GP1

Non criminal matters.

A crime was committed on University property....That's up to the legal system to deal with. What happened in a tatoo parlor is an interesting way to put it...or not put it. It happened in a tatoo parlor with a guy who was later found guilty of Federal drug charges, players getting free stuff from the drug dealer in violation of ncaa rules and a coach who knew about the drug charges and lied to his boss to win games. The ncaa has clear rules as to what happened in the tatoo parlor and those rules apply to getting free things. It doesn't have clear rules about this. Once it crosses this line, where does it end? tOSU just had ANOTHER player break the law. Third this off season. Urban is easily going to break his Florida record of arrests at this rate. Anyhow, should the ncaa step in about that? Where does it end? One argument people are going to bring up is, "The NFL rules on things like this all the time." The NFL has 32 teams and those teams have fewer players on them than a college football team. There is a greater legal connection between NFL teams and the NFL. An NFL team can't be an nfl team and not be in the nfl. A college can have sports teams and not be in the ncaa. How many college football teams? How many basketball teams? How many baseball teams?, etc. will they now have to make rulings on legal matters about. Is their staff big enough to handle the additional work? Do we want the ncaa to have a staff to deal with this knowing they aren't even good at the money matters they handle? It's easy to say, "they HAVE to do something about this". It would be easy to say that about every legal issue that comes up in the 300+ schools in the ncaa. Where does it stop? People need to do something about this issue. The Board of Trustees at PSU is starting to take steps to try and make sure nothing like this happens again. This is a criminal issue that involves a state university and the legal system. That's where it should be handled. Civil cases will soon be filed in court and that is where this issue should be handled. The state saying something is wrong and putting people in jail means more than the ncaa and the idiots who run it saying it, because the state speaks for everyone. What is happening at PSU right now is worse than what the ncaa could do to them. This legal process is going to take years to resolve and the ncaa should not get in the middle of it. For whatever reason, Americans have come to believe the ncaa is more that what it really is. It is a club that schools join in order to provide some structure to their athletic departments and conferences. It's the Chamber of Commerce for college athletics.

This was on Every Day Should Be Saturday. There has been a lot of talk about taking the Paterno statue down. Good or bad, leave it up. There are statues of horrible people all over the world. Everyone has the right to look at something and make their own evaluation as to what it is and what it stands for. People do this every day when they go to museums. Leave it up. *AND THOUGH WE'VE SAID IT BEFORE: leave the statue up. You were the ones who put it up there, and you don't need to waste time and money taking it down. History is history, and as nice as it would be to confine the nasty bits to the dustbin, this one weighs too much to move. You made it, you live with it, and you try to explain that to whomever cares to ask about it. We spent a lot of our youth in a town with a confederate soldier on a pillar in the middle of a town square, and when our children ask who that is, we'll say "a poor person who was probably as racist and ignorant as his neighbors, and angry enough at life to be duped by shitbag plantation owners into running headlong into a line of cannons. He probably regrets a lot of it, and now most people driving by think he's a Duane Allman, Tim Richmond, or Keith Whitley memorial or something. Let's not have you go to war, ever, okay?" For the record, our Civil War ancestor deserted, most likely because the food sucked and he ran out of underwear. We've read the letters. He complains about the food a lot, so we're pretty certain we're related by blood and by name. We salute his strategic acumen, and hope he got some decent country ham when he got home.

The ncaa isn't a brand like the nfl is a brand. There are hundreds of schools in the ncaa. If they are going to start ruling on every law violation every single "athlete-student" makes, they will have to at least double the number of employees the ncaa has. Do we really need more ncaa employees? No.

Deadspin makes some good serious points (sports writers are easy to make fun of. nobody does it because they would have to make fun of themselves.) and then does something funny.

Do nothing is my vote so I didn't vote. Keep out of it isn't an option for me as I believe the NCAA could require schools to highlight potential problem issues such as this. There is something or them to do, but not one of the options. The NCAA is set up to give out penalties to schools where money exchanges hands. They do a terrible job of it. The NCAA is not set up, nor they have the moral standing, to issue rulings on matters such as the PSU case. I can see them actually being worse than they are at giving penalties for money if they give out penalties for moral issues. It starts a slippery slope for a car being driven by morons. The folks guilty at PSU are paying through the legal system. Paterno is dead. The NCAA should do nothing about this issue until the legal matters surrounding this case close. It could be years. By the time it is over, PSU will be what it was going to be sooner or later after Paterno retired even if the Sandusky issue didn't happen. PSU is going to be in worse shape than having the death penalty...they are going to become The University of Illinois Version 2.0. They are dead either way.

Agreed on all counts. Size matters....I've been saying it for years.

