The Yard usually tries to find the humor or irony in the world and delivers it in a sports themed wrapper. This week there is no humor or irony and unfortunately the wrapper is still tied to sports.
The reign of terror that Jerry Sandusky was allowed to perpetrate at Penn State University is not humorous or ironic. Joe Paterno was collateral damage yesterday when his unprecedented reign at Penn State was terminated by the board of trustees. The trustees took swift actions in an attempt to reconcile events from over a decade ago. Swift action a decade ago would have ended this story before it ended this way.
Tuesday, Joe Pa tried to orchestrate his departure as has been able to do for so many things for the past half century at Happy Valley. He encouraged the trustees not to waste one second of their time thinking about his status as coach. He would gladly retire at the end of the season. Joe figured he could get past this. He lamented that he should have done more as the egregious actions of his former defensive coordinator, Sandusky came to light this past week. The Yard is not sure if Paterno could have done more when these events were brought to his attention. We are most certain that it would have been impossible for him to have done any less.
The rioting on campus by PSU students demanding that Paterno not be fired is ignorant and misguided. Joe had to go, not coach another game and not collect another paycheck from PSU. If anyone’s doubts Paterno’s culpability in these horrific events go the Yard blog site for a link to the grand jury transcripts. It is a rugged read and tears will flow as witness testimony recounts the activities of a sexual predator that Paterno and the PSU administration let roam free.
In 2002, then graduate assistant coach Mike McQueary ventured into the Penn State locker room looking for his tennis shoes. The lights were on when they should not have been and he went to investigate. What he came upon is not for the faint of heart. He found Sandusky raping a ten year old boy in the shower. He ran from the scene and it took him a night of soul searching to report this not to the police but to Paterno which he did the following morning. Joe Pa reported it to the athletic director. His superiors reported it to no one and Sandusky remained a PSU coach for another 18 months.
The story got distilled by the university in this manner. McCreary witnessed a rape and reported it to Joe. Joe reported that something might have happened that was of a sexual nature. The administration testified that it was merely horse play and possibly the boy’s genitals were touched. The University looked out for the University not the victim. Quietly, Sandusky was allowed to retire in 2003 while being promoted to the position of professor emeritus. He was awarded a full pension and full access to the University’s facilities. He was instructed not to bring any children on the campus anymore. Penn State really stood their ground on that note. They knew what he was doing and they firmly told him not to do it on campus. They still did not tell authorities.
Sandusky molested, raped and abused another 7-8 young boys in the years that followed. He was in a position of trust and influence as the head of his foundation. He was not helping disadvantaged youth, he was trolling for them. The PSU administration knew what type of demon he was. Monsters that rape young boys did not make an error in judgment or a mistake. They have violated the core of our very existence. They are demons that need to be locked away from society. The fact that Paterno allowed Sandusky to continue to coach and work in the foundation with immunity is a crime of monstrous proportions. Joe, wished he had done more? Joe, would you let one of your 27 grandchildren spend the night at the Sandusky house? You wished you had done more? You did virtually nothing hoping it would all go away and your legacy would live on untarnished.
This story is not over. There will be more victims. There will be Catholic Church size lawsuits and payouts. Penn State will never be the same place. Joe Paterno will never coach another game and his career will forever be tarnished. The victims will never recover and their lives will never be the same. PSU student body, protest the actions of the administrators who are now indicted for covering this up. Protest the lack of institutional control that your university has displayed. Do not spend another second in front of Joe Pa’s house praising his saintly leadership and legendary career. He allowed a demon to operate in your midst for over a decade. What if the victims were your nephew or your cousin?
Interestingly enough, the NCAA has not said anything yet. If Sandusky had given an athlete an extra tee shirt or dinner, PSU would be on probation and lose scholarships and bowl games. Rape a ten year old in the shower and it is outside their jurisdiction. USC was cited for lack of institutional control when Reggie Bush’ parents took money from agents. PSU allowed a known sexual predator to roam free on their campus for over ten years.
Humor and irony will return to the Yard soon. Today we pray for the victims. We all need to protect our youth and keep an eye out for the monsters that walk among us. May Jerry Sandusky find out what rape is all about daily for the rest of his miserable life behind bars.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Keep the rally alive!
