A pay for play buffet

A few morsels rounded up for your reading pleasure:

• A reminder about the value of that free education the NCAA touts:  “According to 2018 report from USC’s Race and Equity Center, just 55% of black athletes from the Power Five conferences, which include college sports’ most profitable programs, graduate in six years as compared to 69.3% of all student-athletes.”
• This is a detailed breakdown of how we got to California’s Fair Pay to Play Act, as well as what we might expect to see if there’s a court challenge (assuming it passes, of course).
• Scratch Mike Leach on the subject of paying players and he sounds a lot more like Dabo than Mike Leach.
• For those of you who don’t get how antitrust law and cartels work, remember that you don’t have to buy tuna fish.

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Wednesday morning buffet

Soon, grasshoppers, soon.

• “After going 6-1 ATS as a home underdog in 2015-16, Vandy has limped to a 1-5 spread record as a home ‘dog the last two seasons.”
• This is a potentially interesting development to keep an eye on.
• ‘Bout damned time.
• Mark Schlabach predicts Georgia loses to Texas A&M in the regular season, and then turns around and beats ‘Bama in the SECCG.  I’d take that.
• That sound you hear is bookies groaning after hearing this news.
• Boy, did Dan Enos throw Jarren Williams under the bus after Miami’s loss to Florida.
• Penn State is back in court.
• Vanderbilt is the only Southeastern Conference program yet to reveal a starting quarterback for its opening game.
• Mississippi State to Vandy:  hold my beer.
• In case you didn’t know, you can bet first half lines and team totals.  Here are some for the Georgia and Georgia Tech games.

“Fifteen years after the case first went to trial…”

Jeez, I don’t know what all the twists and turns in Jackie Sherrill’s lawsuit against the NCAA are, but I’d sure like to.

What I am fairly certain of is that when Donald Remy says something like this,

“Rather than continuing what already has been a lengthy legal process, all parties have agreed to confidentially settle the claims in this case without admissions of liability or responsibility. We thank the court and jury for their service and professional participation in the process.”

… Sherrill is probably on firm ground in claiming vindication.

(h/t)

“These young athletes are looking forward to receiving a check.”

Assuming that a certain attorney who’s been holding things up gets her head out of her derriere, the other shoe from Alston is about to drop.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday came closer to clearing the way for more than 50,000 current and former college athletes to finally receive their shares of a $208.7 million legal settlement with the NCAA and 11 major conferences concerning the association’s current compensation limits…

The plaintiffs’ lawyers have developed a list of roughly 53,000 football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball players who are set to get some share of the settlement money, according to Wednesday’s ruling. Those who played their sport for four years will get an average of about $6,000 apiece, the ruling said.

The reason the players are about to receive settlement relief:  “The damages settlement covers scholarship athletes in Division I men’s basketball, Division I women’s basketball or Bowl Subdivision football whose award was limited by NCAA rules to basically tuition, room, board, books and fees.”  In other words, the NCAA directed schools to collude and limit the labor market in violation of federal antitrust law.

And, remember, kids, this is a settlement, so you won’t hear Donald Remy crowing about how this is some sort of vindication for the NCAA.

“We don’t like the notion that we’re in violation of antitrust laws.”

No shit, Mark.  Seems like there’s a way to change that.

Emmert added that the association does not believe the courts should decide what qualifies as a benefit tethered to education.

“We just find that an unworkable proposal that anytime you want to have a discussion over whether or not something is or isn’t tethered [to] education, we have to go back to a judge and have that debate and discussion. That just seems inherently inappropriate and not an appropriate role for the judiciary, but one that does fit the role of the NCAA,” Emmert said.

Eh, forget I mentioned it.

A rock in Waco has just been turned over.

Who knows what’s going to crawl out?

A federal judge in Texas ruled Thursday that a law firm must turn over thousands of records that lawyers believe will give a fuller accounting of how Baylor University responded to sexual assault allegations made by students.

Judge Robert Pitman said in his order that Philadelphia-based Pepper Hamilton must produce all materials related to its internal review that resulted in a 2016 summary report finding an “institutional failure at every level.”

The firm “must produce all materials” in its control that Baylor either has not produced or doesn’t possess, Pitman determined. He swept aside several objections that Pepper Hamilton had lodged, including that the federal court in Waco, home to the university, did not have jurisdiction in the matter. He ordered that the materials be provided by April 11.

I have no idea myself, but hope it puts Ken Starr in the worst possible light.

Wednesday morning buffet

A few nibbles here, a few nibbles there, and pretty soon you’ve got a full buffet.

• Missouri has decided to celebrate its appeal of NCAA sanctions in a unique way.
• Plaintiffs’ lawyers in Alston want to get paid.
• Class is in with Mike Leach.
• Lane Kiffin:  “You go to the national championship in what was it, the second year, and could have won the game a million times.”
• Cocktail Party alert!  “On Tuesday night, the Jacksonville City Council voted 15-1 on Tuesday to approve an $18-million deal that sets the stage for the city to demolish the Landing…”
• David Hale looks at how punters and kickers pass the time.
• The secret to Georgia’s offensive line’s success?  Size and Sam Pittman.
• Mose of the players who will appear in this game are two to four years old today.
• Yeah, that Jeff Long is a fine athletic director.