Deadspin at its best again. Anyone remember the old X Files show? Fox Mulder always had that sign on his office wall that said, "I Want To Believe". That's what a lot of sports fans do with the people they see on TV. For many PSU fans, Paterno could never be a guy who covered something up because he wanted to continue to coach and wanted to win more games. For OSU fans, Tressel was just a guy protecting his players and not someone who needed those guys to win games so he covered everything up to keep them on the field. It's the either/or high school debate club nature of media and society these days. Deadspin has a lot on it that is funny. Normally they are at their best when they are taking a crap on someone who deserves it. Every once in a while, they do something serious and it almost is always great. This is a good example. Why? It presents the "and" issue that someone can do good deeds and do something really self serving and just plain wrong. I love a good "and" article.

We have had plenty of plans in the MAC. The problem is, the plan is usually as follows: 1. Hold hand grenade with both hands. One hand holding the release handle closed and the other grasping the release pin with one finger. 2. Pull out release pin. 3. Allow the release handle to open. 4. Throw pin. As an example, the MAC whores itself out to ESPN and plays on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in front of a few hundred people. Leaders of the MAC really believe this is good for the Conference so they throw the pin because they don't know any better. UTSA, App. State, etc. don't care about TV and only desire to put a good product on the field and they play in front of tens of thousands of people. MAC leaders believe in the illusion they might be able to create. App State, UTSA believe in the reality of what they have and maximize their ability the best they can and lots of fans respond to that. The UTSAs of the world are willing to throw the grenade. Even if they don't hit anything, they have tried their best and at least didn't blow themselves up. The reality is as follows. If the MAC or 90% of their athletic directors believe something will work, the opposite is true. They have so overthought things, they no longer know what a good decision or bad decision is. They only believe more is better. By more, they mean more stadiums and more lines on their resumes saying what they did to build those stadiums. More teams in the conference. More indoor training arenas. What makes me sad is the MAC can be everything the Southern Conference is and better if they would just put a better product on the field at a time when people can go to the games. They play mostly afternoon games. Every SoCon school is in a state that has at least one BCS team in it just like the MAC. In those states, the fans of the BCS teams are just as passionate about their BCS team as they are in the midwest. Those schools also have alumni that follow both their SoCon school and a BCS school. Many SoCon schools get huge crowds and aren't located anywhere near a major city. Anyone know where App State is or Western Carolina? You damn near need a mule to get you there. We have tons of excuses for why we fall short. They pull up their pants and get to work putting a good Conference together. I don't hate the MAC. In fact, it could be a much better conference and I wish that was the case. I absolutely can't stand the leadership of the Conference and their self serving ways that are complicating our ability to be a better Conference.

People in the south are crazy about college football. I went to a game last year at App State and it was completely sold out. In fact, they sold standing room only tickets. They were playing UTChat that day for first place in their conference. Parking in the town of Boone was $25 and nobody complains because it isn't about the cost of the game, but the game itself. One of the best times I've ever had going to a college football game.

I don't know if this is the question. I think a better question is...Coming off the bench, would Zeke be able to rest the starting center with productive minutes on the defensive end? The answer to that question is yes. However a lot rests on whether or not he can get with the right team. I don't see Zeke as a draft pick. If an NBA team is going to take a chance on a "work in progress", it is usually a player who didn't play four years in college. The NBA draft is very short and it is hard to take a chance with a player with so few choices. We haven't even scratched the surface of Zeke's NBA prospects. The real questions are centered around which teams need center help because free agents are signed on needs, not the future. I'd look for a team that needs immediate help rather than a team looking for a long term investment. I have no idea who those teams will be in two years because I don't follow the nba.

If losing successful seniors matters, and I think it does in mid major basketball, UNCA will be a little down this coming season. Dickey, Primm and Stephenson were 1, 2 and 3 last year in scoring. All three were seniors. These three were in the top four in minutes played. One guy can be replaced....two, maybe....all three is very difficult in the short term. Still a solid program, but no X. X is a solid program in a very good mid major conference. In fact, the A10 would be a conference I'd like to see the Zips compete in more. Charting our success against programs like X really tells us where we are in realation to other mid major programs. 20 wins is good. 20 wins with wins against programs like X means more.

They can show dirt track right after the MLS game of the week on CBS when that happens....

I agree. There is also some luck hitching on with an NBA team. There are lots of guys not in the NBA who are just as good, if not better, than some guys on NBA rosters. The NBA is hard as heck to make because the number of players is small. Zeke has a future in professioal basketball, whether it is the NBA or a high level league in Europe. I lean to high level Europe. Either way, he is going to be making some really good cash in the next few years.

He's good enough for the MAC. I too love his first ten yards. The first thing a RB has to do is get through the hole. This guy runs north/south and will get yards for the team with a combination of physical running and vision. Coaches, especially offensive coordinators, love a guy who just gets them yards so they can manage the game better. He appears to be able to do that. Besides, I think our running game will be a sideshow compared to the passing game. Does he have world class speed? No, but this is the MAC and if he can get yards, his speed is good enough. He may play against a lot of small schools, but he is faster than EVERYONE he plays against so there must be some speed there because everyone can't be slow regardless of the size school they play. Change of direction? He makes EVERYONE miss. He is able to do this with smart running and not the greatest moves. When there is a defender, he runs at the defender and makes the defender stop. Then he makes his move when the timing is right. Even an average change of direction guy does well when the defender is standing still. Emmitt Smith made a career of this type of smart running. Do I see a superstar? No. I do see a kid who could get on the field for OU and they are the best program in the league right now. This is the MAC, and not a superstar league (only 8 MAC players drafted this year). Good coaching and smart players go a long way. The superstars in the MAC are usually the QBs because of the way the game is played right now.

