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Weekly briefing for Monday, May 26, 2008 |
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May 26, 2008 |
≡ 7 Days ≡
 Scandal: USC Song Girls not cute enough?! |
= To Our Readers =
You can now find us in two different places on the Web: in addition to The Sports Examiner, we now write three times a week on Olympic sports for the World Championship Sports Network site, WCSN.com in a column called “Inside the Rings.”
Here at The Sports Examiner, we have changed our format to include a weekly intelligence briefing, with commentary, for the astute sports fan called “7 Days” on Mondays and a bonus posting called “Fun & Games” during the week. We’re delighted that Al Brooks Tickets is continuing as a sponsor; their support and that of others will help keep this site alive. Thanks again for your continued support; please ask your friends to sign up for the Tip Sheet and the free newsletter.
= The Top Story =
>> One of the top concerns in intercollegiate sports today, in a Q&A session from Scott Wolf’s USC blog at the Los Angeles Daily News:
“Q: I saw that out of the 14 members on the current squad of USC song girls, there are only three girls that could be considered ‘cute’ or ‘pretty,’ while the other 11 are on the rather unattractive side. So is there any talk of reducing the number of squad members back to previous levels of eight or so girls like there were for many years? I truly find it very hard to believe that in a university of 30,000 students, the members of the selection committee simply would not be able to find eight or so pretty girls for the squad? Is it really that difficult these days? Or are attractive girls no longer trying out for or interested in the squad?
“A: We’ve previously discussed this issue. The selection committee needs to be re-examined because they are not getting the job done.”
And you thought the Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo scandals were the big news on campus!
= The National Pastime =
>> Cyberspace: The latest unbelievable line from BoDogLife.com:
How much jail time will Barry Bonds serve?
No jail at all is 3-1; 0-6 months is 2-1, 7-12 months is also 2-1, 13-18 months is 5-1 and 19 or more is 6-1.
>> New York, N.Y.: From columnist Pete Kerasotis in Florida Today:
People are now calling this a transition year, which is a nice way of saying the Yankees might not make the postseason for the first time since 1994, ending a 13-year run, the past 12 coming under Joe Torre.
Funny, but this year’s Yanks are comprised of pretty much the same players as last year’s Yanks, but nobody called 2007 a transition year. What they did call it was Joe Torre’s head on the chopping block after the team, under a barrage of pitching injuries, was forced to send out a major league-record 10 starters in its first 30 games, six of them rookies. It got worse from there. By the end of May, New York was 22-29, in last place, trailing the Boston Red Sox by 13 1/2 games.
Somehow, though, you sensed New York would turn it around and perhaps even catch Boston, or at the very least make the postseason as the wild card. Why? Because of Joe Torre.
Kerasotis notes that the two periods of greatness under George Steinbrenner’s ownership came when he wasn’t around much to meddle with things. The first was in 1973, after he’s just bought the club, and he was suspended for 15 months by Major League Baseball because of illegal contributions to the Nixon campaign. The Yankees won three straight pennants from 1976-78 and two World Series.
When Torre was hired in 1996, he had a team that was ready to light up the league. But, “Just like in the ‘70s, the Yankees of the ‘90s were largely assembled without Steinbrenner’s meddling. In 1990, MLB banned Steinbrenner for life after he paid a two-bit gambler named Howie Spira $40,000 to dig up dirt on his star player, Dave Winfield.” Steinbrenner was reinstated three years later, “too late for him to blow up the foundation of the team Torre inherited.”
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: Since no one wanted him any more, Mike Piazza retired on May 20 and is now on the clock to be elected to the Hall of Fame. The one-time 62nd-round draft choice who was the most popular player on the Los Angeles Dodgers when the club traded him to Florida in 1998 finished with a .308 career batting average, 427 home runs and 1,335 RBIs for five teams. He hit the most home runs ever as a catcher, 396, well ahead of Carlton Fisk (351), Johnny Bench (327) and Yogi Berra (306).
