Drop a Triple Double on them Oscar

Oscar Robinson is suing the NCAA for allowing his likeness to be used without his permission or compensation. You heard it first from BigBlueRules who heard it first from Larry Vaught. Oscar Robinson is a much bigger name than the former UCLA player Ed O’Bannon who is suing the NCAA for using his likeness without permission or paying him.

This story on yahoo sports says that former UCLA Bruins star Kareem Abdul Jabbar recently filed suit against the NCAA in California state court based on the same trading cards featuring Robertson.

Its only a matter of time before one of these lawsuits are won. Of course then there will be the appeal followed by a higher appeal to the supreme court and mean while some congressman will get involved for the publicity.

I figured this a while back based on 850 athletes in the sports program at Kentucky and paying them $100 a month for 9 months. It comes out to $1,020,000 a year. I’m sure that ESPN can come up with $12,000,000 more a year to pay the SEC by just adding a couple more commercials a game and during the championship game.

What I think is we meaning the top 7 or 8 conferences should break away from the NCAA and form a new entity that will allow paying players. The small conferences can stay in the NCAA or go to the NAIA. Then the players will be professional players and Enes can play.

Of course once we start paying athletes then there will end up being a players union sooner or later and new headaches. Speaking of which I’m getting a headache thinking about this. Anyone got a beer?

Me Love You Long Time NCAA

Growing up in the late 50′s my favorite day was Saturday. Bowling followed by watching a serial, cartoon and a sci-fi movie followed by baseball was like watching the Cat’s win on Saturday now. Those sci-fi or as its changed now to syfy led me on a lifelong quest to read every sci-fi book I could find. Sadly for every hardcore sci-fi book published today there is probably a dozen fantasy books published.

What does sci-fi have to do with sports? A whole bunch according to my nimble fingers. When the NCAA first arrived on the scene it was a hardcore sci-fi kind of an organization with athletes fighting gigantic space battles and worlds being casually destroyed while the NCAA simply existed. Today the NCAA pretends to be the Arisians, having created their lensman like heroes the compliance rules to battle the Eddorians and protect the student athlete.

In reality the NCAA is more of a fantasy kind of organization who battles the Eddorians with pixie dust but no consistent philosophy on protecting student athletes other than their me love you long time when it comes to $$$$.

The NCAA suspends A J Green for for games for selling a jersey but allows Georgia to make money for selling jerseys everyone knows represent him. Thats what we all can call me love you long time student athlete.

We spent the summer watching conferences trying to realign and become super conferences when instead they should have been working to break away from the NCAA and realign their conferences under new management.

There nothing new in what I’m saying but it seems to me the best way to provide student athletes who play for the haves rather than the have not’s a few bucks a month. Basing my thoughts on providing a athlete $200 a month times 400 athletes playing sports times 12 months it comes out to less than $1,000,000 a year. Thats $12,000,000 a year for the SEC. Add one more timeout to a game and ESPN would have no problem with paying 12M more in a contract to pay players and we could get another beer without missing any of the game.

As that great philosopher and coach Jerry Tarkanian said once, “me love you long time NCAA, and thanks for the money.”

Myles Brand Dies

NCAA president Myles Brand died Wednesday after a nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

He became the first university president to run college sports’ largest governing body, and worked to change the perception that wins supersede academics in college athletics.

Love him for his interest in educating student athletes or hate him for his inability to see that the NCAA handed down sanctions in a timely and even handed manner he will be missed by many but not all.

While doing a search on Brands career I came across this. Heres a view on Brand thats not to positive but considering what its about and who its coming from he probably didn’t worry about it to much.

http://www.misconduct.org/4.htm

http://www.misconduct.org/4a.htm

Now that I got that out of the way its time to get the pooper-scooper out and and say it sounds to me that its nothing but doggie doodoo and seeing as how many times peoples religion were mentioned its religious bigotry at its internet best.

Funny isn’t it that its so easy to slander a decent man like Brand or use a firebrand like Knight as an example to do it.

Wheres Martin Luther when you need him?

Wheres Martin Luther when you need him to help reform the Athletic church?

