SF Giants, Dynamic Pricing...Game Changers in Ticket Selling for Baseball

“We started dynamic pricing three years ago and the St. Louis Cardinals did it last year. The joke in baseball is that if you do dynamic pricing and have a full ballpark, you’ll win the World Series!”
                      Russ Stanley, San Francisco Giants, Managing Vice President, Ticket Sales & Services

If only that was the secret sauce to winning the World Series…the Chicago Cubs would have signed up years ago!

While it may not lead to winning the World Series, dynamic pricing is definitely revolutionizing the way baseball teams sell tickets. And, if you don’t live in San Francisco or St. Louis and haven’t heard of dynamic pricing…watch out, according to Russ Stanley, it’s coming…and soon. Fans of the Oakland A’s will experience dynamic pricing this season.

So, what is dynamic pricing? Basically, the prices for single tickets change on a daily basis depending on the pitcher, the match up of pitchers, who your team is playing, and other variables. So, technically, if you are a fan it might make more sense to buy your tickets earlier…before many of these variables come into play.

Before the holidays I sat down with Russ to learn more about this innovative new way to sell single game tickets.

PJ: How does dynamic pricing work?

Russ: Dynamic pricing has simplified things for us, and in turn, for our customers. We partnered with Qcue in Texas. They built an algorithm and portal and we can quickly change a price, leave it alone, and make an update in the system. We can do all games in an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Then, we send the file to Tickets.com and Major League Baseball (who updates the website). It’s pretty complex to make changes—1,600 prices each day.

We’ve created a better/easier ticket buying experience for the customer. They can view prices on games from a few days ahead to behind. They can evaluate prices against comparable games in the series, etc. Or, the fan can just look at the least expensive seats in any game.
We will see more teams following this model. They are seeing the value and asking questions. Getting a 7-8% lift in revenue last year and the year before is pretty impressive.

PJ: I know the number of season tickets you’ve sold has increased the last few years in this ballpark, what does this year look like? And, are you limited on the number you can sell?

Last year we sold 28,000 season tickets; 21,000 the year before. We’ve slowly lost some single game inventory and we need to be more accurate with pricing and be more fine-tuned this year.

Dynamic pricing is more challenging with 29,000 to 30,000 full season ticket holders. You have less single game tickets to sell. We have to be more accurate with fewer tickets to sell.

Once you hit 30,000 season tickets you can’t go higher. Major League Baseball gets 12,000 for playoffs and you need to provide them with this inventory. Even with 12,000 tickets per game it is over 972,000 tickets to sell over the year. That’s a lot to sell. Although, it’s still a lot less than previous years.

PJ: Does it make more business sense to sell fewer season tickets and more single game tickets?

Russ: There is a fine line from a business standpoint. You could argue selling more single game tickets bring in more revenue. But, selling more season tickets is secure and we are willing to take in less revenue for this security. We could sell only 5,000 season tickets and sell more single tickets and bring in more revenue. But, we find it is easier to navigate and know what we need to sell this way.

PJ: How did you decide to take a shot at such an innovative model for your industry?

Russ: It made sense on paper. Most businesses set their prices based on supply and demand. In the airline industry people get that flying on certain dates cost more. Same with hotel stays. I wasn’t sure the sports fan would understand and buy into our thinking that “every game is created differently.”

We did a small scale test that generated $500,000 more in revenue. I kept looking at it—impacting the bottom line by 7-8% is big. We also had to be careful with our season ticket holders. They wanted price protection to know they were getting the best price.

We’re lucky we have great ownership. They took a risk—totally changing the pricing in sports and letting the ticket guys manage it. They understood it and took the risk.

PJ: This is not the first innovative move on the ticket front for the SF Giants.

Russ: When we built the ballpark we thought about bringing the secondary ticket market, which was done in the parking lot, into the box office. [The Giants sell only full season ticket packages. This move allowed season ticket holders an easier way to sell the tickets for games they could not attend.] It was done electronically through the Giants and changed the world of thinking there, too. This business turned into Stub Hub.

PJ: Why aren’t other teams doing this?

Russ: We will see more teams following this model. They are seeing the value and asking questions.

