Royce White leaves the University of Minnesota Basketball team
December 17, 2009
Local boy stays home and doesn't play for the Gophers
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prized recruit Royce White says he’s leaving the Minnesota basketball team because of his legal troubles and the stress they are causing his family and the program.White makes the announcement in a video posted on YouTube early Thursday called, “Royce White — Last Interview.”
White is currently indefinitely suspended from the team while police investigate the theft of a laptop computer from a dorm room in November. White says he’s innocent.
However, he says the investigation has been stressful for his family and the program, so he’s quitting. He says he has no plans to transfer to another school.
The 6-8, 250-pound forward was Minnesota’s top recruit last season. He hasn’t been practicing with the team while suspended.
A university spokesman says the team had no comment.
This another reason why college athletes should be paid. Simple things that are not provided (like clothes to fit in more) from a scholarship can cause you to attempt to get what you want. (Obviously not a justification to rob and steal, since there are the vast majority that might not have things, but do not go out and rob for them) The laptop thing seems overblown. They are clearly sweating him for no good reason.
This situation and the Tennessee football incident with N’Keese Richardson and the holdup should be more reason to look into the Billion with a B dollar industry that less than one percent of the athletes will go on to earn money in that field (whether it is football or basketball) The schools are getting rich off the backs of it’s student athletes. Why not set up a trust fund for those athletes that trigger when they get their diploma? That way, you encourage school and balance riches. You can even dole out bits of it during the year, with the majority of it coming with successful completion of steps to earn the degree. If you can leave early to the NBA, you can get paid, or if you graduate, you can get a little nest egg to get your life started on the right foot.
It would never happen, because it makes sense and the fatcats don’t want to give up their loot…
Good luck to you, whether it’s overseas or in the NBDL.
Greg Oden, a.k.a. Mr. Glass, is out for the year, AGAIN!
December 6, 2009
What could have been...
This has shades of Sam Bowie written all over it. For those of you that don’t know who Sam Bowie is.
Samuel Paul “Sam” Bowie (born March 17, 1961, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania) is a retired American basketball player in the National Basketball Association who is probably best known for being selected before Michael Jordan in the 1984 NBA Draft.[1] He was a 7′1″, 235 lb center.
Enough said. He was drafted ahead of MJ. How do you live that down? In the case of Greg Oden, he was taken ahead of KD, Kevin Durant. But, back to that in a minute.
In 1984, Bowie entered the NBA draft, and after the Houston Rockets selected Hakeem Olajuwon with the first pick in the draft, the Portland Trail Blazers selected Bowie. North Carolina shooting guard Michael Jordan was picked third, by the Chicago Bulls, and would go on to be one of the most acclaimed players in basketball history, earning five NBA Most Valuable Player Awards and winning six NBA Championships.[5] Future Hall of Famers Charles Barkley (power forward) and John Stockton (point guard) were also available at this point during the 1984 draft. Portland’s draft decision is regarded by ESPN as the worst in NBA history.[6] Sports Illustrated called Bowie the biggest draft bust in NBA history in a 2005 list, arguing that teams should not draft according to current need but to a player’s potential.[7]
Now, I might not call him the biggest draft bust, in fact he isn’t the biggest draft bust on the Trail Blazers. (and no, I am not calling Oden a bust either)
nice afro, but the game was lacking...
LaRue Martin (born March 30, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois) is a retired American professional basketball player. Martin was taken first overall by the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Portland Trail Blazers in 1972, drafted ahead of future Hall of Famers Bob McAdoo and Julius Erving.[1] Martin has been cited as the worst first overall draft pick in NBA history.[1]
A 6-foot-11 center out of Loyola University Chicago, LaRue Martin entered the NBA with much fanfare in 1972. Martin set the basketball world abuzz when he outplayed Bill Walton in a game between Loyola and UCLA, in the midst of their storied title runs, in 1971–72. The Portland Trail Blazers were so impressed with Martin that they made him the first overall pick in the 1972 NBA Draft.
However, Martin never caught on in the NBA, and after the Blazers drafted Walton in 1974, he never had the chance. In four seasons Martin never scored more than 7.0 points per game, and he never shot better than .452 from the field. He notched both of those numbers during the 1974–75 season, when Walton missed most of the year with injuries.
Martin prematurely retired at the end of the 1975-76 season, one year before the Blazers won their first NBA championship (1977). In four seasons he averaged 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.[1]
Now that is a bust for you. The thing that you should really remember is that the while there are better players, or players who are better, the injury thing is one that you cannot really control. But, Greg Oden gets the Mr. Glass label from the movie Unbreakable, with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson
ESPN.com gives us the bad news for Oden.
