Ncaa makes me sick

I absolutely hate guys like Johnny Manzell. I am going to misspell his name thought this piece because I don't respect him at all.  He is a spoiled brat who gets his way because he has affluence, and because he has the right people in the "old boys network" who protect him. Are we going to hear 5 years from now that he actually took money and since no one could prove it manzeil could get away with it? Is he another Lance Armstrong, Ryan Braun, Pete Rose? Guys who knew they did wrong and make the public sympathize with them and then burn us in the end?  Don't you just want to put a uniform on and cheap shot him for rubbing this in all of our faces?  He goes to the super bowl, the heat game, hangs out with celebs, signs thousands of autographs for free allegedly. At first everyone was writing articles and said have compassion for Manzel because he is 20 and he doesn't no any better. Even he gave a press conference and expressed his hope that people would understand  that he is a little 20 year old rich kid who can have things that most people his age can't.  He shows up at a Texas frat party and thinks that they care going to roll out the red carpet for him. They should let him get drunk and tied him up to a tree.
This decision bothers me because Terrell Pryor, A.j. Green and Dez Bryant paid a big cost for doing something as egregious as manzelll. Those three guys mistake was they had a money trail. Dez Bryant lost his eligibility because he had lunch with Deion Sanders. He got no money. He got a sandwich and some fries and his college career was over. Football players at North Carolina were suspended because they were at a party where some known agents were at. Manzelle was in a room signing autographs where somebody got money for his time. I am outraged that on the day that Dr.King said 50 years ago how he wished he kids could grow up in a world where his two kids could be judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin. Where is the equality? Are we that naive?
Also stop saying athletes need to be paid.. Division 1 athletes get more perks, advantages, hook ups than professional athletes. They get free books, education, best dorms, best girls, they rarely pay for food, alcohol. They get free sneakers, clothing, jackets,. They get into every party, bar, club, strip club usually for free. What don't they get? When they go to bowl games they get a gift bag like they are going to the Oscars. They get play station, x-box, beats head phones, plus other goodies. Yes I get it. They don't have an opportunity to find a job.  They can in the off season. They get a stipend as well. No one who plays the game complains. I went to a 1aa school for football. The athletes  owned Amherst. UMass basketball team. Say that to a bouncer in Amherst and they have nightmares. 
I am simply appalled that the NCAA suspended him for a half off a game. Who cares about Rice University or Sam Houston st which is the next game? To me they destroy people. They punish people for being slick. If Manziel isn't being slick I don't what is...

Athlete says what most probaly are thinking

Finally someone says the sad truth..

Today I heard a college athlete at a "prestigiuos" athletic university say something that I am sure that most people in this country think. Cardele Jones, third string quarterback at Ohio St. University is being quoted as saying," why should we have to go to class if we came here to play football, we aint come here to play school, classes are pointless"!!! Now I added the exclamation points for emphasis. Clearly most people will point out the poor word choice and lack of grammatical integrity in his statement as a reason why he needs to go to school. The fact remains though many people around the college athletic profession I am certain have heard that sentiment. Most of these athletes are not going to college to get an education. They are going to school to enhance their ability to play professional sports. The unfortuneate reality is that not everyone gets an opportunity to play professional sports.

Espn aired a documentary called "broke" this week and the timing of the statement could not be better to explain why you need a college degree. Most young athletes think that they are going to be rich forever when they sign that contract and it is not the case. The NBA and NFL have put rules in place that limit the amount of money the rookies can make and have made contract improvements or raises only implemented after 3 or 4 years in each league. Gone are the days when a rookie can come into the league and get a 8 year, 60 million dollar contract. The new collective bargaining agreement has put a crimp into that. What Mr. Jones does not realize that is the average NFL career is 3and 1/2 years and the only money that is guranteed is a signing bonus. There are several sad tales of athletes who got paid under the old system and don't have any money left to live off of because of frivilous and loose spending. Iam not going to name names, but ESPN put out a list of athletes who filed for bankruptcy over the past 15 years and the list is shocking. Not everyone is Shaquille Oneal, Micheal Jordan or Cal Ripken. LLife does not end after your athletic career is over. You need to be able to take care of yourself and you family beyond your twenties and thirties.

Universities are now being punished for not graduating players. The NCAA passed a rule a couple of years ago that if you are below standards, you will not be able to play in the NCAA basketball tournament or benefit financially from the success of that. Some people speculate that Connecticut being placed on that list for this upcoming season is one of the reasons why Jim Calhoun retired. I laugh at the basketball portion of the NCAA because they allow for athletes to leave college when they 19 years old to pursue professional careers. Most athletes that know that they are going to leave school early stop going to class after spring break or the NCAA tournament. Why should they go to class if they know that next year they are not going to be there right?