The Occupy somewhere ralliers are springing up everywhere. The Yard was taken by their dilettante efforts and strident spirit in saying, “We are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore!” The Yard decided to join the cause to support their cause. This past Saturday, we occupied our sofa for most of the day. Pictures of the occupation will eventually be displayed at the blog spot. It was a particularly fortuitous weekend to occupy our sofa with USC playing Stanford in a thriller. We were fervent in our desire to support those occupiers everywhere with our La-Z-boy recliner, refrigerator stocked with beverages and a remote control to take us around the nation with limited motion. There was nothing that could stop our fervor. Not on this Saturday, no way. Monday was a business trip but we have committed to be full tilt sofa every Saturday until stuff gets better.
With each passing year the demise of Major League Baseball is predicted and it is derided for its pace and relevance in today’s sports universe. The nation’s oldest pastime has been challenged to shorten the games and become more in touch with a generation of fans who might not appreciate the nuances of the historic game while texting.
In Los Angeles, most fans were unaware that the games were so long because they listen to the last two innings of any game they attend on the drive home. The games can sometimes be four hours or two and a half because there is not a game clock. The team with the lead does not have the option to run out the clock. The team that is behind only has to keep the rally alive. It is what makes baseball special in sports history and in Yard patronage.
The 2011 baseball season came down to the last hour of the final day of the season before the Saint Louis Cardinals knew that they were in the post season. The Cardinals were 10 ½ games out in of a wild card spot in late August. Albert Pujols was leaving. ManagerTony LaRussa was probably gone and soon so would be the 2011 Cardinal Season.
So it should not have been a surprise Thursday night in Saint Louis, the Cardinals were down to their last strike twice in an elimination game. If the batter strikes out, the Cardinals not only lose the game, they would have lost the 2011 World Series. If they lost, that is all that would be remembered. In the bottom of the 9th with two out and with two strikes, an unlikely hero in David Freese banged a two run triple off the right field wall to tie the game. It was historic but it only tied the game. Josh Hamilton looking like the Natural gave the Ranger another two run lead with a majestic stroke that silenced the crowd. In the bottom of the 10th, and most of the mojo juice spent in the Cardinals down one with two out and gray bird Lance Berkman strokes a two strike single to tie the game. That spent all of the Mojo juice Ranger coach Ron Washington could brew in the visitor’s dugout David Freese puts the ball where only the fans can catch it in the 11th and the rest is the history of baseball. Baseball is much like life, there is always enough time if there are enough out. You can never lose if you just keep rallying.
Bryant Gumbel shook up the sports universe this past week by making very strong comments about NBA Commissioner David Stern. Gumbel stated in an editorial during his HBO show that “Stern’s version of what’s been going on behind closed doors has, of course, been disputed. But his efforts were typical of a commissioner who has always seemed eager to be viewed as some kind of modern plantation overseer, treating NBA men as if they were his boys.”
The Yard is not sure who should be more outraged by Gumbel’s comments Stern or the NBA players he apparently was supporting with that comment. It is also an outrage to the history of racial atrocities to compare an NBA player to a slave. The horrors that happened to a slave on a plantation are not akin to the lifestyle of any NBA benchwarmer anywhere.
David Stern is arguably the best commissioner in any professional sport. He is accessible to the press, hard-nosed and creative. Gumbel and the NBA players should hearken back to the days before Stern was commissioner in 1983. There were 23 teams. There were no Nike shoe deals. There was no Dream Team. There was an awful TV contract and the NBA playoffs were on tape delay after the late news in most markets. There were rampant drug problems throughout the league which were well documented in the eight hour news cycle of the day. In 1982, three NBA players were making $1 million a year or more, Kareem Jabbar, Moses Malone and Magic Johnson. The average salary for an NBA player was $65,000 per year. A player could hardly spawn a second family on those paltry dollars.
Since Stern became commissioner that NBA has added seven new teams. Each team employs fifteen players, multiple coaches, back office personnel and staff. Stern’s NBA has built nine new basketball arenas employing hundreds of people playing before thousands of fans. The NBA now enjoys the most lucrative contract in league history. NBA games are televised live on TBS, TNT, ESPN, ABC and multiple regional sports networks almost nightly. The NBA expanded into Canada and internationally. NBA player jersey sales rank among the highest of all sports. The average player salary is $6.5 million and over 20 players make more than $15 million annually. The NBA is in a much better place since David Stern took the helm of this flagging sport. The plantation was never a better place for the slaves.
