Sprints Thinks the NCAA Should Focus Less on Technology and More on Brawls // 07.13.10

Technology must be adapted to fit the NCAA's standards!
To me, this is one of the most bizarre NCAA rules -- and there are many, many bizarre NCAA rules.

Facebook walls are considered open forums and, therefore, against NCAA rules. Coaches can send direct messages through Facebook because it's similar to an e-mail.

Because a recruit is going to say, "Yes! Coach Meyer said something nice on my Wall that everyone could see! I'm going to Florida!" Which is not to excuse Florida's secondary for this ...

Florida's case involved a whistle-blowing school that reported a Gators assistant posting comments on the Facebook walls of two recruits on Aug. 5. Florida then self-reported an assistant's Facebook wall posting to a recruit on Aug. 7, a separate violation.

... because you have to follow the rules. (Cue speculation on the school who reported this.) It's just to say that the rule doesn't make much sense. In any case, this is not the only secondary the Sentinel was told about.

Florida also self-reported violations for "impermissible protective gear" on Sept. 11, which led to conduct rules education with the coaches and equipment staff, and two assistants calling a recruit twice in the same week on Oct. 29.

"Impermissible protective gear"? What, did one of the players take the field in an actual stormtrooper outfit? Knight's armor? Really, I'm intrigued by the idea of protective gear that's too good. Safety is paramount but only to an extent, it seems.

More charges coming in Tennessee bar brawl
Tennessee fans won't be able to relax for at least a few more days, it seems.

"We still have some additional interviews that we need to do, and (additional) charges are pending the conclusion of that investigation," DeBusk said.

And the biggest charges of all -- the one that could lead to the most backlash -- is yet to come.

No one has been charged with the assault of officer and bar patron Robert Capouellez, who was hit in the head while trying to break up the fight. He was knocked to the ground, kicked and left unconscious.

True, this could be one of the players that has already been punished by Derek Dooley and hasn't had his role in the fight outlined yet, but I doubt it. Dooley himself says that his "standard of conduct is much greater than what the legal standard is." Almost any school has to dismiss a player who gets caught beating up a police officer, off-duty or not; that's kind of a baseline for civilized behavior.

Again, fun times for those who wear the orange in Knoxville.

Like (former) athletic director, like player
Damon Evans has passed on his talent for explaining DUIs and doing so poorly. Ladies and gentlemen, Dontavius Jackson:

More Erin Andrews?
Well, if you're willing to get up at 9 a.m. and if you get ESPNU. (Why does ESPN not realize that there are college fans out there who don't get ESPNU?) EA will still work the headline game if it's on an ESPN network -- which might actually mean less of her on SEC games, because many of the SEC games from which ESPN would originate would end up on CBS. Ah well.

Arkansas player going with baseball
Carlton Salters is what you might call "a loss of depth at wide receiver."

We are all touched that you find it 'difficult'
The Pete Carroll reputation rehabilitation book tour begins with an interview with the Associated Press.

''It's been most difficult to watch everybody have to deal with it, whether it's the players or the coaches or the fans who support the university,'' Carroll told The Associated Press shortly after arriving in New York for the start of a two-week promotional tour for his new book, ''Win Forever.''

But if you really had wanted to help Southern Cal, maybe you could have figured out several years ago that allowing agents to attend Southern Cal football events was not the best idea in the world.