USC gets stripped of 2004 Championship

Well it’s only taken 7 years to determine that Reggie Bush cost his school a national championship for taking money while he was a student at USC.

From ESPN:

The decision was not unexpected but required the NCAA’s May 26 rejection of USC’s appeal of sanctions stemming from the Reggie Bush investigation to move forward.

The BCS ruling vacated the results of the 2005  Orange Bowl — the national title game for 2004 — as well as the Trojans participation in the 2006 Rose Bowl, in which USC lost to Texas in the championship game.

You might think then that the team that played USC in that game would then be awarded the championship, Oklahoma, but no, that would be too easy.

As a result of the BCS’s Presidential Oversight Committee ruling, there will be no BCS national champion in the record book for the 2004-05 season.

“The BCS arrangement crowns a national champion, and the BCS games are
showcase events for postseason football,” BCS executive director Bill Hancock
said in a statement. “One of the best ways of ensuring that they remain so is
for us to foster full compliance with NCAA rules. Accordingly, in keeping with
the NCAA’s recent action, USC’s appearances are being vacated.

“This action reflects the scope of the BCS arrangement and is consistent with
the NCAA’s approach when it subsequently discovers infractions by institutions
whose teams have played in NCAA championship events.”

 

Well, thanks for playing Reggie. Glad you could screw both schools out of some worthwhile recognition.

 

 

USC stripped of ’04 championship (ESPN)

Wake Up Call: Of course Jerry is invited to the wedding

In the biggest publicity stunt since Barnum and Bailey’s Circus came to town, Jerry Jones actually went on ESPN to tell us mere mortal, poor people that he has “special permission” to attend Tony Romo’s wedding this Saturday in Dallas. Isn’t that special?

“I’ve gotten special permission,” Jones said. “But more than anything, [I got
the] right ticket from him and his fianceé — Romo’s wife-to-be. [It's] one of
prettiest invitations I’ve ever seen.

Oh please Jerry. Do me a favor and get back to the negotiating table and break this impasse with the NFL Players Union, and lets play some football ok?

Because of the lockout, NFL teams are not allowed to speak with players or agents. However, there have been some charity events where players and coaches have crossed paths.

Technically, Jones doesn’t need special permission from the league to go to Romo’s wedding. Personal events and situations where team officials would interact with a player — such as weddings, funerals, serious illnesses or
medical emergencies — don’t need to be cleared through the league office.

Romo has sent out wedding invitations to all of his teammates and most, if not all, are expected to attend. Romo is marrying former television reporter Candice Crawford.

“It’s going to be a fun day,” Romo said earlier this week. “When you have the right one, you just know.”

Boy Howdy, we are happy now.

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ABOUT LAST NIGHT

What you missed while wondering how to reduce the price of gasoline.

Dirk Nowitzki can break a kid’s heart

Kid scores on bicycle kick, bored internet is impressed. [Off the Bench]

And oh yeah, Mavs WIN!!!

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TODAY IN REX MORGAN

Shouldn’t you be a little concerned when things are too good to be true?

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Thanks for reading the blog, have a great day!

Wake Up Call: Wow, 3-1 Mavs up!

OK, call me a fair weather fan. It was late in the 4th quarter and the Mavs were behind like 15 points. I gave up. I quit watching the game. I came in my office and started writing how the Thunder had defeated the Mavs. Then I clicked on ESPN and saw they were in overtime and tied! Then Jason Kidd hit a 3! Holy Moly they might win this thing!

Dirk Nowitzki scored 40 points, Jason Kidd hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in overtime and the Dallas Mavericks overcame a 15-point deficit in the final 5 minutes of
regulation to stun the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-105 on Monday night and take a
3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.

They did indeed win it!

OK, I was wrong. Forget about my grassy knoll theory.

I’ll be honest, since I thought the Okies were going to win Monday’s game, I watched other things on TV. Like this.

Well how do you like that? The Mavs are up 3-1.

About Last Night:

What you missed while driving the President of the United States to a high level meeting in Ireland

If you ever need to know how to exit a vehicle in motion, call this guy!

Wait, how many guesses does a person get and still remain credible?

And I knew there was something familiar about Mavs coach Rick Carlisle:

TODAY IN REX MORGAN:

Life is always an ongoing adjustment.

So there ya have it folks, thanks for reading and have a super Tuesday.

