[this whole thing is self centered and greedy IYAM]

Honestly I'm about over Peyton....this whole thing is self centered and greedy IYAM. Drew Brees and Peyton were my two favorite qbs but they are making Tom Brady look like he has some class. I am really confused!! 

And now...the rest of the story.  Be careful not to choke while eating your words.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6817822/peyton-manning-resisting-colts-efforts-make-highest-paid-player

If they were already committed to Butch Davis, we probably can't afford them.

Not even our administration is dumb enough to fire a coach right before a season starts.

No, they all but announce their intent to fire a coach right before the postseason starts.

Unless there is some sort of new violation or new info, why in the world would they do it now? Talk about crippling timing.

No kidding.  If our administration was that dumb, I would...oh wait.

Here's a thought:  Keep Joan Cronan in the AD chair for the next 2-3 years.  By that time, we'll have a pretty good idea of what kind of coach Dooley is going to be.  If things aren't working out for him on the sidelines, give him the AD job.  He WAS La Tech's AD, afterall.  And I think he may be the most intelligent employee in our athletic department.  Maybe the ONLY intelligent employee in our athletic department.  Give it a couple years, and we could just luck ourselves into the best AD we've ever had.  At this rate, it doesn't look like anyone else is going to accept the job before then anyway.

Yes, I'm joking.  Well, half-joking.

Oh, and as much as I think we dodged a bullet by "missing out" on Alleva, Cheeks' handling of this situation just further illustrates his incompetence.  How the hell has he managed to keep HIS job?  If we DO come out of this with a quality AD, it'll be by sheer dumb luck.

I'll be danged.  He is staying at LSU:

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6805817/sources-tennessee-targets-lsu-joe-alleva-replace-mike-hamilton-athletic-director

Good.  Now go get the guy from Washington and be done with it.  If he says no, give Blackburn the job.

VQ reporting he could be officially announced as soon as tomorrow afternoon.  I'm not happy with the hire, but I'll stand behind him until he gives me reason not to.

Undergrad and MBA from Lehigh where he was baseball player and then a graduate assistant coach, AD at Duke during the best run of NCAA basketball championships, been at LSU since 2008, so he knows the SEC and a big time athletic department.  He's got some damned good credentials.  Not sure how we could do much better. 

The one black mark against him is that he presided over the Duke Lacrosse scandal, IMO one of the most shameful episodes ever in college sports.  And he wasn't just a casual bystander, he actively took the lying accuser's side from the get-go, and threw his athletes under the bus.  That's a deal-breaker for me. 

Wow- it must be nice to know you're going to get a Super Bowl ring your rookie year.

Well, we almost made it the entire offseason without any off-field incidents.  At least this is about as minor as it gets.  AJ isn't even underage.  And without knowing the specifics of this case, I know for a fact that it is very, very, very easy to get picked up for PI in that town.  Just walk past the wrong cop on the strip on a Friday night, and it's off to County.  Tust me, I know firsthand.

I'm taking a wait-and-see approach. It's a mockery of NCAA enforcement that tOSU isn't facing additional charges (I hadn't even heard about the school telling Tressel to destroy evidence), but I'm not going to get too worked up about it until we know what UT is facing. I don't think UT will get a postseason ban in basketball. If they do, and Ohio State doesn't, yes, it will be time for outrage.

History tells us that a postseason ban is almost automatic in FTM cases, which applies to our BB program.  Not that it will matter in a practical sense, because this team isn't going to make the postseason anyway.  Still, if we got slapped with FTM, there's no way in hell that OSU should skate on it.  Not with the mountain of evidence to the contrary. 

I think this sums it up perfectly.

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/30798279

Kiffin was also charged with failure to monitor, though the football program itself wasn't.

I guess when you look at the specifics, there's a reason for that. And I don't think Tennessee's going to be punished any worse than Ohio State. But it really sucks that we have a system like this. Tennessee made impermissible phone calls and had impermissible contact with a recruit, and the program faces what are in some ways more serious charges than a program that has multiple players receive improper benefits and tried to cover it up so they could win a national championship with ineligible players...that's fair?

Also, why isn't the NCAA interested in pursuing the other things that have come to light, such as Pryor's improper benefits and all the other players that were allegedly involved in the memorabilia-for-ink scandal?

