NCAA...HAHA

NCAA = No Consistency At All

                Once again, the NCAA shows their true colors and complete favoritism toward certain schools.  Let’s take a quick look at some of their recent rulings.

Derrick Rose

                Accused of cheating on the SAT by having someone else take the test for him.  NOTHING was EVER proved.  There was only speculation during the entire investigation.  The NCAA cleared Rose, TWICE!  Then decided without any evidence to strip Memphis of their Final Four run and vacate the wins from Rose’s one season at Memphis after the season had concluded.

Enes Kanter

                Took money from a professional team in Turkey.  This much is fact.  He also asked to pay the money back in order to play college basketball in the US.  The NCAA denied his request of repayment and ruled him ineligible for the 2011-2012 college basketball season.  (This is the same year Josh Selby, a United States citizen who has been here his whole life, and knew the amateur rules as a high profile high school player, took money from an agent.  He ‘repaid’ the money to the NCAA and was allowed to play with a small suspension at the beginning of the season.  Where did he get the money if he didn’t have it the first time around?)

Penn State

                Everything has been said about this that can be said.  I completely agree that Penn State deserved the punishment they received.  However…Where did the NCAA get the authority to basically hand out the death penalty when it comes to criminal proceedings?  The NCAA set a precedent in this case that they will bow to the media pressure and hand out rulings as they see fit.

UNC

                The whole reason for this post is based on the ruling that the NCAA released today in regards to the UNC academic scandal.  Let’s look at the facts.  UNC made classes up for football and basketball players to ‘attend’ in order to keep their APR on the good side of things.  UNC handed out grades to these players as well to keep them eligible.  This went on for…wait for it…OVER A DECADE!  The NCAA ruling?  Nothing…  These are facts people.  These aren’t speculation.  It is proven that the violations mentioned above took place.  My view?  UNC is a highly regarded academic institution with far reaching and deep pocketed alumni.  Why even wait for ALL the facts to come out before making a ruling?  Let’s just go ahead and say everything is ok to us (the NCAA).

                In conclusion, the NCAA can be equated to our current government (oh God, he mentioned politics!).  Do what the people that have the most money say.  I’ll save the political rant for later when my fellow writers have time to respond.  But back to college sports.  Memphis?  Smaller D-1 school, hammer them.  UK?  Always cheated throughout history and we hate Calipari.  Investigate everything after the fact so we can vacate wins.  Penn State?  This is all over the news and internet.  We have to do something here in order to set a precedent that we will hammer schools even though, in this case, we have no jurisdiction honestly.  UNC?  Nah, let’s let academic fraud slide.  Another funny thing to think of; the NCAA took the time and man power to send a letter to Calipari condemning UK’s celebration of his 500^th win….  Now you tell me there isn’t a need to get rid of the NCAA and try to start over with a credible group of people that aren’t making 7 figures while the people they sanction make nothing.

Disclaimer:  I am a UK fan, obviously.  I just don’t have the time or drive to look into all the other shortcomings of the NCAA.

PICK TIME!

Last year I didn’t fair too great in the game of picking winners and losers (for fun of course!  No actual betting!)  Hope you didn’t listen to me, and if you did my apologies.  Send all grievance emails to C’monMan@thisyearwillbedifferent.com.  But I’m back with a year under my belt, and new fervor for making good decisions.  So here we go.

NC State vs. Tennessee (-3.5)

Take NC State on the ML(+145)

Tennessee is awful.  I’m not buying this Tyler Bray hype wagon I’ve seen in the past couple of days.  Not to discredit UK’s win against them last year, but if you can only find the end zone once against the awful UK defense from last year, no one should be talking about your team (Except possibly that puke orange homer Clay Travis).

Boise St vs. Michigan St (-7)

Take Boise St at +7.5

Boise has lost a lot since last year…A LOT.  But they are still Boise St.  They find ways to win.  Look for Boise to get down early by 10-14, then make a Fiesta like comeback to win by 3 or lose by 3.  Michigan St. is another overhyped Big Ten media machine.

Auburn vs. Clemson (-3)

Take Auburn on the ML(+130)

Ditto from what my fellow football enthusiast stated earlier.  SEC vs. ACC?  SEC all day.

Michigan vs. Alabama (-14)

Take Alabama at -14

A top ten matchup with this kind of spread?  What is Vegas smoking?  Oh, nothing you say?  That’s right, they are sober because Michigan is about like Arkansas.  When everyone saw the preseason poll there was a collective “WTF?” heard around the country.

                So there you have week one in a nutshell.  Good luck in your endeavors and may you be blessed with extra ‘credits’ for the games at Dave and Buster’s.

NCAA Record (0-0)

NFL Record (0-0)

Disclaimer:  See below in previous post