Bryant Gumbel took issue with Stern being an egocentric and self-centered. This is very interesting commentary from one of the real prima donna loads in television history. The celebrity as diva bar is set rather high and Bryant has cleared it into the finals at most career stops. Gumbel’s ego, back stabbing and tirades have been well documented from his days as the host on the Today to his current position at HBO. He is Wilbon like in his positioning of his question as more important than the answer from his guest. His comments were to shock us into thinking that Gumbel is part of our social relevance. I forgot what were we talking about again?
“Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive and you have defeated time, you remain forever young.” Roger Angell
With each passing year the demise of Major League Baseball is predicted and it is derided for its pace and relevance in today’s sports universe. The nation’s oldest pastime has been challenged to shorten the games and become more in touch with a generation of fans who might not appreciate the nuances of the historic game while texting.
In Los Angeles, most fans were unaware that the games were so long because they listen to the last two innings of any game they attend on the drive home. The games can sometimes be four hours or two and a half because there is not a game clock. The team with the lead does not have the option to run out the clock. The team that is behind only has to keep the rally alive. It is what makes baseball special in sports history and in Yard patronage.
The 2011 baseball season came down to the last hour of the final day of the season before the Saint Louis Cardinals knew that they were in the post season. The Cardinals were 10 ½ games out in of a wild card spot in late August. Albert Pujols was leaving. ManagerTony LaRussa was probably gone and soon so would be the 2011 Cardinal Season.
So it should not have been a surprise Thursday night in Saint Louis, the Cardinals were down to their last strike twice in an elimination game. If the batter strikes out, the Cardinals not only lose the game, they would have lost the 2011 World Series. If they lost, that is all that would be remembered. In the bottom of the 9th with two out and with two strikes, an unlikely hero in David Freese banged a two run triple off the right field wall to tie the game. It was historic but it only tied the game. Josh Hamilton looking like the Natural gave the Ranger another two run lead with a majestic stroke that silenced the crowd. In the bottom of the 10th, and most of the mojo juice spent in the Cardinals down one with two out and gray bird Lance Berkman strokes a two strike single to tie the game. That spent all of the Mojo juice Ranger coach Ron Washington could brew in the visitor’s dugout David Freese puts the ball where only the fans can catch it in the 11th and the rest is the history of baseball. Baseball is much like life, there is always enough time if there are enough out. You can never lose if you just keep rallying.
Bryant Gumbel shook up the sports universe this past week by making very strong comments about NBA Commissioner David Stern. Gumbel stated in an editorial during his HBO show that “Stern’s version of what’s been going on behind closed doors has, of course, been disputed. But his efforts were typical of a commissioner who has always seemed eager to be viewed as some kind of modern plantation overseer, treating NBA men as if they were his boys.”
The Yard is not sure who should be more outraged by Gumbel’s comments Stern or the NBA players he apparently was supporting with that comment. It is also an outrage to the history of racial atrocities to compare an NBA player to a slave. The horrors that happened to a slave on a plantation are not akin to the lifestyle of any NBA benchwarmer anywhere.
David Stern is arguably the best commissioner in any professional sport. He is accessible to the press, hard-nosed and creative. Gumbel and the NBA players should hearken back to the days before Stern was commissioner in 1983. There were 23 teams. There were no Nike shoe deals. There was no Dream Team. There was an awful TV contract and the NBA playoffs were on tape delay after the late news in most markets. There were rampant drug problems throughout the league which were well documented in the eight hour news cycle of the day. In 1982, three NBA players were making $1 million a year or more, Kareem Jabbar, Moses Malone and Magic Johnson. The average salary for an NBA player was $65,000 per year. A player could hardly spawn a second family on those paltry dollars.
Since Stern became commissioner that NBA has added seven new teams. Each team employs fifteen players, multiple coaches, back office personnel and staff. Stern’s NBA has built nine new basketball arenas employing hundreds of people playing before thousands of fans. The NBA now enjoys the most lucrative contract in league history. NBA games are televised live on TBS, TNT, ESPN, ABC and multiple regional sports networks almost nightly. The NBA expanded into Canada and internationally. NBA player jersey sales rank among the highest of all sports. The average player salary is $6.5 million and over 20 players make more than $15 million annually. The NBA is in a much better place since David Stern took the helm of this flagging sport. The plantation was never a better place for the slaves.