Guess we will have to wait another year to see the future... He actually looks relatively young in the picture
PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland center Greg Oden will likely miss the rest of the season after fracturing his left knee cap Saturday night in the Trail Blazers’ victory over the Houston Rockets.
“He’s a strong kid,” said general manager Kevin Pritchard, visibly shaken by the latest injury to befall the 7-foot center. “He’s going to bounce back from this.”
The Blazers said Oden will need surgery. A timetable for his return was not immediately set.
“I’m obviously disappointed having worked so hard to get to where I was. This is a setback but I’ll be back. It’s in God’s hands now,” Oden said in a statement released by the team. “I want to thank the fans, my teammates and everyone in the Blazers family for all of their good thoughts.”
Oden, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA draft out of Ohio State, has been plagued by injures his entire NBA career.
The 7-footer missed rookie season after undergoing microfracture surgery on his right knee. Last season, Oden sat out six games after injuring his right foot in the season opener against the Lakers, then missed 14 games after the All-Star break with a bone chip in his left knee. He finished the season averaging 8.9 points and 7 rebounds.
Oden lost weight during the offseason and was averaging 11.7 points and 8.8 rebounds this season as a starter.
“I thought he was the most consistent player this short season,” coach Nate McMillan said. “For him to go through this — it’s just unfortunate for him because he worked so hard.”
Blazers guard Brandon Roy said Oden spoke to the team at halftime, after he had learned of the diagnosis.
“He told us to keep fighting,” Roy said. “He feels like he’s letting us down.”
Hopefully, he will fight though this and continue to become the next big thing. we was extremely consistent and he provided the Blazers with both offense and defense, something that Joel Pryzbilla cannot. The first two cases with Sam Bowie and LaRue Martin were bad scouting and bad decisions. Kevin Durant is an excellent player and a quality individual so far in the league. He is the modern day Scottie Pippen. He can guard 2, 3, or 4 on the floor with no problems and can chase down pg’s too. But, Greg was and is an excellent talent too. He can go left or right, due to the wrist accident his senior year. He is a good free throw shooter and an elite shotblocker and rebounder. Those factors are reasons to still have valued him higher. At the time, Durant was just an elite scorer, not much else. He clearly has blossomed into one of the best in the Association right now, but that is hard to predict. The jury is still out here….even though some want to call the race after the first lap.
Charlie Weis, you ARE the weakest link…GOODBYE! Notre Dame finally fires him and puts him out of his misery
November 30, 2009
Charlie Weis? Your limo off campus awaits....
What the heck were you waiting for? Anyone who could put two and two together knew he was fired. The “don’t worry about recruiting on the West Coast” was a big hint after the Stanford game… ESPN puts the final nail into the coffin…
Saying its expectations on the field have not been met, Notre Dame fired coach Charlie Weis on Monday after a string of disappointing seasons that was capped by an agonizing four-game losing streak.
A brash offensive coordinator with the NFL champion New England Patriots when he was hired five years ago, Weis excited the Irish faithful with back-to-back appearances in BCS bowl games in his first two seasons.
That clearly ISNT a BCS Championship ring, since ND didn't win one. BTW Who is George?
Let’s really look at what he did. He was living off the back of Ty Willingham, and he got blasted by Ohio State 34-20. That is what he did in the first year. They were so impressed with that 9-3 record, that midway through the season, they gave him a ten (yes that is right, TEN) year extension on his contract. That is how desperate that they became to get relevant again in college football. Pat Forde makes another point about the raw deal that Willingham got indirectly…
But as undistinguished as Davie and Willingham were, the Weis era has become a new low. When Willingham’s best recruits checked out after 2006, the program crashed.Weis’ record over the past three seasons: 16-21. Of those 16 victories, three came against opponents that finished the season with a winning record (Navy last year, Nevada and Boston College this year). There were home losses to Navy (twice), Syracuse and Connecticut. There were zero signature victories.
In fact, the only signature characteristic of the past three Weis teams has been folding in the face of adversity. One loss has precipitated numerous losses.
The Fighting Irish began 2007 by losing five straight. In 2008, they lost four of their last five regular-season games. This year, they finished Weis’ tenure by losing their last four.
And after the final defeat, at Stanford on Saturday night, Weis disappeared without facing the media.
One might ask why didn’t they do that for Tye, since during his first year, they were 10-2 and started 8-0…Damn, Weis got on a roll when he lost it.
