Noel Devine Busted: Devine and three others (also Mountaineer footballers) plead no contest to battery charges after being arrested Thursday. This isn't the first time Devine's been popped. In fact, his character issues were such a problem that most major programs wouldn't touch him, despite his ability to snap ankles like twigs. At this point, West Virginia is scaling the Fulmer Cup like it's Mount Everest, and they've got altitude sickness. Currently, they sit 4th with an expected move up after the most recent points are added.
Michigan will stand for a lot of things. I think they will truly be patient while Rodriguez more than likely struggles to an 8 win season next year. But the one thing that Michigan will absolutely not stand for is anything remotely resembling a problem with the character of their football team. Rodriguez has made a living off of recruiting...um...marginal characters at West Virginia: Pacman and Chris Henry to name a few. The first time a Michigan player makes it rain, Rodriguez will be out the door so fast he won't even have time to shred his playbook.
The logical answer to this is, of course, that in order to be competitive at WVU, Rich had to recruit marginal guys with talent. This is well and good, except that old habits die hard - ask Kelvin Sampson about that. At Michigan, Rich won't need to recruit marginal characters - but that doesn't mean he won't. I'm not panicking, and I'm not making predictions, but it is something to keep an eye on.
Bill Simmons Loves "The Wire": Read the column first. Got it? A prep all-star in Los Angeles got killed by some gangbangers, and Bill Simmons went to the funeral? You with me? DISCLAIMER: This isn't necessarily a true fisk job, as I do appreciate Bill for what he does, which is essentially write a Boston sports blog on a nationally "syndicated" website. However, I was appalled that he would take what was shaping up to be a pretty good column about what happens when tragedy and sports mix, and completely submarine it into a confluence of references from multiple episodes of "The Wire."
I know it's a gritty show. I know it's realistic. I know white people like it. But the show's getting 86'd because nobody watches it. I don't watch it. Thus, a column that could have been a poignant take on culture and sports (which Bill usually does very well) was denigrated to references from a TV show that nobody watches, thus axing about 3/4 of his readership from actually understanding the column. I normally get a kick out of the thousand or so pop culture references in Simmons' columns. This time, under these circumstances, it was a bad move.
Clemson Football (gasp) a Real Football Team!: You've heard, no doubt, about Ray Ray's recent...um...problems with the Clemson football team - namely the fact that he isn't good enough to play for them. You've read The Wiz and EDSBS about how much of a prick Bowden is. If you don't know what I'm talking about, start from the beginning here. It's too complicated to recap at this point.
I will say right now that Clemson got a raw deal on this one. Scholarships are gold in today's football. They're what makes big D-1 football go. If you don't believe me, look what limiting scholarships does to a program like Alabama. Hell, look at what the probationary status placed on Michigan Basketball did to its program. There's a reason these punishments kill entire programs for decades or more - you NEED scholarships to compete. That's why Clemson had their hands tied on this one. Ray Ray is an inspiring story. But he's not that good at football. And when you're not that good at football, you get cut. Clemson was kind enough to allow him to continue his education for free, and earn a degree that will serve him much better than pipe-dreams of playing in the NFL ever will. College football is all about the W's baby - and you can't get them by keeping players who aren't very good on scholarship. What Tommy was forced to do sucked, but he had no choice. I typically don't like the Bowdens, and I've got a bad taste in my mouth from sticking up for one, but Clemson's trying to become a BCS power. You don't get there by keeping sub-par players on scholarship.
Friday, March 14, 2008
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2 comments:
There's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it, and you're missing out here in my opinion. Ray Ray wasn't tying Clemson's hands with ONE SCHOLARSHIP for the next two years. You'll never sell me on that, not for one second. This was not something that needed to be done.
Need I remind you this is COLLEGE FOOTBALL, this ain't the NFL, and this win at all costs garbage might sound good to fans like you and me, but at some point you have to stand up for things that are right.
What happened to Ray Ray is wrong, no two ways about it. What Clemson is doing otherwise is simply covering their ass, and it's weak.
How many players on college football teams have no prayer of reaching the NFL? The majority that's who, you're going to cut all of the ones who aren't talented enough to make it in the league just so your team can be better?
This isn't a development league, this is SCHOOL, it's about the kids, it's for the kids.
Clemson deserves to get burned, and Bowden deserves to have all kinds of heat thrown his way.
The thing is that this sort of stuff happens at every single big time school. It's just that Ray-Ray is a media darling, so you're hearing about it. Notice that he'll continue to receive a free education. He just won't be on the football team. He got cut. It's that simple. He was never going to see the field. If he wants to transfer and get a scholly somewhere else, he's more than able to. In the meantime, he can still get an education. I still don't understand what the HUUUGE uproar is about. Kids get cut from college teams. At least in this case, the scholly was honored, and Ray Ray can continue his education.