Common sense from Thomas County

Unlike Bob Knight, who thinks that Jim Tressel is unfairly ensnared by an obscure rule about lying to the NCAA, Phillip Daniels has a reasonable suggestion for the NCAA about the secondary violations Georgia reported in the wake of Ray Drew’s commitment announcement:

… The NCAA comes up with all these rules and expect guys to know of violations. Randall was invited to Ray’s announcement and knew nothing about who he was gonna sign with. I know because I spoke with him while on the way down there. It’s a shame that former players can’t have friendships with young men who look up to us and want us to be a part of their big decision. Just hate Randall and David’s name are on display for rules they knew nothing about. They are good men who got invited by another good man. If not busy, I would have been there also. The #NCAA should want role models like these guys.

Even better is the advice Drew’s high school coach has (h/t Chip Towers).

“I know there’s 9,000 different NCAA rules and all this kind of stuff, but those two guys that came and spoke are not employed by Georgia. David Pollack is a media person. How’s that any different than (a Times-Enterprise reporter) covering Ray’s event, other than (he) didn’t talk? — (Pollack) did.

“It just seems like to me that if the NCAA is worried about those things, they’ve got bigger fish they need to fry like money being offered to players and coaches lying about what players did and all that kind of stuff — instead of a small school trying to make a nice announcement where a kid’s going to school.”

This whole thing with Drew’s announcement and the violations strikes me as being cut from the same cloth as excessive celebration penalties.  I get the underlying point in both situations, but there’s something wrong with penalizing for kids innocently enjoying the moment.  Especially when there are bigger fish going unfried.

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Long odds for Tressel?

College coaches who violate NCAA Bylaw 10.1, which requires them to be truthful and forthcoming about possible NCAA violations, tend to have short careers subsequent to the violation.

… Since 2006, the NCAA has sanctioned 27 schools for violating bylaw 10.1, which requires coaches and others to be truthful and forthcoming about possible NCAA violations. Of the 12 coaches involved, only one kept his job. The others either resigned or were fired by their schools.

And things didn’t turn out that well for the outlier there, either.

@DrSaturday @year2 I should say former, she was fired two years later when she couldn't rebound from the sanctions.—
The Bylaw Blog (@bylawblog) March 10, 2011

So Gordon Gee’s tongue bath notwithstanding, it doesn’t look like Tressel’s out of the woods yet.

By the way, Tressel’s no longer confidential source sounds like a beaut, doesn’t he?

… Cicero, who enrolled at OSU after serving in the Marines, has made news as a criminal-defense lawyer.

In 1997, the Ohio Supreme Court suspended his law license for one year because of misconduct. The lawyer led others to believe he was having sex with then-Judge Deborah P. O’Neill, who had appointed Cicero to defend a client in a criminal case.

Cicero ultimately said he overstated his intimacy with the judge and that he and O’Neill did not have sex until she stepped aside from the case. O’Neill also admitted to the sexual affair.

I’m beginning to think there’s a made-for-TV movie in Tatgate when all the dust settles.

Camaraderie

Interesting quote from Christian Robinson:

“We’re holding each other accountable and have the right kind of attitude,” Robinson said. “I think we’ve eliminated some people maybe that were cancerous, whether it was people who graduated or might not be here anymore. We’ve become a team of guys that want to be here and want to do well for Georgia.”

Note the use of the plural.  Must have been an uncomfortable locker room dynamic last year.  And where were the coaches while this was festering?  Could they not sense it?

We hope to do this again real soon.

You know what a meteor game is, right?

Well, this is a meteor interview.

… To Johnson’s analogy of dating other women after marrying, Chernoff counters that he’s allowed to speak to other women despite having a wife and asks about Johnson’s practice of recruiting players who are committed elsewhere.

Sure. They’re not committed if they’re talking to others.

Chernoff wonders whether that’s hypocritical, and then Paul Johnson happens.

Let me talk real slow and I’ll try to explain it to you.

Oh, snap.  But that’s not the final punchline.

After the interview, you could tell Chernoff was po’d at getting owned on his own show and let off a “I don’t want to get both GT fans mad at me” remark.

If you’re a glutton for punishment, here’s the link to the interview.

You don’t have to be delusional to support Tressel, but it helps.

Bob (whatever happened to Bobby?) Knight parachutes in from another universe to offer this defense of Jim Tressel:

Knight was then asked if he agreed with the two-game suspension and $250,000 fine handed down to Tressel on Tuesday evening by Ohio State:

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. I think if something like that comes up, it is not the most noticeable of rules. It’s a rather obscure rule. And they’ll say, ‘well, he should know all of the rules.’ Nobody, God himself, could not quote every rule in the NCAA law book. In fact, God would call on the disciples to decipher it for him.”

“I think it’s too harsh. I don’t understand why it isn’t just something like, ‘hey, you know, let’s just get it taken care of, get this resolved and go from there.’ I mean, you played and when you were playing, did your coach know everything that you and your teammates did? No, not even close to it.”

Yeah, that’s the ticket:  lying to the NCAA is an obscure rule.

And to think there were people pushing for Georgia to hire this clown after Felton was canned.

Same as it ever was.

For those of you trying to keep up with Reggie Ball’s fabulous pro career with the Oklahoma City Bricktown Brawlers of the Indoor Football League, you needn’t worry.  It’s the same old Dog.

The Oklahoma City Bricktown Brawlers came up short on Sunday afternoon in their IFL home opener against the Allen Wranglers, 36-39.

While the Bricktown Brawlers defense came up with some huge plays, mistakes on offense proved to be the downfall for Oklahoma City. Reggie Ball threw a pick-six and lost a fumble at the end of the game to allow the Wranglers to escape with the close fought victory.

Say what you will, he’s a consistent bugger.

Gators love surprises.

Will Muschamp is taking things to a new level, as Florida is closing spring practice for the first time in school history.

… Muschamp says the decision was made “in the interest of helping our program be successful on Saturdays this fall.”

Muschamp believes closed practices could give the Gators the element of surprise next season with new offensive and defensive schemes.

Yeah, that surprise factor could be key.  Florida opens its 2011 season hosting Florida Atlantic and UAB.  Muschamp could hand them copies of Florida’s playbook a week before the games and still beat both by three touchdowns.

More wit and wisdom from E. Gordon Gee

Very nice catch from Gregg Doyel:

“I have zero tolerance for those who do not live by the rules of the university or by the rules of the organizing body,” Gee said in an interview Friday. “It’s very important for us to set a very high standard for ourselves.”

That was so 2007.