Archive for the 'ncaa football' Category
The good folks from West Virginia must have wondered what kind of crazy, fanatical, severe-weather-ignoring lunatics they have down on the plains. They found out. And soon enough, so will everyone else: The passion is back on the plains.
Around 9 pm a crowd started to gather at Toomer’s Corner. Why you ask? For the first “Toomer’s Corner Walk-Through” where Auburn fans get a chance to rub elbows with some of the nation’s top football recruits. Of course the tree was rolled and of course all the Auburn cheers were sung, but the most important thing was for these recruits to see how serious Auburn is about getting them here to play football. Coaches Taylor and Looper fired up the crowd. Coach Taylor even added a little spice by breaking out his famous chest-bumps with all the recruits. Everyone was in great spirits and every recruit seemed to be having a wonderful time.
Before we get to the pictures, I just want to add that yes my camera sucks and yes I’m not a fantastic photographer. Additionally it was dark obviously and taking pics of people constantly moving through a large crowd and toilet paper will test anyone’s abilities.
That being said….here’s some of the better shots.
“Though names are not visible on player jerseys in the video games, the lawsuit contends EA Sports “intentionally circumvents the prohibitions on utilizing student-athletes’ names by allowing gamers to upload entire rosters, which include players’ names and other information, directly into the game in a matter of seconds.” “He just didn’t think it appropriate that, given that the NCAA says you can’t profit from your likeness … they do the wink and the nod when EA Sports presents them with the game, which has the likeness of the player,” Carey said.
The NCAA has combined its investigations of two former USC star athletes into a single probe of the Trojans’ athletic program, the Los Angeles Times reported.
If found guilty I guess this solidifies Auburn as 2004 national champs…
A chill from the north has settled over Alabama, and I don’t mean the cold snap that dropped temperatures into the 30s this week.This chill is blowing in from Indianapolis, where the NCAA mulls reviving television sanctions, giving closer consideration to postseason bans, widening scholarship cuts and levying fines.
Especially chilling is talk of making postseason bans a “presumptive” penalty in cases involving repeat violators. If that didn’t send a chill in Tuscaloosa, then it should have. The NCAA says potential major violations occurred in Alabama’s textbook case, which fell in the five-year repeat violator window dating back to the Albert Means case.
Jacksonville State ? awaiting possible penalties because its football program is expected to fall under the minimum Academic Progress Report number for the third consecutive year ? should also feel it.
Josephine Potuto, a Nebraska law professor and the immediate past chairman of the infractions committee, told USA Today that the NCAA must get more aggressive.
“The committee feels that, over the years, the penalties really have gotten out of synch with the magnitude of violations,” she said in a story published Oct. 29. “Increasingly, there were people on campus saying, ‘There’s no teeth here. Did they lose any scholarships? Were they taken out of the postseason? Were wins vacated? And if not, it couldn’t have been a big case.’”
Potuto made recommendations to the Division I Board of Directors on Oct. 31, and the board has been seeking member feedback since then:
-The first TV bans in Division I since 1996, and the bans would extend to “all modes of video transmission.”
-More scholarship cuts. Now limited to financial-aid violations, they would become “the norm” in serious cases.
-Fines, which the committee would assess sparingly but in more sports. They currently affect only basketball and programs forced to return NCAA tournament shares.
-And more postseason bans, which would become “presumptive” in cases involving academic fraud and repeat violations.
Alabama just made its fourth appearance before the infractions committee in 14 years.
The 2002 Means case involved violations so serious that one NCAA official said Alabama was “staring down the barrel” of the death penalty in 2002. The textbook scandal dates back to the 2005-06 school year.
Alabama’s response to the NCAA said that no coaches, employees or representatives were involved in the violations. The school said it gained no competitive edge and took corrective measures, including suspending athletes and changing book distribution policies.
Potuto did not specifically mention APR cases in the proposed crackdown, but the NCAA clearly wants members to feel the bite as well as fear the bark.
JSU officials cite improved grades and the promotion of an assistant coach with academic duties as good faith efforts to improve the program’s performance.
Will the NCAA listen? We’ll find out in the coming weeks.
Even in serious cases involving illicit extra benefits, recruiting and other competitive-edge violations, the punishment sometimes don’t measure up to sanctions now in place for teams’ academic deficiencies. Those start with scholarship cuts and escalate to recruiting and practice restrictions and ultimately postseason bans.
The prospective crackdown would subject offenders to:
• The first bans on TV appearances in Division I since 1996. The restriction would extend to “all modes of video transmission,” including video streaming and other internet appearances.
• More scholarship cuts. Now limited to cases involving financial-aid violations, they would become “the norm” in all serious cases.
• Fines, which the committee would assess sparingly but across a wider array of sports. They currently affect only basketball and programs forced to return shares of NCAA tournament revenue.
• More bans on postseason appearances. Among other things, that would become a “presumptive” penalty in cases involving academic fraud and repeat violations.
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