Courtside Post

by Andres Romay

SPORTS BIZ The NCAA is a membership-led, non-profit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 400,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Division I, II and III sports. In order to participate, these students adhere to very strict amateurism guidelines, and if violated can not only hurt the student athlete but the college or university they attend. Every year we hear about the one or two athletes who have violated these rules, gained from their name, from their abilities and from the prospects of going pro.

by Leon Walker

SPORTS BIZ Speaking as an Englishman, to hear someone telling you that they dislike a sport, but watch its biggest game “for the commercials” is a tricky concept to get your head around.

The only sporting events in the UK that come even close to the national TV audience pull of the Super Bowl is when the England national team reaches the knockout stages of the World Cup. And when a game of this nature is on, for even the non-sports fans, the draw is definitely the meat of the game rather than its corporate side dishes.

by Andres Romay
Over the past few days rumors and stories have been circulating about the possible expansion of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.  Although history dictates aggressive expansion of the tournament from 16 teams to 32 then to 48 and 64, only to see one final expansion to 65 teams, the last two dunking it [...]

by Tim Newcomb
Aristotle argued that to understand anything, observe its beginning and its development.
In 2004, executives at CBS rejected an ad from the United Church of Christ, which highlighted its acceptance of all who would worship with them, including gays and minorities.  Recently, CBS executives accepted a Super Bowl ad featuring Tim Tebow that advocates [...]

President Barack Obama joined CBS’s Vern Lundquist and Clark Kellogg courtside, midway through the second half, during the Duke-Georgetown men’s basketball game on Saturday afternoon.  As usual, Obama felt comfortable speaking publicly, and engaged in some friendly banter with Kellogg.  Obama said that “he normally doesn’t have time to watch an entire game, but Sportcenter [...]