Niblets for August 2010

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Best comment of the month:

From Tena

I’m not a baseball fan, but this whole episode stinks to the high heavens. WHY in God’s name is congress (A group of liars if there ever was one) WASTING their valuable time on a baseball player who allegedly lied about taking drugs that may even kill him someday. The country is in the grip of a horrible mess caused by the inattention of politicians for the last 30 years. That boil is getting ready to burst,and here we have Congress trying to “look busy”. It’s really disgusting. It’s impossible for Congress to hold anyone in contempt, because that is the feeling that the entire country has -against THEM!…..

You must also become a reader of fryingpanpolitics.blog.com because I made EXACTLY the same argument. Well done.

Updates on previous columns:

LeBron, Gilbert, Miami and Cleveland LeBron came back to Cleveland for a bike fund raiser. He was roundly booed and expressed disgust that the city wanted to be paid to provide police protection for the riders. LeBron, if you though that was a bad welcome, wait till the Beach Boys come to play.

The NFL, NFLPA, and an 18 game season. If you … Read more at FryingPanSports

There is a good deal of fallout from the USC debacle.

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During the cold war, the USSR had a department of Revisionist History. When a leader was overthrown he would be removed from history like he never existed. There just is not many job opportunities for a used dictator. The same thing is going on at USC.

Every trace of both Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo are being removed from the school. Pictures are coming down and press books are being updated. The USC President-Elect C. L. Max Nikias announced that the school’s Heisman Trophy for Reggie Bush would be returned. The previous was a political announcement intended to win favor with the NCAA as USC appeals the two year suspension from post season play. Don’t expect that will win the school much favor.

USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett was fired and former USC QB and current Notre Dame football color guy Pat Haden was named to replace him. Former Head Coach Pete Carroll already saw the writing on the wall and slipped out of town in the middle of the night for points north. He ended up getting the Seahawk job.

But the fallout goes a lot further than that. According to a source that would not speak on the … Read more at FryingPanSports

A tale of two NCAA Violations.

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Both the Michigan and the USC football programs have been sited by the NCAA and are under investigation. However, that is where the similarity stops.

Michigan

The second most impressive fact about the Michigan football program is that it has the most wins in NCAA history. The most impressive fact is that the Michigan program has never before been sited for a violation. This time they were investigated for having practices during and before the regular season that exceeded the permitted length.

Coach Rich Rodriguez was ratted out by a couple of his former players. They didn’t like the practices but more than that they didn’t like the system that Rodriguez bought from West Virginia. The biggest problem for the program is not the NCAA but the fact that the Michigan faithful don’t like Rodriguez or his system much either.

Rodriguez changed the system from the Big 10 traditional run first and pocket passing to the unique quarterback-centric run and shoot style. That has cost him top recruits by the former staff including now Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett who will compete for the top QB in the 2011 NFL Draft. Michigan fans that had seen their team lose year … Read more at FryingPanSports

USC Coach is forced out due to bad O.J.

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The latest victim of the NBA one and done policy for NBA rookies is Tim Floyd, the former coach of the USC basketball team. The NCAA is more than a little miffed that former one year wonder O.J. Mayo might have gotten free NBA tickets. They were even more upset about rumors that Mayo may have gotten both cash and cloths that may have amounted to thousands of dollars.

But what forced Floyd out of town was a rumor that Mayo had someone else take his SAT exam. Frankly, USC threw Floyd under the team bus even though the coach led the team to 3 straight NCAA tournaments.

The reason that Floyd ended up with political tire tracks across his chest is that the school’s beloved and very profitable football program is currently being scrutinized for previous allegations involving Reggie Bush. USC loves its basketball but not nearly as much as its football.

USC has some major issues. It reminds me of an interview with former Oklahoma LB Brian Bosworth. When asked how he liked pro ball he responded it was OK but the cut in pay was hard to take. The comment was a joke but there are major … Read more at FryingPanSports

NFL prepares for free agency and some cuts go deep.

Fryingpan Sports

NFL prepares for free agency and some cuts go deep.

By Bill Smith

Franchise Tags

Giants

The Giants had to put the franchise tag on RB Brandon Jacobs. It was a good move because RB Ahmad Bradshaw is in jail in Virginia from a probation violation and the top backup to Jacobs, Derrick Ward is a free agent as well. The Giants front office screwed up by allowing both top RBs to become FA in the same year. It will cost them because Jacobs will be the average of the top 5 RB salaries which should be around 7.5 million dollars.

It will also cost them to resign Ward. He fired his agent and hired Drew Rosenhaus who is famous for getting the max for his players. When the agent is wearing a mask and carrying a gun, you know the deal is going to be costly.

Ravens

The Ravens have franchised DELB Terrell Suggs. That means that Ray Lewis will be an unrestricted free agent (UFA). Lewis has already said that while he would like to continue to play in Baltimore he would not give the team a “home town discount.” If Lewis moves to another team … Read more at FryingPanSports