VERSUS SETS RATINGS RECORD

This one is all about numbers.

Good news for the NHL and its cable television partner, Versus.

Even though the network continues to find ways to piss off hockey fans who are generally just happy to have the game on in HD, ratings records are falling. We're far from saying the NHL can be satisfied with its television audience, but we're moving the needle in the right direction.

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, aired by Versus, allowed the network to blow away a days-old record for the most-watched hockey game on their air.

VERSUS, the exclusive cable television home of the National Hockey League (NHL), garnered a 2.6 national HH rating and averaged 2,955,348 viewers for its Game 3 telecast of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday, June 2, with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 4-2 defeat over the Detroit Red Wings at Mellon Arena. The game, which peaked at a 3.5 HH rating between 10:15 and 10:30 p.m., was the highest-rated and most-watched Stanley Cup Final game on cable since 2002. VERSUS, for the 8:00-10:45 p.m. time period, was the most-viewed cable network in the country and the top-rated network overall (broadcast and cable) among all key male demos.

The 2.6 national HH rating is the best rating ever in the history of the network, beating both Lance Armstrong's final ride (7/24/05) and Game 5 between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks in the Conference Finals (5/27/09) which both earned a 2.1 HH rating. Among average viewers, the Game 3 telecast topped the network's previous high set during Game 2 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Final (2,608,371). VERSUS' Game 3 telecast showed a 37-percent increase in HH rating (2.6 vs 1.9) and 19-percent growth (2,955,348 vs 2,479,977) in average viewership over the average of Games 1 and 2 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Final between the Red Wings and Penguins.

Locally, VERSUS garnered a 15.1 HH rating in Detroit and a 26.1 HH rating in Pittsburgh, making VERSUS the top-rated network (broadcast and cable) for the time period in both markets. VERSUS was also a top 5 cable network for the time period in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Washington, DC and Philadelphia, among others.

VERSUS entered the 2009 Stanley Cup Final with tremendous momentum based on ratings and viewership gains in the regular season and through each round of the playoffs. The network's coverage of the 2009 Conference Final round was the highest-rated third round on cable since 1998 with HH ratings up 25 percent and average viewership up 30 percent from 2008. The third-round growth came on the heels of VERSUS airing the highest-rated Conference Semifinals on cable since 1997 and seeing 32-percent viewership growth in that round, 22-percent viewership growth in the Conference Quarterfinals and a 21-percent increase in viewership during the regular season.

This only represents mild progress. NBC's numbers for the first two games were pretty good, and now the league is guaranteed at least one more game on NBC.

The bottom line is that David Stern and Bud Selig still cackle at the NHL's television audience. It's still not a serious threat to them in any way. However, the NHL has gone from being fairly compared to MLS to a spot where they don't have to hide from their ratings any longer. There's still a ton of room for improvement, but the news has been pretty much all good so far in the 2009 playoffs, with the trend continuing in the Finals.

(By the way, about the link near the top of the post. Versus tried to take advantage of their much-larger-than-normal audience by airing a special episode of "Sports Soup" after the end of the game and before the postgame show. During that 30-minute gap, incensed hockey fans either shut off their TVs, turned on ESPNEWS, or found the NHL Network if they have it. I understand the desire to showcase an original show, no matter how crappy it is -- and "Sports Soup" is crap. But all Versus did was invite people to find postgame coverage elsewhere. Had the game ended at 9pm Eastern, I would have been fine with the move. By 10:30pm, however, people were not going to willingly wait a half hour for postgame coverage. After all, most people have jobs, including the idiots who run Versus.)

WE'RE BACK FOR MORE CUPCAKES

Last year, I decided it was time. There were so many cupcakes being devoured by big-time football schools that I could no longer stand it.

Since nothing was done, and the problem is getting worse, I decided to once again insist that it's time for major change.

Too many BCS conference teams are taking the easy way out in scheduling. Instead of challenging their teams and entertaining their fans, they're scheduling home games with the goal of selling out the stadium and winning 59-0.

