In Case You Missed It

Another ICYMI is back, after taking an EXTENDED vacation. And now it doesn’t even know where to start. This room is spinning and I’m feeling dizzy.

Let’s start from the top.

WE DON’T CARE ‘BOUT NOTHING BUT THIS U: I’m guessing you’ve already read it but we’ll link it anyway. It’s Yahoo! Sports promised “10/10” story about a college football program and it’s the about U. There’s no point in highlighting any one paragraph. Each one is brimming with so much juice that to single one out would diminish the others. Just read the whole thing.

DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER: Andy Staples seems to one of the few national sports writers that doesn’t seem to have it out for Ohio State, so his piece after the NCAA hearings this past Friday is a must read. It includes possibly the saddest sentence you’ll read this year as an OSU fan:

Tressel left alone, because he is no longer a part of The Ohio State University’s football program.

(Don’t mind me, it got a little dusty in here).

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL, FOLKS!: If it was just the Ohio State and Miami “scandals” (which I will use real quotes and think “air quoutes” in my head because grouping the two situations is laughable) this off season, it would have been plenty. Not so this year. This has been the busiest summer in college football for a long time. We’ve got LSU and West Virginia in trouble . We’ve got more rumblings of conference realignment with Texas A&M flirting with the SEC again. Then you’ve got all the hilarious happenings at ESPN: Bruce Feldman and Mike Leach write a book,Craig James still has a job, the Longhorn Network had plans to broadcast High School football games (violating NCAA rules) and it looks like they don’t even have anyone to carry the network, and of course suing Ohio State for more email. ESPN is a mockery of itself.

WHERE ARE WE GOING, AND WHY ARE WE IN THIS HANDBASKET?: And that’s all leading up to my belief that college athletics in general and football in particular are headed for either Armageddon or gigantic changes. We can’t keep going at this pace.

Cheating In College Athletics And The Prisoner’s Dilemma

Human behavior is altered depending upon stimuli presented to us. In a vacuum, perhaps our college athletic programs and the people running them would make better decisions that embody the spirit of fair play.

But as long as the financial inducements are what they are, the guiding principles of the Prisoner’s Dilemma dictate that missteps and misdeeds will abound.

Can’t argue with that.

MISC: Some quick links – If Google+ is your jam, don’t forget to circle us. Ejuan Price looks like he’s happier at Pitt. Cleveland Browns visited by Jim Tressel and Lloyd Carr. No word on whether they turned in resumes or not. Also no word if Tressel gave Carr another wedgie, “just for old time’s sake.” And finally, from the Browns/Packers preseason game:

Buckeye till I die!