Some place along the line the NCAA has reached the conclusion that they own college sports instead of administering college sports. Nothing shows it better than what happened to Memphis recently and what didn’t happen to Duke or what hasn’t happened to USC.

Occasionally they get something right like they did when the allowed Matt Pilgrim to play immediately for Oklahoma St. More often they get it wrong like they did with a bunch of players from Hawaii. Due to a error in not registering software schools in the state use to add kids to the clearing houses list by several high schools one or more classes weren’t submitted in a timely manner to the clearing house for a number of boys and girls. When the schools realized this they attempted to register the software and straighten the classes out with the NCAA but by that time the NCAA wouldn’t accept the classes.

So lets see the high schools made a mistake and tried to rectify it to the best of their ability. The clearing house refused to accept that and do what the colleges did by realizing it wasn’t the kids fault and accept the classes. It left a bunch of boys and girls with the choice of either going the JC route, paying for a year of college or sitting out a year of sports.

If the NCAA wasn’t so secretive aka the lawsuit against Fla. St and the NCAA there would be no problem finding other cases where kids suffer because of the NCAA’s general inflexibility.

How do you solve a problem like this. Its simple to sports fans you force the NCAA to reform. The biggest problem isn’t going to be getting the NCAA to reform its going to be getting college presidents to get together and do what was done a few years ago The CFA forced the NCAA’s hand on television rights when they had every major and mid-major school except for the PAC 19 and Big 10 schools ready to form a new organization to replace the NCAA. Now the schools are making money hand over foot so whats the percentage in upsetting the money cart.

The NCAA is very good at trying to convincing the average fan that collegiate athletics is nothing more than an extracurricular service being provided to enhance the lives of nerdish students who barely remember to go to practice. As a result, the NCAA earns more during its post-season than the NFL and the NBA earn in their respective playoffs, including the Super Bowl.

So the next time you hear the NCAA say the student athlete comes first don’t believe it. What comes first is money, then the NCAA’s reputation, then certain schools and coaches and finally you find the student athlete at the bottom of the pile.

The Two Faces Of The NCAA

The NCAA approved a policy Thursday that would ban states, such as Delaware, from hosting championship events if they allow fans to bet on single games.

Chancellors and presidents from all three NCAA divisions approved the measure, saying it applies to “any session of an NCAA championship,” though it does not apply to states that allow parlay betting, lottery tickets, pull tabs and sports pools.

The move came one day after a federal judge denied a request by professional sports leagues and the NCAA to halt Delaware’s planned sports betting lottery until a legal challenge is resolved.

Officially, the NCAA opposes all forms of sports wagering that threaten the integrity of its games or jeopardizes the welfare of student-athletes and the athletic community.

Anyone who has ever been to Vegas when March Madness starts knows that sports betting is not a passing fad its a full blown tsunami that the NCAA is pretending isn’t there.
I can see where the NCAA is coming from on their attempt to control betting but seriously though doesn’t using jeopardizing the welfare of student-athletes reek just a little of hiprocracy coming from an organization that feels giving an athlete a few bucks on top of the free education from the millions that their schools make off their hard work and skills hurts college sports.

Wouldn’t it make just as much sense to give a athlete enough money to take the girlfriend out for a movie and dinner once a month or so. Seems like that would take the pressure off players throwing games.

Student-athletes are often expected to pay expenses related to admission, enrollment, housing, meal plans, parking permits, and more. There are incredible restrictions on employment, and you have to be wary of the boosters. You’re subjected to year-round drug testing, You have to deal with curfews. You can’t be paid for teaching your sport in a fee-for-lesson basis (but the math whiz on scholarship can make dough tutoring one-on-one). You have physical expectations placed upon yourself year round and oh yeah, you have to study and go to class too.

The NCAA has been playing the game for years and has it down to a science. They say that players are given a full ride and thats just not true. The National College Players Association (NCPA), formerly known as the Collegiate Athletes Coalition (CAC), released results of another significant study revealing the estimated shortfall between college athletes’ full scholarships and the actual cost of attendance at each Division I university.

