Irish Blogger Gathering: The Fall of Troy

Living in Southern California as I do, Subway Domer is kind enough to let me be the host for this week's edition of the Irish Blogger Gathering. It's an exciting week here at OC Domer Headquarters. As I type this our daughter is on a plane flying home for Thanksgiving (and the ND v. USC game). She is bringing her roommate with her, and we are going to be seeing a lot of her OC and Notre Dame friends over the next several days. OC Headquarters is as clean and ship-shape as it has ever been, as Mrs. Domer has had us working overtime for weeks in preparation. But now that all the preparations are complete, we can turn our full attention to those heathens who call themselves the "Trojans." I don't think I can over-emphasize the importance of this game to all the Notre Dame alumni and fans here in Orange County. This is Trojan country, and this game is for a full year's worth of bragging rights. I don't know if you have a lot of interaction with USC's bandwagon fans where you live, but I can tell you that the last thing you want to give a Trojan is a year's worth of bragging rights. You might think that having a National Championship, a Heisman Trophy, and two years of bowl eligibility stripped from them by the NCAA would teach them a little humility. You would be wrong.

USC has had a nice little run lately against the Irish, having won eight in a row. It's almost enough to make you forget that the Irish owned USC for 13 years in a row from 1983 through 1995, or that Notre Dame leads the all-time series over USC 42-34-5.

Both of these teams are in transition. The Irish are beginning what they hope will be a long, successful run under new head coach Brian Kelly. USC said a tearful goodbye to Pete Carroll and is now led by Lane Kiffin. It hasn't been pretty for either team this season. USC of course got hammered by the NCAA, and they have lost four games to PAC-10 opponents so far, getting completely undressed by Oregon and Oregon State. The Irish have had troubles of their own, losing five games so far and having been whipped by Stanford and Navy. Yes, whipped by Navy. The Irish have not had any NCAA trouble, but they have been beset by a rash of injuries to key personnel and a tragic death within the program. The good news for Irish fans is that the team is playing its best football of the year behind freshman quarterback Tommy Rees and a defense that seems to have finally got its groove on with outstanding performances against Utah and Army in the last two games, whereas USC is coming off a beat-down at Corvallis and may have lost their starting quarterback to a high ankle sprain.

Which brings us to this week's IBG questions:

1. Notre Dame played perhaps its best game of the year in a win over the Utah Utes two weeks ago. Utah remains ranked at #23 in the Associated Press poll. Notre Dame likewise took Michigan State (AP #11) to overtime before losing on a fake field goal. Therefore the Irish should have no trouble with this unranked Trojan squad. Agree or disagree? Show your work.

Disagree. USC is unranked, but perhaps unfairly. Yes, Oregon and Oregon State whipped them pretty good. But those are two great teams (#1 and #22 in the Sagarin ratings). But USC has also beaten California, Arizona, and Arizona State (#27, #17, and #29 in Sagarin). They lost to Stanford (Sagarin #2) by just two points. You might recall that Stanford beat the Irish by 23.

Although the Irish win over a ranked Utah team was nice, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Irish themselves are unranked in the major polls and Sagarin has them at #37 versus USC's #19.

But, a lot of that is history. Notre Dame is playing its best football of the year. The defense in particular appears to have had an enormous light bulb turn on over its collective head. The challenge for the Irish this week will be to take its high level of play into the Coliseum against a team with athleticism which is a significant cut above that of Utah and Army. The Irish defense was clearly faster, stronger, more athletic than the skill players of Utah and Army. How will they match up against the 4- and 5-star players of USC, even if they are playing with the same focus and discipline? The Notre Dame defensive line dominated the past two games. Can they dominate the USC offensive front?

Notre Dame's backups - at QB, receiver, tight end, running back - were able to outplay the starters for Utah and Army. Can our backups outplay USC's starters?

