AlabamaGameday

Jun 15, 2009

A Book Too Many

Posted by sleepwriter

In the old days (the 80s), I knew students who would buy one book too many and return it later for cash. Hey, an extra $20 or $30 could pay for a lot of specials at Harry's. It wasn't the most honest thing to do, but few parents liked to give their kids drinking money – so people adapted as best they could.

Who would ever have guessed so many athletic programs at the Capstone would get into trouble for buying books? What's stranger is, the athletes were not buying the books and cashing them in for nefarious purposes. No, they were apparently giving the books to friends.

There is no excuse for breaking the rules, but the NCAA doled out some interesting sanctions in the textbook case at UA. Vacated wins? Seriously? So, do they want us to believe that reading the Catcher in the Rye gave anyone a competitive advantage in sports? Cecil Hurt wrote a nice article asking what competitive advantage was gained in the 2007 season. Read it here. He makes a good point. If the NCAA agreed to the four-game suspensions of players, and they served those suspensions accordingly, why is the team being punished twice for that season?

Again, there is no excuse for breaking the rules – but I don't think UA gained a competitive advantage by issuing too many textbooks. However, fair is fair and rules are rules. The school self-reported the violations and took its lumps. Even though most fans don't want to deal with the NCAA, we can all take heart that discipline has returned to the Capstone. I wonder, instead of a four-game suspension for players, what the NCAA would have done if the athletic department had cleaned house at the time and put new people in charge of monitoring the system. We will never know, but someone wasn't paying attention.

It also makes me wonder how the NCAA will act in the pending USC investigation.

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Jun 9, 2009

110 Reasons We Hate The SEC - #96

Posted by TonyOrlando

Officiating

We're not conspiracy theorists, necessarily. But come on. Throw the flag, refs. The 2004 LSU game was a particularly egregious example, but there's a host of others. Everyone who reads this post doubtless can come up with an instance where the Iron Sheik pulled out the brass knucks and clobbered Alabama while the field judge was conveniently occupied by Classy Freddie Blassie. And it'll happen this year, too. Wait and see.

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110 Reasons We Hate The SEC - #97

Posted by TonyOrlando

Have you been eating bronze?

MSU's Bulldog
In a league filled with me-too mascots (we're looking at you, Tigers/Wildcats), Mississippi State looked no farther than Georgia for inspiration. C'mon, go with Catfish, or Bad Roads, or Illiterates or something else Mississippi is known for; but don't just ape another school in your own conference!

We're not sure about the origins of this mascot, because frankly, we didn't want to visit Wikipedia and we're pretty sure they don't have Interwebs yet in Starkville. So we'll just assume a few guys in a horse pen tried to think of the most exotic animal they could, and it came down to this or a horse with handlebars. Missing the chance to be the Mississippi State HorseBikes; way to go.

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Jun 1, 2009

110 Reasons We Hate The SEC - #98

Posted by TonyOrlando

Auburn: Stunts vs. Substance

Auburn seems to go out of their way to do something dumb on a weekly basis. Case in point, the recent “Big Cat” event, a hype-filled weekend in which Auburn hosted a couple dozen recruits, and may have violated at least two NCAA bylaws.

It’s doubtful much will come of it, but it’s just another example of how when it comes to recruiting, Auburn prefers the Hail Mary to three yards and a cloud of dust. And as long as the Tigers continue to place flashy exhibitions over the hard work of actually selling the program, we’ll be able to hate them while we keep on passing them by.

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May 29, 2009

Caption This Gut Bomb

Posted by TonyOrlando

This is what was in our sack of Krystal at lunch today. Some things don't even need a punchline.

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May 27, 2009

110 Reasons We Hate The SEC - #99

Posted by TonyOrlando

Smokey
Wait a minute, how can you hate a lovable coon hound? How can you begrudge the laid-back attitude of a true Southern icon? How can you want to see the dog run over by the team bus as it departs for a road game? How could you laugh when Jerry Duncan said from the sideline, "Well Eli, Smokey just came out of the tunnel, and he's about 100 yards away from me now, and if I had my deer rifle I believe I could drop him, back to you Eli"? How can you wish for a virulent strain of mange to sweep through Knoxville, overcoming Smokey and most of Sorority Row? You can't really hate good 'ol Smokey, can you?

We can.

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May 21, 2009

110 Reasons We Hate The SEC - #100

Posted by TonyOrlando

Ed. - Not the actual watch.

Coach Bryant's Gold Watch

Most Tide fans are as well-versed in the legend of Paul Bryant as they are in that of Jesus and Elvis, the other two members of the South's Holy Trinity. It includes the story of Bryant building basketball power Kentucky into a competitive SEC football team. His thanks for this task? A gold watch. Rupp's gift from the boosters in thanks of his success? A Cadillac.

Bryant soon left UK for Texas A&M and the heat of Junction, and the anecdote, apocryphal or not, became part of his myth. It also became a constant reminder of what Kentucky had and gave away: the Wildcats have not won an SEC football title since Bryant left.

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