Big 10 Conf Says "Play For Pay!"

Maybe something good will actually come out of the the whole Ohio State fiasco as the Big 10 Conference said on Friday that, there is a possibility that the conference could pay athletes beyond their scholarship checks.
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany admits the conference has discussed cutting athletes a monthly check to help with their living expenses. This coming from a conference that is having a world of controversy dealing with the "Pristine" Coach Jim Tressel and the "Tattoo 5".
By paying players something you hope to curve the appetite for going to outside sources to get extra income. Delaney will like to some how bridge the gap between scholarship and needs to live in today's economy.

However, Detroit Free Press sports columnist Drew Sharp says players aren't taking money just to make ends meet.

"Athletes do no accept cash that they're not supposed to because they're trying to make ends meet. They're accepting the money because they feel they are entitled to this, because they have people telling them 24/7 you're being taken advantage of. You're basically a slave making all this cash for the man in the Big House there and you're getting nothing but crumbs," said Sharp.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/andrea_isom/should-big-ten-athletes-get-paid-question-mark-20110520-wpms

Whatever the outcome of this whole ordeal, I do believe college athletes do need to be paid more than their scholarship checks in some way or fashion. I had a brother who played at Nebraska and they pretty much paid for everything for him, food;travel gear; medical care;tuition and so on so forth. What they didn't pay for was his rent;food for the house;clothes to wear for everyday;rent and money just going out be a college kid.
It's a problem that will never be solved but it can be derailed in some sort of fashion.

Gus Johnson Leaves CBS

This is a sad day for all college basketball fans who love watching the NCAA tournament strictly to see a close, buzzer beating game called by the "Blackest" play-by-play man in the business. Gus Johnson is leaving old ass CBS for the fun loving Fox Sports.

The AP reports:


NEW YORK — Popular announcer Gus Johnson is joining Fox as its top college football play-by-play voice.

Johnson had worked for CBS since 1995. He called NFL games but was best known for the way his excitable style fit the NCAA Tournament.

Fox announced Tuesday that Johnson would team this season with analyst Charles Davis for Big 12, Conference USA and Pac-12 games on FX; a conference championship game; and the Cotton Bowl. Starting in 2012, they'll call games on Fox under its new deal with the Pac-12.

Johnson will work some Fox NFL games after the college football regular season is over. He'll continue to do college basketball for the Big Ten Network.

"I am beyond excited to join the FOX Sports family today," Johnson said in a statement. "Being able to call play-by-play for the nation's premier collegiate football conferences like the Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12 is a tremendous honor and I can't wait to get started! Is it August yet?"

Johnson calls giving up March Madness "a very difficult thing." A CBS source told the New York Daily News on Monday that some of the network's college basketball talent was unhappy with Johnson's rise in popularity.

Me being on the west coast will love this move more than anything, as I'm in Pac-12 territory, it would be nice to hear the future Keith Jackson. Anyone who has there own soundboaed is always going to be welcomed to my ears.

Episode 24: One Mo' 'Gin

This week the N.E.R.D.'s have the limits of their attention tested by college basketball. KGPE-TV's George Takata stops by to eulogize the Sacramento Kings. Robert Dobucki of HoopsJournal.com helps preview the NBA playoffs. And somewhere, several people are (sorta) having sex with Miley Cyrus right now.

Larry Brown Talks With UNLV About Coaching Vacancy

Larry Brown proves the phrase "once a coach, always a coach". The 70-year old Brown told SI.com that he contacted UNLV athletic director Jim Livengood about the vacancy left by Lon Kruger's move to Oklahoma.

It would seem that Brown's chances of getting the job are remote. Livengood finished up interviews with the four finalists on Thursday and could make a decision as soon as Sunday. BYU associate head coach Dave Rice and current Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach (and former Runnin' Rebel) Reggie Theus are considered to be the leading candidates. For what it's worth, Theus also has the blessing of former UNLV head coach Jerry Tarkanian.