YOU need to go to class young fella!!! Most adults will tell you the hardest part about life is that nothing last forever and you have to spend a lot of your life re-inventing yourself and finding out ways to earn money. The documentary "broke" showed the after affects of playing football for some of these guys because they were not only financially "broke", but spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically "broke" as well. Enjoy being a young man. Enjoy learning about life instead being forced to live life. I hope someone can reach him and tell him that he is one tackle in practice away from working at a clothing store or McDonalds. There is nothing wrong with those jobs, but I gurantee you he did not go Ohio St. to do that.

What a weekend of sports..

Hello sports fans my name is Richard Harris and boy did we have a huge weekend of outstanding sports.   Upsets in Tennis, college football, boxing, NFL, and the Nascar sprint cup has its eligible driversfor the cup.  When Roger Federer loses before the semi finals of a grand slam tournament something must be in the air.  Tomas Berdych can really hit the ball hard and he over powered Federer.  Andy Murray had an out of body experience in winning tournament.  He outlasted Novak Djokovic in five grinding sets.  Serena went from dominating to survival mode in oreder to steal the title from Azarenka. Azarenka had a 5-3 lead in the third set and could not put Serena away. Serena is still the gold standard no matter if she is not ranked number 1 or not. 
Some more stories.. Arkansas showed that as great as the SEC conference is, you still need your quarterback to win games.  Louisiana Monroe pulled off the first shocker of the season by physically beating up Arkansas' offensive line and then knocking out Tyler Wilson. UCLA, a home underdog, showed Nebraska that the Pac 12 can play physical football as well. The Pac 12 had two other impressive wins.  Oregon St. shut down Wisconsin 10-7 and the Arizona schools had good out of conference wins as well. The Pac 12 may have the best conference before the season is over. USC and Stanford Saturday. Savannah St. beat the spread because game was called due to weather. 55-0 would have been 110-0 if they played it out.
The NFL continues to show why they are the kings of sports.  A few shocking results as Washington stunned the Saints. Rg3 played like a seasoned pro and guided the Redskin offense to a 40-32 win.  He had no turnovers and managed the game like he had done it before.  Andrew Luck had to play the Bears defense and found his debut a bit more challenging.  All of the rookie qbs except Griffin lost and threw some bad picks. Weeden, Tanneyhill and Luck threw multiple picks that really hurt their team.  It is only week one so there will be greater days ahead for all of them. 
Peyton Manning looked sharp in his return to the NFL. He few hits but when the Broncos went to a hurry up offense they changed the complexion of the game.  Manning got into a groove and they handled the vaunted Steeler defense.  The Jets shocked the world by scoring 48 points and looked like a completely different team than we saw in pre-season.  Baltimore look stellar getting points from defense and Joe Flacco continuing to show why he is an elite qb. Ugly wins from Philadelphia and Detroit. A win is a win right? The Niners have that look in their eye that they have a special season brewing if they stay healthy.  They play amazing defense and have balance on offense.  Randy Moss scored a touchdown and they just don't miss field goals. A 63 yard field goal from 85 year old Fred Akers is still jaw dropping.  They confused the Packers who have no running game.  The game of the year could be New England and San Fransisco later on this year. My super bowl pick the Houston Texans looked sharp in destroying Miami.   Cannot wait for week 2..
Chad dawson went down in weight to fight Ward and got slapped around. He was knocked down 3 times and looked sluggish. He is a champion?  Not impressed at all by him.
Rory Mcilroy won for the fourth time this year.  He held off Tiger, Phil, and Lee Westwood.  He is peaking at the right time.  The Tour championship and Ryder cup are upon us over the next few weeks. The only reason why I am not gushing about this is that Vijay Singh did the same thing a few years ago and Tiger the next year regained his throne and place in the game. I expect next year he will do the same thing.
Congrats to Jeff Gordon for qualifying for the Sprint cup. Go get em boys..

My favorite month of the year is September..