Los Angeles fans will be heartbroken – to say nothing of his Dodgers manager, Tommy Lasorda – but he’s more than likely going to go into Cooperstown as a New York Met. In his retirement announcement, he noted that “I have to say that my time with the Mets wouldn’t have been the same without the greatest fans in the world. One of the hardest moments of my career was walking off the field at Shea Stadium and saying goodbye. My relationship with you made by time in New York the happiest of my career and for that, I will always be grateful.”
>> New York, N.Y.: There’s no doubt that White Sox general manager Kenny Williams is under fire in Chicago because of the team’s 72-90 record last season, although a recent eight-game win streak has them atop the American League Central.
Still, you’d think there might be a FireKennyWilliams.com in the offing. Not now.
HomeRunDerby.com reported that the FireKennyWilliams.com domain name has been registered . . . by Major League Baseball! MLB’s Advanced Media division registered the name way back on April 13, 2007. Naturally, there are still possibilities available, including the Donald Trump-inspired “KennyWilliamsYoureFired.com.”
>> Omaha, Nb.: Beginning June 14, the College World Series will again begin at Omaha’s 23,145-seat Rosenblatt Stadium. How long it will stay there is still an issue.
The NCAA agreed to keep the CWS in Omaha for the next 25 years but the agreement assumes that a new stadium will be erected to be future home of the event. That’s not necessarily what Omahans want. Already facing a $35.49 million deficit in its 2008 budget of $503.98 million, the City is about to commit $100 million toward a $140 million, $24,000-seat baseball stadium that would house the College World Series and the Omaha Royals, the top minor-league franchise of the Kansas City Royals.
Beyond the expense, the Omaha Royals don’t want anything that big. The Wall Street Journal points out that the team averages less than 5,000 fans a game and would prefer a park of about 10,000 with amenities to entertain fans in the outfield instead of bleachers used once a year. Despite polls running 70-30 against a new facility and a failed recall campaign against Mayor Michael Fahey, it appears that the stadium plan is moving ahead.
Comment: If the minor-league club moves out – and that’s a possibility – perhaps the city could lure another team to play there and call them the “White Elephants.”
= The NBA =
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: Lakers reserve forward Luke Walton got a lot of laughs during Kobe Bryant’s news conference after being named Most Valuable Player by asking if Bryant’s teammates could expect a gift as a show of gratitude for helping hin win the award. Bryant laughed, but said he would.
And he backed it up.
Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register reported on his Lakers Blog that Bryant gave each teammate a Swiss-made Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor Chronograph, retailing for $9-10,000 each. The gifts were distributed during a team dinner on May 19 as they watched the Spurs beat Charlotte for the right to meet the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: Although the Spurs lost game one of the Western Conference finals to the Lakers, the big loser was a bankrupt airline called Champion Air. The Spurs had to sleep on a Champion Air charter when mechanical trouble grounded the plane when it was supposed to be taking them from New Orleans to Los Angeles for Wednesday night’s game and there were no hotel rooms available in the city that night.
The players slept on the plane until another was brought from Minneapolis to replace it, and the Spurs finally took off on their four-hour trip at 6:30 a.m. the following morning. The NBA is the one who arranged for the plane, making a deal with Champion, which declared bankruptcy in March and will cease operations on May 31.
>> Cleveland, Oh.: Now that Bryant is happy with his supporting cast, it’s time for another team to start worrying about keeping its superstar happy: the Cleveland Cavaliers.
LeBron James has two more years as a Cavalier before he can leave as a free agent and both the Knicks in New York and the Nets – on their way to Brooklyn – will be able to afford him not only financially, but also give him the biggest-possible stage to play on.
Writes Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Bill Livingston: “Many believe the biggest pitch will be made by the New Jersey Nets when they relocate to Brooklyn, N.Y., in time for James’ free-agency year. James is a personal friend with Nets part-owner Jay-Z, the rap artist. The Nets might also trade for James’ pal Carmelo Anthony.”
The Knicks also have history and Mike D’Antoni on their side, but what can Cleveland offer? Championships are the key and the Cavs will have to figure out how to get better so that James’ best shot at winning is to stay where he is. Cleveland already has the league’s fourth-highest payroll at $81.1 million and all three teams ahead of them are also already out of the playoffs.
