Jenksismyhero

You can't get out of the LOI without sitting out a year unless the school releases you. Oklahoma released those kids as they didn't feel it was right to force them to still come play or sit out a year (good decision) when the coach bailed on them. If Ebanks tries he'll have to get IU's permission, which they may or may not give.

Espn.com says its day-to-day. I'm sure they are talking to their lawyers to make sure they act appropriately and don't waste millions in fines and legal fees. What I don't get is that they're talking about buy-outs and wrongful termination stuff. Doesn't his contract have a clause in it that gives Indiana the right to fire him for something like this? I don't get what they need to talk about, unless they amended his contract after the first time he got caught. And Rex - I hear ya. If you look at this story out of context you'd laugh and chalk this up to a slow news day. But the fact that he didn't get caught once, or twice, it's now three times he's done something bad (the 3d being the lying/covering up). This from a guy who was the president of the ethics board. The first time i'll give you the benefit of the doubt - call the improper calls a mistake (which I doubt 500+ calls over the limit is a mistake, but whatever). But the fact he did it again and then lied about doing it again is pretty clear evidence his actions were willful. He knew he was cheating but decided to risk it anyway. I just don't see how the NCAA could accept that and give a minimum penalty, especially when the report says "major" all over the place.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writ...ruit/index.html Good article about what may result from Sampson Gate. Ebanks might ask out of his LOI.

He sounds terrible on those myspace songs. He was too much for the show. He had a good schtick in his first audition, but then he just became to emotional. I lost any "connection" and instead got annoyed by his "realness." Give him a guitar or piano and he sounds ok, but his voice isn't anyhere near good enough compared to the rest of the group. And how does someone living in a car have the internet/recording equipment? I think the biggest surprise for me was Simon wanting that kid with the glasses to "get a shot." He hated that bird-looking dude Kevin last season because he was too nerdy, this kid was the exact same. My favorites: the irish chick - great voice and she could be hot all dolled up - and the 16 year old kid - though he needs to stop saying thank you so much.

A school doesn't get hit with FIVE MAJOR violations and get off on the excuse that it was all the coach. I know what you're saying, and I agree Indiana probably shouldn't be held responsible for the acts of a cheater, but they hired a cheater and they gave him the means to cheat. They have to be involved. And loss of scholarhips, to me, won't do it. What Indiana decides to do from here (fire Sampson, declare themselves ineligible, etc) will have a major impact on what the NCAA should do.

I think if the allegations are true, they're looking at a loss of few scholarships (maybe one or two for a couple of years) and a minimum of one year post-season ban. Espn has a good article about how lying to investigators is one of the bigger no-no's. Now the writer of the piece fails to accurately compare the violations - he's talking about Baylor (telling kids to lie about a murder), Minnesota (writing papers/taking tests) and Ohio State (the most ridiculous one imo, giving a kid 6k to go home to the other side of the world) - but it still shows how the NCAA comes down strong on programs that lie to it. Except for Ohio State, the schools he talked about got major penalties - often multi-year loss of scholarships and post-season bans AFTER the school had already given self-imposed penalties. I also wonder how the NCAA would view Indiana keeping Sampson around this year, even if they just suspend him. You'd think allowing a cheater to continue just because he has a good team and some good players (a "one year window") would make them react stronger against it. And does anyone know if this current team will be affected? Lets assume they make the final four or the championship, is that something that can later be taken away by the NCAA because of Sampsons actions?

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Feb 14, 2008 -> 12:00 AM) IU is a top 5 job, they can get anyone they want. In 2008? I doubt it. Maybe 20 years ago. Who wants to walk into a program and spend a minimum of three years a) dealing with the sanctions/penalties that are inevitable, and B) building back up the recruits. IU was going to be an average team next year with a couple of good recruits coming in. It'll be tough to keep recruits on board with a coaching change (obviously it depends on who they bring in). I just hope, for the sake of the Big Ten and the quality of coaches in the league, that they make their decision based on performance and not hype. Don't pull a Kentucky and grab a guy who was all hype.

I got to thinking more about the whole Samscum thing. 1) IU's next coach should be Steve Lavin if they can get him away from ESPN. He was a good coach and a good recruiter who just happened to coach at UCLA with ridiculous expectations. He started in the Big Ten so he'd be a great addition. 2) If you step back and think about it, the NCAA is so jacked up. As much as I love the fact that Samscum is getting what he deserved for being a douche-bag, the fact is he made some stupid phone calls. Obviously the being unethical and lying is horrible and he should be fired, but this all came about over some phone calls. Ok, fair enough. How long has the Reggie Bush thing been going on? They pushed Samscums sanctions in like 6 months. Reggie Bush got tons of cash, probably the biggest no-no possible, and still nothing on that. Am I the only one that see's a problem with that?

