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“Heroes Coming & Going”

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1-great one will be back in the spotlight today.
1-great one will be put into the ground and laid to rest today.

Tiger Woods, the one you know.
Bud Moore, the one you should know.

Tiger is back on the Pro Golf landscape, teeing off today in the Bahamas Open, hoping he will be able to recapture some of his past glory, after all his problems.

Bud Moore will be buried with full honors today in North Carolina, a name the US might not know, but a man everyone who follows NASCAR auto racing reveres.

Woods life has been on a downhill ski slope for years. He has 79-career wins but none since 2014. His last Grand Slam event was here at Torrey Pines, when he won the US Open playing with a fractured leg.

His career has been derailed like much of his personal life. 4-back surgeries, the DUI arrest and the admittance to abuse of painkillers. His ugly divorce after his run of adulteress relationships.

Woods lost his wife, kids, credibility and sponsors. He career successes in his rear view mirror. His flaws, addictions, lies, coverups, out there for everyone to see.

And now he sees if he can recapture any of his golf magic, healthy, and clean of all the painkiller addictions that haunted him.

Moore was one of the original ‘good old boys’ from the deep south. But he was so much more than just a NASCAR engine builder and then successful owner.

Moore left Dixie to join up in World War II. He was in the Batle of the Bulge, won 2-Bronze Stars for heroism, and 5-Purple Hearts.

He came home to do what his heart told him to do. Build race car engines, get into ownership, become a superstar at the tracks in the Deep South.

In his era, he hired and won with a litany of Hall of Fame drivers. The Honor Roll includes Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Buck Baker, Cale Yarborough, and two who lost their lives racing for him Fireball Roberts and Joe Weatherly.

Tiger Woods and Bud Moore. Their signatures forever touching the sports they loved. One hopes to live on. The other leaves us forever.

An interesting day ahead of us.

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“Tennessee-Terrible Times-Guilt by Association”

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Pick an adjective-adverb, and it likely fits the storyline-datelined Knoxville.

Anger…Bitterness…Unfairness….Classless.

The University of Tennessee is reeling, on the football field, and now off the football field.

The Volunteers, who gave us Robert Neyland, Johnny Majors and Phil Fulmer as great head coaches, has done an injustice to another coach.

Greg Schiano, a protege of Bill Belicheck, who rebuilt the woeful Rutgers Scarlet Knights, and is now at Ohio State, has now lost an opportunity to return to big time coaching.

UT has backed out on a deal to hire him to fix all the things wrong in the Vols program.

The SEC school caved under a mountain of criticism on social media over the hiring of Schiano, instigated by twitter followers, who believe Schiano knew, or should have known, about the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal in the 1980s, when he was part of the Joe Paterno coaching staff at Penn State.

The program that brought down the legendary Paterno, led to a 30-to-60 year prison sentence to Sandusky for years of abue of teenage boys on campus and in football camps.

Assistant coach Mike McQueary has been paid 12.6M as a settlement in a whistleblower lawsuit.

The schools President, Gerry Spanier, the AD, and VP of security are all serving 3-to-6 month prison terms for not acting quicker on the information they received when McQueary first pointed at Sandusky for wrong doing.

The entire assistant coaching staff was stained, though many have found other coaching jobs.

The year long probe by a law firm, cleared virtually all the other assistants of any knowledge of what was happening on that campus and in those football camps Sandusky worked.

It cleared Schiano, who cooperated fully, though his name was being mentioned in the report, that he did talk to the beach committee.

And now years later, as Schiano tries to get another job, he gets stained, not by the scandal, but the angry spillage of venom on social media.

It has brought rage from those closest to Schiano, who was also a head coach of the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Belicheck says a ‘mob mentality-undermine the character of a good coach-saying he as 100% respect and zero reservations about the man”

Urban Meyer, Ohio State’s head coach, called him an ‘elite father-coach-man’ and told the same thing to UT as a reference.

Penn State’s head of the Board of Trustees echoed the same comments in a letter after the scandal broke.

It is indeed a different time we live in. An age of Donald Trump tweets, scandals here there and everywhere, and doubt about everyone on anything.

It’s an Angry America that tweets 240-characters of condemnation without the true information.

The next tweet should be about the ‘lack of spine’ of the leadership at Tennessee, which said it vetted all the data possible before hiring Schiano. Now they back off based on rumor-innuendo-smears.

If he was good enough to coach for Bill Belicheck and Urban Meyer, he should have been allowed to coach the Volunteers.

Instead he has to live thru a personal hell because Twitter America thinks ‘guilt by association is connectable charge.

Maybe he has a right to sue for interference of a contract to take the job. Maybe he should sue. But maybe it would remind us all of the horrible hurt from the era at infected Penn state.

But maybe Greg Schiano does not want to get down in the gutter, to fight thru all the slime of this story.

The gutter, where everyone wearing Volunteer Orange and White, resides these days.

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“Division 1-Basketball-Not What It Seems to Be”

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I guess we should say “congrats” for all the hard work long time UCSD Athletic Director Earl Edwards did, in laying the ground work to take his 23-sports athletic program into Division 1-status.

