A tribute to a man with a dream… and a pair of red panties.

This one goes in the “damn, son, I don’t think I would have said that” department.

https://twitter.com/#!/ajcuga/status/40876097436389376

Their mascot can kick your mascot’s ass.

These guns are deadly, people.

Either that, or that Vandy student validated every nerd cliché you know.

Let them eat cake.

You know, you read this thoughtful series over at Team Speed Kills about whether college athletes should receive some form of compensation which doesn’t threaten the NCAA’s amateurism standards, see this eminently reasonable point…

The thing is, A.J. Green might have needed the money. And with a better system in place, A.J. Green — who is not known as the kind of guy who goes around breaking rules — might have been able to avoid the incident. That is a case for tweaking the system, not a wholesale revision of what college football has always been…

and start to nod your head in agreement.

That is, until you discover that Mark Emmert doesn’t give a damn what you think about it.  Because he inhabits a different planet than you do.

… He doesn’t believe that infractions such as taking money from a prospective agent or selling sports memorabilia stem from athletes being broke, as is widely the perception.

Right.  It’s not like kids who come from lower class families (or even worse circumstances) and are now expected as a matter of routine to give up their summers for “voluntary” training and summer school could possibly need money any more than the schools which make up Emmert’s constituency do.

Next up: Overcompliance.com

John Infante points out that a college football program can find a competitive advantage in almost anything if it has sufficient resources.

Even in Montana they know who Mike Hamilton is.

Stewart Mandel answers his own questions.

… But what of Hamilton? Under his watch, one of the nation’s proudest athletic programs has deteriorated into one of its most shameful. Will Tennessee chancellor Jimmy Cheek go along with the illusion that the football mess can be blamed entirely on that mercenary scoundrel Kiffin, and that reducing Pearl’s salary last fall was an adequate show of force? Or, will he do the right thing: recognize that Hamilton was ultimately Pearl’s and Kiffin’s greatest enabler; that Hamilton’s department is a textbook example of the risks of allowing splashy head coaches the freedom to act as their own freewheeling autocrats; and that ultimately Hamilton and his whole department should be replaced and rebuilt?

… Rarely does the NCAA come down specifically on the athletic director, possibly because of his or her lack of direct involvement in the case or possibly because many ADs play an active role in the governance of college athletics. Just last November, amid the NCAA’s investigation, Hamilton was named to the executive committee of the Division I-A Athletic Directors Association. He’s clearly respected by his peers.

But Hamilton, who succeeded former Vols football coach Doug Dickey in the AD’s chair in 2003, represents a common dichotomy among modern-day athletic directors: He’s a businessman first, manager second. His background before his current gig was primarily in fundraising and marketing, which can be both a blessing and a curse. Under his watch, Tennessee has more than doubled its fundraising revenue, struck lucrative licensing and endorsement deals and undergone massive facilities upgrades…

So ADs don’t turn on their own and Hamilton raises a boatload of money for his school.

I think that adds up to a “hells, no”.