I want to shake them and ask why they aren’t doing this. They say they are too busy and fear it would take too much time. For me, if the impact on my bottom line is 7-8% per year…then, why not do it?

We are working with Qcue to make the system more automated. We think the algorithm is close to being spot-on—we are accepting a higher percentage of prices now. This happened through asking a lot of questions over the past few years. We’ve helped fine-tune this for the SF market; however it would need to be adjusted for Chicago.

I think in the next three years every team in baseball will be doing dynamic pricing.

PJ: Would dynamic pricing work in other sports?

Russ: Baseball is so different from other sports. Each game is different. Other sports don’t have the variables or inventory of tickets. Basketball is played indoors and doesn’t have rain or snow. The lineup really doesn’t change much from day to day. Football doesn’t care if they sell out.

In baseball, we could play the same team three games in a row with Timmy (Lincecum), Matt Cain, or Ryan Vogelsong on the mound. In each game, the perceived value is different to customers and we have to react differently.

PJ: What’s next for the Giants?

We’re two-for-two so far! I think about what’s next all the time. How do you come up with something bigger than these two ideas?

We aren’t waiting around, we are aggressive. We want to make the season ticket experience better for the customer. They own 81 games—that’s a lot of games and a big commitment from the fan.

We are looking at digital. Maybe transferring tickets through cellphones. For example, if I am running late, I can send you the ticket on your phone. Maybe it’s not a huge revenue builder, but it’s high on customer satisfaction. Then, it turn, it might generate revenue.

The Giants are on the cutting-edge of the ticketing world and we are always hearing of companies wanting to get into the business. We meet with at least one company a week with new ideas or new technology. I guess it helps to be the baseball team up the street from Silicon Valley!

Fiesta Bowl Observations

I wasn’t sure what I was in for, Monday night, but knew it was going to be memorable for me. It was Andrew Luck's (and most of the 2008 recruiting class) last college game. And, after following Andrew for the past three years, this was going to be our last time watching him in a Cardinal uniform.

The team on the field before the game

Before I share some of my observations from the game, I just need to back up and start at the beginning. I want to thank my friend, Libby, who is like a sister to me, for taking me along with her on this journey. For without her, none of this would’ve been possible—it would’ve have been nearly as much fun, I wouldn’t have experienced this in quite the same way, or witnessed the turning around of a program from one of the best seats in the house(!).

And, I must admit, I wouldn’t be writing this blog right now. It was Libby’s constant questions about what I thought, what was going on, and telling me I needed to share my thoughts with others (again) that helped bring me to this point. So, thanks Libby, for being the best, as always.

Just a few observations about the game:

Indoors vs. outdoors. This was the first indoor football game I’ve attended. I’m from Wisconsin and football is played outside. I know our neighboring states (Michigan and Minnesota) have domed stadiums, but not in Wisconsin. I was brought up with football being played in the elements and that was half the fun. I remember all those great Packers games in Green Bay in December and January in the snow/cold. The fans in their orange hunting gear--now, that’s football! A few months ago, some friends on Facebook were asking folks to share a weather-related football game they went to. It was a popular post. I have quite a few memories from a fan’s perspective and a sportswriter’s (trying to keep my notes from melting away!). My favorite is going to the Wisconsin-Northwestern game in Dyche Stadium in Evanston, with my brother, Tom. It rained, sleeted, hailed, snowed, and was windy—we had everything during the game. And, in Brown tradition, we stayed til the bitter end (with a few other brave souls!) and then walked home. My sister-in-law had been waiting for us for hours…if she didn’t know before, she knew then…we were committed fans (or crazy!). So, this indoor stuff is not for me. It’s like a made-for-tv event. The air is stale and recycled…and gets cooler as the game wears on. The sound is muffled. And, we were in Arizona in January…what weather were we being protected from?

You mean we didn’t win? I am still grappling with this one. As a Wisconsin Badger fan and Cubs fan, I am used to losing. And even though Wisconsin is winning now and goes to a bowl nearly every season, I still am not shocked when the Badgers lose. Now, after only a day or so of wearing black, I get over the loss (just kidding!). But, I can put things in perspective much quicker after a loss. Not so, with the Fiesta Bowl. This one will stick with me for a while…as I’m sure it will with the players. This loss is different. And, it’s because the way it ended. The team played amazing—I am sure this is the best Fiesta Bowl game ever.

