So here it is...

How many and where will they go. I am stuck in the city and won't be able to catch the draft.

Leave your comments and rants here.

FIGHT ON!

Say what you want about Tom Hansen he is nothing if not consistent, even on his way out the door. But once again he misses the big picture in trying hang on to the old ways of the Pac-10 instead of embracing change and leveraging the positives of his conference.

I will throw out a few random questions form the article...

Question: Does it bother you to leave with the USC investigation still unresolved?

Answer: It doesn't bother me, because it's a rare time where you don't have some investigation going on. I realize the Reggie Bush part of this has gone on, I think it's safe to say, longer than any case that's happened during my tenure. . . .

The frustrating thing is that it's been so extremely difficult to gather information even when people are running around leaking information that they alleged to be true. I notice that most of the time when people are talking in these cases there's a book about to come out, but I'm sure that's just happenstance.

This is an interesting take by Hansen and I will give him credit here. The NCAA has not acted on this because they have so little to go on. Hansen's comment about leaked information "alleged to be true" is also very telling and it goes to the crux of the matter can we believe the words of a convicted felon who had a financial stake in the alleged dealings? There has been very little information coming from the Reggie Bush/USC side of this as most of the chatter has been coming from the Lloyd Lake camp. It makes you wonder just what the real story is here.

As much I dislike the decisions that Hansen has made in running the conference and marketing his product, he is still very shrewd and astute. He knows more than he will let on and his comment here reveals that...providing further evidence that the NCAA may not have much of a case in regards to Bush.

It gets a little more interesting though as we move on...

Continue reading this post »

This is a great interview by Mark

Ed.Note...A reader informed me that this isn't a column but a letter to the editor. My mistake, so I changed the title and some of the content. Regardless, it is still misinformed and it paints a fan base (one that is pretty knowledgeable) in a bad light for not knowing enough about a subject before "sounding off". I am surprised that AL.com published this...to me its tantamount to endorsing the position taken in the letter. - P

This is the second piece like this I have seen come out of AI.com in the past week.(emphasis added)

However, to be put on three years' probation seems extreme to me, especially considering the University of Southern California and its "friends" allegedly paid extreme amounts of money to Reggie Bush and his family (and no telling how many others) and nothing has been done by the NCAA about this.

Really?

I can certainly understand some 'Bama fans wondering just what the NCAA is doing considering they just got nailed for infractions that occurred while they were still on probation from another set of infractions. We have no beef with the Alabama fan base or their football program. In fact most USC fans respect Alabama football and their history in the sport more than any other SEC team. USC and Alabama have strong ties in the sport.

NO WHERE has it been written or reported that USC gave money to Reggie Bush's parents. This was not a booster, something that Alabama knows a lot about, lining the pockets of players with $100-dollar handshakes. It has been well documented that this was a would-be agent that entered into an agreement with Bush's parents. When Reggie knew and what Reggie received and when he received it it still not known. It doesn't take a genius figure that the reason that NCAA hasn't acted is because they don't have enough to go on. That would include school involvement. The fact that the NCAA wants to see Reggie's deposition (whenever that happens) before handing down their ruling is evidence enough to show that NCAA's investigation on the Bush matter is dead in the water.

3 years? Right...

Last night USC finally issued a statement in regards to the Reggie Bush and OJ Mayo Investigations.

The statements by Todd Dickey, USC's senior vice president for administration, and Athletic Director Mike Garrett were short and to the point. They said exactly what many of us wanted them to say for months now. A statement that addresses the allegations, that also lets the fan base and critics know that they are on it. It did not have to be elaborate and it wasn't. It did not have to offer any details and it didn't.

The sad thing is that this should have been done six to twelve months ago. While the effort is a welcomed sight now the impact may be minimal as USC has let the speculation of the scandal get out of control to the point that these statements appear to be a late effort in damage control and the appearance of caving into the media's clamoring for answers. USC has the right to defend itself in the court of public opinion even if that defense is inadequate in the eyes of our detractors, rivals or media members.

Of course, many questions still remain and Dickey's statement in regards to USC seeking to interview the main accusers contradicts reports that USC never made the effort at all. Expect to see a back and forth from Lake's attorney disputing this. But at least USC put their side of the story on the table. It won't be enough of course in the MSM's eyes, they will want more but that is immaterial. SC made a statement, which many of us wanted, and now they will go back into the bunker and ride it out. I have no idea what they are doing behind the scenes nor does it matter to me. They made a statement acknowledging the issue and that is all many of us asked.

Let the splitting of hairs now begin...

In Paul Pringle's story in the LAT two weeks ago Pringle states the following...

Meanwhile, USC also has not tried to question Louis Johnson, who has accused Floyd and Mayo, though it did sit in on NCAA interviews with him, said Johnson's attorney, David Murphy.

"It did seem kind of bizarre that they didn't seek to speak to my client directly," Murphy said of the school. "As far as I know, there has not been a single phone call."

In Dickey's atatement he says the following...

The statement that USC has not interviewed Louis Johnson is also false. Mr. Johnson has twice been interviewed jointly by USC, the NCAA, and the Pac-10. Any suggestion that USC has not taken these allegations seriously and investigated them thoroughly is simply wrong.

