The College Sports Forum

I thought that doing this blog was good, because it kept me up with some current events.  I learned some cool things, but towards the end of the semester it became more of a hassle than anything.  Sometimes I would forget to blog, because I had so much other stuff going on.

Rumors started flying back in February about a game — or doubleheader — taking place in the shadows of the Green Monster. Boston College and Boston University appeared to be locked in to the event, which was seemingly set in stone.

But when this season’s schedule came out and the hockey fan’s fantasy was noticeably absent, it only confirmed that those previous reports were nothing more than rumors. The talks were indeed going on, but the process has proved painful.

“We’re continuing to look at possibilities,” said Chuck Steedman, vice president of Fenway’s enterprises and broadcast services, who leads the talks from the Red Sox’s side.

“There are a lot of moving parts. The majority of the complications are getting ice down on Fenway Park. The schools have been great. There are no issues there. It’s a matter of fitting the construction schedule within Fenway Park because of the offseason renovations.”

The game could still happen next winter, according to Steedman. BC coach Jerry York and BU coach Jack Parker are equally excited about playing a game at Fenway but have not heard anything since September.

I really haven’t heard a thing over the last three months,” York said. “I thought it was really close to getting done. I’m not sure how it’s all transpiring. I thought it was all set, and then nothing. I’m ecstatic about the possibility. Getting it done would be fabulous for us. All of a sudden, I haven’t heard a thing, so that’s not a great sign.”

I thought this was really cool idea.  It would be cool to see the whole conversion process form baseball to hockey.  I hope they can get this done.

At the beginning of this year, Florida State University added a class which could teach students about the history of the Seminole Indian tribe.  The Seminole history class that was launched this year partly in response to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s attempt to force Florida State to abandon its nickname and mascot, Chief Osceola.

Offering the course was one of several steps university and tribal officials had considered over the years to cement the Florida State-Seminole bond. They never did anything about it, though, until the NCAA last year deemed the nickname and mascot “hostile or abusive,” barring the university from using them when hosting championship events.

The NCAA withdrew its order after university President T.K. Wetherell threatened to sue and the Seminole Tribe of Florida reiterated its support for the school’s use of its name and symbols.

University administrators, jarred by the controversy, asked history department chairman Neil Jumonville to make the Seminole history course happen.

Jumonville and other faculty members met with three tribal representatives. The Seminoles urged that the class include discussion of other Southeastern tribes that predated theirs.

l think that the whole offensive nickname thing is a bit of a joke.  These teams do not have any intention of ruining the images of their mascots.  I think it’s kinda cool Florida State is showing its appreciation to the seminole, but I think it was probably just a ploy to get the NCAA off their back.   

Insisting there is no crisis in intercollegiate athletics, NCAA President Myles Brand nonetheless cautioned Monday that the rate of budget growth for athletic departments needs to be moderated before expenditures become unsustainable.

Brand, speaking at the National Press Club, announced the recommendations of a 50-member presidential task force that was assigned almost two years ago to survey the future of Division I athletics.

The panel recommended presidents and chancellors of individual schools make decisions affecting fiscal behavior for their athletic departments, saying a mandate imposed by the NCAA would not work and the association cannot dictate such terms because of antitrust considerations.

Hundreds of millions are spent annually on scholarships, coaching salaries, facility upgrades and day-to-day operations of sports programs, causing many athletic departments to dip into their schools’ general funds to cover such costs, Brand said. And he warned that the schools’ academic missions could be increasingly pressured.

He said research shows athletic spending in Division I outpaced spending on higher education by two to three times in the last several years. The task force recommended that schools’ spending information be made available to university presidents and chancellors so trends can be tracked.

The big business of college athletics has become a hot button issue over the past few weeks.  The athletic department budgets are not the only thing being evaluated; the NCAA was recently questioned about its tax exemption.  It will be interesting to see how the NCAA handles these two situations, but I don’t think the juggernaut of NCAA athletics can’t be stopped.

The men’s swim team from James Madison University stripped down to their Speedos in front of the Department of Education on Thursday in Washington, D.C., in a protest over Title IX regulations. 

James Madison will cut 10 teams — seven men’s, including swimming, and three women’s — effective July 1. At that time 61% of JMU’s athletes will be women, matching the proportion of women in the student body.

Leaders of the Women’s Sports Foundation and National Women’s Law Center held a teleconference after the protest to say JMU should have complied with Title IX by adding opportunities, not by cutting teams.

They said protesters who ask for Title IX reform are using the law as a scapegoat for cuts that are made for reasons other than Title IX.

Many of the athletes at the rally ran “5 miles for fairness,” three times around the Education Department, up the steps of the U.S. Capitol and back.

Members of JMU’s women’s swimming and track teams, which will be retained, attended the rally in support of the men’s teams that will be cut.

This is just an update on an earlier post.  I thought it was interesting to see how some of the current athletes acted towards the decision.

LSU athletic director Skip Bertman failed to report the $100,000 sale of his summer athletic camp to coach Smoke Laval, which could violate Southeastern Conference and NCAA guidelines.