Although with a coach of Brown's caliber now expressing interest, you wonder if it may force UNLV to take a second look. Brown is the only coach to win championships at both the NBA and NCAA levels, but he hasn't coached in college since winning the 1988 national championship at Kansas. Of course, his last gig was working for Michael Jordan as the head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats. That didn't work out so well and Brown would like to wash that taste out of his mouth before he calls it a career.

Whether he has the energy or the patience to help get college program back to the top remains to be seen, but at least he won't have any players giving press conferences about the validity of practice.

College Basketball Players Planned A Sit-In To Disrupt NCAA Tournament

Chances are if you remember the 1995 NCAA Tournament, you may flash back to Tyus Edney's buzzer-beating, length of the court run against Missouri. Or maybe the surprising upsets pulled by Old Dominion, Weber State and Manhattan. Or perhaps a freshman Toby Bailey helping to lead UCLA to another championship.

There's a very good chance you were unaware of how close we came to seeing none of that.

As part of a protest against the major revenues earned by universities and coaches and the lack of it flowing to athletes, former UMass basketball player Rigo Nunez told HBO's "Real Sports" that there were a number of top players around the country prepared to sit out the tournament.

"At one point it was pretty organized among players that maybe the biggest impact that we can have, and the biggest opportunities for us to have a stand, will be prior to the NCAA tournament," Nunez told correspondent Bernard Goldberg. 

"Well, how was that gonna happen?" Goldberg asked. 

"We were not gonna play," Nunez said. 

"What?" 

"We were just gonna go to the middle of the court and sit down. Every game, in the whole country." 

"Because you weren't getting paid?" Goldberg said. 

"Because it was not fair to us," Nunez replied.

One of the top players from that year's tournament - former UCLA star Ed O'Bannon - has been outspoken in his efforts to see college athletes compensated. O'Bannon, who recently spoke on a panel at Harvard Law School's Sports Law Symposium, has taken the lead in a class action suit against the NCAA. The suit alleges that the NCAA illegally uses the images of former student athletes for video content and memorabilia. A number of former athletes, including a pair from Texas Western's historic 1966 championship team have added their names to the lawsuit.

As schools and conferences look to earn even bigger dollars through strategic conference alignments and the formation of television networks, you wonder if an idea like this could ever gain traction again. Either way, I have a feeling the people at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis would just as soon this story not see the light of day and possibly provoke any ideas.

VCU Is Proud Of Wrecking Your Bracket

Chances are you are among the millions who ripped up their brackets in frustration after Virginia Commonwealth took down Kansas on their way to the Final Four.

(Not me. I flamed out long before that. Huzzah!)

Well, VCU understands. And they're doing everything they can to capitalize on your pain.

Check out what could be the best underdog T-shirt of all-time.

Props to the VCU marketing department who have been a step ahead throughout the tournament - from their very well designed athletic department website to the fantastic "Chalk Rocked" headline.

If the Rams can take down Butler to make it to the championship game or even - GASP! - win the whole thing, I look forward to whatever they'll come up with next.

Episode 22: Down In Flames

On another exciting episode of New Era Radio...the guys celebrate the black man surviving a sci-fi disaster flick! Marcas doesn't believe in the greatness of New York basketball and the guys give the award for BFF of the Millennium (here's a hint: Barry Bonds is accepting on his behalf).

Matt Hasselbeck's Kid's Bracket Is Better Than Yours

If the NFL lockout starts to drag on maybe Matt Hasselbeck can make money by getting tips from his son and heading to Vegas. Five-year old Henry Hasselbeck ranks in the top one percent of the 5.9 million NCAA Tournament brackets submitted on ESPN.com.

What's his secret?

He went through game-by-game with Dad, usually deciding the winners based on mascots. 

Spiders or Commodores? Henry went with the Spiders, explaining how he forecast Richmond's first-round upset. He liked Washington's Husky dogs over Georgia's Bulldogs in the first round.

