Context is a beyotch.

Hey, last night amidst all the excitement over the NFL draft, the NCAA’s chief legal officer saw fit to weigh in on the O’Bannon case.

“Instead, the plaintiffs take out of context quotes and statements from representatives of member conferences and institutions, and even NCAA officials, and attempt to weave them together to support their faulty theory.

Them bastids is even twisting our words!

How much twisting was needed for this, I wonder.

In one e-mail exchange in 2005, former NCAA official Bo Kerrin noted there is “real concern” that the NCAA’s use of athletes’ images in video games “adds to the argument that student-athletes should be unionized and receive a cut of the profits, etc.”

During a different 2005 e-mail exchange with NCAA Vice President David Berst, then-Ivy League compliance coordinator Brian Barrio questioned whether the use of personally identifiable characteristics of players in video games was a liability for the NCAA. Barrio said he heard the same concern at his previous job at Ohio State.

“This seems to go beyond the plausible deniability inherent in selling a jersey with a uniform number but no name on the back,” Barrio wrote. “Is anyone at the NCAA tracking on this issue? We wanted to make sure there is an awareness of the level of identification in this game, given that it is presently one of the highest-selling video games on the market.”

Later in that e-mail thread, NCAA membership services official Steve Mallonee raised similar concerns with NCAA colleagues Kevin Lennon and Kerrin.

“The jersey number along with the position and vital statistics is clearly an attempt to have the public make the association with the current student-athlete,” Mallonee wrote. “And it appears to be working. The Best Damn Sports Show was aired several weeks ago and had (then-USC football players) Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush acknowledging that they were in the video game.

“That then raises the issue of whether getting in line with technology means being more restrictive or lenient with our rules. … The biggest concern I have is that such a position really does allow for the maximum commercial exploitation of the (student-athlete) and if that occurs, will it be long before we can defend not giving them a piece of the profits?”

Oof.

Donald, looks like you got some more ‘splainin’ to do.

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Michael Adams, smh

If you want a distillation of what makes Butts-Mehre run the way it does, look no further than Michael Adams’ explanation of why the guy running the most profitable athletic department in the country ranks twelfth in salary in the conference.

“I think there’s a fundamental issue there that we have to solve going forward,” Adams said. “I think Greg is great; I think we have to be cognizant of the market. Whether or not we have to be completely bound by the market is a decision that somebody else will make. Greg is basically a senior administrator. He now makes more money than any other senior administrator but me. How far do you go down that road and you’re speaking out of both sides of your mouth. You’re preaching unity with the body politic on one hand and you’re creating division on the other…”  [Emphasis added.]

There you have it.  It’s not a matter of how well you do your job.  It’s a matter of how willing you are to subordinate yourself to Adams.

I’m really gonna miss that guy.

Georgia, steady flowing pipeline to the pros

John Pennington takes a look at which current SEC schools have produced the most pro talent and compiles this chart:

SEC Rank	Picks ’93-’12	Picks ’03-’12	Picks ’08-’12	Picks ’12	1st Rd Picks ’03-’12
1	Georgia 101	Georgia 56	LSU 30	Alabama 8	LSU 12
2	Tennessee 101	LSU 56	Georgia 28	Georgia 7	Alabama 11
3	Florida 98	Florida 48	Alabama 24	S. Carolina 6	Florida 9
4	Alabama 85	Alabama 45	Florida 20	LSU 5	Georgia 8
5	LSU 82	Tennessee 39	S. Carolina 18	Arkansas 4	Auburn 7
6	Texas A&M 66	Auburn 33	Arkansas 15	Texas A&M 4	Tennessee 7
7	Auburn 62	S. Carolina 31	Auburn 15	Miss. State 3	Arkansas 6
8	Arkansas 48	Arkansas 29	Missouri 13	Florida 2	Missouri 5
9	Miss. State 47	Texas A&M 25	Tennessee 13	Kentucky 2	Ole Miss 5
10	S. Carolina 46	Missouri 21	Texas A&M 13	Vanderbilt 2	S. Carolina 5
11	Ole Miss 40	Ole Miss 21	Kentucky 11	Auburn 1	Texas A&M 4
12	Kentucky 35	Miss. State 16	Ole Miss 10	Missouri 1	Miss. State 2
13	Missouri 29	Kentucky 15	Miss. State 9	Ole Miss 1	Vanderbilt 2
14	Vanderbilt 21	Vanderbilt 12	Vanderbilt 8	Tennessee 1	Kentucky 1

That is some remarkable consistency – through three head coaches – for Georgia.  And some of you might try reading between the lines to see what that chart says about one Rodney Garner.

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UPDATE:  It’s not just about recruiting.  Check out what Mike Tomlin had to say about Jarvis Jones.

“When you look at the outside linebackers in 3-4 defenses, generally there is some projection and so forth involved in the evaluation,” said Coach Mike Tomlin. “This was an easy evaluation from that standpoint. He plays in a very similar scheme, he’s asked to do things in a manner in which he’ll be asked to do it here in Pittsburgh. Very little guesswork in that regard made it a fun evaluation and made it a comfortable evaluation. He excelled in what they asked him to do, and he’ll be asked to do similar things here.”

FSU, they’re just not that into you.

If you’re wondering how FSU, which supposedly looked for a way out of the ACC for a while, signed on to that shiny new grant of media rights, remember that it always takes two to tango:

Since that time, Barron and FSU officials apparently have done just that, including exploring the possibility of joining the likes of Florida, Alabama and LSU in the SEC.

While it’s difficult to confirm how far those talks advanced, FSU officials came away with the understanding that the SEC saw little financial incentive to adding the Seminoles. Bringing on FSU would neither expand television markets nor open recruiting territories.

Just because you’re willing to go to bed with somebody doesn’t mean your partner will accept.  At least not if he or she is sober.  Or, if you prefer it stated in more commercial terms, you’re not offering enough to make it worth somebody’s while.

Guilty until proven innocent.

Gee, maybe now we know why Isaiah Crowell was nervous during that arrest.

The charges that were leveled against former Georgia tailback Isaiah Crowell last summer and ultimately led to his dismissal by the Bulldogs were dismissed by the State of Georgia this week.

According to court documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday, the felony charge of possessing a weapon with an altered ID mark and misdemeanor charges of possession and carrying a concealed weapon without a license and carrying a weapon within in a school zone, were dropped by Athens-Clarke County District Attorney Kenneth Mauldin.

In the dismissal document filed by assistant D.A. James Chafin, it was explained to the court while the gun was found under the driver’s seat of Crowell’s car, which belonged to his mother, “the state would be unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant actually possessed the weapon or even knew it was there.”

I’m sure the mea culpas will be flowing shortly – I’m looking at you, Coach Dooley and Mark Bradley.

Some random thoughts:

• This is what sucks about living in a 24-hour news cycle/Internet reaction world, that rush to judgment that feels so good, yet ultimately holds no accountability.  There’s no place for nuance, or for letting little things like the judicial system run their course.
• Which is why I can’t blame Mark Richt for the decision to let Crowell go.  Standing by the kid would have been an enormous distraction.  But I bet Richt gets plenty of mileage out of this going forward dealing with the media and its next rush to judgment.
• Does Georgia get a Fulmer Cup mulligan?
• I figure Jimmy Williamson still counts this as a notch on his gun.
• Remember where this all started:  “an officer smelled an odor of marijuana”, although none was found in the car at the time of the arrest.

Bottom line is that there’s a pretty high asshole quotient with this story.