Last year, the numbers were staggering. 52 of 65 teams housed in BCS conferences (for reference, those are the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac Ten, and SEC) played at least one game against a foe from the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) in 2008.

This year, 49 teams are venturing into the challenging world of the FCS. Among the highlights is Texas Tech, who is opening the season September 5 against North Dakota, a team that was eligible for the Division II playoffs in 2007. Wonderful.

Mississippi leads the pack of teams playing two FCS opponents. They're both directional, too (Southeastern Louisiana and Northern Arizona)!

I'll reiterate my proposal from last year, though I'm willing to amend it, because although I don't think I went far enough, it does represent more than we'll ever see the big schools willing to do.

It's time to make a rule that bans teams from BCS bowl consideration if they schedule more than two I-AA opponents over a rolling six-year period.

Ideally, this would happen with no rolling period necessary. Play an FCS team, and you're not going to a BCS bowl.

However, contracts are sometimes broken at the last minute, and the only way to fill the schedule is to play a team from the lower division. I understand that.

At this point, I just hope someone does something. I just can't take this anymore. College football is wonderful, too wonderful to have people destroying it from within.

NCAA BASEBALL UPDATE: TOP SEEDS RULE

Last year, the story of the NCAA Baseball Tournament was eventual champion Fresno State, a regional fourth seed who tore through everyone in their path on the way to Omaha and a title.

This year, the story appears to be the renaissance of the high seeds.

In 16 regionals this past weekend, only three top seeds (UC-Irvine, Oklahoma, and Georgia Tech) failed to advance to Super Regional play. Two of the three were national seeds, but Irvine was playing in an insanely tough regional (Virginia, San Diego State, and Fresno State), while Oklahoma probably shouldn't have been a national seed to begin with.

That leaves us with the eight Super Regionals, and a lot of well-established programs. The Cinderella this year is unquestionably Southern Mississippi. They are the third entry out of Conference USA in the Super Regionals (first time that league has placed three in the final 16). The Atlanta Regional's third seed beat Georgia Tech twice to win the championship, and they draw No. 8 national seed Florida in the Super Regionals.

The Big Ten didn't get anyone into this round, but after a terrible start (Indiana, Ohio State, and Minnesota were all blown out Friday), did rebound to gain some respect. Ohio State was edged 37-6 by Florida State in the Tallahassee Regional final, but did blow out Georgia to eliminate the Bulldogs and advance. Minnesota got revenge on Baylor by knocking out the Bears before losing the regional final to host LSU.

Indiana did what their football team normally does, which is "Nothing". They were gone in 60 seconds, it seemed.

The Super Regionals start Friday.

Friday-Saturday-Sunday (if necessary)
Arkansas at Florida State
Virginia at Mississippi
Rice at LSU
Louisville at Cal State-Fullerton

Saturday-Sunday-Monday (if necessary)
TCU at Texas
Southern Mississippi at Florida
East Carolina at North Carolina
Clemson at Arizona State

NASCAR DESTROYS THE LITTLE GUY

Rules are rules.

That's what they say, at least. Not debating its truth here, only the mere existence of the cliche.

Sometimes, it simply shouldn't matter what the rules are.

When NASCAR held their annual All-Star race and qualifying event, little-known part-time driver Carl Long, who works for the No. 34 team in his spare time, decided to enter his car in the event. The idea was to get in the field, pocket whatever prize money he could, and then move on with his struggling race team.

There was a bump in the road for Long, however. The engine on his car blew up during qualifying. As is NASCAR policy, Long had to turn over the engine for inspection or leave the track and withdraw from the All-Star qualifier.

Not thinking anything could be wrong, Long just gave up the engine.

Something was wrong.

Carl Long, a part-time driver that has likely sold fewer team T-shirts in his career than Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car number old or new, was slapped with a $200,000 fine after NASCAR found his engine to be too big during last weekend's All-Star festivities.