So, the big question is why didn’t Coach Shaw keep the ball in the hands of the senior leader-- the guy who wants the ball in that situation, the guy who has carried the team and can deliver? Why didn’t they try for the touchdown at the end of regulation? I know conventional wisdom may say be conservative take the field goal. But, conventional wisdom doesn’t take into consideration Andrew. It doesn’t take into consideration he was marching down the field and that everyone had taken it up a notch. The offensive line was doing what they did all season…give their quarterback time to make plays, block not only for him, but for the backs.

Everyone in the stadium could sense it. This is what was meant to be…everything on the line and Stanford was going to win this game. Until Coach Shaw did the wrong thing. Yes, that’s right…he had three timeouts, time on his side, and Andrew Luck. And, he didn’t take advantage of this. Instead, he didn’t believe. When, asked about this after the game he said… that Oklahoma State was a good take-away team and basically he was afraid of a turnover.

Griff Whalen

What? Did I hear that correctly? Your quarterback is, what you called a sure-thing college football Hall of Famer, and you are afraid of a turnover? You didn’t let him play for the win? You didn’t call the play that had worked so well on the previous drive…Andrew rolling out and passing to Griff Whalen?

By the way, Griff had an excellent game with 7 receptions for 85 yards. Definitely a highlight reel day for him—NFL scouts should take notice. Griff is the real deal and should be playing on Sundays next year.

And, Andrew, well he was just Andrew. A breath-taking performance as always. He had an incredible game—completing 20 of 21 passes from the second quarter through the end of regulation. His totals were 27 of 31 passes for 347 yards. And, while we are all still in shock at how this game ended, we shouldn’t lose sight of what Andrew did in this game. I know, we all wanted to win, but this was one of the best bowl performances of the season and, one of the best, I have ever seen. Again, he proved he is the full package, a once in a lifetime player.

Coach Shaw, your guys put it all out there. All you had to do was let the boys play. You said they didn’t finish…no, you didn’t finish. We were ready, they were all poised, and you didn’t let it happen.

Thanks Andrew, Griff, Coby (Fleener), Zach (Ertz), Sam (Schwartzstein), Dave (DeCastro), Jonathan “Moose” (Martin), Chase (Thomas), and the rest of the team for leaving it all out on the field Monday night. You played your hearts out. As a fan, I couldn’t ask for anything more. You all played as a team at the top of your abilities. I believed in you and you didn’t disappoint.

Badgers..back in Pasadena

Back-to-back trips to the Rose Bowl for the Wisconsin Badgers…sweet!!!!!!!!!! Badgers fans are loving life right about now.

Russell Wilson after winning
spot in Rose Bowl

The Badgers had an amazing season. Bob Ryan, sportswriter for the Boston Globe, said the Badgers were the best “what if” team in the nation. What if there wasn’t a crazy Hail Mary at the end of the Michigan State game and what if the Badgers weren’t nursing that nightmare hangover in the very next game against Ohio State (although, even with that hangover, they were thisclose to winning)?

Yes, the Badgers could have been in the national championship game. Course, that would’ve ruined that exciting rematch for all those LSU and Alabama fans (the only folks who will be watching this game—it was boring the first time, who besides those fans would watch a rematch?).

Instead, the Badgers just put together an incredible run for the roses. Winning out and playing in a spectacular inaugural Big Ten Championship game against Michigan State that went down to the wire, with Wisconsin pulling it out.

Like I said, it’s been an amazing season.

The sign in the Badger locker room says…”The Road to the Rose Bowl begins here.” And, it did.

It started back in the summer with these rumors that a quarterback from North Carolina State was transferring to Wisconsin (he picked Wisconsin over Auburn). And, that he was good. Just how good we were all waiting to see. Russell Wilson turned out to be one of the first real quarterbacks in a long, long time for the Badgers.

