The world according to Jim:
• On the first full day of the 2025 college football season, it must be asked once again: Did USC and UCLA horribly miscalculate in the summer of 2022, when both decided to leave the Pacific-12 (and, in effect, began the exodus that turned a Power Five conference into one of the Others)?
Or maybe we should rephrase that. …
• The late Jesse Unruh, during his days as the all-powerful speaker of the California state assembly in the 1960s, once was quoted as saying, “Money is the mother’s milk of politics.” That’s still true, but the quotation could equally apply to college athletics, especially in the NIL era, where big-time athletic departments’ chase for dollars is insatiable and the money gets spent about as fast as it comes in.
Given that calculation, the full shares of Big Ten media contract disbursements – which the L.A. schools received as the early adopters, the first schools to defect – were the overriding factor behind the move. With the lure of the $75 million or so per year available in the Big Ten’s contracts, part of a seven-year, $7 billion haul that was enhanced by the addition of the teams in the nation’s second-largest TV market, it seems to have been no choice at all.
That is, as long as your concern is the finances. …
• Now, if your main interest – like most fans – is the competitiveness of the school’s athletic programs, and particularly that of football, it’s a legitimate argument that SC and UCLA made a big mistake. …
• A year ago, the teams’ first season in the Big Ten, USC went 4-5 in conference play, 7-6 overall, finished tied for ninth in the conference and lost five conference games by a total of 19 points (at Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland and Washington, and at home to Penn State in overtime). The Bruins went 5-7 overall, 3-6 in conference play and finished 14th.
And while preseason forecasts can be extremely deceptive, the current consensus is that both the Trojans and Bruins will occupy the squishy middle of this 18-team conference in 2025. They could surprise, and as is the case with the vast majority of college programs optimism is the order of the day as the season begins. But if you had to bet – and trust me, we suggest you don’t – would you feel comfortable investing in either USC or UCLA? …
• And consider: In the old days, in the old conference, we always argued that the performance of the L.A. schools determined the perception of the Pac-12. Oregon people, as you might imagine, didn’t care for that opinion.
But in the Big Ten, Oregon last season was as competitive as always – and probably would have made some noise in the playoffs if the seeding process hadn’t matched them against conference foe and eventual national champ Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The Ducks are legitimate championship contenders in the new league. The Trojans and Bruins aren’t, yet. …
• Take the chances of football success – slim, until proven otherwise – and then lay atop that the scheduling challenges in other sports (particularly men’s and women’s basketball), and then ask yourself: Was the move worth it?
Unless you’re specifically involved with the program’s finances, I think I know the answer most people would give. …
• This is, incidentally, a Taylor/Travis-free zone. God bless ’em, and may they have a happy marriage, but you’ll hear and read enough about that story other places. …
• The Rams have unveiled new alternate “Midnight Mode” uniforms, as part of what the NFL has dubbed its “rivalries” program. The reaction here – as, admittedly, one who is generally underwhelmed (and occasionally repelled) by alternate uniforms – is, “Why?”
Yeah, we know, additional merchandise sales. But be honest: How many of these reimaginings of teams’ uniforms are really attractive? Very few, and not this one. …
• But I am curious. If you are a fan of alternate uniforms, which ones do you like the most and why? And if you aren’t, tell me your biggest objection. The best answers could wind up in print. …
• Line of the week comes from old friend Tom Krasovic at our corporate sibling, the San Diego Union-Tribune: “But frankly, the Dodger dog is overrated.” Not sure I agree, but a good pun usually gets my attention. …
• The opposing managers in last year’s World Series are dealing with adversity in different ways. Dave Roberts – often under fire from Dodger fans anyway, even with two World Series championships in five years – has been fairly blunt and critical where necessary during the Dodgers’ struggles over the last several weeks. Meanwhile, the Yankees’ Aaron Boone has been getting it from his team’s fans for not being publicly critical enough, though there’s been less of that talk during a recent 12-4 run that put the Yanks back in the wild card picture. …
• It is a no-win situation for any manager, no matter how his team is playing and especially in a big market with high expectations and the accompanying scrutiny. No coach in any other sport has the media responsibilities of a major league manager, who briefs the media before and after every game and occasionally has to answer (or deflect) questions that should be answered by the front office.
It’s not easy being the public face of an entire organization. …
• This story from a few weeks ago, as under the radar as it was, is curious: The Los Angeles and San Diego clubs in Major League Rugby are going to merge into one franchise in 2026, playing some home games in San Diego, some in L.A. and some in Irvine.
Given the rivalries between L.A. and San Diego in other sports, this is strange. And answer this: How do you grow the sport in a region by cutting the number of available home games in half?…
• Here’s another move that demands an explanation: ESPN has demoted Doris Burke from its No. 1 NBA broadcast team. Nothing against Tim Legler, who has been promoted to join Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson. But Burke is, to these ears, the best TV voice since Hubie Brown when it comes to intelligent analysis of the game. If ESPN’s decision-makers were smart they’d make Breen and Burke their No. 1 broadcast team and leave them alone.
I know. That’s a big if. …
• Anyway, ESPN has other issues to worry about, since the network is rolling out a direct-to-consumer platform but doesn’t seem to have provided a lot of information to the consumers they’re trying to attract.
What I’d like to know: Can we get a reduced-price version that omits their morning talk shows?
jalexander@scng.com