The Dead Season

It's all quiet on the football front. Spring practices and games still two weeks to a month away for most schools.

The NBA, NHL and MLB spring training definitely bring no relief. The only thing that stirs my interest is the NFL combine and random recruiting/coaching.

Let's hit the combine:

• Good Lord! Oregon St. DT Stephen Paea threw up 225lbs 49 times! For those of you paying attention, that's a NFL combine record. I'm not sure how much that will translate to him being a great or even productive NFL player, but it's more interesting than watching baseball players button and unbutton their batting gloves as they wait for the pitcher to get comfortable. 

• In the knucklehead department, QB prospect Josh Portis just DOESN'T get it. Let's recap Portis's collegiate career
• Portis started his career at the University of Florida in 2005, but didn't receive a lot of playing time.
• Portis subsequently transfers to University of Maryland, where he is suspended for cheating on a test. On the field, Portis playing time drops and he eventually transfers.
• Now a starter at the California University of Pennsylvania, Portis excels on the field. Off the field, it's more of the same, in late 2010 Portis makes a deal to avoid a stiffer penalty for theft, stolen property and use of a stolen credit care.

That brings us to Portis at the combine. Portis is complaining that he didn't get a "fair shot" at the University of Maryland. Instead of debating the merits of Portis's reasoning why his academic cheating wasn't a big deal, I'll just go ahead and say Portis doesn't get it. What's "it"? Well, how about staying focused and not getting distracted at the combine? Do NFL execs want to hear a guy of questionable character complaining about the unfairness of his academic suspension? Probably not. I'm not sure where he'll go in the draft, but I can guarantee it's not where he thought he'd go when the 6'4'' highly-touted QB prospect signed his letter of intent to University of Florida. 

What the Faulk did he just say?

Just read an interesting article by Jim Moore in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. While the article mainly focuses on recently fired Seattle Seahawks head coach Jim Mora, there is an extremely interesting section at the end of the article concerning Marshall Faulk. Faulk, who was attending a celebrity golf tournament hosted by Jim Mora, took a few minutes to answer some of Jim Moore's questions. Typically, athletes are second only to politicians in their ability to provide illogical non-answers to an interviewer's questions. Faulk, however, does not fall into this category.

When asked by Moore how Faulk thought the Seahawks would fare under new head coach Pete Carroll, Faulk admitted that he really did not know how the Seahawks would perform, but noted he was disappointed that coaches such as Pete Carroll could leave college programs like USC behind when they faced sanctions. Oddly though, Faulk did not seem to have a problem with the fact that Pete Carroll and USC were cheating, he only objected that the players were the only ones being punished. Interestingly, Faulk even lauded some of the finer aspects of cheating:

"Here's my thing -- it's well-documented that if you're not cheating, you're not trying in sports. Some of the best things that are done in sports are illegal. You work around the rules and try to get things done."

Later, when asked whether he was offered money during his time at San Diego State, Faulk offered this gem:

 "Nah, I went to San Diego State, other than good weather, they didn't have much to offer me, unfortunately. I wish I'd gone to a bigger program and had them slide me some cash to take care of my family, but that wasn't the case."

Overall, I don't view the NCAA as some holy institution that operates to best to serve the interests of their "student-athletes," as they certainly don't. However, I highly disagree with Marshall Faulk's statements. He's a made man. He dominated in the NFL and is a lock for induction into the Hall of Fame. He basically has nothing to lose. College players taking money today risk their college career and any future pro-career by accepting illegal money from boosters. For example, the only sin former Oklahoma State University stud WR Dez Bryant committed was failing to disclose that he had hung out with Deion Sanders and had him pay for his lunch. What did that get Bryant? How about a season-long suspension from Oklahoma State. Granted, NFL teams were so enamored with Bryant that the Cowboys still took him 24th pick in the first round of this year's NFL draft. Even though Bryant's situation has worked out well for him, I think it's safe to say that he would have gone much sooner in the first round if teams didn't have any "character" concerns with him.

Law and Order: College Football Style

Short post for me today, but a big day for the mildly threatening NCAA cops. Some schools even decided to take the law into their own hands, just before their "student athletes" managed to embarrass them too much.

Michigan: Denied the Big 10's highest rated recruit, DB Demar Dorsey, entrance into the university at the request of the school's admissions office. Besides being an on-the-field star, Dorsey had the potential to build an all-star "rap sheet" while at Michigan. Demar has already had two felony charges against him, although both were eventually dropped.

Colorado: The NCAA docked Colorado four football scholarships for failing to meet the their "Academic Progress Rate" standards.

Oregon: Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli, who was already suspended for stealing laptops and a guitar from a fraternity, was kicked off the team days after he was arrested for driving with a suspended license and possession of marijuana. (I'm not sure why, but it seems like there are a disproportionally high percentage of stud-athletes who are arrested with either an expired or suspended license. I'm not sure whether there is a correlation between the two. I'm probably a sub-par athlete and I've never had an expired or suspended licence, so I'm going to go ahead and assert there is a correlation.)

USC: Received a two-year bowl ban and was docked ten football scholarships over the next three years. While I'm very happy about this, it still sucks that the NCAA really has no way to punish former USC head coach Pete Carroll. For those of you who are new to college football, Pete Carrol was the head coach at USC while all of the infractions occurred. Further, Carroll conveniently found a head coaching job in the NFL as the NCAA's investigation of his program intensified. The USC scandal really deserves a much more in-depth look, especially since it's one of the harshest penalties the NCAA has ever given, but there are so many other writers who can cover it much better than I can.