I think it will be a close game. Our spread O against a USC defense that has been out of sorts this year. USC's dynamic offense against an improving D that has been gashed at times. It may well come down to whether Matt Barkley is able to play. If we can put the Trojans in the same position we are of playing back-up QB, I like our chances. Our back-up quarterback is better than your back-up quarterback!

Bottom line: I like the momentum and mental toughness of the Irish. USC is feeling a bit besieged right now. The streak ends Saturday, as the Irish beat the Trojans 27-24.


2. It is almost time for the OC Domer Player of the Year to be named. This award is intended to recognize the Notre Dame football player or players who played the best when it mattered the most. Suffice it to say that the primary criterion is a consistently high level of play, with significant bonus points awarded for exceeding expectations. Injuries have taken many of the pre-season favorites for this prestigious award out of the running. Who is your nominee for this award, and why?

Well, there is still a chance for a star to emerge against USC and take the prize. And I am very interested to see who the other bloggers nominate. But the obvious candidates for me are Manti Te'o, Chris Stewart, and Tommy Rees. Manti has been a tackling machine and is a rising superstar at the national level. Chris Stewart is just an amazing story of character and perseverance. And freshman back-up Tommy Rees has been remarkable off the bench so far.


3. With a delicate flavor similar to beef, though slightly sweeter than other meats, horse meat can be used to replace beef, pork, mutton, and any other meat in virtually any recipe, though most aficionados prefer it in marinated or spicy dishes. Nutritionally, horse meat has around 40 percent fewer calories than the leanest beef, while supplying 50 percent more protein and as much as 30 percent more iron; and horse fat is considered an excellent health-conscious deep-frying alternative, especially for delicately-flavored foods that are easily overpowered by heavier oils. What is your favorite horse meat recipe?

Filet Mignon

This simple French classic serves 4.

4 four-ounce filets of horse
4 slices bacon
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare exactly as for a filet mignon. Wrap outside of filet with uncooked bacon slice and secure with toothpicks. Broil to taste.

4. Do you miss Pat Haden, who left the Notre Dame television broadcasts to become athletic director at USC?

Absolutely not! It was always a little weird that Notre Dame had a USC guy on its T.V. broadcasts, although I always thought Haden did a good job. But I have been blown away by his replacement in the booth, Mike Mayock. Mayock is outstanding in analyzing the X's and O's, as well as in relating his stories and his impressions of the student-athletes involved in the games.

As an aside, I think Haden was an excellent hire to replace Mike Garrett as USC's A.D.

5. USC is the Notre Dame rival I love to hate. What Notre Dame rival do you most despise, and why?

As noted above, USC is villain #1 in the OC Domer household. It started with watching Anthony Davis and that damn horse gallop all over the field against Notre Dame. Living amongst the Trojan faithful the past several years hasn't helped things. The contrast between flashy, west coast, Hollywood USC and wholesome midwestern values Notre Dame is just so stark for me. It's a clash between two different cultures.

6. Reggie Bush got a car, his parents a house. Cam Newton's Dad was looking for $180,000 in straight cash homey. Can Notre Dame compete for athletic recruits in this environment? Or do you believe these incidents are the exceptions to an otherwise clean recruiting landscape?

I think this type of stuff happens more than I would really care to admit to myself. But I still think there are enough kids of good character who are going to college for the right reasons that the Irish can field a strong football team. I do think, however, that in some parts of the country (cough *SEC* cough) the motto is still "If you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'." That's why the sanctions against USC and a strong NCAA response to the Cam Newton situation is so important.

As the other members of the IBG post their responses I will put links to those posts below.

The Domer Law Blog post is here.

We Never Graduate chimes in with some Gary Gray love and USC Hate.

Subway Domer goes on the record, in his own inimitable style.

Frank V. of UHND.com has some love for the Irish secondary.


Go Irish! Beat Trojans!

Lack of Institutional Control

The NCAA has finally spoken on the Reggie Bush & O.J. Mayo investigation. In sum, the committee was wholly unimpressed with the NCAA rules compliance efforts of the University of Southern California and actually dropped the "lack of institutional control" hammer on them.

