Tag: NCAA

Rick Pitino Just Got Canned by Louisville and This Might be the End of the Road for Him

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Rick Pitino just got shitcanned by Louisville and it seems like this might be the end of the line for the controversial coach. Just one scandal after the next. There was the scandal with him banging the chick in the restaurant, the stripper parties that he threw an assistant coach under the bus for, and now this pay to play scandal. Guy is cooked. I think the term “lack of institutional oversight” gets thrown around a lot these days, but Pitino has that shit in spades.

 

And now Woj is tweeting out that Pitino had been putting out feelers on potential NBA jobs the past couple of years and there is “no interest.”

Ouch. College coaches always know when they’re in too deep and shits about to implode so thats when they start looking around. You think Pete Carroll just conveniently decided to take the Seattle Seahawks job right before the NCAA came down on USC for all the Reggie Bush sanctions? No way.

So now Pitino is out at Louisville after another massive scandal, there’s no interest from the NBA, and I’m sure he’ll have some kind of imposed multi-year suspension from coaching by the NCAA when this is all said and done. Theres no way another major school takes a shot on him potentially sinking their program too. Maybe we wind up seeing Pitino coaching Southern Connecticut or something down the line on the Isiah Thomas type comeback trail. I’d be remiss to not end this blog with the most Pitino-y Pitino moment of all time.

I’ve Somehow Developed a College Football Addiction in Boston

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Maybe its just Baker Mayfield being like Johnny Football-lite and filling the massive Manziel void in my life, but I’ve recently developed a college football addiction.

Not a ton of people around here are big college football guys, probably because we’ve had ONE good year of college football in Boston since the 80s. Back in 2007 Matt Ryan was at Boston College and they got as high as No. 2 in the AP Poll.

That was fun as hell because it was the first time BC had been ANY good since the days of Doug Flutie. After Matty Ice moved on to the NFL though BC went right back into the tank.

So its hard to have a lot of love for a sport thats basically nonexistent in your market. With legitimately every major team in this city being so good (all having won a title since 2008) theres no time for shitty teams, especially shitty teams that have no intention of bringing in the players necessary to be any good. Kind of like being a Mets fan.

If I wanted to get in my car and drive to a big time college football game, I think the closest team would be Penn State; a cool 7 hour drive from Boston. Fuck you, UConn and UMass do not count, neither does Syracuse. I’m talking BIG TIME college football where they sell out 70,000+ seat arenas. It just does not exist up here.

So not long after BC went back into hibernation I declared myself a free agent and started looking for a team to call my own. I was looking for a team that was fun to watch, played fast, scored a ton of points, spread out the field, threw it a lot, recruited mobile QBs, and of course had some fire flames unis. Basically I was looking for a team that played the same style as me in Madden. Now what team matches that description to a T? The Oregon Ducks of course.

It was right at the start of the Chip Kelly era too so it was perfect timing to get into and follow a team that was actually good at playing football unlike BC. Not to mention a couple of trips (read: losses) to the National Championship and then Marcus Mariota later wins the Heisman in 2014 and I’m pretty invested in the Ducks. I still wasn’t about to sit down and watch college football all afternoon though.

But I think I reached that turning point this past Saturday. It was the first big weekend of the year with some prime matchups. I know CFB kicked off the week before, but this past Saturday we had Oregon vs Nebraska, Louisville at UNC, Georgia at Notre Dame, Auburn at Clemson, Oklahoma at Ohio State, Stanford at USC, and if you’re a real night owl type degenerate, the triple OT #Pac12AfterDark thriller in Boise St at Washington St.

Long story short, I found myself watching college football on the couch for 8 hours straight. There’s so many great characters this year led first and foremost by Baker Mayfield, who took down Ohio State almost singlehandedly on Saturday.

Maybe its something that is just fresh in my mind after a particularly lousy Week 1 in the NFL, but the majority of these college games are always exciting with the added benefit of projecting who would be a good fit where in the NFL. Sam Darnold or Josh Rosen on the Jets is not something I look forward to.

But also, just getting to watch the Heisman Race from Day 1 and witnessing all the big signature moments these guys need in an effort to win the trophy is exciting as hell.

You got comeback bids with insane catches.

You got former NFL quarterback dopplegangers.

Baker Mayfield just putting Urban Meyer right to bed.

College football, I get it now. Which is a problem since I also just spent 10+ hours watching NFL Football on Sunday, getting my money’s worth from Sunday Ticket. So this could devolve into an incredibly sedentary lifestyle quick.