Bryant Gumbel took issue with Stern being an egocentric and self-centered. This is very interesting commentary from one of the real prima donna loads in television history. The celebrity as diva bar is set rather high and Bryant has cleared it into the finals at most career stops. Gumbel’s ego, back stabbing and tirades have been well documented from his days as the host on the Today to his current position at HBO. He is Wilbon like in his positioning of his question as more important than the answer from his guest. His comments were to shock us into thinking that Gumbel is part of our social relevance. I forgot what were we talking about again?
“Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive and you have defeated time, you remain forever young.” Roger Angell
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
The Departed.
Friday afternoon flights into Las Vegas’ McCarron airport are illuminated with all the enthusiasm and hope that exists before that first $200 is pissed away in Vegas. The bachelorette parties with matching shirts and cocktails are ready. The dancers are all coming in for the weekend to take off their shirts for cocktailers. There is laughter and excitement in the air as the city awaits the revelers and their ATM cards. Las Vegas is a city which is built on a business model of people making bad decisions while drinking alcohol. The crowd leaving on Mondays in Uggs, sweats and massive sunglasses is a testimony to the city’s pervasive ability to ensure the successful extraction of people from their wages.
Al Davis died this past weekend. Yard staffers were completely shocked by these tragic events. We actually thought Al had already died. The Lane Kiffin “firing” press conference from several years back with Mrs. Taglin’s 8th grade overhead projector will live forever but apparently Al did not. Al was always wearing those Weekend at Bernie’s shimmer suits and glasses. We thought he was already gone and his Stepford staff kept the Alster “alive” in our lives to enjoy his best team in a decade. It is unfortunate for his family but not the franchise. The Raiders upset the Titans as part of the wake festivities. It was refreshing to hear Jon Gruden and Roger Goodell praise Al’s legendary leadership while they both personally loathed the man.
The NFL potential lock out this past summer was watched almost as closely as the Cuban missile by the American public. It was headline news daily and congress attempted to get involved. The sports books in Las Vegas were reeling if regular season games were lost. Eventually a deal was reached and for the good of the Obama administration, America’s most important distraction was saved before we started really wondering how bad things are. Sport is a solvent for the residue that accumulates in the psyche of America. The anxiety of the week can easily melt into the confines of 56 inches of liquid crystal display and a few frosties before Monday beckons.
The NBA does not share this same national interest. There are NFL cities not NBA cities. College football and basketball are more important than the NBA. If you are in Des Moines or Duluth, you have an NFL telecast every weekend. There is a local college team that is followed in Lubbock and Little Rock as well as the NFL. People in Oklahoma hate the University of Texas but love the Cowboys. The NBA is only followed with reverence in a few towns. Los Angeles, Boston, Miami and Dallas of late have strong NBA traditions and following. All of the other 2nd and 3rd tier markets that do not have a local team would rather watch Celebrity bowling or poker over the NBA. In the 1970’s before Magic and Larry supercharged interest, the NBA Playoffs were only on TV on a tape delay after the local news.
The NBA is off everyone’s radar until football ends in February. Pundits figure it will get done in time. But the public apathy that exists will mature into disdain if the NBA is not careful. NBA players are the most notorious spenders and sperm donors of all professional athletes. With an extended family and sometimes a few others, missing paychecks is not part of that economics for the average NBA power forward. The megastars have their largess but the second tier guys slogging along for $7.2 million a year are going to suffer. Their pay is doled out $87,804 per game to get their millions. If the season is shortened to 76 games, $7.2 million is $6.67 million and so on. The players will cave because if they do not their siblings will be on their butts for their monthly stipend. Be careful what you wish for in today’s world.
4Th and long: The State of UCLA football is irrelevant even on the campus in Westwood. There is no buzz or excitement at the games. The team has swirled in a soup of mediocrity for nearly a decade. Every day someone inquires at the Yard if Neuheisel’s job is in jeopardy. The simple answer is these days all of our jobs are in jeopardy. The real answer is that UCLA has never gone all in with football. The 1990’s were nice but UCLA coasted when they should have had their foot on the gas pedal. The team was exciting and USC was wandering in the desert with Ted Tollner and Paul Hackett carrying the commandments. UCLA left the load of Bob Toledo feeding at the bountiful trough of Terry Donahue’s mission too long before firing his lazy ass. USC hired Saint Pete in the interim and the rest is well documented in this ugly down spiral into the depths of the Pacific 12 conference. While UCLA basketball gets a new arena, football has never had a home to call their own. UCLA Football facilities are arguably the worst in the conference with no improvement planned. Super-agent Michael Ovitz rose over $200 million for the Ronald Regan hospital. Can he find $50-75 million for football? We need an Oklahoma State’s booster like T. Boone Pickens. He gave the school $100 million and warned them not to spend a nickel of it on academics.