An internal audit released Friday by the school found that Laval wrote two checks to Bertman: one for $38,500 in December 2002, and another for $61,500 in December 2003.

Although the deal was made before Laval was hired by LSU in July 2000, both Bertman and Laval told auditors the sale was not a condition for Laval’s hiring as baseball coach and the purchase price was not set until after Laval was on staff.

LSU hosts a number of youth camps in a variety of sports. The camps are independently operated by the head coaches of those sports and the coaches are specifically permitted to do so in their contracts. The university is paid for the use of facilities and services.

NCAA bylaws require coaches and others to disclose outside income and benefits. The audit recommends the university’s compliance office seek a ruling on whether the sale of camp-related assets must be reported.

LSU chancellor Sean O’Keefe said the university will discuss the transaction with the SEC and the NCAA to determine whether Bertman violated reporting requirements. Bertman contends the sale did not have to be reported “because it was a one-time transaction.”

I Just thought it was interesting to look at some financial stuff that NCAA coaches go through.  It’s pretty crazy that something as small as this could end up being a huge deal. 

In the wake of the Miami-FIU brawl, the NCAA says it would consider helping schools and conferences develop a standard policy to curb on-field violence. Restricting postgame celebrations, such as planting school flags on an opponent’s field, and how to deal with players who fight were some of the suggestions, Ron Stratten, the NCAA’s vice president of education services, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The NCAA still wants universities and conferences to determine appropriate sanctions for player misconduct, but last weekend’s brawl at the Orange Bowl has the NCAA willing to get more involved with schools and leagues.

The Miami brawl wasn’t the only one last weekend.

After Holy Cross beat Dartmouth 24-21 in overtime, Holy Cross players celebrated atop the Dartmouth “D” painted on the field. That caused fists to fly, and college and police officials have said some players could face punishments or arrests.

Those incidents follow another in the NFL, in which Tennessee defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth drew a five-game suspension for stomping on the face of Dallas center Andre Gurode.

In response to previous concerns, the NCAA has offered sportsmanship seminars at its annual convention, urged schools to adopt standards regarding fan behavior and provided leadership conferences for nearly 3,000 student-athletes.

I’m definatley not getting my hopes up on this one.  The NCAA has been promising they are going to step in on these types of things for years, and they never seem to do anything substanial.  I guess we will just see what happens.

James Madison University’s Board of Visitors voted Friday to drop 10 of its athletic teams in order to bring the school into compliance with Title IX.

The school will eliminate seven men’s varsity teams and three women’s varsity teams on July 1.  The school will have 18 teams after the plan is implemented.

Under the plan, total participation in athletics will move to 61 percent female and 39 percent male, which matches current student enrollment figures.

“The JMU athletics program is unusually large for a public university of our size,” said Joseph Damico, rector of the school’s Board of Visitors. “With so many teams, we faced an insurmountable challenge coming into compliance with Title IX.” (Espn.com).

The decision affects 144 student-athletes participating in the sports and three full-time and eight part-time coaches, the school said.The men’s teams being eliminated are archery, cross country, gymnastics, indoor track, outdoor track, swimming and wrestling. The women’s archery, fencing and gymnastics teams will be dropped.

Title IX strikes again.  I’m all for women getting equal oppurtunities in sports, but some of these situations are getting ridiculous.  What do you guys think?

Trial dates have been set for the spring and early summer for two former Montana State University athletes charged with kidnapping and killing a Bozeman man.  John Lebrum and Branden Miller, both 22, are charged in the June 23 shooting death of Jason Wright. 

District Judge Mike Salvagni scheduled Miller’s trial to begin April 3. Lebrum’s trial is set for July 10.  Court records show Miller told police that Lebrum drove off with Wright the night he was shot. Records of Lebrum’s interview with officers have not been released. 

With the trial dates set, the state crime lab is expected to analyze DNA evidence sooner, Lambert said.

Meanwhile, a hearing on whether the affidavit of probable cause in Lebrum’s arrest should be open to the public is to be held Oct. 26.

Lebrum was a redshirt football player at MSU. Miller played basketball until becoming academically ineligible in late 2005.

Just another crazy situation involving NCAA athletes.  Just thought you guys might wanna know.

Southern Cal formally complained that ABC-TV’s Brent Musberger revealed privileged information in his commentary during last Saturday’s game against Nebraska.

The complaint was sent to ESPN, which oversees sports programming on ABC, saying Musberger, with less than ten minutes to go in the game and the Trojans leading 21-10, began describing how John David Booty lets his recievers know he has spotted a certain kind of coverage.

The exact quote was:  “John David told us that his signal when he finds one-on-one and they’re coming, it’s that ‘hang loose; that familiar sign you’ve seen surfers use.”  USC considered the discussion private and background-only.

The information was learned by Musberger during pre-game interviews.  Musberger claims that USC was told that the information would be used during the game.  ESPN apologized and wrote the situation off as a misunderstanding.

I blame USC totally for this blunder.  They should know better than to tell the media anything.  If the media has something interesting, they are going to use it even if they said they wouldn’t.  Hopefully other teams will learn from this experience, and realize that you cannot tell the media anything that you want to keep secretive.