Here is the NCAA's release which summarizes their findings.

Here is the full 67-page report.

I have now read the entire report. Good stuff. Reggie Bush's parents lived in a house provided by wanna-be sports agents rent-free for a year. Reggie got a nice Chevy Impala, with very expensive rims, stereo, and alarm system, from the same wanna-be agents. Reggie and his folks and some of his friends received various benefits of cash, airline tickets, hotel rooms, and limo service from the same wanna-be agents. Then Reggie and his family stabbed the first group of wanna-be agents in the back and started getting benefits, including a paid "internship" and some travel benefits from a second group of wanna-be agents. This really annoyed the first group of wanna be agents, who then enlisted a USC assistant coach (apparently running backs coach Todd McNair) to pressure Reggie into living up to the deal he made with the first group of agents. The assistant coach denies this ever happened and the NCAA flat-out calls him a liar.

O.J. Mayo (and some of his boys) received cash, a 42-inch flat screen T.V., travel, clothes, shoes, meals and other stuff from some scummy "marketers" who acted as go-between essentially representing O.J. in the recruiting process.

In both cases, what got USC in hot water with the committee was its utter lack of curiosity when confronted with serious clues that NCAA rules were being broken. Time and time again representatives of USC (football coaches and basketball coaches mostly) had information that would have led any reasonable person to conclude that something fishy was going on, and in every instance they chose to essentially ignore the information rather than engaging in prudent follow-up to determine whether there was a problem the University needed to address. The NCAA notes that for most of the period in question the compliance "staff" for the entire University was two people, and that at one point the compliance staff was just a single person. Given the high-profile nature of the USC athletic program and the athletes it recruits, the NCAA strongly felt that USC needed to allocate significantly more resources to its compliance efforts.

To me, the biggest message the NCAA is sending with this report is that the "ostrich" approach to potential NCAA violations by member institutions is not sufficient to shield them from responsibility. Sticking one's head in the sand when the evidence of corruption is swirling around you, so that you can later claim you didn't know anything about it, is no longer an option. I'm looking at you, Pete.

The NCAA was also disturbed by the environment and the atmosphere surrounding the football program and football players at USC. This led to one of the more interesting sanctions imposed: The ban on non-university personnel traveling with the team or being at practices, on the sidelines, or in the locker rooms before, during, or after games. College football's version of the Showtime Lakers just got canceled. Sorry Will Ferrell and Snoop Dogg.

As for the sanctions themselves, I don't think anybody will seriously argue that USC got a slap on the wrist. They are labeled a repeat-offender and the committee states that the decision on whether or not to impose a total T.V. ban was a close one. As it is, the Trojans can only award up to 15 new football scholarships (and carry no more than 75 total) for the next three seasons. They are banned from post-season play for two years. All wins in which Reggie Bush played from December 2004 through the 2005 season are vacated. This means that USC had a combined record of zero wins (all 12 wins are vacated) and one loss (The BCS title game loss versus Texas still stands) for the 2005 season. Unfortunately, USC's loss is not Notre Dame's gain, as a vacated win is not the same as a forfeit. The Irish still record the loss, although I would advocate for a giant asterisk next to the "Bush Push" game in the N.D. media guide. Those are the most significant of the twenty-five different sanctions imposed.

No word yet, as far as I know, regarding the BCS Championship USC won in January of 2005 in the Orange Bowl over Oklahoma. If Reggie played in that game, it stands to reason it would have to be vacated unless the BCS is not bound by the NCAA ruling. Also still waiting to hear from the New York Downtown Athletic Club.

Basketball got hammered as well, and even women's tennis took a hit. Cheating in football and basketball is one thing. But cheating in women's tennis is simply depraved.

It's really, really tempting to gloat. I'll admit I have gloated a little, mostly privately. But to me the big picture here is that the NCAA did something very important today. They took a stand for the integrity of college athletics, and they severely disciplined one of the geese that lays the golden eggs in college football. A cynic might say that they cut off their nose to spite their face. I am instead reminded of the biblical passage:

And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.