Congrats to the students for passing the bill to help co-fund scholarships for its athletic teams.

Congrats also to all the Olympic sports programs at UCSD for the success on the field, and the opportunities given its student-athletes.

But where does this exciting news, the Tritons heading to the Big West Conference, actually lead?

Basketball will now carry the banner for the academic institution with the beautiful campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

But how will UCSD compete in the 10-team Big West basketball arena?.

It’s nice to say you are lining up to play known programs like Long Beach State, Fullerton, Cal-Irvine, who in their past decades, have gotten invites to the NCAA tourney.

It’s great to say you will match talents and academics with respected schools like UCSB.

It’s nice to have road trips for athletes to Hawaii too.

And of course there will be some regional ties with Riverside-Bakersfield and the likes.

For the Big West Conference, this has meaning too, for they will now be at 11-schools going forward., with Cal State Bakersfield joining the Tritons as conference expansion members.

But please tell me how UCSD will compete for athletes when you consider the academic requirements to get on campus in LaJolla.

The Beach…Fullerton…UCI all take Division 1-bouncebacks. They also take JUCO transfers. Many of them would never meet the qualifications to get into an Ivy League atmosphere that UCSD has.

The opening night rosters of the key basketball powers in the conference showed Fullerton with players from Toronto, China, Slovenia, Czechoslovakia, and 5-transfers on the roster.

Long Beach State has 6-transfers, including 3-JUCOs and 3-Division 1-bouncebacks.

Cal Irvine has 1-major college transfer.

The Tritons should have pursued a conference with similar academic standing, the West Coast Conference, a consortium of strong academic schools, with classy athletic histories and priorities..

At least they’d be on even ground with the standards at USD…Gonzaga …Pepperdine and Loyola….and other WCC schools..

It sounds great to say “Big West Conference”….but will it be great to say, Tritons (3-28) in Division 1-basketball?

I wish I could say “‘be careful what you wish for”…and I don’t want to throw cold water on all the great work UCSD’s leaders have done.

This will be very hard, and they will have to work very hard to convince me they can compete with all these other schools…in the real sport that counts in the conference-basketball.

Big West basketball schools want guys who can score 21-points a game. UCSD want’s guys with 3.8-GPAs. I just don’t know how they will mesh together.

You think Division 1-you think March Madness, and Duke-North Carolina and tradition. You know what San Diego State has become, and how hard it was to flip the Aztecs into something special.

Division 1-basketball is not what you think….especially when you don’t win….especially when you are UCSD and your mailing address will be Big West Conference.

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“Lots of Turkey-Lots of Football”

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Now that was a pretty good Thanksgiving we had around the TV set and in stadiums. A weekend full of football and fine food.

CHARGERS…The team is playing well, and yes a (5-6) record, has put them into second place in a collapsing AFC-West. They’ve only beaten two teams with winning records, the failing Cowboys and Bills, But they are getting big plays from Philp Rivers and Keenan Allen. The quarterback has stopped turning the ball over. His receive has 23-catches the last two games. And the pass rush remains fierce. Of course they cannot run the ball a lick, but they are keeping the QB-clean, at least better this year, than the past four.

BRONCOS…Oh it’s easy to blame the young QBs, and then fire the offensive coordinator, Mike McCoy, but fans should be firing shots too at General Manager John elway. His decision on the players on the roster. The leaky offensive line. The lack of a quality tight tend. The lack of burners at wideout too.

CHIEFS….Everything has gone off track for Andy Reid. Alex Smith used to manage games. Now they need him to win games. And his offensive line is poor. They dont have enough quality at wide out opposite opposite Tyreek Hill. The run game has gone away. This is a tailspin of epic proportions.

RAIDERS…They could still be dangerous before this is all done, but then again, maybe not, when you consider they have just one interception on the season, opposing QBs hitting on 73% of their passes, and a running game that is spotty at best.

CFL…They played the championship game in the snow last night in Ottawa, with Calgary-Toronto fighting to move the ball on a snow caked field, in the cold, and wind. Fun to watch, not much fun to play in but the sold out-stadium, loaded with bundled up fans, enjoyed

AZTECS…A (10-2) season is a success. Up next, maybe a chance to beat a 3rd team from the PAC-12, if the Aztecs wind up in the Foster Farms Bowl against Washington State, as has been rumored Sunday night. It was a vintage Rashaad Penny day, 203-yards, as State pulled ways from a really poor New Mexico team. Really disappointed only 28,000 fans (more likely) 24,000 showed up. The town still has not embraced a really good San Diego State program.

MOUNTAIN WEST…Only this conference, which has a history of bad decisions, could out do itself in what is happening. Fresno State beat up Boise State on Saturday night…and now will face them again this coming Sunday in the championship game. Last year, the Aztecs played Wyoming twice in a 3-week span in winning the title. Where to play the game? Home town advantage? Neutral sight? Warm weather Sasn Diego? Would anyone come? And of course the on going debate about the lousy TV deal with CBS.

USD…The little train that could, did it again.. The Toreros thumping of Northern Arizona in the opening game of the FCS (1AA) playoffs. Superb defense by the Toreros, strong passing game from QB-Anthony Lawrence, and a (10-2) record as they head to North Dakota State for next weeks second round game.

