Every week during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.
U've Been Bad -- It seemed dormant for a while with the mediocrity coming from Tallahassee and Coral Gables, but perhaps rivalry football in Florida is back. A University of Miami commit was kicked out of a Florida-run football camp last week for allegedly flashing Miami's famous "The U" hand signal after several drills. Its unraveled into a he-said he-said drama concerning Florida's handling of his alleged actions, and his right as a paying participant.
If you're looking for an opinion we strangely don't have one, feeling rather stupid defending either side. The easy way out here is to blame who started it and move on. In this situation its alleged perp lineman Terry Parker. Sorry, big fella, you've been bad but here's to us seeing you on Saturdays stoking the flames between those two programs.
Nevada of the East -- Delaware wants it some sports gambling, something the entire apparatus of organized sport is opposed to. Apparently several of those bodies jointly filed a lawsuit last week to put the brakes on tiny Delaware's cash grab.
I understand the opposition to this and their arguments make sense, but at the same time we can't ignore that Nevada still has sanction for sports betting. And, personally, although sports gambling doesn't really interest me outside of the occasional day at the track, America is a big country and Nevada isn't what we would call easily accessible to a huge chunk of the population. Perhaps we should reconsider the various prohibitions and let slip another state or two.
More NCAA Worries -- Lets be clear, amateurism is dead. The NCAA has managed to effectively restrain most athletes from capitalizing on their own personal brand in the open market, but those days are dwindling. Dr. Saturday points out several pending lawsuits against the NCAA concerning their licensing of athletes' likenesses and other matters.
They may or may not win these and similar challenges, but they can't hold out forever. A reckoning is a long time coming and I hope for the organization's sake and that of collegiate athletics, they recognize it at some point in the near future and work effectively towards a new future that protects the athletes and preserves academic integrity but no longer pretends it can enforce amateurism.
2009 Is Great And All, But Lets Talk Next Year Already -- In a bit of a repeat of the 2004 "neutral" site meeting between USC and Virginia Tech, Boise State will travel east next year to open their season against Virginia Tech in the hornet's nest that will be FedEx field in Washington D.C. If they thought Georgia fans were tough between the Hedges, wait'll they experience the Hokie road show.
Meanwhile, LSU will challenge North Carolina in an SEC-ACC match for Chick-fil-A's College Kickoff.
He's Not 40, But He's A Man
The Lane Kiffin Show's taken a break from the animation ..
Overtime, Ball on the 25
-- The authority speaks, and doth proclaim Colt McCoy the early Heisman Trophy favorite.
-- Texas will honor former coach Darrell Royal by donning a special throwback uniform against rival Texas A&M.
Nike has designed a uniform that will be a special version of the traditional Longhorn white road uniform, including a patch honoring Royal and helmets in the style of Texas' first national championship team in 1963. The patch, featuring Royal's initials "DKR" will be on the players hips while the helmets will include each player's number above the Longhorn logo. The size of the word "Texas" on the front of the jersey also has been adjusted slightly to reflect the eras where the jersey numbers were larger and the school's name was not featured on the front
Amusingly, in its advanced stage of perpetual insecurity the program seeks to remind people unrelatedly of their 2005 championship in these releases, noting at the bottom:
Texas captured its fourth national title in 2005 when the No. 2 Longhorns knocked off No. 1 and two-time defending National Champion USC, 41-38, in the Rose Bowl.
Sports
That's great, and in the interval Florida, LSU and Florida again have won their own crowns.
-- USC folks are taking their digs at Lane Kiffin. Buyer beware.
-- Smart, if under the radar: The Sun Belt and Conference USA are offering full-color preview magazines. College football is a game of banter and discussion, conferences and programs need to be willing to fight in the PR game to get attention (without being over the top Kiffin at Tennessee level) and get notice or get left out.
No Football Camp for 'U' Men originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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