WEDNESDAY NIGHT'S LATE BREAKING NEWS
Jeez, I pumped out 1,300 words for you this afternoon & here I am back before midnight with more breaking news, lotsa stuff going on for an off-season Wednesday night.
The boom is about to fall in a very big way on the USC Trojans. ESPN.com's Bruce Feldman & The L.A. Times have reported this evening the NCAA will announce a severe penalty for the Trojans. A 2-year post season ban for USC, no bowl games, plus a loss of at least 20 scholarships. The time frame for these losses is unknown this evening, but The Times also reports USC might have to forfeit a number of games including their 2004 BCS Championship. These penalties were incurred due to money Reggie Bush & his family accepted while he was at SoCal. Not hard to understand why Pete Carroll "shocked" everyone with his move to the NFL Seattle Seahawks, think he didn't see this coming? The NCAA investigation was already underway when he fled north. His reaction tomorrow will be interesting. The official findings of the investigation & the penalty phase will be released early Thursday morning. This could be Lane Kiffin's new excuse for compiling a 5-7 record & then fleeing to another school dumb enough to hire him. After the crap he pulled on Tennessee after last season, he deserves being put in a terrible situation, I just hope he has the guts to stay put for 3 seasons.
For those of you who have been here since last preseason, you'll remember I said there was bad karma in store for the Trojans & you'd remember USC's 2004 BCS title trophy falling apart in their athletic offices last August. Things just got worse for the Trojans as the season progressed & with the addition of Lane Kiffin & the NCAA penalties, I'd say I was right about that karma thing.
Pity Carolina linebacker Thomas Davis. He blew out his ACL last November. He had surgery to repair it, went thru extensive rehab after signing his tender as a restricted free agent just yesterday, returned to practice & promptly blew out the same knee today during a Panther OTA. The only bright spot is the $3.268 million the Panthers owe him, but instead of a multi-year contract he would have received had there been a new collective bargaining agreement in place, he only has the 1-year tender deal. Team officials said he was back-peddling in coverage drills when he collapsed, grabbing his knee.
The Oakland Raiders have joined the Ravens in Roger Goodell's "OTA Doghouse." They will forfeit 2 OTA's for the same reason the Ravens did, too much contact by players not properly prepared for it. In other words, no pads. Oakland rookie Jared Veldheer, an offensive tackle, said today he was exhausted from all the contact, "wow, there sure is a lot of contact out there for not having pads on, kinda surprising." Goodell had already passed judgment on the Raiders before Veldheer's quote appeared, apparently the league office got wind of the infraction some other way.
The rumors are flying about college football conference realignment, so much so that I've decided to refrain from posting any more of them here without some concrete proof, there is was too many contradictory reports being floated about the internet & on ESPN. At this point I almost crave the dreaded "Brett Favre watch." I would like to say this about all the rumors surrounding the Big-12. Regardless of who goes where, I sincerely hope Big-12 commissioner Dan Beebe finds himself without a golden parachute, free-falling into job uncertainty like millions of other Americans. Guys who screw up as badly as he has shouldn't be rewarded in any way. Allowing a few teams to dictate how the TV revenue is cut up(not equally)for twelve teams & then completely botch the chance at a Big-12 Network is what I'm talking about. Secondly, if Mizzou is left holding the bag, no Big-10 offer while watching the entire Southern Division flee west to the PAC-10, athletic director Mike Alden should be canned. These are the things an A.D. should be on top of, not being blindsided or passive as the events simply run over him & the university.
The boom is about to fall in a very big way on the USC Trojans. ESPN.com's Bruce Feldman & The L.A. Times have reported this evening the NCAA will announce a severe penalty for the Trojans. A 2-year post season ban for USC, no bowl games, plus a loss of at least 20 scholarships. The time frame for these losses is unknown this evening, but The Times also reports USC might have to forfeit a number of games including their 2004 BCS Championship. These penalties were incurred due to money Reggie Bush & his family accepted while he was at SoCal. Not hard to understand why Pete Carroll "shocked" everyone with his move to the NFL Seattle Seahawks, think he didn't see this coming? The NCAA investigation was already underway when he fled north. His reaction tomorrow will be interesting. The official findings of the investigation & the penalty phase will be released early Thursday morning. This could be Lane Kiffin's new excuse for compiling a 5-7 record & then fleeing to another school dumb enough to hire him. After the crap he pulled on Tennessee after last season, he deserves being put in a terrible situation, I just hope he has the guts to stay put for 3 seasons.
For those of you who have been here since last preseason, you'll remember I said there was bad karma in store for the Trojans & you'd remember USC's 2004 BCS title trophy falling apart in their athletic offices last August. Things just got worse for the Trojans as the season progressed & with the addition of Lane Kiffin & the NCAA penalties, I'd say I was right about that karma thing.
Pity Carolina linebacker Thomas Davis. He blew out his ACL last November. He had surgery to repair it, went thru extensive rehab after signing his tender as a restricted free agent just yesterday, returned to practice & promptly blew out the same knee today during a Panther OTA. The only bright spot is the $3.268 million the Panthers owe him, but instead of a multi-year contract he would have received had there been a new collective bargaining agreement in place, he only has the 1-year tender deal. Team officials said he was back-peddling in coverage drills when he collapsed, grabbing his knee.
The Oakland Raiders have joined the Ravens in Roger Goodell's "OTA Doghouse." They will forfeit 2 OTA's for the same reason the Ravens did, too much contact by players not properly prepared for it. In other words, no pads. Oakland rookie Jared Veldheer, an offensive tackle, said today he was exhausted from all the contact, "wow, there sure is a lot of contact out there for not having pads on, kinda surprising." Goodell had already passed judgment on the Raiders before Veldheer's quote appeared, apparently the league office got wind of the infraction some other way.
The rumors are flying about college football conference realignment, so much so that I've decided to refrain from posting any more of them here without some concrete proof, there is was too many contradictory reports being floated about the internet & on ESPN. At this point I almost crave the dreaded "Brett Favre watch." I would like to say this about all the rumors surrounding the Big-12. Regardless of who goes where, I sincerely hope Big-12 commissioner Dan Beebe finds himself without a golden parachute, free-falling into job uncertainty like millions of other Americans. Guys who screw up as badly as he has shouldn't be rewarded in any way. Allowing a few teams to dictate how the TV revenue is cut up(not equally)for twelve teams & then completely botch the chance at a Big-12 Network is what I'm talking about. Secondly, if Mizzou is left holding the bag, no Big-10 offer while watching the entire Southern Division flee west to the PAC-10, athletic director Mike Alden should be canned. These are the things an A.D. should be on top of, not being blindsided or passive as the events simply run over him & the university.
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