This whole Detroit-Free-Press-started, ESPN-fueled scandal about possible NCAA violations at Michigan is quite possibly the stupidest thing I have ever seen. The basic story is that a couple of journalists (or should I say ‘journalists’) at the DFP talked to several current and former Michigan players and allegedly discovered that the players were practicing far more than they are allowed to NCAA rules. Instead of applying a little bit of rational thought and a bit of investigative journalism, the writers ran with it for all it is worth. Unfortunately for them, there are several reasons why their story is thoroughly ridiculous:
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Month: August 2009
– The whole Michael Vick debut last night was much ado about not very much, wasn’t it? He played early as promised, but he threw a total of four passes, barely ran, and otherwise only served as an unconvincing decoy. It was less than I expected to see by a fair bit, but nothing he did was concerning, either. It really shouldn’t be surprising that he was such an afterthought – he can’t play until week seven, so the Eagles have little incentive to spend a lot of time now working on him. All in all, the coverage of the lead up to this game was all smoke and no fire. There was another conclusion to come out of this game as well – the third preseason game is supposed to be the one where the top players are at their best and play the most, but this was a dull, lousy game that was not at all worth watching. If this isn’t an argument for why we don’t need fur preseason games then I don’t know what is.
– Tennessee has a starting quarterback now – senior Jonathan Crompton. When Lane Kiffin’s choice had to be between him and junior Nick Stephens then you know that Kiffin is in for a long year because neither guy is very good. Both of them looked very spotty last year – and that’s being kind. I am undecided on what Kiffin’s long term future holds, but in the short term it won’t be pretty.
– Sports betting was dealt a significant blow today. A federal court of appeal was supposed to rule on the sports leagues’ attempts to get an injunction to stop Delaware from starting sports betting on September 1. They decided not to stop there, though – they went all the way and ruled that the whole thing broke the law. Delaware can still appeal to the Supreme Court, or even ask the court of appeals to reconsider, but the chances of success seem bleak. The NFL has admitted that the state is allowed to take multi-game bets – parlays and the like – but they can’t do single game bets. It’s the single game bets that were going to be the most attractive, so the state may not even bother going forward with their plans now. Very disappointing.
As you probably know if you have read this blog much I am a diehard Michigan fan – the kind that bleeds maize and blue.Given that you’ll have a sense of how much I have enjoyed the last year or two of football, and the last decade of basketball. I’m optimistic now, though – In Rod I trust. The being said, the press conference by coach Rich Rodriguez today pretty much terrified me.
The NCAA is ridiculous. Yet again, they have chosen to punish a school in a way that does nothing to actually deter schools from doing things wrong. I’m talking, of course, about Memphis’ moronic punishment that was handed down yesterday. If you missed it, the school has been forced to vacate all 38 wins from two years ago – the year they lost in the championship game to Kansas by blowing the last couple of minutes of the game then tripping up badly in overtime. They will also be on probation for three years, though they lose no scholarships or postseason eligibility during that time. There are a couple of violations at issue, but the main one is that Derrick Rose likely wasn’t eligible for the season.
Preseason games are ridiculously stupid. I can’t think of a single reason why there needs to be four preseason games. Well, I guess there is one, and it’s the only one that matters – four games means that owners can charge full price for two more home games every season. The league is all about money after all. I don’t endorse or enjoy preseason games, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t obviously some value in paying attention to the games. Here are ten things that have jumped out for me from what has transpired so far:
Haven’t yet figured out why the Vikings signed Brett Favre? I haven’t really, either, but here’s a big part of it – in the 24 hours following the signing they sold 3,000 season tickets and 10,000 individual game tickets. They have 7,000 season tickets left, and you can only go to the Green Bay game with a season ticket, so they will certainly sell even more. The extra ticket sales and jersey sales alone will pay for the contract, and now the team won’t have to struggle with blackouts like they have in recent years.
I went to bed last night in a world that sort of made sense. At least it was one that was, for once, relatively free of all-consuming, ridiculous sports drama. But then I turned on my computer this morning only to discover that a plane with the Vikings logo on the tail had landed in Mississippi and that Brett Favre and his life were listed on the manifest for his return trip. That was soon followed by the news we have probably all heard by now – that Favre is in Minnesota, and he has a deal done for between $10 and $12 million pending a physical today. Head coach Brad Childress has confirmed that the team intends to sign the player. In short, the third retirement is over – almost before it started.
Continue reading “What?!?!?!?!? Favre Makes My Head Hurt. Again.”
I tend to be an emotional football fan. It doesn’t take much for a guy to get on my bad side, and once he does it can be very hard for him to get off of it – I can really hold a grudge. Here are five guys who don’t fit my definition of the ideal NFL player, coach, or owner:
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