The dollar figure was the largest ever docked by the sanctioning body, and very easily could end Long's racing career.

Long appealed the punishment, but did not get very far with that. FanHouse's Geoffrey Miller opines.

There's no doubting that the rules are the rules in this case, and somehow NASCAR was able to measure such a minuscule difference to confirm the engine was oversize. But while numbers are black and white, the factors that can expand an engine block blur that to a gray area.

Remember, Long had blown the engine in practice, meaning that there was likely a ton of heat and pressure in the block. Add in the fact that the engine was purchased used from an engine supplier who had bought it used, and the conditions couldn't be more ideal to find an engine that had grown oversize (and according to Long, at least 50 horsepower less than his competition) by the slimmest of margins.

Those slim margins, it seems, will be costing Long part of his career.

It's the equivalent of taking out an ant hill with a sledgehammer, followed by lighter fluid and a blowtorch.

Yes, NASCAR needs to enforce its rules and punish offenders. What they shouldn't be doing is playing games with the careers of guys who just want to race as much as they can.

Not only that, but we have yet to receive any proof that a big-time racer would receive the same punishment for the same infraction. In fact, we can't even be convinced that NASCAR would ever have the grapefruits to punish a big name like this, no matter the rules infraction.

YOU SUCK, PARRA

Actually, you're an insult to pitchers that suck. Pathetic.

REPLACING PAWLENTY

We don't deviate from sports very often around here. It's usually an important story when it does happen.

This qualifies, at least for the Minnesota portion of our readership (all three of you). Two-term Governor Tim Pawlenty has decided not to run for a third term.

(Insert "He's done paw-lenty around here" joke here. Ha ha.)

2012 and a potential presidential run is a long way away, and I really don't care about that. The point isn't to speculate about Pawlenty's political future. Instead, where the hell is Minnesota going to move from here?

Pawlenty has been a lot of things to a lot of people, and while you may not agree with some of his decisions (I know I don't), it's hard to argue that he has been a strong leader in a time where so many leaders are weak-minded individuals.

(Voters, too, are weak-minded. I applaud Pawlenty for imposing his own term limit, because we've learned many times over the years that the voters are too stupid to limit the terms of annoying, snake-oil-selling career politicians.)

That strength has sometimes led to an annoying stubbornness. Pawlenty has refused to allow any taxes to be raised, leaving the state in need of massive budget cuts to rid itself of a large projected deficit. He's been consistent with this stance for his two terms in office, and something tells me he won't waver before he finally does walk.

His strong leadership (or "stubbornness", if you prefer) has led to much in-fighting with the Democrat-controlled Legislature over taxes and government spending. I'm not a fan of big government, and I fear where this state could have gone if he hadn't put the lid on taxes. Instead, Minnesota government has come under much more control than it had before.

The fighting we've been seeing between the two sides makes it clear what Minnesota needs in the governor's mansion next.

A moderate.

If the DFL gets their way, and their candidate of choice is elected in November of 2010, the state will move back toward higher taxes and more government spending, things we don't need. However, the election of another conservative would cause just as much, if not more, fighting.

That's not what this state needs. Minnesota needs a strong moderate governor who will hold the line on spending, compromise when necessary to get important things done, not play the blame game (an incredibly frustrating trait of Pawlenty's), and who won't have the look of someone who wants higher office soon.

Pawlenty generally did a good job, and I salute him for his efforts. It's not an easy job, and he tackled it with energy, zeal, and strong leadership. I also tip my cap to him for stepping away, no matter the actual motivation for that decision.

REDS' BRANDON PHILLIPS IS AN IDIOT

I'll freely admit being surprised by the early-season run of the Brewers. I expected them to be a playoff contender, but that was only because I figured they would get better in the second half of the season and make a run at some pitching at the trade deadline.