>> New York, N.Y.: A consensus is emerging behind the choices of Michael Beasley or Derrick Rose as the top pick that Stanford’s Brook Lopez will be the third choice, going to Minnesota. He’s big at 6-11 and has improved his low-post play considerably over the past year.
His brother Robin is also projected as a first-rounder, possibly going to Houston at no. 25, so Brook will have to play against his brother instead of with him. However, they will both be able to use the same accountant and financial planner.
>> Chicago, Il.: It was widely reported that Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat bought his mother a church as a Mother’s Day gift. But there is more to the story.
Wade’s mother Jolinda, is now the co-pastor minister of the Temple of Praise on the city’s South Side. It’s a far cry from her years as an alcoholic and drug user, habits she finally kicked with the help of her children and with a stint in Illinois state prison. Said her NBA star-son: “People say what I’ve done is miraculous. No, no, this is miraculous.” He’s right.
>> New York, N.Y.: The newest “bombshell” in the Tim Donaghy saga came on Monday, when his attorney filed a letter with the U.S. District Court arguing for probation – no jail time – for his client and stating that the “relationship” between officials, coaches and players affects the outcome of NBA games.
Comment: What a shocker. The next thing we’re going to hear is that defense is important.
= College basketball =
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: The O.J. Mayo saga is getting more and more curious. So a former Mayo entourage member, Louis Johnson, said that Mayo had been receiving money since the ninth grade. And the NCAA and Pac-10 said they would investigate.
But did you see where the NBA Players Association said it would investigate whether Bill Duffy Associates, the firm that allegedly was funneling money Mayo, had broken any rules and could potentially be punished? That got things started and the firm almost immediately cut ties with Mayo, not wanting to risk its existing business with clients including Carmelo Anthony, Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Greg Oden, Tayshaun Prince and others.
Comment: Assuming that the story about BDA paying Rodney Guillory to try to get Mayo to sign with them is true, you know that a sports management firm has to be pretty worried about the consequences to walk away from a $250,000 “investment.” Whether the Players Association puts heat on BDA to cooperate with the NCAA is the next question to be answered.
>> Indianapolis, In.: Mark Alesia of the Indianapolis Star wrote that “When the NCAA committee on infractions sanctioned Long Beach State’s men’s basketball team in March, its report said circumstances should have put school administrators ‘on high alert’ for misconduct.”
That led to the dreaded “failure to monitor” finding against Long Beach State and could lead to the same against Indiana, which has its hearing on the Kelvin Sampson matter on June 13. After all, with Oklahoma under sanctions from Sampson’s activities when he was hired by Indiana in 2006, shouldn’t they have been more vigilant? In the Long Beach State case, which Alesia says “involved payments to recruits for courses to qualify for admissions.” In Sampson’s situation, he made improper calls to recruits, just as he’s charged with doing at Indiana.
Comment: The answer is, of course, that Indiana knew what it was getting and it will be interesting to see how hard the NCAA is with the Hoosiers.
The same issue could be raised with USC. Did anyone who follows college basketball think Tim Floyd didn’t know what the issues were with Mayo? Especially when the first contact with USC about Mayo possibly attending the school reportedly came from the now-infamous Guillory?
>> Bloomington, In.: Speaking of the Hoosiers, things are already a mess for new Indiana coach Tom Crean. He now has only two scholarship players left from last season’s 25-8 team after dismissing forward Brandon McGee, who was a freshman last season, for “academic and team guideline violations.” Crean has signed six players to play next season, including a seven-foot center, Tijan Jobe, from Gambia. Then again, the Hoosiers may be ineligible to play anything other than AAU ball after the NCAA gets some with them.
>> Tucson, Az.: Despite the return of coach Lute Olson, Arizona is in the running with Indiana for the college basketball program in the most disarray. Olson is back, but his three primary assistant coaches have all been fired, his two best players – Jerryd Bayless and Chase Budinger – are in the NBA Draft, it has been reported that new super-recruit Brandon Jennings, hasn’t yet qualified academically and now Emmanuel Negedu asked for and received his immediate release from his National Letter of Intent. Maybe some decent seats will open up at the McKale Center?
>> Colorado Springs, Co.: The newest wrinkle in eligibility rules is a proposal from Big 12 basketball coaches to require players to stay for three years before becoming eligible for professional basketball.