Btw, you're telling me that a program that committed literally HUNDREDS of secondary recruiting violations under Tressel isn't guilty of failing to monitor? Bullshizzle.

I would bet money that our basketball program gets at least a one year, and probably a two year postseason ban.  It sure doesn't sound like OSU will.  Different sports, I know, but it's still not exactly an apples-oranges comparison.  In our case, no competitive advantage was gained, and no extra benefits given (aside from a couple plates of ribs).  OSU's guys not only received extra benefits, but their coach lied and their institution staged a bogus "internal investigation" to keep them eligible for the postseason.  And the NCAA is really going to let them off the hook?  Seriously?

If OSU skates, this could be a tipping point for change.  And I don't just mean changing the NCAA's enforcement rules- I mean creating an alternative to the NCAA, if not dissolving it altogether.   The NCAA has chance here to change the widespread perception that they play favorites- and instead they appear to just be reinforcing that notion.  I think there are a lot of schools that aren't going to stand for that any longer.

I'm telling you, it's shizzle like this that will make me boycott NCAA sports altogether.  If we get hit harder than OSU, I will never attend another NCAA sporting event.  I'm dead serious.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2011/07/22/ncaa-ohio-state-violations.html?sid=101

I guess we knew this, but somebody turned Pearl in concerning the Craft visit to his home.

Also of note, the response reveals that the NCAA received the infamous photo of Pearl posing with then-high school junior Aaron Craft at his home from an anonymous source via U.S. Mail. Underneath, the caption read: "Question: Is having Aaron Craft a 2010 high school recruit in your home an NCAA violation? I wonder if the NCAA would think so …"

The questions are 1. Who? and more interesting to me is 2. How did they get the photo?

Some of you may know this but I don't. Enlighten me.

Members of the former staff seem convinced it was Thad Matta at OSU- so much so that Tony Jones was openly cheering for UK on Twitter when they beat them in the NCAAT.

I don't really know much about Spotify. What makes it better than some of the music streaming services already out there?

Streaming music is just one more thing that makes Verizon's new limited data plans suck.

Pretty much just because it's free.  And the interface is pretty simple.  The $10/month version untethers the music from your computer and lets you play it on mobile devices.  I'll probably just use the free version to discover new music.  If I find a song I like, there are, uh, other ways to acquire it and take it mobile.

I got my invite earlier today but haven't tried it yet.

I'm thinking about paying for the paid version and canceling my sirius if I like the free version.

I requested an invite over a week ago, and it just arrived in email today.  I'm going to play around with the free version and see if I want the paid, but I probably won't get it. 

Pure awesome.  I don't know if it's worth paying for the premium version, but it may just be the best piece of freeware of all time.

nm

Now, that being said... I wish we were competing with better offer lists when we offer a QB. Most people in the recruiting services think this guy is underrated though. They must because usually that sort of offer list gets you two stars. Of course I trust the coaches at big schools more than the recruiting services too.

"Trust the coach" is an overused cliche when it comes to recruiting, but early returns on the Dooley regime suggest it may carry more weight with him.  A lot of those supposed "space fillers" that committed in the last two weeks after Kiffin left turned out to make some pretty significant contributions last year. 

When it came to getting max output from unheralded recruits, Tommy Tuberville was the best I've ever seen.  If Dooley can approach that level (and his first class is certainly a positive indicator), then we're going to be just fine.

He sure doesn't have a 4 star attitude- he seems like a really nice, humble, grounded kid.  The kind of kid you want to succeed. 

Also, I have that same shirt.  He got it at Costco.

I think it's an interesting strategy, if true.  The most cost-effective delivery system for Netflix is streaming, and it's also the most convenient for their customer.  They've had problems acquiring the streaming rights to first-run movies, and this may be the way to force the studios' hands, especially if their customer base turns to piracy.  It's a big gamble, but may just benefit everyone in the end. 

Personally, I only have the streaming plan anyway, so the increase didn't effect me.  I'm not a big movie renter- if there's a movie that I like well enough to want to see a 2nd time or more (and there aren't many), I'll buy the blu-ray.  I mostly use Netflix to catch up on TV shows I haven't seen (currently watching "Weeds") and for the documentaries.  The selection of docs available for streaming is second to none.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20080346-261/is-netflix-killing-dvds-like-apple-killed-floppies-q-a/?tag=TOCcarouselMain.0