September 1st is New Years day to me.  I feel like the fall months of the calendar year is a time for rejuvenation and rebirth.  Enough of that nonsense, the reason why I love September is that College football and pro football commence, MLB pennant races heat up, U.S. Open tennis, and usually there is a great fight to watch.  The Nascar season winds down as the NHL gets started.  I cannot get enough of sports as you all know and if I had multiple televisons where i stay I would have a game on every channel. This September is no exception.  The college football season got off to a crazy start with blowouts, shocking results and Alabama showing us what a defending champ is supposed to do ona neutral field.  USC won as well and they really need to get to the title game and save college football.  We cannot have a seventh year in a row with a champion coming from the same conference..  It hurts college football because there is no growth in the game.  USC plays a completely different style of football than most of the SEC teams and their style of football translates better at the professional level.  Every year we keep hearing about pro teams wanting quarterbacks who can run and throw but at the end of each season, the Super bowl champ has quarterback that is pocket passer who can read coverages and pick defenses apart.  In fact only Steve Young and Aaron Rodgers who could also pocket pass well, have won super bowls.  Both of those qb's run well and could move out of the pocket.  Big Ben moves well in the pocket but he is not considered a running quarterback.  If you look at SEC football most of the teams run a a form of the Florida Gator offense from the shotgun and depend on their quarterbacks to either run or pass.  Geogia and Alabama this year have gone back to a little more traditional offense so they may be the exception.  Most of the nation runs that Florida offense.  The big difference between the SEC and the rest of the nation is the physical play on the defensive line.  When you dont have a fullback to help you block because you are in the shotgun single back set, your plays get blown up in the backfield.  Michigan could not get out of the backfield. Alabama and LSU make you play physical football and most schools do not have the schemes to handle these behemoths one on one.  So I am rooting harder than i ever to try to get a USC vs. SEC champ title game. Oklahoma showed me nothing on Saturday against UTEP.
The NFL starts with the Cowboys and Giants on Wedsnesday and the Cowboys are banged up and really don't know what to expect.  This season will either be a coming out party for new eleite teams or the same stuff different day.  I like Houston alot.  They have a soft schedule and a team that has a lot build on.  Foster, Johnson, Schaub,Daniels have to stay healthy on offense.  Wade Phillips has a fast defense who are hungry for a title.  The Patriots have the easiest schedule and would crave another shot at the Giants to give Brady his 4th ring.  The NFC is loaded.  At least 6 teams have the ability to win the title.  Packers, Giants, Niners, Saints, Eagles, Falcons, Bears, Lions, Cowboys can win in anyone's stadiums at any time if healthy. Should a wacky season.
The pennant chase in baseball has just gotten interesting. The Yankees are bailing water off of their ship.  They are so beat up and hope that returning star players like Arod and Andy Pettite will give them the boost to rejuvenate their season.  The Orioles are for real and the Rays have the best pitching. The Angels spent alot of money to get to the post season and succeed.  This series with Oakland will is important because they must take care of head to head games in order to gain ground.  The Tigers and White Sox just played an epic series where the Tigers earned a sweep.  Detroit has the veteran players to get this done based on pitching.  The White sox can hit homeruns but can they play to outscore their opponents or out pitch them?  The National League the intrigue is just as high.  The Dodgers created a Yankee style payroll  to win now.  They lose to too many bad teams though and I dont think they can get it done.  Billingsley was their hottest pitcher and he may be shelved for the season if shot in the arm does not work. Kemp needs to find April's magic and lead this team to the promise land.  Nationals are shutting down Strasburg and seemed poised to stay at top of N.L. east.  Chipper Jones final month as a Brave will make it interesting as the Braves don't want him to go out a loser.  After what happened last year, the Braves are going to make every team earn 27 outs.  The Reds are the real deal and if the game goes to bullpen, the game is over. Chapman is a beast.  Can you imagine facing a guy who throws 105 miles an hour in cold weather? Ouch babe..
U.S. open tennis is in its final week and Serena and Maria are on a collision course. So are Federer and Djokovic. Andy Roddicks surprise retirement announcement has buoyed ratings but tonight could be his demise.  DelPotro hits a big ball and can overpower most opponents.  Andy must serve well and steal a few concentration lapse games from Del Potro in order to advance.  I will blog about Roddick later this week.  Tennis lost Kim Clijsters last week as the young Brit robson showed some flashes of brilliance.  Robson also defeated Li Na.  Also there are two italian women playing in the quarters for the first time at the U.S. open.  Serena is lurking in their quarter if she beat Ivanovic and after winnin 6-0 6-0, in her last match she is driven to reclaim America's prize.
Chad Dawson wants to be a star in boxing, but his fights leave you not wanting to see him fight anymore.  He beat Hopkins in an unspired performance but Hopkins is like 50.  Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. are about to get it on soon as well and we shall see who is the pound for pound best middleweight is.  Martinez is the gold standard but Chavez, Jr. is unbeaten and has grown up right in front of out eyes.  Also Jones and Machida will be explosive in MMA. I know everyone wanted Jones to fight Sonnen but this fight will have some great moments.
Denny Hamlins win last week gave him four for the season and he wants this title real bad.  The story is whether or not Jeff Gordon or Kyle Busch qualify for the playoffs.  This weekend in Texas will be exciting.  Gordon had the car last week to win but could not catch Hamlin on the last lap after the restart. Busch has had a quiet season. Normally right now he has had a few wins and has ticked off some other drivers.
Did I mention Golf?  The Ryder Cup is in America this time around and Hunter Nahan wants revenge.  Mcilroy is number 1 in the world but Tiger is starting to re discover his form on the weekends.  Yesterdays perfomance on the final will give him a ton to build on as the season ends.  Both are now vying for player of the year honors.  Two events left for the Fedex cup.
I COULD TALK ABOUT MORE..
HOCKEY WILL DIE if THEY LOCKOUT THE PLAYERS...
NOW YOU KNOW WHY I lOVE September?