The Kansas City Star reported that Kansas State coach Frank Martin – who had one-and-done star Michael Beasley on his team this past season, said “Make it like baseball. An athlete can sign professionally out of high school, but if he comes to school, he becomes a student for three years.”
Comment: In many ways, a three-year rule will be better for the coaches, who will be able to better plan on who will be playing for them. And the NBA will once again be able to draft players out of high school. The problem will come from the courts, who will find it hard to uphold a rule that restrains trade . . . unless schools begin signing contracts with players guaranteeing their scholarships for three years, regardless of performance. Traditionally, scholarships are a year-to-year deal, with players at the mercy of coaches who can end their rides at the end of each academic year.
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: Who are the assistant coaches likely to move on to a head job? Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com took a poll of head coaches, assistants and others and out of more than 450 responses, the top five includes: Russell Springmann of Texas at the top, followed by Jeff Battle (Wake Forest), Larry Shyatt (Florida), John Groce (Ohio State) and Mike Hopkins of Syracuse. Interestingly, Josh Pastner, recently excused at Arizona, is ranked seventh.
>> Tucson, Az.: Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star took a spin on the AAU basketball circuit and didn’t like what he saw. Some highlights:
[6-11 center Renardo] Sidney turned out to be an overweight ball-hog who didn’t play defense, rarely moved quickly enough to work up a sweat and, when he wasn’t pouting or yelling at the refs, scored 16 points against woefully inferior competition.
Over the weekend, Sidney made it known that he is strongly considering enrolling at Arizona State. Good for Herb Sendek, although the Sun Devils may have to build a new form just to house Sidney’s posse. That group includes his coach/father, Renardo Sr., who recently told Sports Illustrated that he was hired as a consultant for Reebok, moved his son from Mississippi to California and has twice switched AAU teams so that Junior “could call his own shots.”
I was thus reminded why I dislike AAU basketball, a traveling flesh market driven by shoe companies and assorted wannabes who have helped to create the One-and-Done mentality that has seized college basketball.
Hansen adds “They should rename this me-first mess the O.J. Mayo League.”
= College Football =
>> Miami, Fl.: CollegeFootballNews.com ‘s Pete Flutak has already selected the BCS bowl match-ups so you don’t have to pay attention this season! He has Ohio State and Florida playing (again) for the national championship in Miami, with Clemson vs. Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, Missouri vs. West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl, Georgia vs. Virginia Tech in the Sugar and USC, thanks to its early-season loss to Ohio State, playing Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl You can go back to sleep now.
Comment: If Flutak is correct about Ohio State – or USC – playing in the national championship game again, it will make six out of the last seven years that the Rose Bowl has not matched the champions of the Pac-10 and Big Ten Conferences. It adds to the determination of the conferences and the Tournament of Roses Association to make sure they are not, in any way, injured by a future BCS format change. The Pac-10, especially, will look for some way to try and ensure a second team plays on New Year’s Day or later as its bowl package is easily the worst of the other major conferences.
>> Seattle, Wa.: Phil Steele has ranked the nation’s toughest schedules for 2008, based on 2007 winning percentages:
(1) Georgia, 98-57 (.632)
(2) Florida, 94-58 (.618)
(3) Arkansas, 94-59 (.614)
(4) UCLA and Alabama, 94-60 (.610)
(6) Auburn, 92-61 (.601)
(7) Ohio State and Kentucky, 90-60 (.600)
(9) Colorado, Baylor, Washington and Oregon State, 91-62 (.595)
Georgia will face 10 teams that had winning records a year ago; Arkansas, Alabama and Ohio State will play nine teams which had winning records in 2007.
>> South Bend, In.: According to the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette, reports of Charlie Weis’s multi-million-dollar extension at Notre Dame may not be accurate! The school listed Weis’s salary from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007 on a mandatory Internal Revenue Service filing as $598,000 plus another $118,277 in expenses and employee benefit plans. Now that $598,000 figure is only salary and does not include any share of an apparel deal or radio and television show income, but it’s a far cry from his guesstimated compensation of $4.2 million annually listed on CoachesHotSeat.com!