Ah, Sampscum. Kharma's a b****. And the senior Gordon, another example of the caliber of this families honor and pride: Translation: "What do we care? My kid's a lottery pick and we'll be gone after this year. And there are sleazy people everywhere. I'm ok with sleaze." Edit: Oops, forgot to cite the source: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...TTER03/80213045

Anyone else find it odd that the congressman who kept calling McNamee a drug dealer was the one guy that Clemens was seeking out and found as he was walking out of the hearing room? Also,the members of congress are piss poor at asking questions and forcing an actual answer. "Mr. Clemens, I just find it hard to believe you. There's ample corroborating testimonial evidence against you. Two other witnesses agree with what McNamee is asserting.Why should I believe you?" "Well sir, I've worked hard in my life. My body is a temple. I've told some kids at talks that they shouldnt do drugs. My body is a temple." And why does everyone think that McNamee lying 5 years ago has any bearing on this? I mean, if you're going to say he lied before so he's lying now, he had a motive to lie back then. Now he doesn't. He was caught and forced to tell the truth. Before he was protecting his clients and career. For committee member on his side why didn't anyone ask him about that? I only watched the last hour or so, but I came away with a more solid feeling that Clemens is lying. His defenses are weak and the fact that Pettite and his wife made sworn statements really hurts him. Oh and also the fact that he's got a dirt-bag lawyer and is playing the total sleaze ball party in visiting each congress member before the hearing (and not just to go over procedure/routine). Also, if I were McNamee I would have said two words at the end: "Whitaker Chambers."

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Feb 12, 2008 -> 06:56 PM) Im worried that Purdue is going to win the rest of the Big 10 games and then lose in the NCAA tourney because the refs arent going to let this type of play go. Isn't that how it is every year with Big Ten teams?

So did Nova. I can't believe the refs called that foul with .01 seconds left.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 11:38 AM) Is there a particular reason why the Illini get so many DC recruits? Mainly from Dunbar... Ex-Maryland assistant Mike Locksley who's now an asst at Illinois. He essentially rules over the DC area these days. I read an article the other day that says Illinois is more popular in some high schools (Dunbar for example) than Maryland.

dang, it's official, harper to clemson. Oh well, still a solid class for IL this year. Upgrading talent and keeping us on the right track.

what's QB development when he's already talked about so much? He can have the crappiest two years in college football history and I guarantee you he'd be drafted if he left his junior year. Don't get me wrong, OSU is great. But I guess I would look beyond that if I was in his shoes. For the same reason Zook is getting big recruits to come to champaign: come be the center of attention here instead of just another great player there. And no offense, cuz i know OSU has had some good COLLEGE qb's, but when's the last great OSU qb to play in the NFL? Curt Krenziel?

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 09:36 AM) So it appears pryor's dad told him not to sign and take an official visit to penn state. I'm not sure why he would do that when they are far back in third place at this point. Pryor appears to be the type of kid who doesn't want to dissapoint people so he will visit and once again choose between osu and um. On a good note, orhian johnson committed to the bucks somewhat out of the blue. Admittedly I'm not in the kid's shoes, but what's Pryor have to think about? I hate Michigan (as an Illinois fan), but man that'd be a perfect place for him. He's going to a system that would be designed for him from Day 1, he's going to a program that's one of the tops in the nation, it's "on the decline" and in need of a championship (i.e. he'd become a god there if he brought a championship). I don't see the draw to OS. PSU I could kinda see - give JoPa his last winning year, send him out the right way, be the man to do it, etc. On a related note, anyone else think the Mallett stuff is bogus? Why should he get a waiver when no one else has? The NCAA has come down with a strict rule that you sign with the school, not the coach/program. We all know that's BS, but the NCAA would look pretty stupid if it retreated from that position and allowed it. They'd create a free-agent market in college sports.

Rumor on the Illinois Scout bored that Harper will sign with Illinois. If that's the case, Zook is ridiculous.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 3, 2008 -> 12:46 AM) Well, I guess your technically right since a few people were stupid enough to think Illinois still had a shot at Rose when Moore verballed to Purdue (late summer before signing day, August I believe). But Illinois could have easily had Moore, but said no, and thus Moore verballed to and visited Purdue. The Moore debacle is a big reason Illinois changed their entire recruiting strategy to the first come, first serve offer system now in place. If Illinois had the same recruiting system the last couple years that it has now, Moore would have had a white jersey on today, but nope, gotta keep a spot open for Rose. That entire thing was made dumber by the fact that the Eric Gordon rumors had been going on for months when Illinois declined a potential Moore verbal. I know everybody anywhere near Illinois with any sources (right down to even me), thought Gordon was still coming to Champaign since we weren't yet aware he was a liar, but it would have been wise to take an insurance policy. Where was Jerrance Howard when we needed them?!