Instead, the Brewers have said "Screw it. Let's win now", and they're off to a great start. Milwaukee has set a franchise record by getting to 30 wins in only 50 games, and they won 18 games in May to create a great ticket deal for a series against Colorado later in June.

None of this, however, seems to impress Reds infielder Brandon Phillips.

“I feel we’re a better team than the Brewers,” he said. “We lost because they did the little things and we didn’t do the little things. They’re a good team but this should never have happened.”

I understand being mad about this past weekend. I even get being angry over a 1-4 start on the season against the Brewers. This, however, is just plain stupid talk.

The Reds aren't better than the Brewers. Not yet, at least. This is a good young club, and better days are definitely ahead.

But they have had five shots at the Brewers this season. In none of the five have they blown the Brewers out, and in none of the five did Milwaukee just luck their way to a win.

Phillips is understandably frustrated at the start to a huge road trip for his team. They had high expectations, and falling three-and-a-half games out of first was not how they scripted the first three games of the trip going.

Now, they have four straight in St. Louis to deal with, and the Cardinals are right there with Milwaukee in the division race.

Perhaps Phillips would be smarter to focus on what's ahead, instead of making dumb comments about a superior team that said superior team isn't going to just forget about.

ADMIT IT, JUNIOR NATION: BUSCH IS RIGHT

It's okay. I know it kills you. It probably kills three-fourths of NASCAR fans, none of whom are capable of admitting when Kyle Busch does something awesome on the racetrack. They're sure as hell not going to admit when he's right about something off the racetrack.

It's a tough argument to back Busch on something. He is probably the most talented race-car driver on the planet, but he also has many faults. Among them is his obvious immaturity, a trait that sends him scurrying away from the cameras whenever something goes wrong, and has led him to making dumb remarks over the radio when things aren't happening the right way for the 18.

Busch also has a penchant for only talking to reporters when he feels like it. He felt like it Friday, and he now has millions of fans who back Dale Earnhardt, Jr., wishing he (Busch, that is) would suffer a debilitating injury or worse.

"It's never Junior; it's always the crew chief," said Busch, who fired the opening shots when asked about team owner Rick Hendrick's dismissal of Tony Eury Jr. as Earnhardt's crew chief a day earlier.

... "He's [interim crew chief Lance McGrew] got his hands full, I guess, having to deal with what's going on," Busch said. "And if Junior doesn't run well, then he [McGrew] is going to be the 'problem' again."

A somber Junior himself addressed Busch's comments, starting with a bit of a defensive tone, but later seeming to admit that Busch has a point.

"Like Kyle said, most people have always been on Tony Jr.'s case and never really pointed the finger at me …"

I know it probably sucks to admit it, but Busch has more than a point.

I understand the frustrations of Junior and all his supporters. After all, none of this is any of Kyle Busch's business. He probably shouldn't have said anything.

That's not Kyle Busch. Like him or not, he's going to be honest. He felt like talking Friday, a reporter asked him a question, and he was honest in his assessments.

Earnhardt has never been blamed for his problems behind the wheel. When he struggled at DEI and missed the chase, it was his evil stepmother's fault for not giving him anything to run competitively with. Upon signing with Hendrick Motorsports, he persuaded the boss to bring Tony Eury, Jr., with. They could no longer blame a lack of success on the equipment, as Hendrick has some of the best stuff in the business.

When the pair ran out of excuses, someone had to go. For now, it's easier to fire the crew chief. However, Junior has to be careful, because there will come a time where owner Rick Hendrick gets sick and tired of blaming the crew chief.

Surely, this tickles Kyle Busch, even if only a little. After all, he was the guy Hendrick dumped to bring in Junior. He has an 11-1 lead in race wins since, and there's no reason to think the gap won't widen as the season wears on.

Junior lovers will certainly bring more Kyle Busch venom to the racetrack. But are they mad at Busch for taking a cheap shot at their favorite driver, or are they mad at him for telling the truth?

