NCAA | June 30, 2009
You would never guess who is stirring up the college football news today..... you guessed it the Tennessee Vols.
I wouldn't necessarily say Lane Kiffin started anything himself, but 13-year-old Evan Berry says he's commited to the University of Tennessee.
Evan, the younger brother of All American Safety Eric Berry, says he wants to play for defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.
What I believe makes this story even somewhat newsworthy is how you can technically define the word "commitment."
A kid can make a commitment to anything... but does him saying that he's "committed" to a specific school make it a commitment? Most would say "No." But I say "Yes!"
Maybe this is why the word "commitment" and I don't get along very well. Whether it be with girls, or whatnot... I personally I think if you commit to somewhere and don't break it... than it's a legitimate commitment right? (Are you lost yet?)
But how can a 13-year-old commit to a school when he hasn't even played a down of highschool football? Exactly.
That's really all it is. A 13-year-old saying he wants to go to UT is like me saying I wanted to grow up and be a millionaire. Neither one of the things have happened, but it's really not up to me to decide. It boils down the the University and what they want to offer. Personally the University of Tennessee offered me an education that I have yet to pay off and currently I can't find a job. (So I guess UT's put me further away from my million dollar dream.).... as far as Evan Berry goes, we'll have to wait until 2013 to see what happens.
Long live the SEC.
| June 25, 2009
And more importantly... Erin Andrews was looking amazing.
...and
...that's all I really have to say about the whole thing. Congratulations to LSU for proving yet once again that the SEC is the best conference in the nation. Whether it be the Florida Gators in College Football, the Lady Vols in Women's Basketball, or now the LSU Tigers in College Baseball, we dominate the world of collegiate sports.
Long live the SEC
| June 18, 2009
Found this and thought it was interesting.
http://walsh.tuscaloosanews.com/default.asp?item=2388195
Years ago, Charles Woodroof, the SEC
Assistant Director of Media Relations, came up with the idea of using
each Associated Press poll to form an all-time AP ranking -- or at
least since 1936, then the first poll was held.
He assigned points based on each team's finish (25 for first, down to 1 for 25th), and added them up.
Although
the poll hasn't always had 25 teams (From 1936 to 1961 the wire service
ranked 20, from 1962 to 1967 only 10, and from 1968 to 1988 it was 20
again until the AP expanded to 25 teams in 1989), it may the closest
thing to a pure ranking of the entire modern era of college football.
Interestingly, there's a new No. 1 in this category:
All-time Associated Press poll
1. Oklahoma 743.5
2. Michigan 741
3. Notre Dame 710.5
4. Ohio State 692
5. Alabama 657
6. Nebraska 617
7. Southern California 598
8. Texas 595
9. Tennessee 548
10. Penn State 504
11. Miami 439
12. Florida State 418
13. Georgia 413
14. LSU 412
15. Auburn 396
16. Florida 395.5
17. UCLA 352
18. Arkansas 293
19. Michigan State 268
20. Texas A&M 264
21. Washington 260
22. Ole Miss 235.5
23. Georgia Tech 231.5
24. Iowa 223
25. Colorado 218
NCAA | June 11, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division I Committee
on Infractions has penalized University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, for
major violations involving 16 sports in its athletic program.
These
sports include softball, baseball, women's gymnastics, football, men's
basketball, women's basketball, men's golf, women's golf, men's
swimming, women's swimming, men's tennis, women's tennis, men's track
and field, women's track and field, women's soccer and women's
volleyball.
The violations include a failure to monitor by the
university and impermissible benefits obtained by 201 student-athletes
through misuse of the university's textbook distribution program. The
total retail value of these impermissible benefits is approximately
$40,000. It was found that $21,950 of this value was obtained by
student-athletes who were aware they were receiving impermissible
benefits
Penalties in this case include three years probation, vacation of records, and a $43,900 fine.
The
university is a repeat violator, having appeared before the committee
in 2002 for violations in its football program. At the time of the 2002
case, the university was also a repeat violator due to a 1999 case
involving its men's basketball program. As stated in its report,
"Although the committee commends the institution for self-discovering,
investigating and reporting the textbook violations, it remains
troubled, nonetheless, by the scope of the violations in this instance
and by the institution's recent history of infractions cases."
Of
the 201 student-athletes that received impermissible benefits, 22 were
identified by the university as "intentional wrongdoers," as they were
aware they received improper benefits. These student-athletes - 14 of
whom were members of the men's and women's track and field programs -
exploited the university's textbook distribution system for scholarship
student-athletes to acquire textbooks and materials of value greater
than $100 for girlfriends, friends and other student-athletes.
The
value of the impermissible benefits obtained by these intentional
wrongdoers ranged from a low of $32.30 by a women's track
student-athlete to a high of $3,947.19 by a football student-athlete.