I say this because for years, during the Barry Alvarez/Bret Bielema era, the Badgers have had serviceable quarterbacks. Yes, many of them are in the record books and when you look back it seems impressive…but Alvarez and Bielema built a system around those quarterbacks that played to their limited arm strength. They’ve never seemed to recruit that All-American quarterback that other Top 10 college football schools do. My brother and I used to joke that if Darrell Bevell made more than nine completions, the Badgers would win. And, after all, the Badgers are all about running—always having an endless supply of backs each year to take over when the guys graduate or leave early for the NFL. The quarterback in the Wisconsin system is more of a game manager than a passer. That is, until Wilson came along.

Montee Ball

This year, with 16 more yards passing in the Rose Bowl, Wilson will surpass the 3,000 yard mark—the first time in school history. And, the Badgers will hit 3,000 yards both rushing and receiving--only the second team in the Big Ten to ever do this. Michigan did it last year.

Wilson put up Heisman-like numbers this year. On top of the numbers, he has poise, leadership, arm strength, and athleticism. And, it was surprising that even though he kept putting up great numbers, the talk quieted down on his Heisman hopes after the Michigan State and Ohio State loses. I seem to remember a lot of talk about not having three loses hurt a certain Heisman winner. Hmmm. Wilson finished with a 191.6 % passing efficiency, completing 206 of 284 attempts for 31 touchdowns and only three interceptions. Not bad for a guy whose name wasn’t mentioned for those big time year-end awards.

Montee Ball was invited to the Heisman proceedings in New York and deserved to be there. He has 38 touchdowns this season (more than many teams) and is one shy of tying Barry Sanders. And, by now, you’ve all heard of his baked potato diet that, along with running back and forth to practice, helped reshape his body and make him a more agile runner this season.

Chris Borland

And, of course, then there is the Wisconsin defense. Two anchors are Mike Taylor and Chris Borland—both linebackers. Taylor (137 tackles for the season) had 22 tackles in the Ohio State game, the highest in the Big Ten this year for a single game and the fifth highest in the nation. Meanwhile, Borland (131 tackles this season) had 18 tackles for a loss—the most ever by a UW linebacker and the most by a middle linebacker in the nation this season.

The Badgers are loaded and will face a tough Oregon team. Their no-huddle offense and speedy players should give the Badger defense an all-out sprint to the finish. But, the Badgers will be ready. They are prepared for bowl games and this year should be no different.

I won’t be at the Rose Bowl to watch the Badgers. I will be in Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl and checking my phone during the tailgate for updates. Hopefully, one of my nephews will be texting me. The Brown family will be represented at the game again this year (my brother and nephews will be there). We went last year and it was an experience I will never forget…coming up the tunnel and walking up to our seats, turning around to a sea of red. And, the band stealing the show during the fifth quarter.

Even though I won’t be in Pasadena this year, one thing won’t change…I will be wearing red.

On Wisconsin!

Cal Bears...ready for the Holiday Bowl?

This post is for my nephew, Danny, who is a junior at University of California-Berkeley (Cal). We’ve spent the past three years trash talking…more like him giving me a hard time…because I have been cheering for that college football team up the road apiece who wears cardinal (who shall remain nameless)…and not his team. And, given that it is his rival, he has every right to feel this way. Of course, for the record, I must just say that I own my share of Cal t-shirts, went to the Oregon-Cal game last season (Cal should’ve won that game) all decked out in my Cal gear and cheered for Cal, and one of my best memories over these past three years came in Danny’s freshman year. We both attended the Big Game (yes, it is actually called that), he was wearing blue, I was wearing that other color, and when his team won…Danny was so excited he, along with other Cal students, rushed the field. That definitely made the highlight reel. It was a great moment for any fan and I am happy that my nephew was able to experience that.

Zach Maynard

This season has been up and down for the Cal Bears. It was one of those seasons, that until you took a look back, you might not have noticed all the good things they did. (Especially, if you were paying attention to the best two-loss team in the country, Wisconsin!)

The low point for Cal was a loss to UCLA, when their junior quarterback Zach Maynard threw four interceptions. A combination of things helped turn the season around for the Bears. Maynard, a transfer from Buffalo, who sat out last year, said he finally got his timing back and understood the speed of the game in the Pac-12. For him going back and refocusing, spending more time on film helped tremendously. Maynard only threw one interception in the final four games. In addition, the strategy changed a bit. A little more balanced attack, as their rushing yards increased from an average of 135 yards per game to 230 yards per game. Tailback Isi Sofele was the beneficiary of this change carrying the ball at least 21 times in each game and rushing for more than 100 yards in their three wins, including a career high 190 yards against Oregon St.

