MID-WEEK MINI-RAP SHEET, or THE MISSING LINK! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Items of criminal and/or disciplinary nature are routinely held here for the weekend roundup, but when coaches of mega-programs on both coasts are issuing evasive statements or avoiding reporters outright on the same night days before players officially report for practice, as the otherwise odd couplish Larry Coker and Pete Carroll, respectively, were Tuesday, that is sufficiently news to SMQ.
The situation in Miami is more routine: four players, including projected starters Tyrone Moss and quasi-bust (busty?) Ryan Moore, were suspended under the omnipresent "team rules" umbrella for the big bang Labor Day opener against Florida State (in Moore's case, for Game Two against Florida A&M as well, for whatever that's worth). The Miami Herald story is rebuffed for details by Coker, but quotes a TV reporter, and then Moore's mother, as saying the suspensions stem from the same missed study sessions that caused him to miss the Peach Bowl debacle, which have been made up. Ryan's OK with that, which means his momma's OK with that, and that's good enough for SMQ.
In unrelated news, all-America safety Brandon Meriweather remains slated to start a little over a month after fruitlessly firing three times on an unidentified shooter who plugged teammate Willie Cooper in the butt, a reaction that elicited but a Bowden-esque lecture to the team. Coker puts UM's integrity first!
- - - - - Did you ever miss a study session at Miami, Michael?
The bigger news will be out West, where the L.A. Daily News sniffed around and found more than meets the eye to last week's abrupt departure from the team by the Ting Brothers, originally spun as a very respectable shift in focus towards medical school:
Bad enough, by NCAA regulation and conventional sports ethics, but then the rilly big angle, the element that could make its way into the federal judicial system or, like, a SportsCenter "InFocus" segment, and already has the Trojan-haters at Bruins Nation pretty much flipping out, per usual, with glee at the ramifications:
So: in the equation Barry Bonds+Arthur Ting+x=OMG Steroid Abuse!, does x=Ting's kids?
Es possible. First, let's ask: "Multiple sources" = who? No one at all in the story is quoted as saying either of the Tings' departure was related to illegal substances, much less an expert or well-positioned "insider." No documents are provided to this effect or any other. After the first cannon blast sentence, in fact, there is no new information whatsoever in the L.A. Daily News. Less than three weeks after another, much more detailed and extremely well-sourced "bombshell" scandal story seems to have fizzled into a relative dud (at least where the gridiron-related interests are concerned), conjecture in this case is premature.
Ubiquitous, no doubt, but premature.
Click here for SMQ's wishy-washy opinion on randomly testing athletes for steroids from April.
WELCOME...
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And don't let the name fool ya - second guessing the phenomenal athletic feats and split-second decisions of college kids under extreme physical duress is for every day of the week.
AWWW!! The totally nicest people, like, ever!...
How much football does he watch? Dude's got insights on -everybody-, and by everybody, I mean everybody. Throw in some of the best writing in the blogosphere, and we're talking about a daily must-read.
- Burnt Orange Nation
SMQ starts to sound more and more like the Gregg Easterbrook of our ideal memories every day - whip-smart, systematic, omnivorous in his intellectual tastes and yet unafraid of the cheap joke.
- Every Day Should Be Saturday
Sunday Morning Quarterback is one of our favorite football blogs on the internet.
- State Fans Nation
Sunday Morning Quarterback is a killer football blog if you are a college football junkie. It is run by one of the most thoughtful, intelligent, and analytical writers in the college football blogosphere...The guy is thorough and detailed and provides a level of analysis you are not going to find anywhere else .
- Bruins Nation
Just another hack writer who hasn't done one lick of research...
- SOT2
...the pride of Southern Mississippi ever since Brett Favre turned into an ESPN soap opera, has the sort of prose knack that can keep you riveted to a preview about any one of D-IA's scrubbier members ... should be given gifts.
- MGoBlog
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Es possible. First, let's ask: "Multiple sources" = who? No one at all in the story is quoted as saying either of the Tings' departure was related to illegal substances, much less an expert or well-positioned "insider." No documents are provided to this effect or any other. After the first cannon blast sentence, in fact, there is no new information whatsoever in the L.A. Daily News. Less than three weeks after another, much more detailed and extremely well-sourced "bombshell" scandal story seems to have fizzled into a relative dud (at least where the gridiron-related interests are concerned), conjecture in this case is premature.