The committee noted that the four highest amounts, ranging from
$2,714.62 to $3,947.19, were obtained by football student-athletes.
The
second type of infraction involved student-athletes who unintentionally
received the impermissible use of non-required textbooks and materials.
Among the student-athletes who unintentionally violated NCAA rules,
about 125 received benefits that totaled less than $100 each.
The
committee found that the scope and nature of the violations demonstrate
that the university failed to effectively monitor the student-athlete
textbook distribution system. Although the university had created and
implemented a system to control the textbook distribution process for
NCAA compliance, it fell short in three areas, the committee explained.
First, the university did not provide adequate rules education on the
textbook issuance process for employees and student-athletes. Second,
the university did not sufficiently monitor the textbook process before
the textbooks left the store to prevent violations. Third, the
university did not sufficiently monitor the textbook process afterwards
to detect the violations in a timely fashion. The student-athletes were
able to bypass the process in place for textbook purchases made with
athletics aid, were not restricted by any purchase limits and not
required to show photo identification.
As a result of
the violations, there was a sharp increase in the total cost of books
and supplies over a two-year period. Specifically, there was a
30-percent spike in charges between the 2004-05 academic year and the
2006-07 academic year. Had the university been carefully monitoring
these numbers, the committee said, it seems likely this increase would
have been investigated.
Finally, the committee notes that the
university was unable to produce any records prior to the 2005 fall
semester. As a result, the university could not ascertain whether
violations of this nature may have occurred prior to the fall of 2005.
Therefore, the scope of the case was limited to violations that
occurred after that date.
The penalties imposed by the committee are below. Additional details are available in the public report.
 Public reprimand and censure.
 Three years of probation (June 11, 2009 to June 10, 2012).

Vacation of all wins in which any of the seven football
student-athletes identified by the university as "intentional
wrongdoers" competed while ineligible during the 2005-06 through
2007-08 academic years. Further, in the sports of men's tennis, men's
track and women's track, the individual records of the 15
student-athletes identified as "intentional wrongdoers" shall be
vacated and team point totals shall be reconfigured accordingly. This
includes regular season contests, postseason contests and any NCAA
championship competition. The university's records regarding all of the
involved sports, as well as the records of the head coaches of those
sports, will reflect the vacated records and be recorded in all
publications in which these records are reported, including, but not
limited to, university media guides, recruiting material, and
university and NCAA archives. Finally, any public reference to these
vacated contests, including conference championships, won during this
time shall be removed from athletics department stationery, banners
displayed in public areas and any other forum in which they may appear.
 The university shall pay a fine of $43,900 to the
NCAA. This figure represents an approximate value of the benefits
obtained by the "intentional wrongdoers" ($21,950) multiplied by a
factor of two.
The members of the Committee on
Infractions who reviewed this case include Paul Dee, lecturer of law
and education at the University of Miami and formerly the institution's
athletics director and general counsel. He is the chair of the
Committee on Infractions. Other members are John S. Black, attorney;
Melissa Conboy, deputy director of athletics at University of Notre
Dame; Eileen Jennings, general counsel at Central Michigan University;
Britton Banowsky, commissioner of Conference USA; and Dennis Thomas,
the commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and formerly
director of athletics at Hampton
| June 10, 2009
By Cecil Hurt
Sports Editor
Published: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 12:09 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 12:09 p.m.
http://www.tidesports.com/article/20090610/NEWS/906109987/1011?Title=NCAA-infractions-ruling-expected-today
Tuscaloosa News archive photos
UA athletics director Mal Moore is pictured with documents that were self reported to the NCAA regarding textbook violations.
TUSCALOOSA | University of Alabama officials expect to receive a
ruling on its textbook case from the NCAA Committee on Infractions
today, sources close to UA said on Wednesday morning.
Although UA should know the final dispensation of the case today,
University officials are prohibited by NCAA rules from commenting
before the NCAA releases its findings to the media through its
Indianapolis office.
Under NCAA Bylaw 32.9.2, "(the) Committee
on Infractions' public announcement related to an infractions case
shall be made available to the national wire services and other media
outlets. In this regard, the involved institution and/or any involved
individuals shall be advised of the text of the announcement prior to
its release and shall be requested not to comment publicly concerning
the case prior to the time the NCAA's public announcement is released."
UA officials appeared before the Committee on Infractions on February
21 regarding allegations of extra benefits (in the form of textbooks
and other academic material) and a "failure to monitor" its textbook
program.
The official release of the COI decision comes from
NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis. The NCAA will release the report to
media members (including the national wire services) and post the full
report on its web site after UA officials confirm that Alabama has
received a copy of the report and notified any directly involved
parties of its contents.
