Close the books on the 2014 season with this final video.
Daily Archives: January 17, 2015
Mark Emmert has a bridge he’d like to sell you.
I think the technical term for this is boolcheet:
NCAA President Mark Emmert says the association agreed to a settlement with Penn State to ensure that $60 million in fines paid by the school could finally be distributed to victims of sexual abuse.
Emmert added Friday that the settlement was not an acknowledgement the NCAA overreached by getting involved in the Jerry Sandusky child-molestation case.
“The reason that the association and the governing board entered into the these conversations was, again, to make sure that we were moving forward in getting the fine to go to the places that it needed to go,” he said during a news conference during the NCAA convention with University of South Carolina President Harris Pastides and Kansas State University President Kirk Schulz.
“We spent two and half years arguing that and frankly it was likely to continue to go forward as a running debate and discussion.
“Penn State has dutifully put in a trust account $12 million a year for three years and intends to do it for another two years and those dollars have been sitting there idly and that was something we all found very objectionable.”
Yeah, all that money sitting there earning interest. That really sucks.
If it was that objectionable, guys, why not use the NCAA’s money in the meantime to help?
The reality is much simpler. Emmert’s organization was being sued for its high-handedness and the revelations coming out from various folks under oath made the NCAA’s behavior even more questionable. Here’s the tell:
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Penn State acknowledges the NCAA’s legitimate and good faith interest and concern regarding the Jerry Sandusky matter.
That’s what Emmert got out of the deal. Even that’s not much, though, because Penn State wasn’t asked to concede anything about the NCAA’s tactics.
So in the end, what are we left with? Not a whole helluva lot.
Legal issues aside, though, there will never be any winners in the Sandusky case. There will only be bigger losers than others.
Paterno earned back his wins but questions will linger about how much he should have known about a longtime assistant coach who abused children in the locker room showers.
The NCAA’s mishandling of justice should not equate to any large share of vindication.
The Sandusky story is as sordid and disgusting now as it was the day it came to light.
Penn State continues to “win” because the NCAA continues to lose. In part that’s because the NCAA, as an organization, is lost.
Well, maybe it’s a little more than that.
What does it say that the NCAA is more willing to back track on child rape than on payments to a student-athlete? Priorities, people.
And, finally, if there is one thing proven here it’s that the only thing dumber than Mark Emmert’s impulses is not fighting the NCAA when it sanctions. That’s some lesson to take away.
Filed under Blowing Smoke, The NCAA
“But that’s history now and away we go.”
It sounds like Steve Spurrier has settled on the “age ain’t nothin’ but a number” approach to deal with negativity on the recruiting trail.
Spurrier isn’t oblivious to the fact that his age is also being used against him in recruiting and that his statement back in December that he might be on the “two- to three-year plan” scared off some recruits.
“That’s how we lost a few this year, people telling recruits that, ‘Coach has about had it or you never know who’s going to be your coach,’ if you go to South Carolina,” Spurrier said. “My response is that the vice president [Joe Biden] is older than me. Heck, Hillary Clinton. … We’re about two years apart from each other [in age], and she’s thinking about running for president. What I have to do is quit telling myself my age number. In life, if a person looks old and acts old and talks old, then he’s probably old.
“Sometimes, you just have to forget the number on your age and physically and mentally see where you’re at, and that sort of determines your ability to function. I know I’ve got a lot left in me to keep coaching.”
Maybe he’ll stump for her on the campaign trail. Although, being in South Carolina, it might have been more discrete for Spurrier to compare his age to Reagan’s when he ran for president.
Filed under The Evil Genius
“… college sports are actually, at their core, a socialist utopia.”
Filed under College Football, It's Just Bidness
The Colorado State Way?
It sounds like Mike Bobo has brought one proud tradition with him to his new gig.
Q: Georgia has strict policies on drugs and alcohol. You are now coaching in a state that has legalized recreational marijuana use. Obviously the NCAA has drug-related guidelines, but will you maintain similar rules to the ones you had at Georgia?
A: “We don’t want guys on our football team or in this program or at this university who are going to abuse drugs, so we’re going to have a strict policy. When parents send their young men here, we’re going to make sure their kids are doing the right things on and off the field. Kids are going to make mistakes, and we’re going to discipline them.
“As for suspensions, we’re going to adhere to university policy. It’s not permitted on campus, and it’s not legal in the eyes of the NCAA.”
Mamas, he won’t let your babies grow up to be tokers.
Although if you parse his answer carefully, nowhere does he state that it’s school policy to suspend players caught with maryjane for the first time from games. That’s because school policy is rather open-ended on the topic. And since Mike Bobo ain’t no fool, my guess is that he’ll be, too.
Flexibility has its benefits. I wonder if CSU tests its football players the day after they come back from spring break.
Filed under Crime and Punishment
Get The Picture 