Big Game Weekends

I love sports. I love weekends. The two seemingly go hand in hand. My free time is limited to weekends, and I enjoy spending my weekends at sporting events. I feel like most sports fans feel this way. So why have big games on Sunday nights and during the work week?

The Super Bowl is on Sunday, and the College Football Playoff National Championship and the NCAA Championship basketball games are on Monday. Why? Most people work Monday through Friday and have to get up early for work. I am one of those people. I try not to stay up too late Sundays through Thursdays, but the sports fan in me requires that I watch these games. As a result, I am more groggy than usual the following day. 

The easy solution is to just record it or read about it the next day, but true sports fans know that is an impossible task as the desire to watch the event to see who will win will keep you up at night and render not watching the event in order to sleep meaningless. It’s not just sports who are guilty of making fans stay up late when they have to work the next day. Professional wrestling does this as well. Every WWE pay-per-view is on a Sunday, and if it is a big show such as Wrestlemania, prepare to make yourself a cup of coffee or chug a soda. You’ll need the caffeine in the morning as most WWE pay-per-views end after 11 pm.

Aside from the lack of sleep, there is also a lack of festivities that come from having these events on non-weekend days. If your team wins, you will want to go crazy and party and celebrate the victory! Party too hard, and you’ll have a rough morning the following day. Party too soft, and you aren’t really celebrating the win. 

The exception to this is championships that are decided by a series. The World Series, the NBA Finals, and the Stanley Cup require winning 4 out of 7 games in order to be crowned champion, so it is necessary to have these games on non-weekend days. The Super Bowl though? It is one game played after a two-week layoff. Just move it to Saturday! In fact, just move all championship games and wrestling pay-per-views to Fridays and Saturdays! Or better yet, make the days of the games as well as the days after national holidays! 

Okay, I’m finished ranting. I apologize for my cranky post. I stayed up to late watching the National Championship.

Erasing the Past

As a result of its multiple violations, the NCAA denied the University of Louisville’s appeal and vacated numerous men’s college basketball victories from 2011-2015. Among those vacated victories are Louisville’s 2012 Final Four appearance and their 2013 NCAA Championship. In essence, the Louisville Cardinals basketball team was nonexistent.

I find the NCAA’s ruling completely ridiculous. Vacating wins is one of the stupidest sanctions in collegiate sports. Despite the NCAA’s best efforts, everybody knows who won the games and who was one of the better teams in the nation during that span of time. I am in no way defending the actions of the university. They were in blatant violation of the NCAA’s rules and had to face the music as a result. Vacating wins was not the right way of going about the situation though.

I feel like the NCAA should have banned the Cardinals from postseason play for a long time, fine them, and take away multiple scholarships. That would hurt the university financially and from a recruiting standpoint. Vacating wins, however, does nothing. In my opinion, it does more harm than good. It punishes the fans who support the team. It punishes the players, coaches, and team officials who had nothing to do with the scandal. It also makes the NCAA look ignorant by ignoring what is on record.

The university had to take down its 2012 Final Four banner and its 2013 National Championship banner as well as return the 2013 National Championship trophy. The players will still have their rings. Rick Pitino will still have his championship tattoo (unless he decides to get it removed.) Fans will still have championship memorabilia from that season. Despite the NCAA’s best efforts, everybody who does not live under a rock will always know that the University of Louisville won those basketball games, made it to the Final Four in 2012, and had their one shining moment in 2013. As I write this post, a new NCAA scandal is on the verge of taking down some of the biggest names in college basketball. What will the NCAA do? If I had to guess, it’ll try to rewrite history.

NKU Norse Regular Season Conference Championship Shirt Unboxing

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone unboxes a Northern Kentucky University Horizon League regular season conference championship shirt.