The NCPA asserts that, by and large, universities have been deceiving recruits, many of whom are under the age of 18 and from disadvantaged backgrounds, into unknowingly being responsible for paying thousands of dollars while on “full” athletic scholarship.

The fact is, coaches fill high school recruits’ heads with promises of free rides and full scholarships, when in fact no such things exist. The NCAA designs full scholarships to fall short of the advertised price tag of a school, leaving recruits scrambling to make ends meet.

Complete NCPA study results and additional studies are available on the NCPA web site:http://www.ncpanow.org

So come on now Eve quit trying to talk the student-athlete into taking a bite of the apple and eat it yourself

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Is Title IX Hurting Mens Sports

Two for one day here at BigBlueRules. People have posted good looking girls, good looking mules and even Burt Reynolds in the forums but this is fairly new for us. We are putting up pictures of good looking girls on the front page to try and keep up with sex appeal of other blogs and we are giving you something to think about at the same time. This is a family site outside of a semi nude Burt Reynolds in the forums and I hope your following where I’m leading you.

Although Title IX was originally intended to help with education its become very important to something it wasn’t intended for womens sports. Here is some information to ponder while considering if Title IX is hurting mens sports or benefiting the country in general.

According to the latest data available from the NCAA there are 492 more women’s programs than men’s in Division I. There are scholarships available for women (32,656) and (20,206) for men.

The findings of a first-of-a-kind study of NCAA participation and scholarship data conducted by the College Sports Council (CSC) shows that in NCAA Division I “gender symmetric sports” (teams where both male and female athletes participate), female students are accorded far more opportunities than male students to compete and earn scholarships. As a result, the CSC is calling on the NCAA to equalize scholarship limits.

Findings of the study, the first of its kind to compare scholarship opportunities for men and women in NCAA Division I using the organization’s own data, include.

At the NCAA Division I level, there are far more women’s teams (2,653) than men’s teams (2,097). The study found the greatest gender disparities in favor of women in the sports of Volleyball (313 to 21) and Soccer (300 to 195).

Overall in “gender symmetric” sports, there are far more scholarships available for women (32,656) than for men (20,206). But those numbers don’t consider football in their data and instead compare sports that are available to both men and women.

Leaving football out provides a slanted view of scholarship opportunities. Football takes 85 men’s scholarships for each FBS team and 63 scholarships for each FCS team. That’s 10,200 scholarships available for 120 FBS schools and 7,749 scholarships available for 123 FCS schools (including five schools that were provisional in 2008).

Even in one of the only sports where there are more men’s teams, golf (285 to 228), there are still more athletic scholarships available for women (1,368 to 1,282.5).

In every “gender symmetric” sport with the exception of gymnastics, men face longer odds against getting a scholarship than women. By far, the most difficult athletic scholarship to obtain at the Division I level is in men’s volleyball, where there are 489 high school athletes for every full NCAA scholarship. Similar long odds exist for men competing in Track and Field/Cross-Country (221 to 1), Soccer and Water Polo (196 to 1) and Tennis (136 to 1).

Over the past twenty years, men have lost about a team each year while women have gained 3 each year. That pace has accelerated in recent years with men losing about a team and a half each year while women gain six annually.

Before Title IX. Things were different. The primary physical activities for girls were cheerleading and square-dancing. Only 1 in 27 girls played high school sports. There were virtually no college scholarships for female athletes. And female college athletes received only two percent of overall athletic budgets.

Since Title IX. There’s been real growth in the number of women who participate in sports, receive scholarships, and benefit from increased budgets. There are more opportunities to compete at elite levels through competitions like the Olympics, World Championships and professional leagues. Even more importantly, we know that playing sports makes women healthier. They’re less likely to smoke, drink, use drugs and experience unwanted pregnancies. Studies also link sports participation to reduced incidences of breast cancer and osteoporosis later in life. These health benefits for women and society alone should be reason to keep Title IX strong.

Why Title IX is still critical. The general perception is that girls now have equal opportunities in all areas of athletics. But that’s just not true.