What does all this mean for Notre Dame? Well, we get to put an asterisk in the media guide, as noted above. We'll get a bit of a recruiting edge against USC for a few years because they won't be able to offer as many scholarships, and the taint of this scandal will hamper them for a while with some prospects. The bowl ban and the scholarship limits will likely hurt USC's on-field performance for a while, which should give the Irish a chance to restore the proper balance to the USC-ND series. Life for a Notre Dame alumnus in Orange County will be a little more pleasant as hopefully today's report will help to tone down the arrogance level of the many USC alumni and bandwagon fans in the O.C.

But I can't help but wonder what Charlie Weis thinks of all this? Notre Dame ended the 2005 regular season at 9-2, the only blemishes on their record an overtime loss to Michigan State (epic comeback from a 21-point deficit) and the "Bush Push" loss to USC. What would have happened if Reggie Bush, who has today been ruled ineligible for that entire season, didn't play that day? He ran for 160 yards and three touchdowns in that game. If USC hadn't played an ineligible player, the Irish probably defeat USC, ending their 27-game winning streak in what would have been one of the biggest wins in Notre Dame football history. The Irish end the regular season at 10-1. Would they have played in the BCS Championship game?

The rap against Charlie was that he never got that "signature win." A win against USC in 2005 would certainly have qualified. Nobody would have questioned his contract extension. Team confidence would have soared. Recruiting would have been even better. Maybe even good enough to prevent, or at least moderate, the disaster we saw on the field in 2007. Things might have been a lot different for Coach Weis. I think I'll probably drink a cold one for Charlie tonight.

Interesting side note: Do you remember Missy Conboy? Missy Conboy is the Deputy AD at Notre Dame and actually served as interim Athletics Director before Jack Swarbrick was hired. Well, it turns out that Ms. Conboy is also a member of the NCAA Committee on Infractions and is a signatory on today's report. I'd love to buy her a drink or two and just get her talking. I'm sure it would be very entertaining.

Quick Hits, Pearl Harbor Edition

Things have been busy at OC Domer HQ and I just haven't been able to write all the posts I have wanted to write lately. So here are my thoughts on recent developments in condensed Readers Digest format:

1. Coaching Search. Well, what do you know? Brian Kelly will be meeting with Jack Swarbrick on Tuesday to discuss ... well, you know. All as foretold by OC Domer.

2. Pete Carroll's Girlfriend. Do I really care if Pete "Always Compete" Carroll is (or was) living with a USC grad student in Malibu? Hell yes I care. I'm not particularly proud of it, but I do care. I'm sure the Los Angeles media is all over this story and we'll get all the juicy details real soon. With pictures. (Won't they?) I want to see if Pete is hitting a higher class of "mistress" than Tiger Woods is. But you will note that in his profuse apologies about allowing an off-the-record comment to get into print that Charlie never quite says that the underlying facts about Pete and the grad student aren't true. Hmmm. Seems very unlike Charlie to let something like that slip without any basis.

3. Tiger Woods' Mistresses. Latest count is up to nine. At what point do we get real and stop calling all these tramps "mistresses"? And don't you love how all these "hostesses" are shocked and hurt by Tiger's infidelity? "I thought I was the only hooker gold digger in his life." Hilarious. What's not hilarious is that Tiger has hurt his wife Elin, who deserved better from him. I hope a few hundred million dollars will ease her pain.

4. Jimmy & Golden. Going pro. Not a surprise. I would love to see them play at Notre Dame for another year, but they'd be crazy to. Good luck to both guys as they move the show to Sundays. I hope they each make a big pile of cash and have long, glorious NFL careers. Thanks to both of them for giving all of us everything they had for three years. I hope they find the time somewhere down the road to complete their degrees and graduate from ND.

