NCAA Football '11-'12

[Valmy]

Seems obvious in retrospect what would happen. What did they expect?

Lots of things seem obvious in retrospect.

[Barrister]

I think this episode just shows the lengths one has to go to to be successful at a cold weather school college football these days.

I think you meant to say...



I go back and forth on US college football.  It's certainly exciting and I love the passion of the fans, but it's so fundamentally hypocritical and deceitful...

[dps]

I think this episode just shows the lengths one has to go to to be successful at a cold weather school college football these days.

I think you meant to say...



I go back and forth on US college football.  It's certainly exciting and I love the passion of the fans, but it's so fundamentally hypocritical and deceitful...

The problem with Valmy's statement (either as he posted it, or as you reivsed it) is that this scandal has almost nothing to do with anything done to make the program successful.  The players involved weren't given illegal inducements to go to Ohio State, and the extra benefits they got didn't come from the school or the coaches.  The only thing that anyone employed by the school did wrong was that Tressel, on finding out what the players had been doing, apparantly just hoped that it would go away and the NCAA wouldn't find out, and then when the NCAA did find out, he lied about his knowledge of it.  Had Tressel just told the compliance office and let them do their jobs, then some of the players may have been permanently ineligible or missed a lot of time last year, and they might have lost a few more games in 2010, but the program wouldn't be facing the possibility of sanctions that would last for years.

All the above with the caveat that there might be things that haven't come to light yet.

[grumbler]

I go back and forth on US college football spectator sports.  It's certainly exciting and I love the passion of the fans, but it's so fundamentally hypocritical and deceitful...

I think you meant to say...

[Barrister]

I go back and forth on US college football spectator sports.  It's certainly exciting and I love the passion of the fans, but it's so fundamentally hypocritical and deceitful...

I think you meant to say...

Not really. 

Well first of all to say all spectator sports is just silly.  There are plenty of minor, minor league, kids league, rec league, or what not sports where everyone is purely in it for the joy of the game, and everything is virtue and light.

But if you mean all big money spectator sports...  Well pro sports are at least up front that it's all about greed.  Owners and players alike.

It's only college sports that has this persistent, ongoing disconnect between its stated goals and the money involved.

[grumbler]

There are plenty of minor, minor league, kids league, rec league, or what not sports where everyone is purely in it for the joy of the game, and everything is virtue and light.

Not really. 

But if you mean all big money spectator sports...  Well pro sports are at least up front that it's all about greed.  Owners and players alike.

It's only college sports that has this persistent, ongoing disconnect between its stated goals and the money involved.

I disagree pretty much completely.  In fact, your own posts about a hockey team moving to, I believe, Winnipeg, show that pro sports isn't all about greed.  The yteams are run that way, pretty much, but pro sports has this persistent, ongoing disconnect between the business of running a group of professionals and the pretense that this group of professionals is "Winnipeg's team" or whatever.

College sports have the disconnect between the whole "benefit for the student-athlete" and the "benefit for the institution" missions, for sure, and I think the balance has swung too far in favor of the latter for big-money sports, but to pretend that only college sports has such a disconnect is more than naive; it borders on delusional.

[dps]

You know, if you think that the main problem with college athletics is that too much money has corrupted the system, it might be a bit ironic that part of what the big money in was anti-trust law.  Back about 30 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA's TV contracts violated anti-trust laws.  Before that, the NCAA negotiated all the TV contracts, and divided up the TV money among its members.  But the court ruled that any school or conference was allowed to negotiate its own TV deal, and the result has been that TV revenues for college basketball and (especially) football have skyrocketed.  For fans, in many ways this has been great, because now you can watch college football literally all day and night every Saturday during the season, plus get games on many weeknights, but there's little doubt that the stakes are higher for schools now.

[Valmy]

The problem with Valmy's statement (either as he posted it, or as you reivsed it) is that this scandal has almost nothing to do with anything done to make the program successful.

What I was saying was a bit more complicated than what BB said or that Ohio State was illegally bribing athletes but rather that guys like Pryor and Maurice Clarett and the others, and Tressel enabling them, brought down Ohio State.  I do not think guys like that would have been recruited, and tolerated, back in the day at schools like Ohio State but as it gets harder for them they have to start making compromises that make them look bush league like this recent Auburn/Arizona State-esque scandal.

