Why is this news?: Future of the NCAA, Sparty v Sparky and more

"We're not wanting to break off. We want to have one (basketball) tournament. We want one revenue share. One Division I identity. But we've got to have the autonomy to make the rules for the 21st century Division I athlete."

-Jim Delany to George Schroeder, USA TODAY

The NCAA continues to restructure, with greater power and autonomy "finally" being given to the Big Five conferences. This is an issue that deserves its own post, but I see both sides of the argument here: on the one hand, greater autonomy for the big guys means the marginalization of the smaller conferences and their interests, but on the other, the SEC, B1G, ACC, B12, and Pac-12 have the most fans and bring in the most money.

From Schroeder's article, "They've argued that it's long past time to end the NCAA's long-held ideal of trying to create an artificially level playing field, and that they need the ability to provide athletes with unprecedented benefits and resources in areas including full cost of attendance scholarships, continuing education and medical care."

The idea of creating "an artificially level playing field" and whether that's the case with the current NCAA or desirable, is a philisophical question that I imagine would have fairly equal numbers of supporters and detractors. Regardless, though, a change is gonna come in the NCAA.

"Michigan State will play at Sun Devil Stadium on Sept. 8, 2018, and the Sun Devils will play at Spartan Stadium on Sept 14, 2019."

- USA TODAY

Michigan State isn't turning its back on scheduling tough out of conference opponents, with the Spartans agreeing to a home-and-home with the Sun Devils at the end of the decade.

Who knows if either program will be relevant that far into the future (especially when Dantonio leaves MSU for Bama), but we can say for certain that Todd Graham will have jumped ship by that point.

"Turner has been alternating sleeping in motels and his girlfriend's car. He will do so until he can come to campus on June 6 for summer school."

- Nate Scott, For The Win, USA TODAY Sports

In an insane and sad illustration of how crazy and backwards NCAA rules can get, future Boise State Bronco Antoine Turner can't receive any aid or goodwill from fans - despite the fact that he's homeless until enrolling at BSU - because it would be an NCAA violation.

Turner's story was highlighted by a local TV station, and many BSU fans wanted to offer him their support, but couldn't. Thankfully he only has a few more weeks until he gets to campus.

"They offered Washington a fourth-round pick for Robert Griffin III's understudy, but the Redskins balked, according to Jason LaCanfora of CBS Sports."

- Mary Kay Cabot, Cleveland.com

According to a report, the Browns attempted to pick up Kirk Cousins during the draft, but the Redskins held out for a second-round pick instead. It looks like it was a good move for the Redskins to pick up both RGIII and Cousins, as they got a multi-year solid backup, and have the possibility of trading him for an even higher-round pick in the future. Of course, someone has to pick him up for higher than a fourth round trade.

As important as (almost) any draft pickup for the Browns was working out Joe Haden's contract extension. Seahawks-style defense, assemble!

STICK TO SPORTS:

• GoT is being written in DOS, obviously. The only way that would be better is if it were written on giant scrolls with dragon's blood ink.
• Thanks to a new film studio opening in Granville, Ohio State campus locations will be used much more frequently for movies and shows.
• New blood at the top for the New York Times