The insanity of an NFL lockout

The insanity of the on-again off-again lockout continues. Players like Tony Romo and others showed up for work today amid a judge’s injunction to end the holdout was overturned.

From NBC Sports:

Although NFL players were being welcomed back to team facilities this morning because of Judge Susan Nelson’s injunction to end the lockout, that is changing this afternoon.

ESPN is reporting that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has granted a temporary stay of the injunction and reinstated the lockout, meaning players will now be told to hit the road, and doors to team facilities are being locked this afternoon.

Michael Silver of Yahoo reported this afternoon that NFL players were bracing for a ruling from the Court of Appeals that would give the owners an “administrative” stay, meaning the lockout would be back on at least through the weekend.

Then, as soon as Monday, the Eighth Circuit will hear the players’ argument against a stay. At that point, the lockout could remain on, or the players could be let back in, depending on the Eighth Circuit’s ruling. And either way, it would just be temporary until the appeals court makes a decision on the owners’ appeal of Judge Nelson’s ruling.

So just hours after players were let back into team facilities this morning, they’ll now be told that they’re no longer welcome this afternoon. And we’ll all wait until Monday to see what the appeals court does next.

UPDATE: ESPN has now retracted its report that the stay was already granted, although a stay is expected.

Jiminey Christmas!! Make up your mind!!!!! Let’s get this settled!!!!

Report: Owners get stay of injunction, lockout back on (PFT)

March Madness Indeed

Hello sports fans. It’s Sunday and spring has sprung! One sure hint that spring is here is the annual frustration that is March Madness. Now I could be all macho and come on here and tell you I am doing great in my bracket contest in my league , and that I had the results planned all along, but I would be lying. The truth is, I am indeed in first place, but I have no idea what I’m doing.  (UPDATE) As sure as I had this planned for a nice article, I fell in to second place. At any rate, I’m certain this makes the other 105 other people with brackets in my league go insane. Oh well, it’s fun to win when you have no idea what’s going on.

Happy birthday today to Cousin Bill Harris in Memphis Tennessee. Hope you and yours have an awesome day today and get ready for me to come visit in about a month. I’m starting to make plans now.

Can’t wait to go see all my new found Tennessee relatives and go see Beall Street! Have a great day peoples.

Super Bowl Notes

Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb is going to the Super Bowl. Well, he’s going to Texas for Super Bowl week, but he’ll be working for ESPN, not the Redskins. McNabb will serve as a guest analyst next week for ESPN’s coverage of Super Bowl XLV, providing his thoughts on the game, teams and players. The safe guess is that a Redskins question or three also might pop up. “We’re excited to have Donovan back on ESPN as a part of our Super Bowl coverage,” said ESPN senior coordinating producer Stephanie Druley. “We worked with him in previous years and he always has strong opinions and great insights on the game, the teams and especially the quarterback position.” — Washington Post

Steelers defensive star spending big on Super Bowl trip

Steelers NT Casey Hampton’s “crib” isn’t in Dallas. He was born in Galveston, a city on the Gulf of Mexico. A few years ago, he moved to nearby Houston. His relatives and closest friends coming to the Super Bowl will have roughly a 240-mile drive to Dallas this week. Hampton, a five-time Pro Bowler, is personally taking care of their Super Bowl arrangements. He’s renting a house for them in Dallas. He figures that beats paying for their airfare and hotel rooms. And for at least 15 family members and friends, he’s purchased their tickets at $900 a pop. “It’s going to be expensive for me,” he said. “So from that standpoint, it’s not going to be a good thing.” Whatever Hampton ends up spending for his entourage’s Super Bowl stay, no one feels sorry for him. His base salary this season is $4 million. Plus, Hampton and the rest of the Steelers have already pocketed $21,000 for winning the divisional-round playoff game against the Ravens and $38,000 for the AFC Championship Game against the Jets. If the Steelers beat the Packers in Super Bowl XLV, each player gets $83,000 more (the loser’s share is $42,000). — Beaver County Times

Wow, what a week it was for sports

It’s Sunday evening, and most everyone is reflecting on the weekend and thinking about the work week coming up. But I am so dissatisfied with this week’s sports results, I’m dwelling on some heavy thoughts. Like what you ask? Well, let’s run through the list shall we?

For my friend Willie at work who is a big De Soto high school fan.