If UCLA is not going to step up does it matter if there is someone out there better than Neuheisel out there? Urban Meyer is not coming. One of the top programs in the country works out in brand new multi-million dollar facilities with historical and recent greatness ten miles away. Oregon has Nike. Stanford has their rich alumni including the Google boys. UCLA has Rick and Dan and their tin can. The one guy out there who could help UCLA is Mike Leach, the former Texas Tech coach. He coached exciting teams that beat the Mack Brown coached Texas Longhorns in a legendary shootout. His teams were exciting and they were built on all of the castoffs that Texas and Oklahoma did not want. His career got derailed by ESPN and Craig James. Craig James son Adam was on Leach’s last team and apparently Leach was accused of unnecessary punishment of James’ son. James Sr. was loud as was ESPN in commenting on the situation and portraying Adam as a victim. ESPN let one of their anchors become the story.
Leach got run out of Lubbock under a sea of allegations and lawsuits with ESPN in hot pursuit. Leach has sued Texas Tech, ESPN and Craig James. We are not sure if his suit has merit but the University’s claim of sovereign immunity was thrown out which does not bode well for Tech. Apparently, Leach was due an $800,000 performance bonus two days after his firing. He had demoted Adam James to third string wide receiver just prior to the uproar. When Adam was told the news, he promptly cursed at the coach and assistant coach and did $1100 in damage to his office door. Apparently, the news was not well received by Craig James either. He was noted in court documents for his frequent and belligerent calls to the Texas Tech coaching staff to discuss his son’s demotion and remand their stupidity. His son was the progeny of a champion! Apparently, Leach’s staff did not see it that way. That did not stop James with ESPN’s support in their efforts to destroy Leach’s career at Tech.
The Yard did find it interesting that the morally outraged Father Craig James was also a prominent member of the most notorious football program in college football history at SMU. In the history of college football, no team was ever as arrogant and egregious as the SMU Mustangs and their tag team backfield of Eric Dickerson and Craig James. The Yard has no idea if James was taking improper benefits from boosters. His name or Dickerson’s never came out in the inquiry. Apparently, the second string linebacker who got caught with the envelope of money was the only culprit. Leach might be the kind of fighter and contrarian UCLA needs to come out of their pigskin dark ages.
While responding to a comment that a player was listed as day to day Vin Scully replied, “Aren’t we all?”
Al Davis died this past weekend. Yard staffers were completely shocked by these tragic events. We actually thought Al had already died. The Lane Kiffin “firing” press conference from several years back with Mrs. Taglin’s 8th grade overhead projector will live forever but apparently Al did not. Al was always wearing those Weekend at Bernie’s shimmer suits and glasses. We thought he was already gone and his Stepford staff kept the Alster “alive” in our lives to enjoy his best team in a decade. It is unfortunate for his family but not the franchise. The Raiders upset the Titans as part of the wake festivities. It was refreshing to hear Jon Gruden and Roger Goodell praise Al’s legendary leadership while they both personally loathed the man.
The NFL potential lock out this past summer was watched almost as closely as the Cuban missile by the American public. It was headline news daily and congress attempted to get involved. The sports books in Las Vegas were reeling if regular season games were lost. Eventually a deal was reached and for the good of the Obama administration, America’s most important distraction was saved before we started really wondering how bad things are. Sport is a solvent for the residue that accumulates in the psyche of America. The anxiety of the week can easily melt into the confines of 56 inches of liquid crystal display and a few frosties before Monday beckons.
The NBA does not share this same national interest. There are NFL cities not NBA cities. College football and basketball are more important than the NBA. If you are in Des Moines or Duluth, you have an NFL telecast every weekend. There is a local college team that is followed in Lubbock and Little Rock as well as the NFL. People in Oklahoma hate the University of Texas but love the Cowboys. The NBA is only followed with reverence in a few towns. Los Angeles, Boston, Miami and Dallas of late have strong NBA traditions and following. All of the other 2nd and 3rd tier markets that do not have a local team would rather watch Celebrity bowling or poker over the NBA. In the 1970’s before Magic and Larry supercharged interest, the NBA Playoffs were only on TV on a tape delay after the local news.