5. Charlie to Da Bears? Rumors have the Chicago Bears as a potential landing spot for Coach Weis next season, likely as offensive coordinator. Makes great sense. I would expect that CW will try to find a position as close to South Bend as possible to remain close to the Hannah & Friends facility that means so much to him.

6. Still Recruiting. Thanks to Coach Weis and all his assistants for being completely classy and professional and working to keep all the 2010 verbal commits in the fold.

7. Bowling. I agree with the decision not to accept any bowl invitations this year. Notre Dame has a long history of declining bowl invitations. During decades when we were THE elite program in the country we won National Championships without bowl games. We have frequently declined to go bowling when the team had a sub-par season or when the invitation wasn't from a prestigious bowl. There is no reason to humiliate ourselves by playing a bowl game in Detroit against some MAC opponent. In the current context there is no real upside. More weeks practicing the system of the just-fired coach? And who is calling the plays? And how motivated are our soon-to-be millionaire offensive leaders? And what would a win get us? Have some pride and play in a bowl again when you've actually earned it and when the game would mean something.

8. OC Domer Owns Subway Domer's 2009 Pick 'em Contest. Subway Domer once again hosted a weekly Pick 'em contest for this season. Players had to pick winners for about a dozen college games each week, straight up. Bonus points for correctly picking upsets. More bonus points for picking upsets in Top 25 games. After a very slow start to the season I went on a very nice run and finished 2009 as co-champion. Final results are here. My team is "Holy Cross." Thanks to Subway for putting on the contest again this season. I really do enjoy putting my picks together each week. It makes Saturdays more interesting without costing me a wad of cash.

Update On Michigan Cheating Allegations

Back in September the news broke about University of Michigan football players alleging that their own program was routinely violating NCAA rules by practicing and engaging in other football-related activities for hours well in excess of the daily and weekly limits set by NCAA rules.

Many poo-pooed the allegations, basically saying that if the Michigan players wanted to be a big-time football program, they should man up and stop whining.

I wrote that I thought the allegations were serious and indicated a lack of integrity in the Michigan program that was harmful to college athletics.

New information is now out which provides an important update on the allegations. There has been a thorough investigation of Coach Rich Rodriguez's program, and he has been cleared of all wrongdoing.

Just kidding!

Actually, both the University and the NCAA continue their investigations, and the latest news is that Coach Rodriguez and the football program failed to file, for the entire 2008-2009 school year, the monthly forms required by the school compliance office that track the hours put in by its players. Isn't that an odd coincidence?

The football program, it turns out, is the only sport at Michigan that failed to turn in the required forms. This certainly makes Coach Rodriguez look bad, but it doesn't say much about U of M's "institutional control" of the football program that nobody in the compliance office bothered to ask for the forms for a whole year either.

In possibly related news, ESPN's Michael Wilbon is reporting that Rich Rodriguez will not be back as the Wolverines' coach next year.

Michigan's Cheating Scandal Is Serious

The big news in college football the past couple of days has been the report that Coach Rich Rodriguez and the University of Michigan football program have been systematically cheating by mandating that players participate in football activities for hours well in excess of the daily and weekly limits set by NCAA rules. It has been surprising to me that much of the early spin from the talking heads at places like ESPN has largely been of the "If you're not cheating, you're not trying" variety. Commentators are basically accusing the former and current Michigan football players of whining about the hard work required to play Division I football, even at a lesser program like Michigan's. (Cheap shot. Sorry. Not.)

Here, very quickly, is why I think the current scandal at UM ought to be taken very seriously.

1. It's an integrity issue. As an NCAA institution, Michigan has agreed to abide by a certain set of rules. If they knowingly and consistently break those rules they are cheaters, and it is fair to call their integrity into question. If I were a UM official, employee, alumnus or student, I would probably not want my University's integrity ridiculed. This doesn't appear to be an isolated incident either, as Dick Rod's integrity has been questioned since the day he left West Virginia for Michigan (and tried to renege on his contract buyout clause at WVU).