Will someone stop the SEC in footbal this year?

The SEC football conference is really full of itself.  Three days of media coverage to hear the "good ol'" boy network talk about their teams and upcoming season was nauseating.  Les Miles, Nick Saban, and Steve Spurrier are paraded around college football like they invented the game.  Yes Alabama and LSU have won championships in recent years  and yes the SEC schools have won the last six titles.  They have every reason to feel like their "s*** doesn't stink".  Who can argue against the achievements of the players in the conference. Cam Newton, Tim Tebow, Mark Ingram all won Heisman trophies in the last six years.  They put the most 1st and second round players in the NFL. They win most bowl games they play in all over the country.  Why not give them the championship now before the season starts?  Why not just have the SEC games be the entire season of college football because no other conference matters?  At the end of the last six seasons at least one SEC coach has come out and stated that without equivocation an SEC team will be playing in the championship game. He has been right and they have not disappointed.  Florida, LSU, Alabama and Auburn have been your champions over the past 6 seasons.  Will it change this year?  Lets see...
I have a feeling this year I will get to see the matchup that I have wanted to see for years.  Don't you find it odd that the upper echelon SEC schools wont play USC? USC is the only school in the BCS era that can put its number and accolades up there with the SEC schools.  Texas and Oklahoma have been great in the BCS era but USC can match any school in the SEC for all they have done.  The last time an SEC school played USC, they were ambushed and embarrased.  Arkansas played USC twice and lost 51-14 and 70 -17.  Both of those Arkansas teams challenged for SEC titles and played in New Years day bowl games.  Before Arkansas did, Auburn welcomed an unknown quarterback named Matt Leinart into Jordan Hare Stadium and got embarrassed.  This year USC returns the most high powered"legal" offense that have had since the Leinart days.  In fact as much as the SEC likes to put Tim Tebow(there's that man again) out there as the greatest college footballer ever people need to remember that Matt Leinart only lost two games in his college career.  A triple overtime game at CAL when his kicker missed a chippy field goal and the greatest college game of the last 25 years in the title tilt against Texas.  Leinart was brlliant in the game.  The SEC teams have feasted on the Big Ten over the BCS era.  The Big Ten has not put up much of a fight against any conference over the BCS era.  Ohio State has taken the whippin' over the past 15 years but at least they can say that they have been in the big game right? The story of college football should be how someone can take down the mighty SEC.  Matt Barkeley of course has to stay healthy and out of trouble off of the field.  His receivers are big and fast and his tight ends can get down the field against any safety or linebacker.  They have what it takes to score on any defense any time and any place.  The schedule is not tough as it usaully is for them to make a run. Most of the "tough" games are at home.  It wont be easy but I am penciling them in as the team to end the SEC's run in BCS title game.
The other teams to watch this year are Oklahoma, Clemson, Florida St. and Michigan.  Michigan gets Alabama in the first game of the season and that game could set the tone for the entire season.Michigan has a lot of players returning from last years team that played in a BCS game and can make people think that this season is the re-introduction of the Big Ten.  If Robinson wins this game he will undoubtedly be the front runner to the Heisman until they lose.  Clemson has the best team coming back on offense that they have had had in years.  Their quarterback Boyd and receiver Watkins are fast and potent.  They have Auburn to start the year.  Last year Clemson defeated Auburn in a epic contest of speed and big plays.  This game could define their entire season.  Oklahoma and Florida St. have the talent to beat anyone.  Both return quarterback who could play on Sundays in the near future.  Florida St. has great receivers back but just suffered a huge setback when one of their main star players was suspended for "knuckleheaded behavior".  I don't understand why college football players get themselves in trouble with the law when every school caters to their needs.  Oklahoma has to regain the defensive form that made them great in the beginning of the BCS era.  Offensively they can score 50 on anyone.
In the end until someone knocks the SEC off its perch atop the BCS we have to suffer listening to their constituents tell us how great they are.  The SEC wins with great defense and power running and no one seems to be able to stop their avalanche.  This year however, I believe there are a few teams ready to take their chances against them.  USC has the offense and physical defense to match up with the SEC anywhere and anytime.  Lets get it on as we look forward to a fun college football season..