In 2006 -2007 there were 3 million girls participating in high school athletics. They made up 41% of high school athletes, even though they represent more than 49% of the high school student population.

In 2005-2006 there were 171,000 women participating in college athletics. Women represent only 42% of college athletes, even thogh they represent over 50% of the college student population nationwide.

Each year male athletes receive over $136 million more than female athletes in college athletic scholarships at NCAA member institutions.

Women in Division I colleges are over 50% of the student body, but receive only 32% of athletic recruiting dollars and 37% of the total money spent on athletics.

In 2008, only 43% of coaches of women’s teams were women. In 1972, the number was over 90 percent.

They practice hard, and they have coaches – but is cheerleading a sport?
It probably depends on whose definition you’re using.

No doubt, most cheerleaders would tell you it’s a sport – just like gymnastics. But according to federal law, an activity can’t be considered a sport unless competition is its main goal.

And while many cheerleading squads participate in competitions, some say their primary function is supporting other athletic teams.

So here’s the interesting twist: It’s the law – specifically Title IX – that’s causing some colleges to call cheerleading a sport. Why? It’s a less expensive way of complying.

Take a look at Quinnipiac University. The Connecticut school decided to cut its women’s volleyball team this spring in an effort to save money. But controversy erupted when it proposed replacing the team by elevating cheerleading to a varsity sport.

Hard to blame the school, from a dollars and cents point of view:

Last season, Quinnipiac’s volleyball team had a budget of more than $70,000 for 11 players – that works out to $6,300 per team member.

The cheerleading squad’s budget was around $50,000 for 40 participants – about $1,250 per person.

So it still comes back to the question: Is cheerleading a sport? Or maybe, as in the case of Quinnipiac University, are schools willing to call it a sport just so they can get rid of costlier women’s teams?

From Catlanta in the forums on Title IX.

For starts, Title IX is settled federal law and for seconds, way too much of a political hot potato for Congress to change. I was not a fan of Title IX and felt that many male athletes were treated unfairly in the first few years of its implementation.

However, and this is a big however, since the advent of Title IX, medal counts for women from U.S. universities have skyrocketed in Olympic competitions. If the SEC had been a country, they would have placed something like fifth in total medals, and many of them were earned by women athletes. One SEC school, Auburn University, had 18 medals (7 of which were earned by women swimmers) and would have tied for 14th in the world, with Canada and Spain.

Title IX is making a giant positive impact on Team USA and, therefore, probably won’t be going away anytime soon, so might as well make the best of it.

So is Title IX hurting mens sports or benefiting the nation?

The Wait is Killing Me

The NCAA has got to do something about this wait between basketball ending in April, and football not starting until August.

We basically have to go 4 1/2 months with no UK sports fix. We won’t hire Cal every year, and have a #1 recruiting class to talk about. We may eventually drop as low as 2 or 3.

We won’t always have something to hate the NCAA for. Well we can always find something. Like an illegal dietary supplement sold over the counter. Ironic that he was taking this to lose weight, and the Redskins want him to put on about 20 lbs.

We won’t always have a BCG lawsuit to keep us distracted.

My friends, I am disgusted by the summer sports blackout, and I need for something to happen very soon.

Posted on the forums by ukn96 you can read the whole thing here.

For the betterment of the sport.

For the betterment of the sport the NCAA needs to look at increasing the scholarship limit to 15. Not to make sure we have a better team next year but for the simple reason that if there are 15 on a team like Kansas, NC, Duke or Kentucky its entirely possible that the number 14 or 15 player might decide to play for a team like Butler, Gonzaga or Nevada rather than sitting behind a stream of one and I’m out of hears.

I’m looking at this from a guys point of view sorry lady’s. But come on if a guy could increase his stable to 15 from 13 does anyone think Britney Spears is gonna stay around as number 15 when she could contribute to another team.

Increasing the stable err scholarship limit to 15 will defiantly help the sport to grow stronger besides I’d really like to see a major underdog win the NC before I go on to the big court in the sky.

