Links at Lunch: Mark Cuban’s Playoff Proposal, TCU’s Growth

Mark Cuban floats some ideas that seem a little wacky. Last winter when he proposed he organize a college football playoff is one such example, given the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-inspired moniker he gave it: “Radical Football.” But looking at the way he transformed the Dallas Mavericks from perpetual cellar dweller to NBA champion proves his determination to front a winner and the

Huffington Posts’s Brian Frederick writes this proposal looks like one

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Playoffs vs. Bowls will remain a contentious point for football fans regardless of which system the NCAA employs. Traditionalists love the pageantry and history behind bowl games, and other bowl proponents recognize the recruiting boon a nationally televised bowl appearance can be for a program like FIU playing in a scoffed-at lower level game. Playoff proponents believe bowls, specifically the Bowl Championship Series, bastardize the championship’s meaning. Some are so zealous as to believe no playoff ruins the sport completely. Add in a personality as polarizing as Cuban’s, and the situation becomes that much more combustible. The NCAA strikes me more like Major League Baseball than the NBA, less willing to allow a boisterous figure like Cuban to shove his way and shake things up.

• There are programs who have made the most of the bowl system. TCU is among them, bolstering not only football but the entire university writes The New York Times‘ Joe Drape.
• Time to get your final predictions in. Aforementioned TCU is in its final Mountain West season; where will the Horned Frogs end up? 7220 Report has an idea.
• The Big 12 is on life support, Texas A&M as the jester that potentially stole the king’s crown. Beaver Byte pays homage to the conference’s struggles in musical form.
• This one’s from a few days ago, but definitely worth a look-see. Podcast guest Aaron Torres broke down the SEC football landscape and the final season of Entourage in parallels. He also the impact of marquee Week One showdowns at Crystal Ball Run.
• One of West Virginia’s great traditions is revealed at Hail WV.