Cavalcade of Idiocy

So there have been a couple of issues and occurences that have drawn my ire recently.  Though the Holidays are technically over, I'm going to extend our Festivus Holiday and air some grievances.  Call me Frank Costanza because "I gotta lotta problems with you people!"  I'm so perterbed by some of the things that have happened in the sports world that I don't know where to begin.  That's a lie. I know exactly where to start...

The NCAA is the dumbest governing body in the land

Three years ago, a high school basketball player from Ohio named OJ Mayo committed to play his college basketball at the University of Southern California.  I don't mean to diminish OJ's skills by only referring to him as a basketball player.  He was a two-time Mr. Basketball in the state of Ohio.  He averaged over 29 points per game and six rebounds per game his senior year and won three state titles.  This dude was a star.  Anyway after much speculation, evidence of what most of us already knew began to surface: recruiting violations.  The young star had associated himself with a guy that was associated with a sports agency and took money in order to influence and guide OJ's decisions.  There is also speculation that Mayo had received "improper benefits" (whatever that means), which caused USC to impose its own penalties in an attempt to head-off any NCAA-assessed penalties.

 

(Is anyone really surprised that he took gifts?)

While OJ is enjoying his multi-million dollar contract during his second season in the NBA, the self-imposed sanctions include: a ban on postseason competition this season, including the Pac-10 conference tournament; a reduction of two scholarships, plus other recruiting limitations (fewer coaches on the recruiting trail and fewer recruiting hours), and the forfeiture of all the victories during the 2007-08 season which was Mayo's only season on campus.  USC will also return money it received from participation in conference tournament and NCAA tournament that year. He was chosen third overall in the 2008 NBA draft.  I'm not sure of the details of his multi-year contract he currently has with the Memphis Grizzlies, but I'm sure it's at least a little bit better than the "improper benefits" he received at USC.

Situations like this really grind my gears.  USC's admission of guilt is a good thing. I like that they are taking responsibility for the violations of the men's basketball team, as well as imposing disciplinary action. But the idea of disciplining a program after the rule-breakers are gone to endure any of the punishment is idiotic. The coach quit in June of 2009, the player left the program for the NBA, so the people that are taking the brunt of the punishment weren't guilty of any wrongdoing and probably not even associated with the program while the activities were taking place.  The current team is currently 10-4, have won eight consecutive games, and off to their first 2-0 start in the Pac-10 since 2001-02... but they won't get to play past March because of something that happened in 2007.  The only part of that I agree with is returning the money. Aside from that, this form of discipline is incredibly stupid. How can a team UN-win a game two years later? That whole concept is stupid to me.  I'll leave it to a committe of decision-makers for higher education to come up with philosophical explanation for disciplining players that didn't break any rules... So in light of this, the recently-revived program will now fade back to mediocrity. Tragic.

The funny thing is that the football team is waaaayyy worse than the basketball program.  No wonder Pete Carroll is leaving his post from the cushiest head coaching job in college football to blemish his resume with the Seattle Seahawks.

Speaking of not breaking rules...

Dez Bryant, super-talented and probably college football's leading wide receiver prospect going into the 2009 season following a breakout 2008 at Oklahoma State University, also got shafted by college sports' governing braintrust. 

 

During the offseason leading up to the '09 season, Dez and his girlfriend had dinner with former pro Deion Sanders after a workout.  When questioned about the interactions by the NCAA, Bryant lied to investigators and said that the meeting never occured. Little did Bryant know, the meal wasn't against NCAA rules.  I don't fault him. He panicked.  The kid knew this season could make him a top-five pick in the upcoming draft, so his knee-jerk was to do whatever he could to stay out of trouble.  So when it finally comes out that Bryant lied (about not breaking a rule that wasn't even a rule), the NCAA responds by suspending him for the remainder of the season.  THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASON! He lied about the non-infraction and it cost him all but three games of his junior season.  Ridiculous.  I don't mean to imply that I condone lying. I don't.  But I also don't condone stupid, overreactive penalties.  There has to be some modulation.  Juries cannot convict based on emotions. People can only be punished based on facts. To shut him down for the rest of the season? Harsh.  The only conclusion that I can draw from this is that the NCAA wanted to make an example. They wanted to throw some weight around - let everyone know who's really in charge on the college scene.