I am not sure how important is for USC to ask the questions if the NCAA and Pac-10 reps are there conducting the interview. The questions would probably be the same and I have a hard time believing that USC did not at least huddle with NCAA and Pac-10 investigators before the interview to offer up questions to get the answers to what they wanted to know. I would suspect that if there was something way out of the norm in the interview that SC would have jumped in and asked a direct question.

Like I said...the splitting of hairs.

These statements needed to be made but they should have been made a while ago. How they impact where we are today is the question that will be open to speculation for the foreseeable future.

 Well, it is about time.

You can watch it here

Too bad it took the the public screaming and yelling for it to finally happen.

Leave your comments once you have seen it...

As we all have seen Matt Leinart has had a bit of a difficult time being successful in the NFL. I am not sure what the reasons are and I frankly don't care but there is no denying that he has not lived up to the expectations that many SC fans had when he went into the NFL 3 years ago.

Well it seems that Leinart is taking the proverbial bull by the horns to improve his game and image.

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart and FOX's Jay Glazer joined the show to discuss Leinart's mental and physical makeover. Glazer is training Leinart in mixed martial arts.

Apparently, Glazer did the same for the Vikings' Jared Allen in the past as well.

Glazer said he's trying to get Leinart to push through barriers. He tries to make the QB throw up and quit every day. "We push him so hard to get him to break down," Glazer said. Glazer didn't think Leinart would come back for a second day, because usually no one does. But Leinart did.

Well, you have to start somewhere and that means sometimes you have to tear it all down before you build it back up. Leinart has too much talent to not get on the field so maybe its what's between the ears. That Leinart recognizes his shortcomings and is taking steps to change things is big step going forward. We'll see how it goes but making the effort is a great start.

Here is the link to the video of Matt working out with Jay Glazer.

Here is the audio of him discussing it on Dan Patrick's last week.

I think its great that he is trying this out. We wish him luck!!

While the world awaits the NCAA's ruling against USC with baited breath. We get to see little bit more as to just how this "organization" operates. Without dragging the whole story out again one of the main questions is whether or not USC should have known what was going on at least in regards to the Bush mess. That gets tricky and I have said before that I have trouble with the potential invasion of privacy in determining just how far an institution should go in monitoring the parents or relatives of their players? Even where there is some potential smoke it becomes a slippery slope in trying to get all the information.

The NCAA as has been stated numerous time that they have no subpoena power to the point that it sounds like they are using it as a crutch as this investigation plods along. Bush isn't talking and neither will Mayo so they should put their cards on the table and show us their hand.

But now the NCAA is upping the ante...they are now making a request that is out of this world in regards to former USC commit Renardo Sidney...

Jackson said the NCAA has requested to review the family's bank accounts for the past four years.
"We are in the process of telling them they're out of their minds," he said.

Now I saw this a few days ago and I shook my head in disgust this was exactly what I was worried could happen. Sure they only asked for the bank records but if they say "no bank records, no admission" then isn't that some kind of extortion?

Jackson adds a little more here.

"I've been involved in amateurism cases going back years, and I've never had a request of that nature made," Jackson said. "They're not entitled to them unless they can establish some kind of authority in NCAA legislation or some kind of precedent of this having happened previously."

Like I said, I saw it a few days ago and contemplated using it elsewhere but I didn't. Then I saw this interesting article today.

The NCAA on Tuesday posted the Committee on Infractions' response on a secure NCAA custodial Web site that allows the document to be read only and not downloaded or printed out. The response -- the next step in a process that's far from over -- could only be accessed by FSU's outside counsel.

[I]n an interview with FanHouse Wednesday night, Barbara A. Petersen, president of The First Amendment Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Tallahassee, Fla., said FSU is in violation of Florida's public records law by refusing to release the response from the Committee on Infractions.

"The problem is this -- the NCAA has basically put Florida State between a rock and a hard place," said Petersen, the foundation's president since 1995 and a graduate of the University of Missouri and Florida State University College of Law. "It doesn't matter what the NCAA says. That's why I say they kind of put FSU between a rock and a hard place -- they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

"It's pretty unique I will say that," Petersen said of the NCAA's method of response, one that only fuels the organizations' reputation that it operates in a suspect and secretive manner.

Really? Are these guys nuts?!

Why they would even go down that road is beyond me. This is the sort of thing that tends to piss off lawmakers who in turn start dragging people in front of sub-commitee hearings. If the NCAA doesn't want the government sniffing around and rattling their swords about taking away the NCAA's tax exempt status they might want to to take a second look about how how they conduct their investigations and how they go about gathering information.

They are not the all powerful OZ. Sure, they can make life miserable for programs under the microscope but that too comes with a price...hammer a school too hard and they will face a lawsuit. That is the funny thing about the NCAA, if you hit them hard enough in the mouth when they least expect it they will back down. Their so-called investigators tend to wilt under pressure when little things like unlawful search and seizures and invasion of privacy claims become part of a counter suit.

No one is denying that the NCAA is in a tough spot trying to keep the sports clean from rule breakers but they cause a lot of their own grief by doing stupid things like asking for bank records.

Like I said...are they out of their minds?