Terrelle Pryor’s Battle To Success

June 11, 2011 Leave a comment

Written By

Griffen Raustis

Recently I have interviewed UFL Offensive Tackle Ryan Cave and NFL nose tackle Chris Baker. After asking them about the Terrell Pryor situation both men’s answers pointed to Terrell playing in the United Football League.

As the NFL lockout moves deeper into the year there is a huge threat of a shorter season. The UFL is entering their third season and need Terrell Pryor to bring fans to the stadiums.

If Terrell decides to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft it would be very risky and time-consuming. Day by day Terrell knows that there’s a big chance there will not be a whole NFL season.

The UFL needs someone to bring crowds and their offering Terrell the gift of picking his team. If he does indeed go into the UFL he will bring a spark to the field. Terrell will learn more about the game and get a chance to learn from veterans about the game.

He also will not have to deal with the lockout frustration if he joins the UFL and will have his mind on the game. The United Football League will be the best choice for this young QB.

 

Filed under NCAA, NCAAFB, NFL, NFL Draft, NFL Lockout, UFL, UFL Football Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If I were a Head Coach!

May 22, 2011 Leave a comment

It seems like throughout the NCAA today there are many highly recruited Division 1 athletes transferring to second or secondary schools due to academic problems or just plain getting in trouble.

The amazing thing is that there is always a school or coach ready to soak up these athletes and give them a free scholarship. What makes them think that if the athlete could not handle the academics of the first school they attended that the athlete would be able to handle the education level at their school? Unless they are admitting that their academics are not up to standard or maybe they are having a tutor do the schoolwork for the athlete.

There was an article posted on ESPN.go.com by Joe Shad detailing the transfer of Duron Carter (son of former NFL receiver Cris Carter) from Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College to Alabama University coached by Nick Saban. Carter was originally recruited by The Ohio State University. Carter played in his freshman season and caught a touchdown but had to leave over academic issues. So after a year at Junior College where he had 44 catches for 690 yards and 10 touchdowns for Coffeyville he wanted to transfer back to a Division 1 school.

So of course a lot of the top programs began drooling over Duron Carter. Carter considered Oregon, LSU, Miami, Auburn. Just ask yourself if any of these schools have been in the news lately with allegations of recruiting violations? I am not saying that Duron Carter is doing anything wrong by trying to better his career.

I am just saying that the top-tier universities that are in the BCS year in and out are lowering their standards of recruiting for top talent. I believe that character counts. I do not believe it is fair to the great athletes through High School and into college who watch their character, their grades and are outstanding citizens.

These athletes are bumped from a free scholarship spot by an athlete that has natural talent but can’t keep up with the academics or just plain does not care about their academics or character on or off the field.

If the schools and universities held all the athletes to a higher standard without waiver I believe the athletes will have to conform. An athlete will know that if they get arrested in High School for shoplifting that it will mess up their opportunity to play at Alabama. They would have to play their career at a Junior College.

Now I understand the reason these schools and universities buckle to the athletes is because of the extreme pressure to win and the amount of money for the school or university on the table if they win. But I also know the  concept of building anything is starting with an exceptional foundation.

I challenge all out top-tier BCS teams to build a great foundation of vented quality recruits who care about their academics and character on and off the field. And if there is an issue deal with it  across the board. One set of discipline policy’s (not different from the backup punter to the starting quarterback) carried out with zero tolerance.

If we vent the athletes better in college better character athletes end up in the NFL. We will not be reading about a star linebacker getting arrested for marijuana possession every other week!

WE SPEAK OUR MINDS!

Filed under NCAA, NCAAFB Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Digital Media Convenience = Better Fans Access = Better Revenues For Teams

May 21, 2011 Leave a comment

Quick responses to short fuse events and breaking news stories is the essential thread every sports fan or sports junkie needs to survive. The digital media age has made the coverage of sports phenomenal. When I played J.U.C.O basketball in the early 1990′s the coach called the score into a newspaper to run the next day. Today with a simple tweet on twitter or a post to a website from a smart phone makes the score available to all fans of any sports or genre. Social media today makes print media obsolete tomorrow.

Todays generation of sports fans rely on the technology that we as a previous generation did not have. I can remember as a child having to hear the crackling of a radio to listen to my favorite baseball team. Today if the game is not aired on TV I can go online and watch it on my computer. In today’s generation we can receive sports news in real-time. In years past the sports news could be delayed by many hours if not a day. With the increased data stream of sports information the younger generation is kept in tune and interested in the game. A young man or woman can go shopping, attend a wedding, get married, or even go to church and keep posted on their favorite teams activities for the day. I can’t count the times in years past I have missed out of events on Sundays to stay home and watch the game. Now you can take the game with you on an iPad or iPhone.

For a sports fan knowing you won’t miss any action of the team you are following is a major relief. When you get your honey-do list and its time to go run the errand’s but your watching your favorite UFL team and its in the fourth quarter with three minutes to go. Your wife comes in to the room and gives you the look that you dread. You know its time to do what you have to do and you have put it off for at least an hour now. Just pick up the smart phone click on the app that you have downloaded just for this situation. Smile and give your wife a kiss. Then run out the door. Drive around the block and watch the game for the last three minutes the pull off and finish what you have to do.

Have you as a sports fan taken advantage of the awesome technology available today? Do you appreciate whats available for you to use? Are you one of the fans that takes the technology for granted? Maybe you’re a fan who has not tried any of the new things available. Do you read the newspaper or do you read your favorite sports blog? If you have not already bookmark our blog The Fans Opinion Sports Blog

I truly believe the modern technology used by the sports media today has helped the sports industry grow. The ease of buying your favorite jersey online is a lot better than driving 20 miles to your local mall. With better fan access to real-time data and team information the revenues that teams generate has increased. This allows the teams to sign better players which in turn brings a better game for the fans.