Since then, one of the nation’s most storied football programs has gone 16-21.
Swarbick says he recommended to the university president Sunday night that Weis be let go with six years left on his contract.
“We have great expectations for our football program, and we have not been able to meet those expectations,” Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement announcing Weis “will not be retained.”
“As an alumnus, Charlie understands those goals and expectations better than most, and he’s as disappointed as anyone that we have not achieved the desired results,” Swarbrick said.
The last time ND was any good...
Just what are they storied for? They WERE good, a long time ago. In fact, they were the gold standard for college football. But, just like slavery and corporal punishment, those days have come and gone. They have not been part of the landscape as a threat in 20 years, since Lou Holtz was patrolling the sidelines. Does that mean that ARMY, which used to be the goods still has the right to call themselves a football powerhouse? No. Maybe, they need to understand that their expectations are not realistic.
Following a 6-2 start, the losing streak began and as it progressed Weis’ future was in doubt.
Weis finishes 35-27 in South Bend. His .565 winning percentage is worse than the .583 marks that got his two predecessors, Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie, fired.
Among the people considered possible candidates to replace Weis are Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, TCU coach Gary Patterson and Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh. Stoops, though, said Monday he fully intends to be at Oklahoma “hopefully for a good while.”
Weis has told people in South Bend that he’s already heard from roughly six NFL teams about becoming their offensive coordinator next season, sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
First, Charlie, as a piece of unsolicited advice, shore up your leaks. Whoever you told that makes you look like a grade A ass. Why are you talking about the NFL, when you just got fired? Is your ego that wound up that you have to show your self worth by pointing out that you have other opportunities?
Second, the NFL is where you should have been and stayed. You do not have the same limitations that you do in college. They have nothing else BUT football as a pro. They might practice for about 4 hours with weightlifting, then the rest of the day is their own. Good players will go home and watch tape and work out, while bad players won’t. But, they also get cut.
Notre Dame players have scheduled a mid-afternoon players meeting that will include a vote on whether they want to play in a bowl game after a 6-6 season. Swarbrick has said he will consider the players’ wishes in deciding on a bowl trip.
Rob Ianello, Notre Dame’s assistant head coach/offense, wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, will assume responsibility for football operations until a new coach is hired, Swarbrick said. Ianello has spent the past five seasons on Notre Dame’s staff.
I hope the players say no. (Even though as a player, I would go, just for the free swag at the bowl games and a free trip somewhere that is not Indiana) Here is what they got a few years ago in the Hawaii Bowl
HAWAIIHawaii-Notre Dame, Dec. 24 in Honolulu
The gear:
Kicker iKick500 iPod/iPhone Dock
Silk tie
Oakley sunglasses
Kahala aloha shirt
Beach chair
Beach towel
T-shirt
Calendar
Hat
Visor
Backpack
Luggage tags
The verdict: The iPod dock looks like something out of the Batcave. The Hawaii bowl tie and Aloha shirt screams “re-gifting” for Father’s Day. And those beach chairs and towels sure will come in handy in South Bend.
As for Coach Ianello, what’s another title in the grand scheme of things? I am surprised that you are not washing the unis as well.
BERKELEY WINS THE BIG GAME! The Axe returns to it’s rightful home…No Rose Bowl for Stanford
November 22, 2009
7 out of the past 8 years, CAL has beat Stanford...
That made my evening…
First, I want to express who B.S. it is that Versus showed the Big Game. This is a game that is made for network T.V. There is no reason to deny anyone the pleasure of seeing the hatred between these two schools and the resulting battle on the field. With the game of the cable channel Versus, most of the crew could not watch the game, because we have DirecTV. Comcast owns Versus and they have been licensing the right to show it on DirecTV. But, in some contract dispute, Comcast took it’s ball and went home. They claim that DirecTV (who owns an exclusive contract with the NFL to broadcast the games) That means that the conference that the crew follows (Pac-10 all day) can have hit or miss coverage of the games. For me, fortunately, I was in Chicago, and the hotel at the Residence Inn has regular cable, so they have Versus.