Ambassador to Ireland.

This solution is so ridiculous and funny, you could be the President of the NCAA some day.

It's a start is right. They actually have to win though and that is the real problem for Big Ten teams against really good teams. PSU played Alabama last year and Alabama could have put 50 on them if their coach didn't show some respect for an old coach. Anyone who watched the game would have seen how outmatched PSU was. Big Ten fans have a desperate way of taking one fact and applying it to everything around them. IE: Michigan plays Alabama; therefore, the Big Ten schedules are difficult. We have the same discussion about Ohio HS football....Ohio produces X number of NFL players; therefore, it is great HS football. I prefer the eye test myself. It isn't about what teams are going to do or have done, it's about what they do. Big Ten teams aren't very good and you can see it when you watch it and you can see it when they play OOC.

As soon as he can find a way to get the field shipped to Pittsburgh without the trucks having to pay turnpike fees, he'll do it.

Buzz Bissinger chimes in.

It might by a lot of concrete restoration (It will cost much more than $10 million to repair the RB), but the issue of the stadium purchase is still out there. If this team wants that dump that badly, make them pay as much as possible to get that hole. The people who run the league have no idea as to the history of failed events at the RB. It will become a money sink for them trying to have concerts, etc to make up the operating costs. They won't even own the parking rights so there is no source of revenue there. A couple of things could be going on here. First, UofA really doesn't want this team playing at The Big Dialer and is seeing what they can really get out of that dump by the airport. I sure as heck wouldn't give it away if they wanted it that badly...Remember The Odd Corner? Second, maybe this team wants to play at The Big Dialer, but doesn't like the asking price for rent. They are floating this RB idea to get UofA to lower their price. If they can get supported by the NFL and TV money at a rate to pay the rent at The Big Dialer, then it is just a matter of lowering the rent to help turn the profit quicker. The construction group toured the RB last Wednesday...they have no idea what the costs will be at this point because there wasn't enough time between the tour and the article to properly put even a budget number together. The also said they don't want to disclose potential investors or repair costs...of course not...they just looked at it Wednesday and don't know the costs....If they don't know the costs, nobody is going to invest without knowing if that seven figure cost is $10,000,000 or $60,000,000. If memory serves me right, the cost of repair of the RB at the time The Big Dialer was built was around half the cost of construction of The Big Dialer. That makes that number around $32 million. If the budget number is $32 million on a concrete repair, the actual price will come in around double that. The Big Dialer is the best place for them to play if the price is right. My guess is they are trying to get the price right. This team will be DOA if they buy the RB.

This goes to the point of creating a national division. Here is how we would know the Big Ten is average at best. If they created a national division and split up the teams in a way the conferences were split. Put tosu in a division with Alabama, LSU and a couple of top teams from other conferences and the would cry like children about "maintaining traditional rivalries". tosu can't compete against an average team like Miami...they would get killed in a national division. The Big Ten is closer to the ACC than the SEC.

I don't know about the ABJ, but someone in the Athletic Department will have something similar on their resume if this goes through. If the Don wants to partner with this group and fix up the RB, go ahead. I don't live in the City anymore and if he wants to flush money down the toilet like this, then go ahead. Concrete repairs almost always cost twice the original estimation because you never really know what you are getting into. This case will be no different. If UofA can't find a way to make some money with the USFL, they should not deal with them.

If they want it, they can have it. A league with management this stupid will never make it.

You are largely correct. Pitt is rarely anything better than average. Link Western PA high school football sheltered itself for many years in the WPIAL believing they were only worthy of playing each other. Few of them could win the Ohio high school championship and you all know how I feel about Ohio high school football right now. PSU hid for years playing a cake schedule and once they got in the Big Ten, which isn't a very good conference in itself, they were exposed for not having much talent. I can't believe it is taking people this long to figure all of this out. I still don't understand how people use the number of NFL players in a region as proof that the high school football in that region is really good. How do I know the "talent" in western PA doesn't make for very good college football? I watch football games that Penn State and Pitt play in. They are mostly full of average talent. Every once in a while, they get a run of a couple of good players that play in the NFL, but for the most part they are average. Terrible teams have great players sometimes...Remember Jason Taylor? I'll say it for the 100th time this week. The beauty of Bowden is he understands just getting players from a region isn't enough. They have to be the best of those players if a team wants to be elite. Pitt and PSU aren't elite programs because they can't get the best of the best in PA, in large enough numbers, to go to their schools. It's either that or there aren't that many good players...or both.