When Maynard is on, he can be explosive. He just needs just 168 yards in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl to surpass 3,000 yards passing this year. He will be one of only three quarterbacks in recent Cal history to do this. And, do you believe this? Aaron Rodgers is not one of the other QBs on the list! He missed the list in the 2003 season by a mere 97 yards. (The other two are: Pat Barnes in 1996 and Nate Longshore in 2006) Maynard’s favorite target is his brother, Keenan Allen, who has 89 receptions for 1,261 yards.

Keenan Allen

The matchup against Texas in the Holiday Bowl will be a close game. Both teams are 7-5. However, Cal won three out of their last four games and Texas lost three of out their last four. So, Cal has a little momentum coming into this game.

Although, most folks are favoring Texas…a little surprising. Yes, Texas Coach Mack Brown does have a good record in bowl games (8-4), but so does Cal Coach Jeff Tedford (5-2). The Longhorns faced some injuries at the end of the season, which could be one reason for their losing—that, and facing Baylor and Heisman trophy winner, Robert Griffin III. And, they still have not figured out their quarterback situation. It looks like they will be going with both Case McCoy and David Ash, as they have all year (each started five games). Starting two quarterbacks is never a good ingredient for winning.

While I usually don’t make predictions, I think if Maynard has truly turned the corner, and it looks like he has, Cal has a good shot at winning this game. I saw him play in the Big Game, their only loss in the last month of the season, and he looked good. He completed 20 of 29 passes, no interceptions, threw for two touchdowns and 280 yards. And, he just looked in rhythm. He looked completely different from the guy who was behind center during their three consecutive losses.

And, while Tedford is the winningest coach in Cal history, the real question is, if Cal falls behind, can they make the needed adjustments to overcome? This season I saw a lack of urgency from the team and coaches at the end of the Big Game. They just seemed to walk through the two-minute drill and didn’t quite seem to grasp that time was ticking away. When the game is on the line, will they step up?

Let’s hope they do. I’d like to see Cal head into their new Memorial Stadium with a nice finish to this season (Yes, we will finally be able to sit on full benches and not get splinters!).

And, who wants to see a Mack Brown team win, especially after his open lobbying to knock Cal out of the 2004 Rose Bowl.

Yes, Danny, I will be wearing blue tomorrow and cheering for the Bears. And, after Jan. 2, no more trash talking on the rivalry…so, what’s next?

West Coast Conference, YouTube team up to innovate

The typical college basketball media day looks like this: A press conference with coaches from each school and a few players.

I’ve sat through quite a few of these and believe me, they aren’t fun.

On October 27, 2011, the West Coast Conference (WCC) took the traditional media day and turned it upside down.

By teaming with YouTube, they engaged their fans in the men’s basketball tip-off event. A new focus…the fans…and they definitely made an impact.

For driving their message directly to the fans through social media, and raising the bar in creativity in the digital space, the WCC has earned the distinction of being the first social media innovation post on this blog.

During this cool event, the WCC engaged their fans in different sessions:

·         A live 10-minute video interview, with each basketball coach answering questions posted by fans on Twitter and Facebook (conducted by Barry Tompkins)

·         A live blog chat with coaches answering questions from fans

·         A live five-minute interview with each basketball coach previewing the season (conducted by Jeff Lampe, host of the WCC Live Internet talk show)

·         A roundtable conversation with three coaches on various topics (these chats will be shown on a future episode on The Road to Las Vegas during the season)

In addition, the media had one-on-one interviews with the coaches.

Highlights from the day can be seen here  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qukoy42Lh4c&feature=channel_video_title

And for those of you wondering, here is the current roster of schools in the WCC: BYU, Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary’s, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Clara.

Recently, I spent a few minutes with Jeff Tourial, director of communications & new media at the WCC, who managed the basketball tip-off event.

PJ: How did you come up with the idea to change media day?