Scoring Summary FIRST QUARTER CAL STAN TD 13:24 Toby Gerhart 61 Yd Run (Nate Whitaker Kick) 0 7 TD 04:46 Toby Gerhart 2 Yd Run (Eric Whitaker Kick) 0 14 FG 00:53 Vince D’Amato 21 Yd 3 14 SECOND QUARTER CAL STAN TD 00:45 Shane Vereen 1 Yd Run (Vince D’Amato Kick) 10 14 THIRD QUARTER CAL STAN TD 09:55 Shane Vereen 4 Yd Run (Vince D’Amato Kick) 17 14 TD 03:50 Shane Vereen 3 Yd Run (Vince D’Amato Kick) 24 14 TD 00:12 Toby Gerhart 1 Yd Run (Eric Whitaker Kick) 24 21 FOURTH QUARTER CAL STAN TD 13:14 Marvin Jones 12 Yd Pass From Kevin Riley (Vince D’Amato Kick) 31 21 TD 07:01 Toby Gerhart 5 Yd Run (Eric Whitaker Kick) 31 28 FG 02:42 Vince D’Amato 28 Yd 34 28
ESPN provides some context to the score.
It was over when… Cal’s Mike Mohamed intercepted a pass from Stanford QB Andrew Luck at the 3 with less than 2 minutes left.
Gameball goes to… Shane Vereen. The Cal back rushed for a career-high 193 yards and three touchdowns on 42 carries.
This is a dude who really wants it.....
Vereen has responded with the two best games of his career the past two weeks in wins over Arizona and Stanford. Running effectively off direct snaps in Cal’s form of the wildcat, Vereen overpowered the Cardinal. The Bears drove more than 70 yards on four consecutive TD drives starting late in the second quarter, three ending with short runs by Vereen.
“I never carried that many times and never thought I’d carry that many times,” Vereen said. “I just had so much emotion, I didn’t think about any tiredness or pain.”
Stat of the game… 19:14. The difference in time of possession as Cal held the ball for 39:07 compared to Stanford’s 20:53.
We’ve heard a lot of talk about, ‘Oh, they’re going to go to the Rose Bowl,’ ” Mohamed said. “We felt like they were overlooking us a little bit. For us to come out and to prove all these guys wrong, it feels good. And we’re keeping the Axe in Berkeley another year. You can’t get much better than that.”And it’s tough to imagine a better Big Game than one that had Rose Bowl implications, memorable performances by Vereen and Stanford’s Heisman contender Toby Gerhart, curious coaching decisions and a most dramatic finish.
The curious coaching decision was that Harbaugh went for a 4th and 8 that missed and gave CAL great field position, which they turned into a field goal 2ith 2:42 remaining in the game. But, that left CAL only up six, with plenty of time for the coach who was nicknamed Captain Comeback as a player. But, the interception on the 13 closed out the game.
One mans glory, is another mans pain, and it belongs to Toby Gerhart, who did everything in his power to win the game.
This marked the third time this season that the Cardinal lost a game in which they led by at least 14 points. This one was especially painful because it came against Cal and ended the team’s Rose Bowl hopes. Stanford would have been eliminated anyway when Oregon beat Arizona 44-41 in double overtime, but now the Cardinal can’t even share the conference title.
“This one hurts,” Gerhart said. “Everybody takes pride in winning this game. The season has been decent and getting to a bowl game is nice but we had greater goals than that. When all is said and done we’ll have an empty pit in our stomach that we didn’t get the Axe back.”
The parties are less fun when you lose. Stanford, you just got caught up in the hype… Welcome home AXE!
E’s song of the day
November 14, 2009
It’s another college football Saturday, and my Trojans are in a tough battle against the last team to beat us on our home field, the Stanford Cardinal. it’s currently 21-14 Stanford early in the second half, so I’m still confident that we’ll turn things around and pull out a win. I figured I’d get today’s tune out of the way before I roll out later this evening to catch a movie with my pops. I heard this one on some TV show the other day and it spoke to me. Today’s jam: Jack Penate – Everything is New. Enjoy….
JaMarcus Russell is a bust and that stench is starting to carry over to Darren McFadden and others….
October 8, 2009
JRuss doesn't know up from down...
This is really the s*#$ that got me mad….
You should not take this as “The Too Old Crew has give up on the Raiders…” Far from that. I am just tired of the losing. The Raiders have lost 11 or more games for the last6 years and it is wearing on me personally. Not enough to give them up, but enough to be mad and call for change. (Note, I am typing this while drinking out of my Black Raiders Aluminum Water Bottle, because I care about the Raiders and the environment.)
Keeps the water cold that I need to cool my emtions down about the Raiders...
Here is the Raiders record over the last six years. It’s not pretty and things have to change.