2. Competitive balance. There's a group of football players at Western Michigan University who are getting ready to play the Wolverines this Saturday. The Broncos already have to contend with playing against a team full of superior athletes. Now they have to contend with playing a team full of superior athletes that is breaking the rules to gain an unfair competitive advantage. That sucks for WMU, and it isn't fair to any team on Michigan's schedule (including Notre Dame). Do you remember how OUTRAGEOUS steroid use was in baseball, because it created an unfair competitive advantage? How OUTRAGEOUS the New England Patriots' filming from the sidelines was because it created an unfair competitive advantage? Consistently getting more hours of supervised workouts or mandatory training or coaching sessions in each week is an unfair advantage every bit as serious as either of those situations.

3. These are STUDENT athletes. At least they are supposed to be. Michigan has already been identified as one of the football factories that steers its players (mostly its black players) into worthless academic majors, and then fails to graduate them. They are already under criticism for sacrificing the education of their student athletes on the altar of football, so you would think that UM administrators would be paying a little more attention to the academic progress of their student athletes. Even at a school like Michigan, only a handful of players will ever play football professionally. The vast majority of student athletes will need to find another way to make a living, and they SHOULD be able to fall back on a Michigan education. I have no doubt that Dick Rod and his assistant coaches go into the homes of their targeted high school recruits and sell the academic excellence of the University of Michigan. No doubt they promise these kids' moms & dads that their son will get a world class education at U of M. But if the football coaches are placing unreasonable and illegal demands on the students' time, it is clear that the coach and the University do not consider actual education to be a high priority. Which is a moral problem as well as an integrity problem.

If these allegations about Coach Rodriguez and U of M prove to be true, I hope Dick Rod is humiliated and unceremoniously fired. Cheating should not be tolerated. Cheating that deprives student athletes of the opportunity to actually get the world class education they have been promised should be punished.

Baseball Holds the Key to Fixing College Basketball

In retrospect it seems obvious that no good would come from a high-profile athlete named "O.J." enrolling at the University of Southern California. And I use the term "enroll" very loosely. This time the USC scandal is centered on basketball player O.J. Mayo, the "freshman" sensation who has recently made himself available for the upcoming NBA draft. Again, I use the term "freshman" loosely since that term has a meaning generally associated with being an actual student pursuing an academic degree at a university, as opposed to being a basketball mercenary who is being paid to wear a particular college's uniform during his audition for the NBA.

I'm sure nobody was more surprised that shady sports agents might be funneling improper benefits to star athletes at USC than basketball coach Tim Floyd - except for maybe USC Head Football Coach Pete Carroll. The O.J. Mayo experience stunk from the start, and USC deserves to get the full court press from the NCAA over this. But USC is not the only entity deserving of blame. A system that allows these young players to accept a "scholarship" to a "university" to play basketball, and then walk away from their school, their coach, and their teammates after just one season of play (and about one semester of classes) is obviously flawed.

One of the things that makes me most proud to be an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame is that ND has always taken the concept of the student-athlete seriously. Student-athletes at Notre Dame live in regular dorms with "regular" students, they dine in the same dining halls as the rest of the student body, they attend the same classes as other students, they earn good grades, and they graduate with an honest-to-goodness degree from one of the best colleges in the nation. Those things are very important to me, and I think they are consistent with the highest ideals of the NCAA. I have always been bothered by those schools who place athletic (and financial) success ahead of education. By permitting (encouraging) their athletes to enroll in patty-cake courses, and then setting the bar of expected academic performance low enough, these institutions do a great disservice to their students, most of whom will need to find "real jobs" eventually. It also compromises the overall academic integrity of the institution itself, and cheapens the value of its diplomas. Tangentially, it's also unfair to the real student-athletes at other schools who have to compete on the playing field against these semi-professionals.

