WOW! I enjoyed the hell out of that. Mighty fine job, PF. ROLL TIDE!! RMc.
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Jeff Todd Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2004 8:34 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [RollTideFan] Hypocrite in charge of NCAA 02/28/04 Just out of curiosity, I picked up the newest version of "Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary" Friday at a local bookstore and starting thumbing through the 1,557 pages of 215,000 definitions. I happened upon the word "hypocrite" and, much to my surprise, there was a picture of Myles Brand, the new president of the NCAA, smiling up at me. The organization has not fared well in recent days in the state of Alabama with the publication of the Committee on Infractions transcript that shows the organization to be nothing more than a Kangaroo Court where the NCAA is both judge and jury. However, the NCAA, which used to sit back and not be heard, has taken a different approach in recent days. Brand's attack Chihuahua, Wally Renfro, whose trumped-up title is something like senior advisor to the president -- in other words, he brings in the coffee and Danish -- has been railing against Tommy Gallion, the Colorado football program, Maurice Clarett and just about any other issue that pops up on the radar screen not to their liking. However, it was a statement by Brand himself the other day that left many on the floor, in the fetal position, reeling as if Mike Tyson had just pummeled their gut with his right hand. Speaking at an ethics conference (now, that's a laugh in and of itself), while announcing a task force to do something about re-examining NCAA recruiting rules (blah, blah, blah), Brand said: "College sports is not a business. It's about educating young men and women in the field and in the classroom." Now, I've watched Jay Leno, David Letterman, Johnny Carson, Jackie Mason, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, Don Rickles, Moms Mabley, Jerry Seinfeld -- the best comedians from yesterday and today. But that's one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Of all the retorts and rejoinders one could come up with -- and there are many -- I'll let Bobby Knight, whom Brand fired when he was czar of Indiana University, get in the first jab. "If it isn't a business, then General Motors is a charity," Knight said. "College sports has turned into one of the biggest businesses in the whole sports industry. Sports just doesn't provide entertainment. It provides thousands and thousands of jobs. Those salaries have to be paid for. It takes people who are extremely good business people to run a college athletic program." Brand has a job he clocks in at $763,000 a year with his own private plane and whose organization has a $6 billion deal with CBS for the NCAA basketball tournament. And he would have you believe they are running a neighborhood office for Habitat for Humanity. This is an organization that recently left Kansas City high and dry (and without a thank-you note) after a 40-year run to move to Indianapolis. Wonder why? Well, this little mom-and-pop operation now operates out of a four-story, 140,000-square-foot Taj Mahal building with annual revenues of $433 million and 357 employees. The NCAA sweetheart deal with Indianapolis, according to reports, is worth about $40 million annually to the local coffers. Do you think a recent announcement that the NCAA will shun the normal bidding process for its Final Four (and these folks will put your school on probation for giving a kid a free Big Mac), guaranteeing Indy college sport's biggest spectacle every five years through 2039, had anything to do with this sweetheart deal? On top of that, the town will get an additional event in the year before -- either a women's final four or men's and women's early round games, and the NCAA convention, which will mean another billion or so in greenbacks to the area. Talk about NCAA investigations, someone like Congress ought to look into all of these deals. Now the published transcripts of that would really be fascinating. Interestingly, the Indianapolis Star reported recently that Brand's home mortgage is held with the same bank that does business with the NCAA. Sounds like a conflict to me (certainly something that an example-setter wouldn't do), but I guess those kind of issues are only important when Brand and the NCAA are pummeling schools. The notion of the NCAA being self-righteous and sanctimonious is hardly new. These are the same folks who rail about football programs out of control (see Colorado), but they do away with college dorms. On top of that, they limit the number of hours a coach can spend with the players so its diminishes the chance of a coach knowing what's going on around him. The NCAA feigns shock when they learn of the exploits of Miami recruit Willie Williams, yet they limit the number of visits a coach can make, so they barely know the player. We're not asking the NCAA to change their Machiavellian ways. We know when they scream and holler about Rick Neuheisel being in an office pool for the NCAA tournament they are holding their gut to stop from laughing. Do you think CBS would have pimped the tournament for that much bread if one of the driving forces for audience and revenues weren't the Final Four pools in every office in America? All we're asking for from Myles Brand and his lackeys is a little honesty. When someone accuses the NCAA of being a big business and in desperate need of major reform, don't feed us with a load of bilge like Brand did recently. Just shut up. That way, the NCAA moguls won't have to continue the lying and deceit, something they've become accustomed to. (Paul Finebaum's column appears Tuesdays and Saturdays in the Mobile Register. Contact him at [EMAIL PROTECTED]) ______________________________________________________ RollTideFan - The University of Alabama Athletics Discussion List "Welcome to RollTideFan! Wear a cup!" To join or leave the list or to make changes to your subscription visit http://listinfo.rolltidefan.net ______________________________________________________ RollTideFan - The University of Alabama Athletics Discussion List "Welcome to RollTideFan! Wear a cup!" To join or leave the list or to make changes to your subscription visit http://listinfo.rolltidefan.net