2003 2003 NFL AFC West 3rd 4 12 0 2004 2004 NFL AFC West 4th 5 11 0 2005 2005 NFL AFC West 4th 4 12 0 2006 2006 NFL AFC West 4th 2 14 0 2007 2007 NFL AFC West 4th 4 12 0 2008 2008 NFL AFC West 3rd 5 11 0 2009 2009 NFL AFC West TBD 1 3 0
Having some of the top picks were designed to get us out of this rut. Instead, the drafting of JaMarcus Russell has seemingly set the franchise back another five years from being relevant. This is not the comments of a spurned fan. This is what I said during the draft. My hopes were pinned on either taking Calvin Johnson or trading the pick and getting some proven talent. Instead, we drafted a QB that wasn’t ready for prime time. Yahoo explains the mistake that we made. Read the rest of this entry »
E’s song of the day
October 3, 2009
The weekend has landed! Time for a healthy dose of college football to help you forget the stress of the grind. In particular, we in the Bay Area will enjoy an exciting top 25 match-up between my USC Trojans and Steve’s Cal Bears. The recent history of this rivalry certainly favors the men of Troy. Since Pete Carroll took over as USC’s head coach the Trojans are 7-1 against the Bears, with the only loss coming in an exciting triple overtime game in Berkeley in 2003. Carroll hopes to build on his 5-game winning streak against Cal tonight at Memorial Stadium, and your boy E will be there to cheer his Trojans to victory.
For today’s tune, I’ve selected a song that I’ve noticed getting played on TV for various sporting events. It’s a pretty good pump up jam of sorts, and it’s been on my queue for about a month, so what better time than now to share with you. Today’s jam: Flipsyde – Someday. Fight on!
E’s song of the day
September 19, 2009
A couple more girl bands and then we’ll get back to my random ordering of music. It’s another dark Saturday morning (I’ve been up since 4am) and I’m feeling pretty tired. I should be better once the sun decides to come up (is it me, or is it staying dark later these days? Another month or so until the clocks change). Right now, I’m just struggling to keep myself up while I wait for things to pick up at work. We’ve got another exciting day of college football, so I’ll make a few predictions here (I’m 2-0 so far, hitting the SC-OSU game last weekend and the Miami – Ga. St. game on Thursday):
USC over Washington 42-17
Oregon St. over Cincy 34-24
Virginia Tech over Nebraska 27-20
Steve and I will get together this afternoon and give you our NFL picks for tomorrow’s games. And now, back to the music…
Today’s song comes from a group that was a bit of a one hit wonder, but I always really enjoyed this particular hit, and I’m pretty sure that back in the day my Dad’s former girlfriend knew one of the band members. At a time when there are still so many key cahnges that need to happen to improve the country (what’s the deal with health Care or the Economy?), this tune seems, once again, fitting. Today’s jam: 4 Non Blondes – What’s Up. Enjoy….
E’s song of the day
September 13, 2009
Another early morning on the grind means I’ll have the afternoon to catch some NFL action (I’m so glad it’s football season again). I may have mentioned this, but I am in 7 fantasy football leagues this year, so I have some small vested interest in every game (although, of course, it’s all about my RAIDERS on Monday Night Football tomorrow). As predicted yesterday, my Trojans got it done. The defense was its usual stingy self (particularly against the run) and true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley looked great late in the 4th with the game on the line. With that one out of the way we really just need to worry about handling Cal in Berkeley in a few weeks (that will be another great game). But enough of this idle chit-chat, time for a song. Continuing my theme of female musicians, it would be criminal to leave this classic rock songstress out of the mix. One of my favorites from a female rock legend. Today’s jam: Stevie Nicks – Edge of Seventeen. It’s unbelievable, but I couldn’t find a single video featuring the album version, so I went with a simple link to the song, instead of video. Enjoy….
E’s song of the day
September 12, 2009
As I said yesterday, I’m already up and at work (have been for an hour and a half), so I figured I’d get a jump on today’s tune while I have a little bit of downtime. It’s raining in the Bay, and there have been some pretty incredible displays of lightning on and off since I woke up at 4am. I’m hoping this isn’t a bad omen for the upcoming day of college football. My Trojans take on perhaps their toughest match-up of the year at Ohio State later this afternoon, and you know the Too Old Crew will be at the crib in full force enjoying the action in Hi-Def. I’ve selected a great song for you today from one of my favorite female hip-hop artists. This woman has an amazing way with worlds and some pretty dope beats to back them up. Hopefully this tune will help me get pumped for a Trojan victory out at the horse shoe. Today’s jam: Jean Grae – Keep Livin. Fight On….
