Brad Cesmat
Herm Edwards and Jedd Fisch will be in full selling mode this Friday at LA Live for Pac-12 media day. I’m looking forward to taking it all in.
The SEC and ACC held their football media days this past week. You didn’t hear a coach say “this guy can’t play dead” or “we have no shot this season”. No, at media days it’s sell, sell, sell. Everything sounds great on the outside but gone are the days when a coach would give an honest assessment of the landscape. With the transfer portal sitting there at any moment after a player gets ripped in a practice by a well-intentioned coach, some players and more importantly, their inner circles don’t want to hear anything but peaches, puppies, ice cream, and puffy clouds when it comes to their kid or the program so they jump.
This Friday, Arizona State will likely play the “us against the world card” which is about the only way for them to go in 2022. I am fine with the “no one is expecting us to do anything this season except the guys in this locker room” narrative. I’d be more than happy to observe a team that is in competition for an upper echelon bowl in the middle of November. I know my way to El Paso, Chase Field, Las Vegas, and San Diego in late December. Let’s hope for a different destination for the bowl season. There are some good players and students on that team which of course in this day and age gets trumped by winning on Saturdays. This story barely brought a stir out of the football fan base, but it should be celebrated.
As for Arizona, Jedd Fisch took over one of the worst programs in the nation 18 months ago and has made huge strides from my view in all aspects of building the on-the-field product. A four or five-win season(I’m sure they’d say 8-9 wins) would be a big improvement given how far into the ditch the Wildcats were when he first took over. Fisch and his staff have been building the respect of not only the Arizona high school football coaches. but of 9th-12 grade programs in other parts of the country. I sat in on a lunch with Fisch before spring ball started and he was confident that he is getting the program headed north. I believe him…
This past week, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart signed a new 10-year contract for $112.5 million dollars By the final year of the deal he will be paid $12.25 million dollars. Sooooooo, do you still have a problem with NIL? Do you still think the transfer portal is evil and the end of college sports? I certainly don’t…
I’m having more high school parents asking for advice on NIL. Because of this, I’ve been contemplating opening a consulting business on Name, Image, Likeness, student-athlete recruitment, and transfer portal navigation. The problem is when I start a conversation out with, “what is her/his GPA” and “does your kid even like sports”. It usually goes the wrong way. I can’t handle crazy parent. Enjoy high school, be a good student, understand the process takes time and that the neighbor down the street who you don’t even like, will try to impress you with what they are doing. Push the noise to the margins. When you get to the summer of your senior year, let’s chat…
Still on Peaky Blinders. Almost dropped out in season four, but there have been enough twists and turns. (Arthur cracks me up), that I am going to make it. My wife says they’re making a full-blown motion picture out of it to follow season six. We watch it with sub-titles on, do you?
My current read
Grant will be on the show in August. His story of how he landed with Phoenix is really good. A story about Shaq knocking out a Suns teammate in the bathroom before a game is even better…
Things I never saw during the Decade of Decline(2010-2020) by the Suns, I am seeing done correctly here in the 20’s. Latest example Monty Williams contract getting extended well before it could become a talking point near the end of a deal…
A week to go in July is not the time to determine what the Suns will or won’t do with Kevin Durant. Please return to the beach or the summer road trip, get back to me before training camp or around January 15th, 2023…
Kyler getting extended isn’t as important as how much Isiah Simmons and Zaven Collins star in 2022. The dollar figures mean nothing except for the signing bonus. Murray playing was going to happen, I simply don’t know if Simmons and Collins are going to produce as first-round draft picks. No one does. Rodney Hudson being in camp is a bigger deal than Murray’s signature on a piece of paper…
Druw Jones drafting and signing by the Diamondbacks this past week woke up some of the original season ticket holders from 1998. Trading Peralta, Walker, and Mad Bum by August 2nd, would excite them even more…
The talent and media companies covering high school sports have exploded in the last decade. I’d say here in the Valley that while there are many talented, well-intentioned people in that space, Cody Cameron at Arizona Varsity is a name you should get to know. He works hard for kids and programs of all shapes and sizes. Good dude…
Good move by the AIA and Arizona’s Family to team up on the high school finals for more than just football. As a 3TV alum, I can attest to the power and reach of the brand. Wish we could’ve struck a deal like this back in my stint. Some good people over there finally made the possibility a reality…
Down 30 since April 21…
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Three Dot Thoughts – Rising Stadium for AIA, Monty Coach of the Year, Chandler Spring Football