Clemson’s $55 Million Football Facility Has Its Very Own Nap Room

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Yahoo – “[Dabo Swinney] celebrated the school’s first national title in 35 years by moving his team into a palatial football facility that’s both the envy of college football and a grandiose shrine to its excesses. The 142,500-square-foot expanse includes a nine-hole mini-golf course, turf Wiffle Ball field and every kind of pool imaginable. There’s a 30-yard cold tub, a lap pool, pool tables, pools with underwater treadmills and even an outdoor wading pool.. Clemson’s facility is a $55 million homage to extravagance, as impressive in recruiting circles as it is divisive in academic circles. Amid the Tiger Paw carpet, second-floor slide and barber shop – credit cards accepted! – is one nuance that can’t be written off as a superfluous overindulgence. Clemson’s nap room is the single best asset of its new facility, a common-sense addition to DaboLand that even the fussy pants at the Knight Commission couldn’t twist their britches about. Clemson hails the Nap/Recovery room as “first of its kind” in an athletic facility, but the reality is that it’s long overdue.”

I literally can’t imagine a better life than to be a 19-year old college football player on a top tier program. In between playing in pressure packed games on national TV you get to live your days in Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory.

Clemson won its first National Championship in 35 years, which no doubt brought in absurd sums of money for the school, so they celebrate by building a $55 million football mega-complex. Its got pools, pool tables, a whiffle ball field, underwater treadmills, basketball courts, mini golf, and even a barbershop.

Not to mention a 30-yard long icing pool in case the whole team wants to get a soak in at the same exact time.

But the icing on the cake has got to be the NAP ROOM. That is so gloriously excessive that you have to respect it.

Full disclosure, I think paying student athletes a stipend for the semester is a great idea to put a little coin in their pockets and then let the really good players make money off their own likeness. But I am absolutely not going to shed any tears for these teenagers who get to work out in world class facilities, are treated like rock stars, and play mini golf, then curl up in their very own nap room. Nothing like crushing a good nap.

Dabo Swinney is like the Chip Kelly of the south. An elite college coach, who’s obsessed with the minutia of football and is absolutely maniacal about nutrition and mental health. Chip had guys pissing in cups to test and rank each player’s hydration levels. Dabo’s calling guys out for not sleeping enough.

Man college really is fake life. I had to peel my ass outta bed to get to work on time today after staying up past midnight to watch the Pats last night. In college I would’ve rolled over and said man fuck that class with zero repercussions. Do that shit in your late 20’s and you’ll be working at McDonalds before the end of the month. If I could say one thing to these Clemson athletes, it’d be this:

 

Common Case of Mistaken Identity with Hugh Freeze

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So I saw the news of Ole Miss football head coach Hugh Freeze resigning yesterday and while I thought it was odd, college football coaches are always getting into shit due to violations with the NCAA. I thought nothing of it. Except I didn’t hear WHY he was getting canned. Then I heard an update on the radio this AM and was shocked. SHOCKED.

Yes, I thought The Freeze, the fucking guy that is the 2017 version of the racing presidents in DC or the sausage race in Milwaukee, got busted for calling hookers. “The Freeze has fallen a long way after losing that race for the first time in the All-Star game last week, hate to see that.” No, you booze soaked brain, it was Hugh Freeze calling hookers from work, not The Freeze. Whoops. Common case of mistaken identity.

Todd Marinovich is Back in Football!

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USA Today – It’s hard not to root for a successful Todd Marinovich turnaround. The former USC and Los Angeles Raiders quarterback prodigy, whose football career and life has famously been derailed by substance abuse on multiple occasions, was in Indian Wells on Friday for a news conference to announce that he is returning to competitive football. The former NFL and college star who just turned 48 on July 4, has joined the desert’s developmental football team the SoCal Coyotes after serving as an assistant coach last season.

Remember the kid you grew up with who played sports year round then went to camps and played travel ball all summer long without any time to be a kid because his dad was a psycho living variously through his kid? Yea thats Todd Marinovich times 1,000.

For anyone who’s not familiar Marinovich was basically bred to be a quarterback by his insane father. Marinovich’s dad is essentially Tim McGraw from Friday Night Lights, an absolute maniac who couldn’t let go of the glory days and drilled his kid into the ground to try and make him a better football player.

Seriously, look at this description of the dad from Wikipedia:

“His father, Marv Marinovich, an openly abusive parent, had been a lineman and a captain for the University of Southern California Trojans during the 1962 national championship season, and played in the 1963 Rose Bowl…After harming his own National Football League lineman career by overtraining and focusing too much on weight and bulk, Marv studied Eastern Bloc training methods and was hired by Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis as the NFL’s first strength-and-conditioning coach. Marv later opened his own athletic research center and applied the techniques to his young son, introducing athletic training before Marinovich could leave the crib and continuing it throughout his childhood and adolescence.”

The dad even had the mother in on it, basically feeding the kid like an olympic athlete.

“During her pregnancy, Trudi used no salt, sugar, alcohol, or tobacco; as a baby, Marinovich was fed only fresh vegetables, fruits, and raw milk…The question I asked myself was, How well could a kid develop if you provided him with the perfect environment?”