Illinois scores 75 pts! but gives up 83

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 1, 2008 -> 12:16 PM) Your recruiting comments show an amazing lack of knowledge. As fathom said, Howard has connections Weber can only dream of, and as I said, if this program gets really good again due to these recruits, Howard deserves the vast majority of the credit. And Weber offered guys like Scheyer and Gordon and Rose and Collins (etc) very early, he was even the first high major coach on Iman Shumpert. The problem was, he could not close the deal and use inside connections, but now with Howard, that is no longer an issue. And there is no room for anymore players until 2011 due to the verbals accumulated, as far as I'm aware of. Please give me a list of names. Seriously. I fail to believe that a nationally recognized coach at a good D1 program has less connections than a local nobody in the state of Illinois. I think you lack the knowledge of how the recruiting game works. The other issue, as I pointed out in my post, is that Weber not only is offering these guys earlier, after starting connections with them earlier, but he's also handing out scholarships to 2 or 3 kids and telling them first come, first serve. In the past he put all of his eggs in one basket and hoped for the best. And please cite me some examples of kids who commit to a school and when asked why say "well, i gotta tell you, i really really love asst coach X. I mean we hit it off real good. I can't wait to play under him at practice and listen to his film sessions. BTW the real coach is cool, but I only committed because of asst coach X." I still don't know how, but Weber has become a damned if you do, damned if you don't public figure. He coaches like crazy, and gets all the accolades in the world, but fanatics apparently can tell he's not a good coach. He misses out on top recruits a couple years in a row (BIG TIME recruits, recruits that Illinois has had like 5 times in their entire history), and he can't recruit. He finally starts pulling in top 20, top 10 style classes, and he still can't recruit, some new guy on the bench should get all the credit. I can't wait until firezook.com starts up again because he's not pulling in 5 blue chip recruits every year. He can't recruit. Let's get rid of him. GMAFB. /rant

i find these comments hilarious. honestly i dont think howard has done anything. yeah he's a good recruiting tool, but i think its more that weber has been recruiting and offering scholarships much earlier. Instead of hoping a senior commits, he's basically offering 2-3 so's and jr's schollies and telling them the first to commit gets to play at Illinois. Also, whats this commit mean for Young? I really liked what I saw from him. Do we still have a scholarship for him?

I would agree with this. I think it also has to do with in the first half we were hitting shots we normally don't make. It's been that way all year. The game at Indiana was a good example of that - we hit threes and free throws in the 1st half, and then the averages catch up with us and we don't score for 7-8 minutes in the 2nd half. And I said 5 minutes because even in the second half our defense was good enough to get the W. Really it wasn't even 5 minutes, it was the 2-3 minutes of consecutive made shots by Nietzel and their big dude that killed us. My question after the game was what's up with Tisdale? I really cannot wait to get Pruitt and Randle out of the program. Their indifference and lack of emotion is really starting to rub off on him. Did you see those three straight fouls he had? No emotion, no care, no nothing. He just got lazy and started hacking people. In a way i'm sort of sickened by my justification (as I NEVER thought a Weber team would finish in the bottom of the big ten), but at least the future looks bright. McCamey really shows every game a little more touch and a little more bball IQ. I think Weber still holds him back a little because of his defense, but that will come in time. Tisdale, even with his stupid decisions, has a sweet 12-15 foot shot and really has good hands for a big man. I look forward to 2009-2011 when we're back on top of the league and competing for final four spots.

Illinois plays well again for 35 minutes, and then plays like s*** for 5 minutes to lose the game at MSU. This team can play such great defense, but they are god awful when they need a basket. I can't wait for Legion and Smith to return.

My recommendation goes against your 40-70 lb requirement, but the best breed, especially for apartment living, are Boston Terriers. We've got a Boston and we know about 5 or 6 other Boston owners and everyone loves them. They're smart (with the occasional stubborn streak), very loving and compassionate, very loyal, and you can make them exercise as much or as little as you want and they'd be happy. We usually stay pretty lazy during the week, just a walk a few blocks in the morning and night, but she'd easily go all day if we let her. Best of all they are GREAT with children and other animals like cats. They're just very happy-go-lucky dogs. And ours rarely barks...normally only when I get her riled up by playing or when she's dreaming. We were thinking about getting a bully too (english bulldog) but they're so expensive to start and the vast majority often become very unhealthy in the later years, which means big, big vet bills.

ashley judd > erin andrews and its not even close. andrews is hot, but I don't get the fascination.