Livin’ la Vida Loca

I have no idea if this is true, but it sure makes for interesting reading.

… So when Joe Schad tells the world that there is a serious NCAA investigation taking place at UNC, sports agents who may be affected should begin to contact their attorneys.  Schad notes that Defensive tackle Marvin Austin was a football player who was interviewed.  I have a source who tells me that Austin was only 1 of 13 players who have been interviewed – this is far reaching.  And it does not only extend to a number of players.  The same source tells me that there are a lot of agents that may have dirty hands, including both NFLPA Certified Advisors and marketing agents.  Some are being examined more than others.

It is apparently beyond just in-person meetings, rent payments, and travel expenses.  We are potentially talking about all expenses paid trips to South Beach, exorbitant amounts of money dropped on accessories, and perhaps even a Bentley or two.

A Bentley or two, hunh?  I can see how that might catch somebody’s eye at the NCAA.

You’d think people would know better than to believe they can slide luxury cars and major bling past even the most bureaucratic of investigators.  They should always take the wise, NSFW advice of Jimmy Conway about avoiding the law:  “don’t buy anything, don’t get anything… nothing big.”

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Torn.

I know I should express shock, outrage and dismay over Larry Fedora’s decision not to suspend three key players from Southern Mississippi’s opener for their arrests for disorderly conduct – or at least a sarcastic response to this comment…

Fedora said the three players understood they made a “mistake,” and expressed regret for the incident.

… but, then again, the Golden Eagles open against South Carolina and these players kind of matter.

… Brown has been one of the Golden Eagles’ biggest weapons in his two seasons at Southern Miss. He was injured in the 2008 New Orleans Bowl, sustaining a compound leg fracture, but came back last season to catch 47 passes for 785 yards and nine touchdowns.

Morris made five starts for the Golden Eagles last season while Smith recorded 82 tackles as a starting outside linebacker.

I think I’ll settle for simultaneously shaking my head and clapping my hands as I watch the game and see one of them make a play.

More defensive red meat for starving Dawg fans

“We want to be aggressive. We want to attack. We want to be relentless in our pursuit to the ball.”

I tell you what:  if Todd Grantham coaches half as well as he communicates, it’s gonna be a fun year.

Kiffin watch: the sphincter tightens.

Is the bloom already wearing off the rose a wee bit for Junior?  Say it ain’t so (h/t The Wiz of Odds).

… In addition to the Henderson saga, USC found itself in the position of accusing five schools of violations.  Freshman running back Dillon Baxter told the school’s compliance director that Florida, Washington, Oregon, Fresno State and Alabama all contacted him illegally in the wake of the school’s sanctions being imposed.  Since then, athletic director Mike Garrett sent letters to the aforementioned schools to apologize for the false accusations.  The incident had Garrett and the USC brass upset over the embarrassment it caused the program, especially because Lane is the one who pushed for the accusations to be publicized.

People within the program are beginning to see how much different Kiffin is from his predecessor, Pete Carroll.  While each coach has loads of confidence, Carroll is much more personable than Lane.  There has been a rash of bad news for the USC program over the past several months and Kiffin knows the only way to gain the confidence of the fans is by winning.  He’s feeling the pressure so much that he wanted to recruit linebacker Joshua Shirley, who was recently released from his letter of intent by UCLA because of a June arrest for stealing a bag on campus.  Shirley had picked UCLA over USC on signing day, but Kiffin was shot down by the school in his efforts to re-recruit Shirley because they did not want to suffer the public relations hit of recruiting a player kicked off UCLA’s team for an arrest.

The Trojans don’t open up until September 2nd at Hawaii, but the pressure is already mounting inside Heritage Hall.

Hey, give the folks at Southern Cal a little credit here.  Kiffin had Knoxville snowed until the day he walked out the door.

The Big Ten wants to show us its nipples in December.

I confess that I’m not getting this cold weather fetish surrounding possible venues for the Big Ten championship game.  The latest locale to toss its hat in the ring?  Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Nothing says fun like this.

They can always burn a few couches later to keep warm. (Photo via Kirby Lee/Image of Sport/US Presswire)

“Early December, that’s balmy in Green Bay,” Murphy joked. “To me, that’s part of the attraction of college football, to play in the elements. We’re going to have a Super Bowl in New York in February, so it’s not that much different.”

This is starting to sound like little more than an exercise in machoistic masochism.  Big Ten football:  our players may not be SEC fast, but at least our fans aren’t pussies!

But why stop there?  I mean, if showing that the cold doesn’t bother you is the primary motivation here, why settle on half-measures like Lambeau Field?  I hear Edmonton is lovely that time of year.   You want to keep the game in the US of A?  Fine, it’s a smaller venue, but I’m sure these guys would be happy to offer up their place.

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UPDATE: It’s a Northern thing, we wouldn’t understand.

Which I think is my point.