As The Basketball Spins

The more I read this week about the player situation the more can’t wait for the week to get over. John Clay in todays LHL says players are in limbo. Players say they want to be here next year but it seems like many are expecting some of the players leave. These same players are representing the state and the fans. They are expected to work hard on the court, be perfect off the court, win all their games and go far in the NCAA. In simple words they are expected to be loyal to the university and the fans. Will the university and the fans be loyal to them in return is the question now.

Coach Calipari is being straight with them in telling them that if they don’t fit the system they wont get any playing time and it would be better if they go some where they will fit in. I can applaud that and am sure the players can respect that. The question is can Coach Calipari, the university and the fans respect it if they tell the coach they want to be here next year and be a Wildcat.

With the possibility of signing several players with better basketball talent we will just have to tune in to the next As the Basketball Spins for the answer.

Donovan Says “NO”! ORESTES MEEKS SPEAKS!

“Billy Gillispie’s tenure as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats ended yesterday after a two year record of 40-27, one NCAA appearance and one NIT appearance. At this moment, UK is without a basketball coach. Apparently, that will not be Billy Donovan.

“In response to the rumors circulating about my interest in other jobs, I wanted to address this as quickly as possible. I’m committed to the University of Florida and look forward to continuing to build our program here.” So says Billy Donovan about his interest in the vacant University of Kentucky job.

So says Billy Donovan, who was the second part of the persistent rumor that swirled around Billy Gillispie — that he would be fired and Billy Donovan would be the replacement. Now, we see that the administration had no coach in the wings, and the firing was what it is. A desire to remove Gillispie based on “philosophical differentness and “UN-FIT” circumstances.

Now I have no doubt, after careful consideration, that Billy C. Gillispie did nothing to ingratiate himself to the boosters, media, or the HEAD MAN. He was a hard driving basketball junkie who loved the game and hated the spotlight. This is plenty enough to get you fired in the real world, yet this isn’t the real world. This is no marriage, there was no contract. This was no agreement; there was none, perhaps an understanding, but those are very flimsy, as we can see now.

This is a basketball team with young men hanging in the balance of their careers, and a program tethering on the brink of instability. A strong recruiting class coming, whose parents want to know what is going on. Those things are paramount in considering anything in relation to the men’s basketball program. Having a man in place who appreciates what the University of Kentucky basketball program is all about is a no-brainer. Mitch should have thought of that two years ago when he introduced us to Billy Clyde as the saviour of UK basketball.

Now, we are left to twist in the wind while we look for a basketball coach. Experienced coaches are turning us down now, first Donovan, now Calipari. Never say never, and some may reconsider but, A “home run” hire is necessary soon to address the need to retain the recruits we have coming in. The search is on……

Mike Decourcy, The Sporting News, weighs in, “The guy’s been there two years. If you’re firing somebody after two years, with one NCAA appearance and an NIT, I’m not sure the failure belongs to the coach.”

“You need a special guy…I think that John Calapari…Rick Barnes….Travis Ford…” Vitale offered these names, and we know these. We will be needing NO help from Dicky V. I’ll take Travis. Thank You.

Orestes Meeks, Jodie’s father, had some very unflattering things to say about Billy Gillispie. “They got worse as the season progressed. I don’t know why that was. To me, that is a leadership issue. There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that went on. Some of that stuff was self inflicted (by Gillispie). I couldn’t understand a lot of the stuff they tried to do.” After UK’s loss at Florida, a Florida player said Jodie Meeks told him he was told by Gillispie to quit shooting. Gillispie denied that later as did Jodie Meeks. However, Orestes Meeks said it happened in other games this year as well. “He was telling him that all year about shooting,” Orestes Meeks said. “When he hit 7 3’s against Tennessee State in the first half and he was 8-for-11 from the field and he told him, ‘Why do you have 11 shots. You are shooting too much.’ “I think Coach had a problem with Jodie doing as well as he did. We do not have a relationship. I do not talk to him. When the school started the (national player of the year) promotion for Jodie (in February), he benched him (at South Carolina). He took him out and told him not to shoot even though he just had made a shot. He just told him to sit down. How does that make sense?” Indeed Orestes, it makes no sense, and if this is true, we did make the best move…

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