It's worse-than-ridiculous when you compare it to the fact that Oregon's Lagarrette Blount punched a player from the opposing, Boise State Broncos in October, served an eight-game suspension, and got to finish the season by playing in the University of Oregon's final two games including the bowl game.

(All I can say is wow. Deion is not equal to assaulting a fellow student athlete)

Blount punched a guy, on national television no less, and only had to sit out eight games. That isn't worse than being friends with Neon Deion?  Perhaps I'm the crazy one.

Pro baseball's Hall of Fame voters ride high horses

This year's Hall of Fame voting was a joke. I'm not talking about the obvious names left out: Bert Blyleven, Barry Larkin and Tim Raines.  I'm talking about Mark Mcgwire.  Yep.  I realize that he's probably the biggest name associated with the steroid scandal.  But I also realize that the steroid problem was more of an epidemic that was as widespread through pro baseball as the bubonic plague in 1340's Europe... everybody was doing it.  So if we're going to ignore his contributions to the game, punish him by excluding his name from being discussed with other record-breakers, pretend that his inclusion would be a disservice, then every candidate from the time period from about 1989 to about 2006 should also be kept out of the HOF.  One man cannot be held accountable for the actions of many.  If there will be concessions, shouldn't those concessions be made for the elite?

YEAR	TEAM	AVG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR
1986	Oakland Athletics	.189	18	53	10	10	1	0	3
1987	Oakland Athletics	.289	151	557	97	161	28	4	49
1988	Oakland Athletics	.260	155	550	87	143	22	1	32
1989	Oakland Athletics	.231	143	490	74	113	17	0	33
1990	Oakland Athletics	.235	156	523	87	123	16	0	39
1991	Oakland Athletics	.201	154	483	62	97	22	0	22
1992	Oakland Athletics	.268	139	467	87	125	22	0	42
1993	Oakland Athletics	.333	27	84	16	28	6	0	9
1994	Oakland Athletics	.252	47	135	26	34	3	0	9
1995	Oakland Athletics	.274	104	317	75	87	13	0	39
1996	Oakland Athletics	.312	130	423	104	132	21	0	52
1997	Oakland Athletics	.284	105	366	48	104	24	0	34
1997	St. Louis Cardinals	.253	51	174	38	44	3	0	24
1997	St. Louis Cardinals	.274	156	540	86	148	27	0	58
1998	St. Louis Cardinals	.299	155	509	130	152	21	0	70
1999	St. Louis Cardinals	.278	153	521	118	145	21	1	65
2000	St. Louis Cardinals	.305	89	236	60	72	8	0	32
2001	St. Louis Cardinals	.187	97	299	48	56	4	0	29
Totals:		.263	1874	6187	1167	1626	252	6	583

 (Maybe only SIX career triples is what's keeping Mcgwire out of the Hall.)

I agree that cheating is wrong.  But keep in mind, at that time, steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs weren't banned by the league. In a highly competitive arena like pro sports, athletes are in constant search of an advantage.  I cannot say that everybody was cheating, but it's more than fair to assume that a large percentage used some sort of substance to boost performance during this time.  So if he did cheat, doesn't that just make him an elite cheater?  There's something to be said for that. Seriously, don't you think he'd still have hit some home runs without whatever it was that he was allegedly using?  The guy was a home run machine throughout his career (he hit 49 of them as a rookie), he simply employed a substance to help him hit a few more.  Allegedly. Consider this, if you and I are taking an aptitude test for a job and we both have cheat-sheets concealed under our sleeves, but I get a higher grade, aren't I hired?  Here are a few other things to consider:

1. Since he retired before the Mitchell Investigation, he won't be named in the report.

2. He was fifth on the all-time home run list when he retired.

3. He was named to the All-Century Team.

4. He set the record for Major League rookie home runs with 49 in 1987, he was awarded Rookie of the Year.

5. He hit 50 or more home runs for four straight seasons.

6. The home run chase between he and Sammy Sosa in 1998 saved pro baseball following the strike-shortened 1994 season.

Perhaps the voters are just afraid that if they vote Big Mac in, they'll have to vote Barry Bonds in too.

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