You would think if your team is leading 28-7 with 3:00 left in the 1st quarter, that you would pretty much think you had that game right? Nooo, not in this series. Cedar Hill has made miraculous come backs before and this game would be no exception. It was sickening to see Cedar Hill come back and tie the score, and I knew then that Cedar Hill was going to win, like most everyone else in North America, that was watching the game on ESPN.

The unlikely hero for Cedar Hill was senior Mason Hayes, who rushed 20 times for 140 yards in place of star running back Ben Malena, a Texas A&M commitment who injured his ankle in the first quarter. Malena said after the game that it was only a sprain and he would be back in a week or two.

DeSoto quarterback Ryan Polite also broke off several long runs early, and his receivers got wide open against a shaky Cedar Hill secondary. But the second quarter belonged to Cedar Hill. Hayes scored on a 29-yard run to cut DeSoto’s lead to 28-14, and when Cedar Hill scored on its opening possession of the second half, its 27 straight points had given the Longhorns their first lead at 34-28. It was just sickening. If you are a De Soto fan.

 

Great ESPN Commercials

Ed Werder loves him some Terrell Owens

When it comes to sports journalistic integrity, no one does it like Ed Werder. In another ESPN hit piece on Terrell Owens designed to bring ratings to the network and nothing else, Werder has once again trashed Terrell Owens when the actual story was three Dallas Cowboys receivers spoke with an assistant coach about Tony Romo’s propensity to throw to Jason Witten no matter what the situation is.

Once again Werder’s story is based on what a nameless player says about Owens. This has started me to wonder what is it about Terrell Owens that makes grown men who play football in the NFL scared to come out in the open and talk about him. I always thought NFL players were the epitome of courage, not cowardice. In sports you always hear about players putting the team first. Is ratting out a player on your team behind his back the new way to build team unity?

I actually like the fact that Terrell Owens says what’s on his mind. Sure at times he comes across as juvenile and a bit insincere, but at least you know when you are reading an article about the team he is on he wont be “a player said” in any interview. That is very appealing to me. I, like many others am old school when it comes to my football, I appreciate guys who are fiery and want to do everything in their ability to win like Owens. Of course there is the double standard of when Owens does it. When Owens does it he is selfish, when other players do the same thing they are fiery and determined.

Take two weeks ago for instance, Owens criticized the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff in an interview with Deion Sanders saying they weren’t doing enough to get him the ball. In the next game against the 49ers they did more to get him the ball and he ends up having one of the biggest days in the history of the Cowboys as a receiver. What you heard before the game was Owens is selfish, Owens is at it again, Owens is a prima donna. What I didn’t hear after the game was Owens was right. He was the main offensive weapon used to beat the 49ers.

In Werder’s article he actually does quote a player who isn’t afraid to use his name in Brady James. Brady James a Cowboys team captain said that between the two players there is no dislike. Of course writing an article about the team captain saying there is no dislike between the two players isn’t entertaining or controversial enough. Werder and the ESPN crew of Owens haters would rather dwell on what a cowardly unnamed source said than to give credence to what one of the teams captains has said on the record.

This for me has made ESPN unwatchable when it comes to the NFL. I have watched shows like NFL Countdown and NFL Live since their inception. I remember watching Steve Berman and Tom Jackson when they were the only two guys at the desk on Sunday mornings. What ESPN is doing with the NFL is turning it into Entertainment Tonight. It should’ve been over for me when they hired Rush Limbaugh. Honestly, I did stop watching the show while he was on there, but as soon as they canned him I went right back.

Now the Sunday morning show seems to be like nothing more than a total bitter-fest. What happened to Tom Jackson? Why wasn’t Tom Jackson the guy he is now when Limbaugh was on the show with him? If ever there was a time to be sullen and standoffish, it should’ve been when he had to share the desk with Rush. Jackson seems like a bitter old man who never wants to hear again he didn’t win a Super Bowl. As for Keyshawn Johnson, we are talking hater extraordinaire. His dire hate-fest for Terrell Owens became tired after his second show. Could anyone ever forget the hit piece he did on supposed friend Chad Johnson last year? I surely will not.

When it comes to Owens, Werder is the ring leader. Without his unnamed sources none of his colleagues would be able to tender the hate with as much venom as they do. I wish that Werder would report to us why the player who responds anonymously about Owens does so anonymously. That is something I would really like to know. I think everyone would like to know why a teammate thinks it’s a good thing to stab another teammate in the back.