Criminals & Sport...

In a recent study that you can read at cnnsi.com, it appears that US Colleges are recruiting primarily on skill with little emphasis on the character/history of the recruits. The roster of the Top 25 Men's Football teams at the start of last year, included a staggering 204 athletes who had been charged with criminal offences. In addition, there was only ONE team without a player who has been in trouble with the law in the past! While I know that talent is important when trying to establish a competitive program because NCAA programs can and do make a lot of money. From berths in bowl games to merchandise sales, many NCAA programs make millions of dollars in revenue a year. However, do you not also want to maintain a program which is respectable in terms of the development of not only athletes but also young men who will go on to become contributing members of society??? These young men are not only representing themselves and their respective team, they are also representatives of the University. I guess some Universities are fine with having criminals represent them on the battlefield as long as they keep on winning. That is in my mind, a little sad.



There are however, exceptions, in particular BYU or Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. The Cougars as they are called have always put forth competitive football teams and this year's Men's Basketball team has been in or around the Top 10 for most of the year. Despite their performance to this point, they still dismissed forward Brandon Davies earlier this week for the remainder of the season. Davies, a native of Provo, was a starter and averaged in doule digits to this point in the year. His importance to the team can be seen by the fact that ranked as the sixth team in the nation, the Cougars got it hung on them last night at home to New Mexico, a team out of the Top 25 and traditionally not a powerhouse. Why was Davies dismissed you ask??? He confessed to engaging in pre - marital sex, a violation of BYU's Code of Honor. While this might seem unreasonable, at least BYU can look at themselves in the mirror knowing that the image of their University is more important than wins and losses.



And sticking with criminals, how far has Micheal Vick come in two years??? From a year and a half in jail for his role in a dog - fighting ring to yesterday signing a franchise tag with the Philadelphia Eagles that will see him earn $16 million next year (so long as the season takes place). To this point Vick has worked hard at rebuilding his reputation and career. I can only hope that he never lets him fall into a position like that of a few years ago when this whole mess started.



So you want to coach a professional basketball team do ya? Ask John Kuester of the Detroit Pistons how much fun that can be. In recent weeks several of his players, including some of his better talent like Ben Wallace, Tracy McGrady and Richard Hamilton have intentionally skipped a morning shoot around, and then were caught laughing later that night when Kuester was kicked out a game for recieving his second technical foul. Kuester appeared to be particularly snarly that night and I can't blame him when he is signed to coach grown men who are acting like children. You guys are making how much money to play a game??? Perhaps events like this explain why McGrady, once one of the brightest stars in the league struggles to find a team willing to take him on from one year to the next. It is these guys who give professional athletes a bad reputation; spoiled rotten clowns who think the world would stop gravitating if not for them.



And on the subject of men growing like children, the Chicago Cubs, who are less than a month into a season which will last approximately eight months, already can't get along. And yes, these are the same Cubs who last year had to send arguably their best pitcher home for a while after he snapped and got in a scrap in the dugout. Well yesterday afternoon in Grapefruit League action, Carlos Silva got shelled for six runs in the first inning, three of which were unearned thanks to three Cubs errors. Once the inning mercifully came to an end, Silva lost it in the dugout, pointing the finger at some of his positional players, including third basemen Aramiz Ramirez who had made one of the errors. And what do you think happened???? Well a scrap of course; another case of grown men acting like elementary aged children. Do you think Lou Pinella misses his job as the skipper of the Cubbies???



Trevor Gillies is a big idiot with a nice moustache who should not be allowed to play in the NHL. The big goon, coming off a nine game suspension for his role in the Islanders/Penguisn debacle a couple of weeks ago returned to the Isles line - up last night. Before the night out he earned himself another suspension, the lenght of which will be decided by the NHL before the end of the week. Gillies reaction to a Cal Clutterbuck hit on an Islanders teammate was to drill Clutterbuck from behind into the boards; a hit which took Clutterbuck, an all round tough hombre, a while to get up from. Gillies is clearly in the line - up for one reason as his ONE career goal would account for. Why do teams feel the need for these donkey's to have a roster spot, particularly the Islanders. This is a team without much going for them, and recently lost Rob Schremp on waivers, a skilled guy who can actually play the game. Trevor Gillies is good for absolutely nothing in my mind as far as being a professional hockey player goes.



And lastly the debate and discussion has been re - ignited in terms of Winnipeg potentially recieving another crack at housing an NHL team. I can agree with both sides of the argument as to why Winnipeg can and can not support a team, but here is what I will say to all those clowns who keep saying the MTS Centre would be the smallest rink in the league. Listen up and listen good because I am only saying this once. The MTS Centre will sit 14, 000 people, and it will be packed and it will be loud. Sure there are other NHL rinks with a larger capacity, but a 20, 000 capacity rink in Atlanta with 8, 000 people in attendance is ridiculous. It doesn't matter how many seats the rink has, it depends on how many people are in those seats. So fill a rink to 45% capacity in a city where hockey is clearly not that appealing, or pack a slightly smaller rink for 41 nights a year in a hockey market. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which option makes more sense, but then again Gary Bettman is far from a rocket scientist.



That's it, that's all.....good guys who deserve a plug...Trevor Olson, Trevor Latham, Evan Rostotski, Paul Henderson (not that one), and Chapstick.