The current system in college basketball makes a mockery of the concept of the student athlete. Athletes whose only intent in accepting a scholarship is to use it as a springboard to the pros at the first opportunity deprive college athletics of what's left of its purity. What makes college sports great (at least to me) is all the students in the stands (and alumni across the country) cheering on their fellow STUDENTS. One of them. Not random guys off the street who are just wearing the colors for a while, but guys they know from the dorms, and from class, who are struggling to graduate. I know, big-time college sports aren't "pure." The money and pressure to win at any cost has worked to corrupt the revenue sports to a significant degree. But I think the ideal of the student-athlete lives on and we need to do what we can to preserve and nurture it. And I think that has to start with college hoops.

I was just looking at recent projections for the upcoming NBA draft. No, I don't know why I was doing that, since I have plenty of other ways I should be spending my time. But I digress. According to projections, the Top 5 picks in the NBA draft could well be 4 college freshman and 1 college sophomore. The Top 10 would be 7 freshman, 2 foreign players, and 1 sophomore. The Top 20 projects as 9 freshman, 7 sophomores, 2 foreign players, 1 junior and 1 senior. If the projections are correct, 18 college players would be drafted in the first 20 picks, only ONE of whom would have completed four years of college and thus have a reasonable chance of having earned a college degree. That's absurd. If you want to play pro basketball - then by all means please go play pro basketball. But don't go to a university and waste everyone's time with the charade that you are a "student" there.

Baseball has it right, and the NBA should adopt the Major League Baseball model as its own. Under the rules of the MLB draft, players are eligible for the draft coming out of high school. If they sign a contract with a team, then they play pro baseball. If they don't sign a contract (either because they didn't get drafted, or didn't get drafted high enough, or couldn't reach terms with a team), then they can choose to go to college. If they enroll at a junior college, they can go back into the draft the following year. But, if they enroll at a 4-year school, they are not eligible to be in the draft again until they complete their third or fourth year of school, or reach 21 years of age. This system has worked very well for players, colleges, and Major League Baseball. Kids who are extremely talented coming out of high school, or who just aren't interested in more education, can go pro right away. Those that need more development, or who value an education, can decide instead to go to college. Colleges and universities who place a player on athletic scholarship know that they are getting a student who is at least somewhat committed to education and who will be there (on the field and in the classroom) for at least three years. Win-win-win.

The flaw in this plan of course is that, unlike Major League Baseball, the NBA doesn't currently have an extensive farm system in which to incubate developing players that they have under contract. But that can be fixed. The NBA Developmental League can be expanded. The NBA could buy the Continental Basketball Association for a song and use it for player development. The NBA could adopt a junior college rule similar to MLB, so that players not intent on earning a degree can at least take a few general educational courses at a JC while playing and waiting to be drafted. If viable paths to the NBA other than through the NCAA are available after high school, then college basketball can regain some of its integrity and allure. We can return to cheering for students who play basketball for their schools, rather than basketball players who merely wear the uniform of a school while waiting around for a better offer.

For a good time, call Eva Bright ...

I don't even know what to make of this story. It appears that famous Notre Dame altar boy George Gipp did NOT father a child out of wedlock in the months prior to his tragic death, disproving the slanderous gossip of generations of Notre Dame haters who have claimed that the Gipper led a dissolute lifestyle. It appears instead that Eva Bright, the Gipper's former girlfriend, two-timed on our intrepid hero and then spread the scandalous allegation that Gipp was the father of her child. Will Eva Bright's REAL baby-daddy please step forward?

Let this be a lesson to Notre Dame men everywhere: Stick with the St. Mary's girls!

Stealing Signals is Cheating. Who Knew?

There has been an abundance of outrage over the airwaves and in print about the latest scandal to rock the National Football League. Are you ready for this? Are you sitting down?

It turns out that the New England Patriots may have been video-taping opposing coaches' hand signals to their defenses in an effort to "steal" those signals.

Shocking, I know.

Apparently there is an NFL rule which prohibits teams from video-taping an opponent's sideline, whether from their own sideline or from the coaches boxes atop the stadium. Fair enough - if the Patriots broke a league rule, they should be punished.

But I have a more basic question. When did "stealing" hand signals become cheating? I feel like I'm missing something important.

