How to start your own sports team in five easy steps

Sometimes, it has to be said, organizing team raiding sessions in World of Warcraft doesn’t really fulfill all your social needs. You love the taste of victory, or crushing an enemy and leading your comrades to triumph, but it somehow seems hollow when, afterwards, you’re still sat at your laptop with only half a bag of Doritos and a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Due to celebrate.

If you want to combine that feeling of victory and comradeship with being in the same room as other people, it may be that starting your own sports team is the thing for you. Starting a sports team, whether it’s for a five-a-side football tournament, beach volleyball, bowling or even motorsports is a great way to spend some time with your mates and get a bit of exercise.

To do this, however, you must first complete several important steps, and they will all be (slightly) harder than the montage in that underdog sports movie you love so much.

Step One: Assemble the guys!

You can recruit players from a bunch of different places. Once you’ve press ganged everyone you can from you World of Warcraft guild and your drinking buddies at the bar, … Read more at FryingPanSports

Ohio State coach Fickell has failed his team.

 The win yesterday by the Buckeyes against Wisconsin was not amazing. It was not even too surprising that freshman QB Miller brought the team back from a 29-26 deficit against a top 25 team. It was an indication that the young QB had developed into a playmaker. Miller winked at his coach indicating that despite the deficit and the limited time on the clock, he was confident he could bring the team back. It is not bragging if you can do it. But that brings us to a very perplexing question.

What would have happened if Miller had been named the QB to start the season? Miller has blossomed in his stint as the starter. He has developed much more quickly than anyone could have guessed. Most likely Miller would have developed in time to have won against Miami. But newbie HC Fickell chose to give the practice snaps to his choice the 5th year senior instead. The problem is that young man is an outstanding guy but is not capable of playing QB at the major college level. No one can guess why Coach made that decision. But there are a couple things we know for a fact … Read more at FryingPanSports

Sports Buffet for 05/04/10

SptsBuf

The Sports Buffet will be a regular feature of FPS.

NFL

UFA S FS Darren Sharper (NO) is reported to have had microfracture knee surgery during the off season according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Sharper was a key part of the Saints D and their playoff run. The typical recovery time for that procedure is 18-24 months. That would also explain why he had such a delay in getting a contract offer. He has signed back with the Saints on a 1 year deal for 1.5M.

The Jones formerly known as “Pacman” is still shopping his services around the league. He went to Detroit last week and visited the Bengals recently. There was no interest by the Lions but the Bengals are at least considering an offer.

The 49ers signed LB Patrick Willis to a new 5 year deal worth 50M with 29M guaranteed.

With the draft of QB Tim Tebow, QB Brady Quinn could be on the move again. The Jags are reported to be interested in obtaining the former Browns 1st round pick.

NBA

There is a very fine line between a veteran team and just an “over the hill” team. Teams can go from one side of … Read more at FryingPanSports

6 (Not So Simple) Steps for Purchasing a Professional Sports Team

Franchise For Sale

Who hasn’t dreamed of owning their very own professional sports team? Well it can be done and it would be easy to restrict this list to just one simple requirement, namely, the first item on this list. But there’s more to it than that. Here are six (not so simple) steps for purchasing a professional sports team.

  1. Get Rich Quick

Piece of cake, right? Okay, maybe not. But being rich is the first step along the way. They don’t give these franchises away. And some of them are worth billions! So you had better start with very deep pockets.

  1. Know the Sport

An in-depth knowledge of the sport is a big help. You need to know if the sport is thriving in the city where your team is located. In the case of football and baseball, this can be a given. But with basketball and hockey, things are a little more hit and miss. Struggling teams can be had cheap but you better be sure you’ve got the know-how to turn them around or you’ll keep losing money.

  1. Love the Hate

Fans of your team will hate you. The honeymoon will be over quick so you had better have … Read more at FryingPanSports

Should the Browns trade up for Bradford?

Browns

The latest rumor on the draft boards is that the Browns are negotiating with the Rams to get the #1 pick. It seems that GM Tom Heckard and his team were reportedly suggesting the deal to management. Holmgren put a wet towel on the talk and said today that the cost is just too high. But that doesn’t mean it is totally off the table but may be just under the table cloth. There are several issues here and we will look at all of them.

The Browns considerations for doing the deal:

  1. There is no question that the team needs a QB. Delhomme is not the long term answer and may not be a short term answer unless he quits throwing the ball to the other team. There are not any NFL starting quality QBs on the roster now. They could use Bradford.
  2. The deal would give the fans some hope. That is something that they have not had in a long time. There was a small percentage of the fans that were excited about the hire of Mangini but that did not turn out well. Most were more excited about the signing of Holmgren. He at least had
Read more at FryingPanSports

Does the NFL need to change the overtime rules?

nfl

There were a couple of proposals but the final one that will be voted on this week at the owner’s meeting in Orlando is as follows:

If the team that wins the coin toss goes down the field and scores a touchdown, the game is over. However, if that team is stopped and kicks a field goal, they would have to kick off and give the other team a chance to either score a touchdown or kick a field goal. A 3-3 tie in overtime would begin a true sudden death scenario.

The biggest argument is that both teams should get a shot at the ball. There have been more wins recently by the team getting the ball on the flip. From 75-93 the team that got the ball first won 46.8 of the time. However, from 94-09 the team that got the ball won 60% of overtime games. Worse, the percentage of games ended by a field goal jumped from 18% in 75-93 to 26% in the 94-09 period.

Another argument against the change says that there should not be 2 sets of rules one for the regular season and one for the playoffs. But we have 2 sets … Read more at FryingPanSports