The College Sports Forum

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.       

A former football player for Kansas University has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA because he wants a pregnancy waiver.

Eric Butler has been declared ineligible to play football this year because of the organizations “5 year rule” which states that athletes have 5 years to participate in four years of sport. Butler says that it’s unfair that the NCAA grants 5 years of eligibility to pregnant female athletes but not to male athletes who father children. Butler took a year off after the birth of his daughter in 2001, and argues that he is just as qualified for that extra year of eligibility.

I’m on the fence with this topic.  I don’t feel like Butler needed to take a full year off, but Title IX calls for gender equity between males and females.  So, I don’t see any reason why Butler should not be granted the extra year of eligibility.  If he is granted the extra year, It would be a breakthrough and would establish a tricky precedent. 

Butler’s case took two big hits last month: 

First, the NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee denied the final appeal by the University to give the defensive lineman an extra year of eligibility.

Later, a judge in the U.S. District Court refused to award Butler an injunction that would allow him to continue practicing with the team while a pending lawsuit is resolved, according to officials in the Kansas Athletics Department.

It seems even if Butler wins the suit he won’t be able to suit up this year.  I thought this case was very interesting, and I think we wil start to see more and more males trying to gain advantages through Title IX.

I know that my blog is supposed to be about college athletics, but today’s lecture had me thinking about the NFL and the worth of franchises.

The New England Patriots are currently worth the second most money behind just the Washington Redskins.  Each and every year, it seems like the Patriots let a key player or players go, but they still maintain dominant in their division and conference.

Over the past couple of years, it’s been Lawyer Malloy, and Ty Law.  However, this year they let Adam Vinatieri and Willie McGinest go, and Deion Branch is in the midst of a nasty holdout that has the looks of lasting atleast halfway through the season.  Is this the year that the Patriots have let too much go?  We will have to wait for the season to answer that question, but I feel like they gave up a little too much this season. 

Vinatieri is, without a doubt, the most clutch kicker in the history of the NFL.  I mean he was the deciding factor in all three of the patriots super bowl wins.  McGinest is a proven veteran who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and always made the big play when the Pats needed it.  Finally, Branch won the Super Bowl MVP in Super Bowl 39 against the Eagles.  With all the money that the Patriots are bringing in, you figure that they could splurge a little and pay their big time players what they are worth.  I just think this year the Pats front office cockiness will work against them, and they will not be successful as years past.