Aah, the good ol' Animal Planet Strategy. So who does Master Henry have winning it all? The University of Florida...because he likes alligators. Considering the shape of my own brackets, who am I to argue with his logic?

Apparently the power of prognostication is strong among the Hasselbeck children. Henry's sister, Mallory is in the top three percent of all brackets. As for Dad...well, not so much. Matt's own entry ranks in the bottom half of all submitted.

Sean Miller Wows Johnny Carson

University of Arizona head basketball coach Sean Miller was a basketball wizard long before he took either the Wildcats or the Xavier Musketeers to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Flash back to 1983 when Johnny Carson was the undisputed king of late night television and a fresh-faced, 14-year old Miller appeared on The Tonight Show and yukked it up on the couch with Johnny and Ed McMahon before dazzling the audience with a pretty sick handle.

Kyle Fogg and Lamont Jones may want to make sure Miller's out of eligibility. Just sayin'.

Kevin O'Neill Reinstated as USC Head Coach

USC head basketball coach Kevin O'Neill lives to yell another day. Trojans athletic director Pat Haden issued a statement on Sunday morning announcing that O'Neill has been reinstated and will be allowed to coach the team in whatever postseason tournament they may be invited to.

"Coach O'Neill and I have talked numerous times these past few days. He has continued to express his regret and embarrassment over the incident that led to his suspension from any remaining games of the Pac-10 Conference Tournament. He understands that his inappropriate actions and resulting suspension from the tournament's semifinal game and potential championship game put his team in an extremely difficult position. Further, he understands that he let them down as their role model and leader. He has apologized to his team, as well as to me, our administration, our fans and the Pac-10.

The trouble started after USC's win over California on Thursday. According to PointGuardU.com O'Neill and his wife, Roberta, were at a downtown Los Angeles hotel bar when they encountered longtime Arizona booster Paul Weitman. Exactly what happened next is still unclear, but what is known is that the O'Neills and Weitman had some manner of confrontation before security asked the coach and his wife to leave.

Haden immediately suspended O'Neill for the remainder of the Pac-10 tournament. The Trojans challenged Arizona in the semifinals before eventually losing, 67-62. Whether their 19-14 record is good enough to get them an at-large bid remains to be seen. Some bracketologists have them among the "last 4 in" while others have them playing in the NIT.

The reinstatement squashes the rumors that surfaced Saturday that O'Neill may be fired. However Haden did say that further punishment - including a fine - are still forthcoming. Meanwhile, O'Neill will be on-hand with his team when they learn their postseason fate this afternoon.

Wife of USC Basketball Coach Slaps Arizona Fan

Just in case USC or Arizona fans needed another reason to be fired up about Friday night's Pac-10 tournament semifinal matchup, Trojans head coach Kevin O'Neill may have just given it to them.

According to PointGuardU.com, an apparently drunken O'Neill and his wife got into it with an Arizona fan at a LA hotel.

O'Neill reportedly threatened the fan that USC was going to “beat the hell out of Arizona.” Words were exchanged and our sources say that O'Neill's wife struck one of the Arizona fans. O'Neill and his wife were escorted out of the hotel, and Arizona fans were left wondering what just happened.

Since the alleged altercation, USC athletic director Pat Haden released a statement saying the school is looking into the incident.

It's unknown what might have started the fracas, but O'Neill and Wildcat fans don't have the greatest relationship. O'Neill was Arizona's head coach in 2007-08 in place of Lute Olson, who took a leave of absence. At the time, the university had announced that O'Neill would become the head coach when Olson retired and it appeared as though that moment had arrived. However Olson said he would return for the '08-09 season and reports began to surface of acrimony between the two coaches.

Eventually, O'Neill was let go, Olson abruptly retired and Russ Pennell was left to run the team on an interim basis. What exactly happened between Olson and O'Neill isn't fully known, but usually when you run up against a legend, you're going to lose in the court of public opinion. O'Neill is known to be a pretty fiery guy and if you add in a little liquor and some trash talking, it's easy to see how things can escalate.