The NBA is off everyone’s radar until football ends in February. Pundits figure it will get done in time. But the public apathy that exists will mature into disdain if the NBA is not careful. NBA players are the most notorious spenders and sperm donors of all professional athletes. With an extended family and sometimes a few others, missing paychecks is not part of that economics for the average NBA power forward. The megastars have their largess but the second tier guys slogging along for $7.2 million a year are going to suffer. Their pay is doled out $87,804 per game to get their millions. If the season is shortened to 76 games, $7.2 million is $6.67 million and so on. The players will cave because if they do not their siblings will be on their butts for their monthly stipend. Be careful what you wish for in today’s world.
4Th and long: The State of UCLA football is irrelevant even on the campus in Westwood. There is no buzz or excitement at the games. The team has swirled in a soup of mediocrity for nearly a decade. Every day someone inquires at the Yard if Neuheisel’s job is in jeopardy. The simple answer is these days all of our jobs are in jeopardy. The real answer is that UCLA has never gone all in with football. The 1990’s were nice but UCLA coasted when they should have had their foot on the gas pedal. The team was exciting and USC was wandering in the desert with Ted Tollner and Paul Hackett carrying the commandments. UCLA left the load of Bob Toledo feeding at the bountiful trough of Terry Donahue’s mission too long before firing his lazy ass. USC hired Saint Pete in the interim and the rest is well documented in this ugly down spiral into the depths of the Pacific 12 conference. While UCLA basketball gets a new arena, football has never had a home to call their own. UCLA Football facilities are arguably the worst in the conference with no improvement planned. Super-agent Michael Ovitz rose over $200 million for the Ronald Regan hospital. Can he find $50-75 million for football? We need an Oklahoma State’s booster like T. Boone Pickens. He gave the school $100 million and warned them not to spend a nickel of it on academics.
If UCLA is not going to step up does it matter if there is someone out there better than Neuheisel out there? Urban Meyer is not coming. One of the top programs in the country works out in brand new multi-million dollar facilities with historical and recent greatness ten miles away. Oregon has Nike. Stanford has their rich alumni including the Google boys. UCLA has Rick and Dan and their tin can. The one guy out there who could help UCLA is Mike Leach, the former Texas Tech coach. He coached exciting teams that beat the Mack Brown coached Texas Longhorns in a legendary shootout. His teams were exciting and they were built on all of the castoffs that Texas and Oklahoma did not want. His career got derailed by ESPN and Craig James. Craig James son Adam was on Leach’s last team and apparently Leach was accused of unnecessary punishment of James’ son. James Sr. was loud as was ESPN in commenting on the situation and portraying Adam as a victim. ESPN let one of their anchors become the story.
Leach got run out of Lubbock under a sea of allegations and lawsuits with ESPN in hot pursuit. Leach has sued Texas Tech, ESPN and Craig James. We are not sure if his suit has merit but the University’s claim of sovereign immunity was thrown out which does not bode well for Tech. Apparently, Leach was due an $800,000 performance bonus two days after his firing. He had demoted Adam James to third string wide receiver just prior to the uproar. When Adam was told the news, he promptly cursed at the coach and assistant coach and did $1100 in damage to his office door. Apparently, the news was not well received by Craig James either. He was noted in court documents for his frequent and belligerent calls to the Texas Tech coaching staff to discuss his son’s demotion and remand their stupidity. His son was the progeny of a champion! Apparently, Leach’s staff did not see it that way. That did not stop James with ESPN’s support in their efforts to destroy Leach’s career at Tech.
The Yard did find it interesting that the morally outraged Father Craig James was also a prominent member of the most notorious football program in college football history at SMU. In the history of college football, no team was ever as arrogant and egregious as the SMU Mustangs and their tag team backfield of Eric Dickerson and Craig James. The Yard has no idea if James was taking improper benefits from boosters. His name or Dickerson’s never came out in the inquiry. Apparently, the second string linebacker who got caught with the envelope of money was the only culprit. Leach might be the kind of fighter and contrarian UCLA needs to come out of their pigskin dark ages.
While responding to a comment that a player was listed as day to day Vin Scully replied, “Aren’t we all?”
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