On Iowa Daily Briefing 6.27.12

OK, there was a semi-historic announcement Tuesday to usher in a four-team playoff to major-college football. But first ...

-- Former Iowa quarterback is the Calgary Stampeders' No. 1 quarterback. His Canadian Football League career began in 2007, but he became a starter for the first time late last season.

In TSN's hour-and-a-half look at the CFL season ahead is this 6-minute feature on Tate and his stepfather, Dick Olin. The piece begins at the 62:30 mark of the video.

Tate was 13-of-21 with a touchdown pass and an interception in Calgary's 33-31 preseason win over Saskatchewan last Friday.

Calgary's regular-season starts Sunday with a home game against the Montreal Alouettes.

-- That Pac-12/Big Ten partnership that got so much attention a few months back? It may not be all that warmly received in some Pac-12 circles, according to Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News.

Wrote Wilner: ... the schools are reserving final judgment until they see whether a strength-of-schedule component is included in the formula that determines which teams participate in the four-team playoff.

If SOS is given serious weight … if it's a tangible part of the formula … then Pac-12 schools may be willing to consider a partnership in which the top programs draw B1G heavyweights every few years, sources said.

But if SOS is not included in the formula, then a full-blown Pac-12/B1G partnership - and I'll explain what I mean by that in a minute - could be in jeopardy.

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-- Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports is the gold standard for sports writing in 2012. He hit his 100th or so home run in a row with this column on the death of the BCS. An excerpt:

Oh, the SEC, Big 12 and Conference USA reportedly tried to push a plan that would stage the game outside of the bowl system, but the others wouldn't have it. The Big Ten once expressed interest in on-campus games, but soon decided it would rather play in Florida or California, not Madison or Columbus, and certainly not at neutral sites such as Detroit or Indianapolis, two cities that apparently don't need any positive economic impact. ...

So, in the end, the bowls survived. Heck, they will thrive. They get to run the semifinals, which will be even more profitable than the current title game. They get to print their millions (tax-free, of course). They get to maintain a lifestyle that pays the CEOs at least 700K, their assistants $350K, and offers perks like those of John Junker, the former Fiesta Bowl chief who had a $2,250-a-month car allowance. Seriously, that's how much he got just for his car.

This will remain the most illogical deal in sports (and, yes, I know Hasheem Thabeet was paid $5.1 million last year). It's akin to a promoter walking into Roger Goodell's office and telling him that rather than the NFL fully owning and operating the NFC and AFC Championship games, the league should instead outsource them, allowing the promoter to take half the money and stick the league with the travel expenses while inconveniencing fans who have to travel to some far-off antiseptic stadium.

Read the whole column. It will be good for you.

-- So how about some tweets about the playoff?

@KegsnEggs: Also, for the love of God, DON'T let the Big Ten name the BCS/Playoff system.

@ESPN_ReceDavis  Increased revenue coming. That too is good. What about players? What increase do they get?

@SolidVerbal  To balance out the playoff, BCS computers will now determine the winner of a 60+ ladies tennis league in Scottsdale.

@HuskerExtraSip Has (Nebraska Chancellor Harvey) Perlman been troubled by criticism he's endured? "I'm 70 and on Social Security, so there's not a lot that troubles me at this point."

?@TomMulhernWSJ College players advocacy group wants portion of new TV revenue from playoff to minimize risks of brain injuries. http://www.ncpanow.org/releases_advisories?id=0024&fb_source=message

?@BryanDFischer Only once in the 14 year history of the BCS have the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac10/12 all had conference champs with one loss or fewer (09)

@BryanDFischer Bottom line, if you're an undefeated team or conference champion with one loss, you've got a really good shot at getting into the playoff.

-- Michigan State began last year's college basketball season on an aircraft carrier in San Diego. This year?

The Spartans will play Connecticut on a U.S. Air Force base in Germany.

-- If you're going to complain that this is On Iowa Daily Briefing and there's an Iowa State item here, then you must promise us you'll start worrying about real things from this moment forward.

The Hlinks likes good writing and good stories, and this is a terrific feature on former Iowa State basketball player Royce White as he nears Thursday's NBA draft. Well done, Jonathan Abrams of Grantland.com.

Oh, one more tweet:

Yeah, me and 14 others. And the catering better be good, or I'll trash our hotel suite as sure as water runs downhill.

BONUS VIDEO