AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > March > 29 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USToday’s Final Four countown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
10: Yeah, I’m getting a little tired of counting down, too. My kingdom for a tipoff. I mean, this is sort of like waiting for “Anna Nicole: The Lost Physics Exams,” or the NCAA giving the nod to academics over athletics. (Hey, transition!)
9: Had to admire NCAA President Myles Brand on Thursday for saying he was concerned about the meteoric rise of some coaches’ salaries (see: Nick Saban now; maybe Billy Donovan soon). Quoth Brand: “Is this the appropriate thing to do in the context of college sports?” But, like: Pot, meet Kettle. The words would carry more weight if they weren’t coming from the head of perhaps the most hypocritical organization in athletics.
8: You might remember in 2005 when the NCAA passed what it considered a “landmark” academic reform package to, in Brand’s words, “reinforce the idea that student-athletes are students first.” Now there’s a concept. We all have lofty goals. Personally, I’m for world peace. But a few months after that announcement, the NCAA rubber-stamped its approval for college football teams playing a 12th game. That effectively wiped out a potential bye week for the sake of revenue and increased physical and emotional wear on said “student”-athletes. Then again, it fell in line with other grab-the-money-and-run decisions, which has led to wonderful things like 10 p.m. tipoffs.
March Madness in Atlanta:
Check out the AJC’s Final Four page7: Look, I’ve got no problem with people making money. I’d like to do it myself someday. But if the NCAA is going to continue to act like a professional sports outlet, just shed the amateur see-through cape and pay the athletes. That won’t happen, though, because Brand doesn’t see anything wrong with the NCAA’s decision-making and, in fact, denies that academics have been compromised (we pause for a moment of silent reflection).
6: Brand: “One of the frustrations we have is when people get their facts wrong. Academics have improved. Kids are doing better, not worse. The facts are that, academically, they’ve done better since we added the 12th game.”
5: I wasn’t even going to ask for the data. Numbers can be spun. If graduation rates and/or grades really have risen, imagine the ramifications of an official saying: “No, we won’t take the money. Our kids need more time to study.” And Brand might want to know that the last time I checked with a few coaches and athletics directors on the NCAA’s decision making, rolled eyes were looking back at me.
4: OK, the NCAA doesn’t make money on everything. Practice is free today. Greg Oden will be the really big guy, hoping to not be a Hawk.
3: It’s hard not to like Tubby Smith as a person or a coach. But does anybody really believe he was completely oblivious to his agent entertaining other coaching offers for six weeks?
2: And then there was the small college in Boca Raton (Lynn University) where students get three class credits for passing, “The Final Four Experience.” It’s part of a sports-management degree. They stay in a hotel, go to basketball (Final Four), hockey (Thrashers) and baseball (Georgia Tech) games and then go home. Supposedly, there is homework involved. But I think we’ve seen this before in Athens.
1: Hey, wait, that’s my job.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Final Four, Jeff Schultz
Comments
By Gene
March 29, 2007 9:07 PM | Link to this
There was a bigger outcry around Lexington to fire Tubby than there ever was to keep him. He would have been stupid not to look around.
By JSS
March 29, 2007 9:36 PM | Link to this
at 7:54PM on 3/29, the NO TALENT HACK reappeared from his underground bunker… Again he piggybacked on someone elses story!!! So much like Al Gonzales, the end is NEAR!!! Here’s a suggestion, send your résumé to the following place: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 200 North Cushman Street Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 I think I can collect enough to ship you and your brood there… I promise not to plant any bear bait in your comb-over if you go voluntarily…
It is 9:35PM and JEFF SCHULTZ IS STILL A NO TALENT HACK!!!
By steve
March 30, 2007 7:50 AM | Link to this
funny how brand stated that kids have done better academically since adding extra games, but they don’t think they could give up playing a beatmybutt tech to have some sort of playoff
By Matthew At The SLC
March 30, 2007 10:36 AM | Link to this
Someone needs to send Miles Brand and Michael Adams to UGA Costa Rica for a year, lock them in the house that Adams built down there for the university (I mean rich boosters), and see who can survive.
My bet Jeff, is both of them will suffocate under a pile of all the $hit they both tend to shovel every time they open their mouths.
Anyone else want to bet against me?
By stevethehawk
March 30, 2007 12:04 PM | Link to this
JSS,
chill out man, its just a column. Dont let it get you so fired up. I am sure you have better things to yell and scream about.
Why do you care so much about Schultz?
By JSS
March 30, 2007 12:29 PM | Link to this
Dude,
You think I sitting at a raging, eyes buldging out, crazed, and foaming out the mouth when I write this? Well, the is NO!!!
However, Jeff Scultz is a NO TALENT HACK. He steals the ideas of other people and never credits them for the ideas taken. He defames people in column(s) and is NEVER MAN ENOUGH to come back and apologize once the TRUTH comes out. And any so-called man that goes around degrading 19 to 22 year old cheerleaders is NO MAN AT ALL!!!
And the COMB-OVER KING thinks Ann Coulter is (or was) hot!!! That is reason enough to condemn him…
Time is 12:30PM, and Jeff Schultz is still A NO TALENT HACK!!!
By Chop Chop
March 30, 2007 2:37 PM | Link to this
Jeff, JSS has you on the Coulter thing. Sorry, dude.
By dawg
March 30, 2007 3:43 PM | Link to this
Hey, I got a thang for brainy scrawny chicks myownself.
By JSS
March 30, 2007 10:31 PM | Link to this
I see we found the three mentally repressed men responsible for Paris Hilton and Ann Coulter… Good luck sharing those skeezers with the Saudi 19 in Paradise BOYS!!!