When I played football in high school we always had a scouting report on the other team. Some reports were better than others. Sometimes it was just basic offensive and defensive sets, their favorite plays, trick plays to watch for, and so forth. Sometimes the scouting report was more detailed, and would include strong tendencies in certain down-and-distance situations. Sometimes we knew that if the opponent lined up in a certain formation they were going to run either of two plays (they were that predictable). We might know that if they put number 89 in at TE, they were going to throw to him for sure. Once, we knew that our opponent's "hot color" for audibles was always "red," and that if they audibled using the hot color, what play they liked to audible to.

When we had really good scouting reports, we certainly played better. Were we cheating? Is knowing an opponent's tendencies or habits cheating?

It used to be that players on the field called the plays. The quarterback called the offensive plays in the huddle. The offense always huddled five yards off the ball so the defense couldn't hear. What if the defense did hear? Was that cheating? Or was that being careless calling your plays? Eventually coaches decided they wanted to call plays instead of the QB, so they would send a player to the huddle with the play from the sideline. But that takes time, and restricts your flexibility with personnel. So they turned to signals.

I'm going to pose a series of hypothetical scenarios, and you tell me when the cheating occurs:

1. The coach yells from his sideline to his defense on the field "Two deep zone, blitz the strong side!" The offensive players hear the shouting and change their play.
2. The coach yells the same thing from the sideline to his defense on the field, but does so in Spanish instead of English. The wide receiver on that side of the offensive formation understands Spanish and tells the QB what's going on, so he calls an audible.
3. The coach has a white board and he writes on it in big letters "Two Deep Zone, blitz the strong side" and holds it over his head so his players on the field can read it. The opposing coach standing on his own sideline reads the white board and calls his play accordingly.
4. Same scenario as 3, but the coach writes on the board "2D, BS." The opposing coach cracks the code and figures out that "2D" is two deep and "BS" is blitz strong, and makes his play call accordingly.
5. Same scenario as 4, except the coach writes on the board "Bronco, Kangaroo." The opposing coach doesn't crack the code during the game, but other coaches scouting the game from the stands are taking notes of the white board messages and the corresponding defenses being run. The following week that coach prepares his team to play based upon what he has learned about his opponent's code system.
6. Same scenario as 5, except that instead of a white board and code words, the coach signals his team with a series of odd hand signals. Scouts in the stands take note of the signals and later, while watching game film, are able to figure out that when the opposing coach uses a slashing "Z" signal, the team runs an all-out blitz.
7. Same scenario as 6, except instead of the scouts just taking notes, they actually have a mini-cam with them and record the signals for use later when studying the game film.
   

Apparently, the NFL has decided that scenario 7 is illegal under league rules. In my mind though, scenario 7 is not substantively different than the other scenarios. It's more sophisticated, but not substantively different. If a team is using a means of communicating play calls to its players that can be readily seen or heard by the opponent on the field or on the opposing sideline, then the opponent is entitled to try to break the code. It's up to the team using codes or signals to find a system that is secure. Like letting the linebacker call the play in the huddle. Or shuttling in the plays. Or using a wrist band with numbers that change every week (or even every half).

Now, it's different if a team has installed a wiretap on the headsets used by opposing coaches. Or if they're using sophisticated eavesdropping equipment to overhear conversations on an opponent's bench. Or if they have a stolen copy of the other team's playbook, including that week's hand signals appendix. That's cheating.

The use of hand signals is an attempt to gain a competitive edge. It allows the defensive play to be called from the sideline by a coach, rather than by a less knowledgeable player, after seeing what personnel group the offense is deploying and without the need to substitute personnel. But if a team is sending hand signals that everyone in the stadium can see, the opponent is entitled to try to figure out the hand signal code in an effort to offset that competitive edge.

At least that's how I see it. To me, it just seems obvious. Which explains my confusion about the current "scandal" and the accompanying outrage. Of course, most media "outrage" is faked, but am I missing something here?