College Basketball’s Alphabet Soup

Talk about confusing. I knew about the NCAA tourney and the NIT but now you tell me we’ve got the CIT and CBI? Where did the extra tournaments come from?

For factual purposes, the College Invitational Tournament joins the 16-team College Basketball Invitational which debuted last year. Those two events along with the 32-team NIT and 65-team NCAA, gives 129 schools a shot in the postseason. I believe that Loyola Marymount and South Dakota were the only schools NOT invited.

In those tough economic times, sponsorship is more important than ever. So I’ve been working on some possible client/tournament tie-ins.

How about the “AIG CBI”? In this tournament there would be no “bonus” foul shots.
You could have the “ATT NIT”. Long distance shots would count for more and the expression: "He's really dialed in today" would take on a whole new meaning.

How about the "FBI NIT"? Any school in this tournament will think twice about breaking any recruiting rules.

Last but not least is my favorite: “ABC’S NCAA” “Dancing with the Stars”. After all isn’t that’s what this month is all about?

The advertising possibilities are ENDLESS and so it seems are the tournaments.

Joe Torre Gets The Final Word

The Yankees streak of 13 straight playoff appearances is over. Tampa Bay and Boston took care of that last night. The Yanks kicked Torre to the street and brought in Joe Girardi for the 2008 season. Guess what? Torre's on the verge of making the playoffs again, this time with the Dodgers. I mean it's poetic justice right? Call it what you will; Karma, or "what goes around comes around". Torre was named manager of the New York Yankees in 1995 and led them to the playoffs in each of his ten seasons with the team (1996-2005). He also led the New York Yankees to four World Series wins, including the Yankees' first World Series win since 1978 in 1996 and three World Series wins in a row from 1998-2000. Torre also led the Yankees to American League championships in 2001 and 2003. But despite those accomplishments and impressive credentials (plus having to put up with the Steinbrenners), Torre was offered a deal he could refuse. So he ends up in LA where his cool and calm demeanour settles down a team that was a mess in 2007 and now has this Dodger team on the verge of winning the NL West. If it's true that bad things happen to good people, then it's also true that when one door closes, another one opens. It’s only right. The Yankees will be at home watching the playoffs, where they’ll likely see Joe Torre in the post-season.