Jeff: We had not done a media day in several years. We meet annually with the coaches in April and they said they were interested in doing a media day to promote the season. We thought about what we could do to be innovative and get the most bang for the buck. What could we do to be different and have impact?

We decided to take the focus away from the media and put it on the fans. Let the fans ask questions through Facebook and Twitter.

PJ: How did YouTube get involved?

Jeff: YouTube’s headquarters is a two minute walk from our offices. We were talking to them about productions and them getting into college sports—getting into the live events. However, they need to get the rights and most of those are locked up in long-term deals. Our men’s basketball contract with ESPN is for eight years. The other sports we own and had talked about showing a soccer, baseball, or softball game each week…and, about hosting an event at YouTube.

PJ: How did you promote the tip-off event?

Jeff: This is interesting, as we didn’t have an agreement with YouTube until the week before. It might have fallen through. A lot was up in the air and we couldn’t say anything publicly until the Monday before [the event was on Thursday]. We had a few tweets…coming soon. But, we had to be careful not to overplay our hand as the deal wasn’t worked out yet. If we did this again, we’d do better promoting because we’d have more time.

PJ: Were you worried that you wouldn’t get fans to post enough questions in just a few days of knowing about the event?

Jeff: We weren’t worried. With Barry Tompkins hosting we didn’t even think…is this going to work? Barry is a pro and he could’ve done 10 minutes without questions. And, with so many our schools having such a passionate fan base, we knew we’d get a response. How often do you get to ask your coach a question? Turns out, we had so many questions we didn’t get to, because we didn’t have time.

PJ: What’s next with YouTube?

Jeff: Two days after the event, we streamed the cross-country championships on YouTube. 6,600 people watched LIVE! Technology in the field at cross-country event—to pull this off is impressive. It was neat and we got great feedback.

We will have live coverage at and around the men’s and women’s basketball championships in March. We will also cover tennis, golf, and rowing. The men’s basketball championship in Las Vegas will be Wednesday through Monday, and Sunday they don’t play. What can we do on Sunday to make an impact? Maybe something around practices—a modified media day with the team captain and coach, get involved with the fans and have them ask questions the day before the championship.

PJ: Did the tip-off event reach your expectations?

Jeff: Absolutely! We are ecstatic about how things turned out and the fan interaction. A few coaches raved and Tweeted on how innovative and different we are from other conferences. It’s a good feeling. In the future, this will be more normal. Anyone who has a smartphone can be involved.

It’s fun to be in front of the wave.

For more on WCC, check out their website http://www.wccsports.com

Andrew Luck, One of the Best...Ever

For the past three years I’ve watched Andrew Luck, Stanford quarterback, play…game in and game out. From the first game I watched in person at Stanford Stadium…in fact, his first few snaps, I knew he had “it.” What is “it”? A combination of poise, leadership, arm strength (he can throw a ball 70 yards just with little effort), ability to read the defense quickly and adjust, toughness, athleticism, mobility, accuracy (both short and deep), intelligence, etc.

Andrew Luck

Now, I’ve watched plenty of high school and college athletes. And, some were “can’t miss” (Kevin Garnett, Donovan McNabb, Al Toon, Grant Hill) and others I thought were “can’t miss”, but didn’t quite get there (Jamie Brandon, Ronnie Fields). But, with Andrew, I knew I was seeing the real thing. And, it wasn’t just the hype of coming out of Stratford High School in Houston (he was rated the No. 4 quarterback in the nation by Scout.com) and the anticipation of his starting throughout his redshirt year. There was something I saw in those first few snaps against Washington…I knew Andrew was special. And, this was with Toby Gerhart in the backfield and an offense geared to that Heisman runner-up, who amassed 1,871 yards in his last season at Stanford.

In each game throughout his college career, he has that moment or two that just makes you think…“Wow, that was amazing.” From the passes he’s thrown in tight windows to his tight ends this year to the one-handed catch against Colorado, he never disappointed. I know, I know…all the high expectations this year. Kirk Herbstreit from ESPN said that the bar kept getting raised for Andrew; every time he did something good it wasn’t good enough. It’s hard to live up to all of that. However, if you really watched him play you’d see how great he’s been.