Filed under MMA, NBA, NCAAFB, NFL, NHL, UFC, UFL Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

For the sake of Justice : FIRE JIM TRESSEL NOW!

May 19, 2011 Leave a comment

Is there a more visible head coach in the NCAA that has admitted to knowing about violations committed by the players on his team, admitted to not reporting the violation, sent an e-mail to a mentor of a player proving his knowledge, and covering up the situation then Jim Tressel? WHY DOES HE STILL HAVE A JOB AS A HEAD COACH IN THE NCAA?

Some coaches and players might view his actions as being loyal to his players and University at all costs. But I view it as a coach who has lost his moral attributes and now will do anything to win. If Tressel will cover up knowledge that his players took improper benefits and that the FBI was investigating the Tattoo shop that provided those benefits than what will he hide next?

This is not a situation where the NCAA needs to fine him and suspend him for a certain amount of games. This calls for a ban from coaching in the NCAA for the rest of his life. The NCAA needs to make an example out of Jim Tressel here. There have been to many coaches violating the rules without significant consequences.

Lets look at the recent Bruce Pearl, former Tennessee Vols coach, and his violations. Pearl hosted a cookout for recruits, made impermissible phone calls to recruits, and had incidental contact with a recruit. By NCAA standards these violations are not that heinous. But his fatal flaw was lying about them to an NCAA investigator. His denials started to unravel when a snapshot of the cookout surfaced and the phone calls were dug up by Comply and Verify technology. Once caught he gave a tearful apology at a press conference but the damage was already done. Tennessee University should have fired him on the spot but they chose to fine and suspend him and let him coach into the NCAA Basketball Tournament before firing him after the blowout loss to Michigan.

Now if Ohio State University did not learn by the fallout in the press and by fans all across the nation that the Bruce Pearl situation caused then I guess they will never learn. It is not a matter of if Jim Tressel will be punished and how much. OSU should immediately terminate his contract for cause. If the University won’t do it then the Governor of Ohio should since Tressel is a state employee.

As I stated earlier the NCAA needs to ban Jim Tressel for life from coaching in the NCAA at any level for life. This will set an example of what happens when you try to cover up major NCAA violations. So far the NCAA has been inconsistent in issuing punishment on coaches who have violated the rules and admitted it after the fact. This is not a case of a coach finding out about violations and then reporting them and accepting the consequences that follow for acknowledging it happened on his watch. This is a situation where he deliberately did not report what he knew his star players were doing and essentially covered it up.

We as college football fans are part of the branch of justice that holds the NCAA and the coaches to uphold their rules and moral standards. We need to send a clear message to the NCAA and the OSU that we will not stand for this anymore. The NCAA needs to clean up college sports on every level and do it consistently. Once the standard is in place it does not matter if you coach at a Division III level school or if you coach at the number one ranked school in the nation the rules are the same. You can’t suspend a Division III coach for a season and the coach of the number one ranked school 3 games. That’s not justice.

I implore the NCAA to set up a program to where every single program that participates in their system be investigated and audited over the next 5 years. Establish a tier system of violations and proper penalties for each tier. If violations discovered then deal out the punishment in a swift way. If it means that we ban popular coaches from never coaching in the NCAA again then so be it!

AS FANS WE ARE SICK OF THE DIRTY SPORTS PROGRAMS ACROSS THE NCAA! I am not naïve enough to think that the NCAA can eradicate all corruption in college sports. But they can definitely change it and show the American public they really care about the issue and are done with just slapping programs on the wrist for violations!

Filed under NCAAFB Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

ASU Fan? Gang Related?

April 22, 2011 Leave a comment

So I’m surfing through Fox Sports News website and I come across an article titled “Arizona State’s new team logo raising gang concerns?“.

The first thought to cross my mind was ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’! I know ASU has been taking flak for changing the uniform and logo of the team. But this is just stooping to a different lower level of criticism.

I live on the east coast and rarely get to see ASU play football unless they are on ESPN or another televised channel. So I am not an expert on their uniform or school logo history. But to criticize the school for a gang wanting to use their logo as a symbol of violence is just juvenile at best.

For years gangs have been using the LA Dodgers colors, the Oakland Raiders colors, and many other professional sports teams logo’s and colors. Has anyone suggested that a professional team change their colors because of a gang assuming their colors and logo?

Has anyone suggested that Michael Jordan stop selling the Air Jordan brand because gangs are killing each other over the shoes?

The issue should be public and police pressure on the gang to stop spreading violence over the communities team. They should crack down on all gang members wearing the logo’s and color’s of the team to commit random act’s of violence on innocent community members.

The gang will get the message quickly to remove the color’s. They don’t want to stand out or be ‘hot’ and noticeable by the police. They would have to switch it up to not be profiled and arrested on suspicious behaviour for wearing the color’s and logo’s of a known gang.

It is also the job of a community member to know their surroundings. If you live in a gangs territory it is not wise to wear a rival gangs colors.

Now I know I am going to get flak for that statement. ‘We live in a free America! I should be able to wear any color I want! I am an American dammit!’

I hear you and agree with you.

But you also live in an America where you get taxed for over half your income. You live in an America where you only have 2 political party choices and money wins an election. You also live in an America where the people we vote into office do whatever they want when they get in with no consequences. You also live in an America where Wall Street bankers were caught money laundering 376 Billion dollars of Mexican Cartel Drug Money and only had to pay a fine of 160 million dollars! http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=asU.b_fCjHTE

Stop stooping to the gangs level and blaming the teams. Get a set of balls and go after the gangs!

WE SPEAK OUR MIND!

Filed under NCAAFB Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

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