ALABAMA…The Crimson Tide fell apart, got beat up, were dominated, and just do not look like a typical Nick Sasban team.

AUBURN…Some month of November down there on the plains. The Tigers knocked out #1-ranked Georgia a couple of weeks ago, then duplicated it again on Saturday against Bama. Got both those wins at Jordan Hare Stadium. The wheels could fall off the carriage next week in the rematch in the SEC title game against Georgia.

NOTRE DAME…Guess they were never for real, getting beat twice in the last three weeks. So much for being ranked in the top five.

OHIO STATE…Hughe comeback win over Michigan, though costly injuries along the way. The emotional win over Penn State then the ambush loss at Iowa. And of course Urban Meer complaining about the sidelines situation in Ann Arbor saying might have caused in QB’s knee injury.

MIAMI….Cold weather…over-confident…how do the unbeaten Hurricanes lose on the road to sub-500-Pitt. Maybe they were never a dominant team, but the rankings have been littered with upsets every week.

GEORGIA…This may be big boy football at its best. The Bulldogs are three deep at running back and will be favored in the SEC title game and will be in the final four for the playoffs.

CLEMSON…Not blowing anyone out, since the departure of Deshaun Watson and Mike Williams and Wayne Gallman, but here they are (11-1), waiting for an invite to the final four.

OKLAHOMA…The Sooners are (11-1) and explosive and will be a work warrior come playoff time.

THE QUARTERBACKS….Waiting game about to begin with Josh Rosen-UCLA and Sam Darnold-USC to see if they leave school for the NFL draft, or come back for another year.

THE COACHES…Some weekend too, for coaching changes. Texas A&M, Florida, UCLA, Tennessee, Nebraska, Arizona State, Oregon State, Arkansas, all dumping coaches with big buyouts, and now filling jobs in a 72-hour span. At last count, 17-Division 1-football jobs opened up, and quickly to be filled up .

UP NEXT…The final CFP rankings…and the Bowl choices. Going to be a fun December.

Some Thanksgiving, full of turkey and football.

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Lee Hamilton
4:32 PM (5 hours ago)

to me
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“Death Sentence in Baseball”

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It happened a year ago to the Cardinals.

Now it’s happened again, this time to the Atlanta Braves.

A year ago, MLB unloaded on the St. Louis Cardinals, when their scouting director was caught hacking into the Houston Astros scouting files, stealing information from their computer system.

It has led to a jail sentence for the head of scouting, a massive fine to the Cardinals.

The St Louis official took scouting reports…internal memos….emails between Astros club officials….medical reports….notes on trade conference calls and contract negotating lists plus more.

it was pretty sleazy.

And now the hammer has fallen on the Atlanta Braves, for ‘egregious’ violations of the new International Signing Cap rules.

Braves GM-John Coppolello was suspended for life by baseball for 3-years worth of violations.

Dealing in Latin America has always been sordid, and baseball has had its hands full setting up rules for agents, trainers, black market drug dealing, falsified documents, birth certificates and more.

The Braves had developed a rogue blueprint of violating the spending cap.

They could write ‘bonus checks’ for agents, to convince the Latin American players to sign ‘below slot’ contracts, so the club could overspend to sign another player in a bidding war.

They gave kickbacks to agents who delivered a package of players, a star, and a couple of others, at under slotted figures.

They tampered with 14-and-15 years olds, advancing them money, to guarantee when they turned 16-they would sign with Atlanta.

They bought cars and apartments for families of player, who would sign for below slot amounts, but would make it up with the perks the club was giving them.

They did the same deals for US-draft picks on at least once occasion.

They filed phony documents three years in a row detailing how much they spent on International signings-misreporting each year, so they could spend more the next year.

And then it all came tumbling down. Turned in by honest Latin American scouts, and execs from other clubs who had suspicions after the Braves signed blue chipper after blue chipper.

Atlanta will pay a severe price, worse than the Cardinals exec paid.

The GM is gone for life from the game.

His lead assistant is out of baseball for a year.

As many at 10-international scouts, couriers, will be disciplined.

The top 12-international players the Braves signed over the last thee years, have been declared free agents, including 4.5M-shortstop Kevin Maitan.

The top four players in the class of 2016 have been declared free agents.

The Braves had had their international signing pools slashed by 50% for three straight years. They have 2M a year to spend, most everyone else in excess of 5M

They will be limited to giving only 10,000-dollar bonuses to any player over the next four years. The going rate of big money Latin players are 3-to-4M per year.

They will be banned from signing the top player they had tampered with, when he became eligible in 2019.

They’ve been stripped of a high pick in the 2018-US based draft.

It’s pretty severe, but then what Atlanta’s GM did was pretty severe too, in terms of violations.

It you aim’t cheating, you aim’t trying, the old phrase goes. You get caught cheating in baseball, you might get your hands cut off.

Braves GM-John Coppolello should introduce himself to Pete Rose, both on baseball’s suspended list. They can have coffee with Chris Correa, the Cardinals scouting director, once he gets out of prison.

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