I love how schools do this and i wrote on it weeks ago but Michigan slapping it’s own hand in hopes of limiting what the NCAA does is politics at its best. 

I have been been married for 16 years now and if I know I’m going to be in trouble I’ll apologize to my wife beforehand and give solutions and everything in hopes that i can make it better when I tell her the truth, my version of the truth.  That’s what this is about.  Michigan wanted a chance to tell their version of what happened and punish themselves based on ‘their’ version or ‘their’ findings.  I’ll tell my wife to appease her so that she’ll get off my back or think it’s enough and leave me alone.  Michigan comes out before and admits guilt in some areas while also trying to handle public criticism.  “Here is what we did wrong, we think it should mean this and don’t believe everything that comes from the mouth of the NCAA”. 

Luckily the NCAA will have the final word here and they may agree with a typically powerhouse football program like Michigan or they may simply come down even harder on them in a couple months.  I look forward to seeing what happens with them as this political seesaw continues.

ESPN article on Dr. Galea

This is a case that could have some ramifications for the NFL very shortly and they won’t be good ones. I’ve always said that the NFL was the next league to get it’s doors blown off with PED’s and this could be the beginning of that. Dr. Galea is being looked into as helping 23 professional athletes get hgh and this could just be the beginning.

All we are waiting for is the Jose Canseco of the NFL to step forward and the floodgates will open.

I love when schools do this. Michigan is giving themselves some self imposed sanctions from Coach Rodriguez’s violations when it comes to improper practice time. The self imposed sanctions will be announced on the 24th of May with a clear attempt to hold off bigger sanctions from the NCAA.

Whenever schools do this it is clearly an admission of guilt and their attempt to throw themselves at the mercy of the NCAA gods. I don’t blame them. Michigan is one of the chosen schools that the NCAA wants to do well and needs to do well. They have struggled for the past 2 years now so it is important that they don’t get hit so hard that they can’t recover for years. Who wants a one sided Ohio ST vs Michigan rivalry or a Big TEn with Michigan at the bottom? Not the NCAA. They want that 108k seat stadium filled and don’t think that doesn’t play into their decision making. Sure they want to make a statement but not so big a statement that MIchigan isn’t a player in the BCS bowl picture.

Do they reduce scholarships? Do they ban a bcs appearance for the year knowing they aren’t going to make one anyway? What does the school do to try to head off the mighty NCAA. One thing is for sure and that is no matter what is announced next MOnday, some more stuff will come down the pipe in August and every school that competes with Michigan is using that to negatively recruit against them. For MIchigan the best thing that could happen is that the NCAA comes down hard enough where they are forced to fire Rodriguez and start over because he’s the football version of Kelvin Sampson.

I wrote the other day that the revote might happen but I can’t tell you how glad I am that Cushing gets to keep his award because a dangerous precedent was on the verge of being set. Don’t get me wrong when I say the can of worms has been officially opened because this has never happened. What if major league baseball told writers they could revote on the mvp, cy young or hall of fame? That would be crazy but that is where we are heading and if so is that a bad thing?

Would it have been bad to take away Cushing’s award if he was found to have been on steriods? I say no, take it away for sure. Would it be bad to take away Bond’s MVP’s in baseball and give them to the runners up? NO it wouldn’t. You can’t because who is to say that guy deserves it or wasn’t on the juice. It opens up things that are best left alone.

Let the fans debate it but don’t start digging because it will only do more damage. Let’s hammer players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens in the court of public opinion where the most damage can be done anyway.

Brian Cushing was an easy choice for defensive rookie of the year in the NFL last year and for good reason. He was an impact linebacker on one of the best defenses in the NFL and had a great season. We learned yesterday that Brian Cushing will be suspended for the first 4 games of the season next year after violating the NFL’s performance enhancing substance abuse policy. Cushing has said it wasn’t steroids, but it was still an item on the list to enhance performance. Take his award away.

I think they should do this for all known cheaters and take the awards away from them. Some players get bonuses based on the awards, take those back and take the award back because they were earned unfairly. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, AROD all cheated but still get to go down in history as MVP’s and Cy YOUNG winners and it’s wrong. It’s always wrong when people are cheating and competing against others who aren’t. In school kids cheat and get better grades than the kids who don’t most of the time and it starts there. The ones who work hard and do things the right way are the ones who are punished. Players like Gary Matthews jr in baseball sign huge multi year contracts as a result of the juice and take money from legit hard working players at the same time and Cushing falls into that category.

If they take the award away it will open a whole can of worms and I don’t think the league wants to do that. Imagine winning the award and hoping that you didn’t fail a drug test so the award gets taken away.

This kills me. I can’t believe that Tebow was taken in the first round by a team who traded up to get him, but I can’t believe they think the kid has a future as an NFL quarterback cause I just don’t see it. It’s one thing to show an improved motion but its another to do that when the lights are on and James Harrison is coming at you. I think he’ll flop and flop big. He’s 3rd string on his team now and unless they are going to run the spread he isn’t your guy at least not as a 1st round pick.

What kills me even more is the fact that his jersey is the top seller right now. I don’t understand this. He hasn’t completed a pass yet and wasn’t a top 10 pick yet his jersey is flying off the racks. Sam Bradford must feel like a bum. What about Chris Johnson at Tennessee who just ran for 2,000 yards?

As a person and a leader I think the kid is off the charts, but as a qb I don’t see it or get it. I hope I’m wrong because I think he’s great for the game of football and I wish we had more of him but we’ll see if he’s the next Joe Montana or Andre Ware. My money is on Ware.

This woman needs her own tv show at this point. Instead of letting this all fade away now the woman comes out and spouts off about Jeff Ireland not apologizing. She said that he dug stuff up from 12 years ago but then of course people start to dig and find she was arrested last year. It’s one of those situations where she really should just stop talking and go back to her life where it will be back to normal soon enough. I’ve had some experience with bad press and the best thing to do is change the behavior, show humility and don’t comment. This only became a story when she decided to talk. Dez answered the question saying that his mom wasn’t a prostitute and yes it was a dumb irresponsible question, but that should’ve been the end of it. She didn’t need to talk and now she’ll be on ESPN for the next couple days.

Then again, maybe she could get her own reality show?