Hey if there are recruiting violations, which I sorta suspect there are, that would only further point in that direction.  But hey maybe some coach goes to Michigan or someplace and shows you can still compete straight up for national dominance and proves my suspicions wrong.

[grumbler]

But hey maybe some coach goes to Michigan... and shows you can still compete straight up for national dominance and proves my suspicions wrong.

From your mouth to god's ear.

[grumbler]

You know, if you think that the main problem with college athletics is that too much money has corrupted the system, it might be a bit ironic that part of what the big money in was anti-trust law.  Back about 30 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA's TV contracts violated anti-trust laws.  Before that, the NCAA negotiated all the TV contracts, and divided up the TV money among its members.  But the court ruled that any school or conference was allowed to negotiate its own TV deal, and the result has been that TV revenues for college basketball and (especially) football have skyrocketed.  For fans, in many ways this has been great, because now you can watch college football literally all day and night every Saturday during the season, plus get games on many weeknights, but there's little doubt that the stakes are higher for schools now.

Yes, I think you have hot one of the nails on the head.  The scholarship reforms didn't bring thee parity expected because TV revenue "reforms" countered them.  I think TV money will be the death of the sport.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Talking on your phone near Patti LaBelle's luggage is not allowed.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/patti-labelle-sued-west-point-cadet-houston-airport/story?id=13752701

Never come between the "Godmother of Soul" and her luggage. That's the lesson a West Point cadet says he learned at Houston airport when he charges Patti LaBelle's security guards roughed him up.

Richard King, 23, is suing LaBelle over the incident, captured on surveillance video last March 11 at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

King, a Houston resident who is a senior at the military academy, had come home for spring break when he wandered close to LaBelle's limousine. He was talking to his brother on his cellphone when her bodyguards "sprang into action," according to the civil suit he filed this week against the singer and her entourage.

"Apparently defendant LaBelle believed King was standing too close to her (no doubt expensive) luggage, even though he was oblivious to her presence," the lawsuit says. "LaBelle lowered the window of her limousine and gave a command to a trio of bodyguards. " The suit says LaBelle "watched the vicious assault, with approval, from her limousine."

The video shows King being punched and falling against a concrete pillar. He tries three times to get up and finally moves away from the scene. After an ambulance takes him away, the video shows Houston cops posing with LaBelle for a photo. Blood is seen on the ground nearby.

King, who suffered a concussion, has no memory of the incident. "I remember waking up the next morning with staples in my head," he said. He is "shocked" when he watches the video. "I've never been in a fight in my life," he says.

More at the link, including:

West Point has taken disciplinary action against King after they were notified of the incident by Houston cops, Raley says. He is being busted to private and deployed to active duty. He had been scheduled to graduate in December with the rank of second lieutenant.

The video can be seen here:  http://www.chron.com/video/?973292276001

Edit:  Also, I guess the Mountain West Conference just unveiled their new logo and it only has a big "MW" in it, but I can't find any pictures of it yet.  I saw a twitter comment that popped up with a Google search comparing it to the Dr Who "DW" logo, and now others saying it looks like a Rubik's Cube or a 90's bank logo.

Edit2: Okay, yeah if this really is it, it's pretty lame:  

[Ed Anger]

Der Fuhrer Tressel has promised victory against Michigan while speaking to a pro-Tressel rally outside his home.

If there is a loss against Michigan in November? Clearly a stab in the back by the press and Ray Small.

[jimmy olsen]

West Point has taken disciplinary action against King after they were notified of the incident by Houston cops, Raley says. He is being busted to private and deployed to active duty. He had been scheduled to graduate in December with the rank of second lieutenant.

Damn!

[grumbler]

West Point has taken disciplinary action against King after they were notified of the incident by Houston cops, Raley says. He is being busted to private and deployed to active duty. He had been scheduled to graduate in December with the rank of second lieutenant.

Damn!

Moral:  don't engage in public underage drinking if you are a cadet at West Point.  Sucks to get caught this way, but there you are.

[CountDeMoney]

Der Fuhrer Tressel has promised victory against Michigan while speaking to a pro-Tressel rally outside his home.

If there is a loss against Michigan in November? Clearly a stab in the back by the press and Ray Small.

There's a guy at work more obnoxious than you when it comes to sweatervest monkeydom.

I dropped the "I understand Lloyd Carr is available" line on him.  Didn't talk to me the rest of the day.