GOPHER WOMEN LOSE TOP PLAYERS

Someday, women's hockey will garner more attention than it does now. For the time being, a story like this is simply of regional interest, and I understand that.

It's a huge coup for the fledgling North Dakota women's program, as they have picked up two prominent transfers from longtime national power Minnesota.

Twin sisters Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux decided to attend the University of Minnesota to play hockey together, and they were the Gophers' top players during a Frozen Four run in 2008-2009. The pair, from Grand Forks, aren't sticking around to try to build on that success, however.

After a year training for and -- they hope -- competing in the Winter Olympics for Team USA, the Lamoureux sisters are going to follow their bloodlines back to North Dakota. Both their father and older brother were goalies for the North Dakota men's team, so there is reason to think the Lamoureuxs have no ulterior motives.

Whatever the motives, neither the sisters nor their now-former coach are talking publicly.

"I can't get into the specifics about it -- I was definitely shocked when they informed me," Gophers coach Brad Frost said.

... "We feel this is in our best interests. It's what is right for us," Jocelyne Lamoureux said. "Obviously, the Fighting Sioux runs in our family. But Monique and I made the decision, and we have no parting jabs for Minnesota."

The transfer system exists for a reason. You don't want to keep kids from moving on if they are dissatisfied with their college choice. At the same time, you don't want them freely jumping from one school to the next because the coach puts in an undesirable set of rules or something. The Lamoureuxs sit out a year of eligibility, which happens to perfectly coincide with the run-up to the Olympics, and they return to the collegiate ice in the fall of 2010.

(Just a note of clarification, and thanks to Andrea for the e-mail on this: Women's hockey players are not subject to "normal" NCAA Division I transfer rules, but it is the WCHA that has an agreement among its league members that says in-conference transfers will sit out a year before playing.)

BREWERS NOT FOOLING ST. LOUIS MEDIA

If the Milwaukee Brewers were trying to kid anyone into believing their clubhouse dash Monday was nothing less than a jab at their opponents, they'll probably have to try harder.

Seems that St. Louis' esteemed and ever-so-classy media is on to the Brewers' games. If the reporters can pick up on such things, one has to assume that the World's Smartest Baseball Manager has it all figured out.

Since the Cardinals are so classy, we shouldn't have to worry about them, say, throwing baseballs at Milwaukee hitters at any point. Nah, they'd never do anything like that.

Derrick Goold has a blog entry on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website that offers us some insight into the Cardinals' thoughts on this latest "controversy".

The premeditated celebration began the moment Bill Hall’s 10th-inning single landed Monday and winning run Casey McGehee crossed home plate. Immediately the Milwaukee Brewers bolted for their clubhouse, turning, as Tom Haudricourt wrote at the Journal-Sentinel, a walk-off into a run-off and again stoking the discussion about those brash and bold Brewers and their post-win ways.

Untucking. Posing. Behind closed doors. Or otherwise.

A rivalry that has its roots in Milwaukee’s public awe and open emulation of the St. Louis Cardinals franchise a few years ago has turned decidedly spicy.

Yes, this all has come from the Brewers' awe of the Cardinals. In fact, sources close to the team have confirmed to me that when Mike Cameron started untucking his shirt after wins last season, he told his teammates it was because he wanted to be more like the Cardinals. Growing up, Milwaukee's top players all idolized Cardinal greats like Skip Schumacher, Stubby Clapp, David Eckstein, and the best control pitcher of all-time, Rick Ankiel.

Braden Looper wanted to be a Cardinal so badly that he signed with the Brewers in the off-season, mistakenly thinking he was signing with the Cardinals. Trevor Hoffman was so convinced he joined the Cardinals that he decided to be just like a St. Louis pitcher and spend a few weeks on the disabled list.

It's a sad, sad deal, this Brewers obsession with St. Louis. Hell, they went so far as to wear red caps for Monday's game.

Someone has to stop them. It won't be the Cardinals, as they seem too busy whining about the Brewers to actually beat them.