Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Beasts of the East

UConn's student lottery determines who gets season tickets and which seats they get - consequently, at the Monday night men's basketball game against Louisville I found myself sitting three rows from the ceiling, essentially hanging from the rafters. The term 'nosebleed section' seems a little outdated - I've sat in many upper rows and never seen an outbreak of nasal hemorrhaging - but if you took one faulty step at this height, a nosebleed would have been the least of your worries. The school's seven national championship banners were hanging straight ahead of me, a sobering reminder of our programs' past successes in comparison to the men's recent struggles.
I’m probably being a bit melodramatic. It’s been less than two years since UConn was in the Sweet Sixteen with their sights locked in on a title. But that round’s crushing loss to George Mason sent the program into a vicious downward spiral. It was one of the biggest upsets in recent men’s basketball history. A scarily talented team that seemed a lock for the finals was knocked off by a mid-major. That just doesn’t happen, and coupled with the loss of the Huskies' top six players, it left them as shell-shocked as a man having his house robbed immediately followed by his wife leaving him.

Continue reading at The Campus Word.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Reggie Bush is Not Alone

A book released last week called “Tarnished Heisman” decries New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush as a cheater. Around the time Bush was shopping for his draft suit, allegations first surfaced claiming he had been living the life of a professional superstar during the 2004 and 2005 seasons while he was still only an amateur at the University of Southern California.

His benefactor, and the book’s primary source, was a sports marketing agent who provided Bush and his family with hotel stays, cash for shopping sprees, and money to buy and customize a car. This was all in pursuit of getting the 20-year old to sign with his company once he left school for the NFL.

The NCAA is very strict about players maintaining their amateur status. Collecting any sort of benefit while still a student is one of the cardinal sins in the world of college sports; it’s the equivalent of plagiarism in the academic world. They wouldn’t even allow University of Colorado football player Jeremy Bloom to collect endorsement money from his professional ski racing career, even though it was his only way of staying competitive in the alpine sport. If the accusations about Bush are proven true, he would lose his Heisman Trophy and the Trojans would have to retroactively forfeit all wins from his era, including the national championship they won.

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