement, vetoed the deal.

While there appears to be some initial confusion over whether Johnson was invoking the NBA as an excuse, in the end it is clear that Johnson made the decision on his own to veto the deal. The only explanation offered is that he did not want a non-profit organization as an owner of the Bobcats.

It would appear to an outsider like me that Johnson has kicked away an opportunity to create some very positive public relations for the club while gaining access to a great Board of Directors. Hospitals generally have as Board members leaders of the business community that Johnson may not have reached, given the Bobcats attendance and sponsorship problems. Adding negative publicity from turning down an existing sponsorship as a potential owner just doesn’t seem too smart.

I would just like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a belated Happy Hanukkah (now that it’s over) and a very Happy and Healthy New Year to you and all of your loved ones. I will be here through next week so I will be posting although no promises on the frequency. It should be fairly regularly I hope. Anyway, enjoy your holidays and if you’re traveling, safe journeys.

In what is likely a first in US professional sports, team owner Angela Batinovich of the Portland LumberJax and player Adam Bysouth are engaged. Now, Batinovich isn’t just any owner, as you can see from the picture, but besides that she is the reigning executive of the year in the National Lacrosse League – that’s the indoor league if you, like me, have trouble keeping the league’s apart.

Bysouth however is another story. A midfielder, or transition player in indoor parlance, he played in 13 of the 16 regular season games scoring 6 assists and collecting 32 looseballs (yes, that is a statistic maintained by the league). He is also the team’s director of community relations. The two began dating when she was scouting a game he played in Anaheim as she was investigating the league for investment. The relationship continued when the team in Anaheim folded and Portland became picked him up.
HT to The Big Lead

We all know that Dwyane Wade was MVP of the Playoffs and SI Sportsman of the Year, but the real sign that he has entered into a new universe of fame, fortune and celebrity comes tomorrow. On Christmas Day, the Heat play the Lakers, in what ABC/ESPN have been dubbing for weeks (or is it months) in endless promotions, a Christmas tradition, which of course only began a couple of years ago when Shaq moved to Miami. Nevertheless, Wade’s soaring into a new level of hype and fame comes tomorrow with the introduction of the Converse Candy Cane Wade 1.3. A new shoe design that Wade will wear one time that will go on sale tomorrow in a limited edition. There are any number of players who now have signature shoes, but there are very few who have limited editions like this one – a run of only 10,000 according to Converse. Fame in basketball is always governed by the shoes.