Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Checking In
There hasn't been much going on this week and I've been swamped at work (I usually blog on my lunch break), but I thought I should at least check in. Let's take a second to see where we're at...
Maurice Clarrett and Ohio State University is the big scandal de jour. I'm not sure I believe every word of Clarrett's account, but I'm sure most of it is probably true. With the way he makes out the proud alumni and "friends" of the Ohio St. football program, perhaps Clarrett should be entering the Witness Protection Program following his tell-all interview for ESPN The Magazine. Seriously, if this Buckeye mafia can routinely line their birdcages with the NCAA rule book, who's to say they couldn't arrange a well-timed whack job on the canary that Clarrett has turned out to be? If the NCAA finds that these allegations are true, they will certainly suffer strict sanctions and will undoubtedly lose millions. This is the situation in mobster movies when guys get a piano wire necklace. According to Clarrett, they stabbed him in the back once to save their butts; who's to say they won't do it again--literally--to shut him up? Maurice, you might wanna lay low for a while.
As much as it saddens me, I am glad that the corruption of college football is being exposed here as it was at the University of Colorado. If everybody keeps on getting away with it, nothing is ever going to change. Then again, this is not the first time something like this has come out and regardless of what happens to Ohio State, it surely won't be the last.
So what do we make of young Maurice in all this? Is he a hero to college athletics for pulling back the curtain on a backstage show of backstabbing and glad-handing? Was he justified in spilling the buckeyes after the way the program seemingly sold him out or does this make him a "squealer," never to be trusted by teammates or franchises again? I suspect most players who have witnessed the underbelly of college sports firsthand will not hold it against Maurice, even if they don't lend their full support.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With Scott Boras' list of superclients, he holds the fate of many teams in his hands. Don't think he doesn't know it either, supposedly asking for 10-year, $20 million-per deals for Beltre and Beltran. Of course, no player is worth such an asking price, but the sad thing is that someone (see Yankees) will almost definitely end up paying it and the scale will be jacked up to an even more proposterous level. What's the over/under on years until a book titled "Scott Boras: The Man Who Killed Baseball" is published? I'll put it at fifteen and I'll take the under.
Well, that's all for now, folks; duty calls. Look for posts every five to ten minutes once baseball's offseason hot stove gets cooking.
|
Maurice Clarrett and Ohio State University is the big scandal de jour. I'm not sure I believe every word of Clarrett's account, but I'm sure most of it is probably true. With the way he makes out the proud alumni and "friends" of the Ohio St. football program, perhaps Clarrett should be entering the Witness Protection Program following his tell-all interview for ESPN The Magazine. Seriously, if this Buckeye mafia can routinely line their birdcages with the NCAA rule book, who's to say they couldn't arrange a well-timed whack job on the canary that Clarrett has turned out to be? If the NCAA finds that these allegations are true, they will certainly suffer strict sanctions and will undoubtedly lose millions. This is the situation in mobster movies when guys get a piano wire necklace. According to Clarrett, they stabbed him in the back once to save their butts; who's to say they won't do it again--literally--to shut him up? Maurice, you might wanna lay low for a while.
As much as it saddens me, I am glad that the corruption of college football is being exposed here as it was at the University of Colorado. If everybody keeps on getting away with it, nothing is ever going to change. Then again, this is not the first time something like this has come out and regardless of what happens to Ohio State, it surely won't be the last.
So what do we make of young Maurice in all this? Is he a hero to college athletics for pulling back the curtain on a backstage show of backstabbing and glad-handing? Was he justified in spilling the buckeyes after the way the program seemingly sold him out or does this make him a "squealer," never to be trusted by teammates or franchises again? I suspect most players who have witnessed the underbelly of college sports firsthand will not hold it against Maurice, even if they don't lend their full support.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With Scott Boras' list of superclients, he holds the fate of many teams in his hands. Don't think he doesn't know it either, supposedly asking for 10-year, $20 million-per deals for Beltre and Beltran. Of course, no player is worth such an asking price, but the sad thing is that someone (see Yankees) will almost definitely end up paying it and the scale will be jacked up to an even more proposterous level. What's the over/under on years until a book titled "Scott Boras: The Man Who Killed Baseball" is published? I'll put it at fifteen and I'll take the under.
Well, that's all for now, folks; duty calls. Look for posts every five to ten minutes once baseball's offseason hot stove gets cooking.
# posted by j.h.k. @ 1:54 PM 