Even worse is that Weis’s salary is less than former Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham (now at Washington), who received $650,000 from his buyout by the school. Neither, however, was Notre Dame’s top earner.
That would be Scott Malpass, the school’s chief investment officer, who received $1.24 million in salary and another $364,147 in benefits.
= Kicker =
>> London, England: Despite dire warnings to the contrary in the British press, there were no reports of any disturbances in Moscow before, during or after the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea last week. Of course, there were 6,000 police on hand and British police helped by banning 152 known hooligans from traveling to see the game. And British newspapers featured stories in the week leading up to the game about possible punishments; one account started with:
Drunken football yobs who cause trouble at the Champions League Final will be stripped naked and given ice-cold showers.
Russian authories said boozy fans will be herded into special mobile cages and ferried to Moscow’s feared “Sobering Houses.”
Anyone resisting police will be chained to beds for the night.
No wonder things were quiet at the game.
However, Chelsea fans back home in London came through and turned the fashionable West End into a war zone with about 200 so-called fans pelting police in riot gear with glasses, bottles and cans. Five officers were injured and 12 people were arrested after up to 400 angry Chelsea fans attacked a bus and then took on police in riot gear.
Comment: Thanks for coming through in such style and upholding the world’s view of English football fans!
= Tennis =
>> New York, N.Y.: Investigators found that about 45 professional tennis matches out of 140,000 played during the past five years need further review because of “unusual betting patterns.”
The question of match-fixing was brought up by Betfair, a London betting exchange which cancelled all wagers on a match between no. 4 Nikolay Davydenko and journeyman Vassallo Arguello in a tournament in Poland last August.
The report said that tennis is not “systematically or institutionally corrupt” and that there was no evidence of ties to organized crime. But there were 15 recommendations made in the report, including a defined anti-corruption program and strictly limited access to the players’ locker room.
Comment: Limiting locker room access and, in some cities, access where players are housed in specific floors of hotels, is important since this is where potential problems can start. Has anyone from the new NCAA basketball investigations unit seen a copy of this report?
= Keeping Track =
>> Stockholm, Sweden: Carolina Kluft is the defending Olympic champion in the heptathlon, will compete in the long jump in Beijing and is an ambassador for her sport throughout Europe.
So she got a little irritated when the organizers of a meet in Scotland inserted her face into the image of a buxom Pippi Longstocking figure for a news conference promoting the competition. Although her father approved the use of her face, she told the Scottish newspaper The Herald, “I don’t want to be a pain, but I don’t feel comfortable with that picture. That’s not me, a floozie with big boobs.”
Comment: Track & field just can’t get it right anywhere.
>> San Francisco, Ca.: Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle points out that the most important point in the current BALCO trial of confessed drug dealer Angel Heredia isn’t what he said in the courtroom, but in an interview with the Times of London: “[Victor] Conte was sent to jail. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me, but I could go to jail, too. But I can tell you, nothing is going to stop. Athletes are still going to South Africa to train; they’re still doping.”
Comment: Just a reminder, the FIFA World Cup will be in South Africa in 2010; they’re getting ready for their close-up!
= The Five-Ring Circus =
>> Vancouver, Canada: A group of nine women sued the organizing committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver in a last-ditch effort to include women’s ski jumping in the 2010 Games. They say that since the Games are being held in Canada, the organizing committee cannot discriminate against them since a men’s event is being held.
The problem is that the organizers have no say in the matter; their hands are tied by their contract with the International Olympic Committee, over which a Canadian court has no jurisdiction! Anyway, the organizers have 30 days to respond and the matter is likely to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, which the IOC does listen to.
Comment: Don’t think this suit won’t have repercussions far beyond the small issue of whether women’s ski jumping will be a medal event in 2010. It was on the way to being a medal event in 2014, but that could be revisited.
And don’t think that several – if not many – IOC members note that such suits seem to take place only in North America. Will that be a factor when the 2009 vote will take place on the 2016 host city? Said one now-IOC member discussing drug-testing lawsuits in the 1990s: “These things seems to happen when we come to the U.S.” Now, Canada, too.
~ Rich Perelman
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