Just look at the numbers, this year:

·         98% red zone efficiency (No. 1 in the nation)

·         35 touchdowns (a Stanford record)

·         28 touchdowns in the red zone, with no turnovers in the red zone

·         3,170 yards passing

·         11-1 (Stanford is currently No. 4 in the nation)

Over his career:

·         9,083 yards passing (third in Stanford history)

·         3.9-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio

·         .838 winning percentage (31-6)

·         80 career passing touchdowns

·         Seven four touchdown games

And, remember, he’s done this in three years, not four, as most QBs who put up numbers like this.

But, with Andrew it goes beyond the numbers. He is a coach on the field and a true leader. Going into the huddle Andrew is given a few plays by the coaches and when he gets to the line, reads the defense and calls what they run. No looking to the sideline for the play while the clock ticks down like others. He is the only quarterback in college football that does this or has done it. On top of this, each week Andrew learns nearly 270 new plays based on the opponent in basically one day…and perfects them the rest of the week. Other teams in college football run 70 to 100 plays each week. Not Stanford. I don’t know about you, but this just adds to my amazement.

I’m not the only one who thinks he’s great. ESPN’s Mel Kiper and Todd McShay just completed The Ultimate Scouting Report on Andrew, comparing him to other top QBs and said he has NO glaring weaknesses.

The two games this season that really cemented his legacy for me were the Arizona and USC games. At Arizona, the game was close in the first half and Chris Owusu (receiver) and Coby Fleener (tight end) went down and the team lost the heart and soul of their defense Shayne Skov for the season. Losing three impact players could have turned anyone’s game and season upside down, but Andrew stepped right up and basically told the team they could carry on and win. And, they did…somehow coming up with a 37-10 victory.

And, who could forget the USC game—it was a classic. A tough, back-and-forth game that went into 3 OTs before Stanford pulled it out. Seconds after throwing an interception that went for a touchdown, Andrew walked up and down the sideline and told his teammates that they would win the game. He was focused, and they came back to force overtime. They stepped up as a team, with A.J. Tarpley recovering a fumble to seal the victory.

These past three years watching Andrew play has been an amazing ride. One more game left, the Fiesta Bowl. As usual, no expectations…just watching the best college football player of this generation and one of the best of all-time.

The Ryan Braun Question

My friend, Marge from Milwaukee, asked me to share my insights on the Ryan Braun situation. For those of you who haven’t heard, Ryan is an outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers and this year’s National League MVP. He tested positive for high testosterone levels, which means there was some form of performance-enhancing drug (PED) in his system. This result could land him with a 50-game suspension. He is appealing this at a hearing in January. The only thing we’ve heard from Ryan’s camp is that he didn’t do this. And, that as soon as he heard of the positive result, he took another test at an independent lab, which came up negative.

Ryan Braun

For those of us who are baseball fans, we have become de-sensitized to hearing someone has taken PEDs. However, with Ryan, it’s different. Marge said the mood in Milwaukee is sad. And, I think the entire baseball world is sad, as well. You see, Ryan is one of the good guys—even Commissioner Bud Selig (who used to own the Brewers) has mentioned him as one of the standouts for being clean. Ryan plays the game all out and with integrity. So, this news has come as a shock to all.

I could list all the numbers. However, Ryan’s stats have not seen a huge bump. Not like Barry Bonds or Manny Ramirez. He’s been fairly consistent during his career—he’s won the Silver Slugger Award each year since 2008 and was Rookie of the Year in 2007. Ryan is one of the best players in the league.

Some have already tried Ryan in the court of public opinion and want baseball to make an example of him—making him give back the MVP. To those folks I say, let Ryan have his day in court. Let him prove his innocence. And, once again shame on baseball.

Shame on baseball for allowing this information to leak prior to Ryan’s hearing. Shame on baseball for making Ryan wait so long to state his case. Shame on baseball for allowing one of the best players in baseball face this scrutiny of being called out as guilty before having all the facts. And, shame on baseball especially if they got this one wrong. Which, as you can tell, I think they did. We’ll see once we can all hear Ryan’s story.

And, one more thing, I think if baseball really wants to send a message, they should start in the right place. In my book Hank Aaron is the all-time home run king, not Barry Bonds. Bud Selig, stand up and do the right thing.