That shit is child abuse. This is how serial killers are born, let the kid have a McChicken every once in a while. So no wonder Marinovich is a little loopy himself. Now hopefully he’s getting back into football at the age of 48 because he loves the game and wants to play and not because he wants some side cash to buy some dope. But for anyone who saw his 30 for 30, Marinovich did NOT look like a guy who missed two-a-days.

But ya know thats why the Sandlot is one of the most popular sports movies of all time. Because organized sports and practice and conditioning camp and coaches yelling in your face is not fun. It sucks actually. The fun part is playing ball with your boys. So maybe getting on the High School field and slinging the ball around will be good for the guy. Who knows maybe even Brett Favre will make an appearance in his Wranglers, NOBODY likes backyard ball more than that guy.

LaVar Ball is Going to Get His Son Lonzo Killed in the NBA

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ESPN – LeBron James directed a cease-and-desist order of sorts on Tuesday to LaVar Ball, the outspoken father of three — including star UCLA freshman Lonzo Ball — who said earlier this month that his children are set up better for future success than those of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ star. “Keep my kids’ name out of your mouth. Keep my family out of your mouth,” James said of LaVar Ball to ESPN on Tuesday

“Seriously Dad, stop. LeBron is going to make a point out of posterizing me when they play the Celtics next year.” Something like that is how I imagine the Ball household right now with LaVar talking shit non-stop. Lonzo must be loving this. Your father just chirping the two guys who have won 6 of the last 8 MVPs in LeBron and Steph Curry. Because I’m sure next fall when they see the rookie on the court they’re not going to make it a point to try and stuff Lonzo in a locker just to spite his loudmouth father.

LaMar basically said LeBron’s kids are gonna be bums because their father was too good. And LeBron rightfully so told LaMar to shut the fuck up. I mean, I get riled up when someone says something about my dog so LeBron and I are basically on the same page here. Godspeed Lonzo. Do not be surprised when LeBron is targeting you with off the backboard slams because of some shit your dad said.

Cry Baby Grayson Allen Back After One Game Suspension: Is Going to Get MUGGED in the NBA

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Yahoo Sports – Grayson Allen’s indefinite suspension didn’t last long. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski reinstated his preseason All-American on Wednesday night after just a one-game absence. Allen started Wednesday’s 110-57 rout of Georgia Tech and helped spearhead the onslaught. The junior guard scored 15 points and dished out seven assists, providing the creativity and distribution off the dribble that Duke lacked with Allen unavailable for last Saturday’s loss at Virginia Tech.
You wanna talk about a guy that is going to get RAGDOLLED in the NBA? Grayson Allen is your guy. Now I’m not an NBA draft geek so maybe he won’t even get drafted, I don’t know (Draft Express has him ranked as their No. 38 prospect). I just assume every good player on top NCAA teams get there. And this kid is going to be the poster child for rude awakenings. Imagine if he’s tripping gigantic men in the NBA? He’s going to get snuffed. And before you throw Draymond Green out there saying he pulls the same stuff, Draymond Green can get away with this shit because he’s 6’7″ 230 lbs and looks like this:

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Just for comparisons sake, Grayson Allen looks like this:

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And what a puss Coack K is. I honestly don’t even care that he only had a 1 game suspension. But when you throw your balls down on the table and say your best player is going to be suspended for an “indefinite” period of time, you look pretty weak when after 1 game you relent. Come on K, you got Carmelo to play D-E-F-E-N-S-E in the Olympics for Christ’s sake.  I think you can handle one little rich kid.

P.S. – Still the best white yuppy who just jacks up shots to come out of Duke and actually make it in the NBA was and always will be JJ Reddick. That guy looked like he was gonna play himself out of the league, but he developed his game and most importantly got a sleeve tattoo and bang: legit NBA player.

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Did I Just Fix NCAA College Football?

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johnnyfootballI think we can all agree that NCAA football players are getting screwed, especially when it comes to Bowl season and the schools are making BANK. Pay the players. Don’t pay the players. They already get free school. They can’t afford lunch. I’ve heard all the arguments. Well, I think I just solved the issue and fixed college football.

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UNC Loses an Absolute Heartbreaker in National Championship

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That was an absolutely devastating loss for Michael Jordan and co. Starting with that ill advised, potential scapegoat making, ridiculous 3 pointer that Marcus Paige hit. MJ went through the roof, legit most emotion I’ve seen from that guy since hitting the game winner in Game 6 over the Jazz. Riding high, 4.7 seconds left, let’s just make a stop and play for OT. Except big boy Kris Jenkins had other ideas and drains a 3 for the buzzer beater game winner. Crying Jordan memes for life. Would love to see the Twitter analytics on how many times that was used last night, which still somehow remains funny to me. And let me tell you, I’ve witnessed my alma mater lose a national championship game in person and that shit is brutal. The devastating loss, trying not to murder anyone wearing the other team’s jersey and then the 8 hour drive home. At that point just drive your car into the river and call it. Thoughts and Prayers for MJ.