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Death blow for NCAA
Wow. And “What The Bleepin’ Bleep?”
Side question: WTBB deserves a question mark or an exclamation point? Discuss.
You know where we’re going with this.
A sympathetic judge granted Brendan Sorsby an injunction which allows him the chance to play his final year of college football.
Yes, the legal appeal process is far from over. Yes, Sorsby hired the Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday of legal arguing in NCAA matters. Yes, the judicial roster in the Lone Star State is loaded with Texas Tech alums.
But how does this happen for folks without juris doctorates but enough IQ points to realize to a) come in out of the rain and b) if you gamble on your team — legally or illegally — you are going to get the boot.
This is not that hard people.
But it is that important.
The NCAA will be completely cooked if this stands. If the NCAA can’t enforce anything more than a two-game suspension — somewhere Pat Dye is smiling since Sorsby misses games against Abilene Christian and Oregon State — for a college football player who admitted to betting on dozens of college football games, including his own team, then what can it ever enforce?
OK, the ripples here are huge and dangerous, and both of those are understatements at the core.
First the questions:
> Does this now set precedent that betting on your team would mean a two-game suspension? Seriously, because if a back-left guard — with limited NIL options — knows there are six OLs hurting and he’s about to start against a rival All-American and he has no shot, why not fire up FanDuel and make five figures?
> Does this end the NCAA as we know it? This is more detrimental to the governing body — as hollow and flawed as it has become over the last decade-plus — than every other “sky-is-falling” problem we have faced before today.
> Does this cause the rest of college sports to start governing themselves? Maybe. Georgia circulated a memo to its programs not to schedule Texas Tech. The Big Ten is discussing ways to “ban” Texas Tech from schedules across all sports in the future if this stands. And that makes sense. Texas Tech went to bat for a guy that everyone knows should have been ruled permanently ineligible, so what’s the line TTU is now unwilling to cross?
> What next rule, that some coach or program does not like because it could cost a star playing time, will be next to be rolled into a favorable judge’s courtroom to be overturned?
Now the statements:
> Hey, Congress, if you want to “protect” college sports, forget NIL and the portal and eligibility and address this, because this threatens everything at the soul of college sports. Truly. Because games without integrity — and even the cloud of conspiracy — are somewhere between pro rasslin’ and Broadway choreography.
> Hey legal system, wow. Someone’s got some ‘splainin’ to do to make this make sense to the rest of us.
> Hey, in a time when everyone is at odds — with everyone else and about almost everything else, especially in college sports — the universal outrage on this ruling was overwhelmingly telling to me. Truly.
Here’s more on that from ESPN, which also included this paragraph with an assortment of angst and anger:
“ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told ESPN the ruling represents a ‘horrendous pattern’ that is ‘eroding the integrity of our process.’ A Big 12 athletic director told ESPN that they are ‘disgusted’ and added: ‘We officially lost our soul.’ TCU coach Sonny Dykes told ESPN: ‘How is anyone ever going to trust the outcome of a game again?'”
Sad day for college sports, and again, not to overstate this, but this is the truth.
If this is not overturned in appeal, this will be the decision more than any other that truly kills the NCAA.
Knicks lose
Considering the circumstances and the pomp — and yes, pompousness of the crowd from POTUS to courtside — the Spurs winning Game 3 Monday night was pretty cool.
Victor Wembanyama — Unicorn 1B to Shohei’s Unicorn 1A in modern sports culture — was amazing for San Antonio. The 7-foot-5 Frenchman went 32-8-6 with three blocks as the Spurs grabbed a 115-111.
It was fun and entertaining. And man, there are few teams that universally band casual fans in rooting interest than the power to unite folks against them on the biggest stages than those from NYC.
It led Knicks coach Mike Brown to do the ultimate loser retort and blame the refs and the free throw disparity. (Side note: At least 95% of the time in my experience, the more aggressive and more drive-to-the-basket-focused team — and the Spurs were both of those — get more free throws. And 95% may be low.)
Hey, coach, be a mirror for your locker room, and when the mirror starts the “refs don’t like us” belly-aching, then the whispers become rumbles and the distractions become significant.
But now it feels like a series. At least a lot more than it did 24 hours ago.
World Cup
OK, most regulars around here know I feel next to nothing for soccer. I have tried to refrain from calling it kickball, because a) the complaints became angry, b) it felt a bit overdone and c) kickball is actually fun to play for everyday folks.
But we’re not calling it football. Not now, not ever. Even if the name makes all the sense in the world.
Where were we?
Ah yes, the most backhanded-complimentary intro to my World Cup praise ever.
Because the World Cup kicks off in North America in about two days, and I am genuinely excited.
Look, I know some of you watch soccer whenever possible. Heck, some of you call it the beautiful game. To which I fully say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
This is on the level of the Olympics and, on a smaller scale for golf, the Ryder Cup, in that it brings out the national sports pride in sports fans around the globe.
And I’m 100% all in for that. Or even 1000% depending on who you ask, especially compared to my previous level of soccer interest.
And maybe that’s the thing.
It’s the stakes and stage. It’s the fans and the fantastic feelings. It’s the game and the glory. It’s everything we want in sports, just magnified exponentially.
So count me in for the World Cup. All of it.
Then I will got back into soccer hibernation for another four years.
And that’s OK. Do the same thing with most winter sports every four years and a whole lot of the summer Olympic stuff from the pool to the gymnastics to fencing and so much else.
War World Cup. Wait… maybe not considering the global theater around this sporting theater for the globe.
This and that
> Speaking of Game 3, President Trump was booed loudly and noticeably during the anthem before the Spurs’ win. And you know, for all the gas prices, war issues, partisan politics and everything else about his day job, every fan in MSG had every reason to boo considering the carnival — and painful procedures — that surrounded Trump’s attendance.
> If a UFL game is played and no one watches does it really happen? That’s more big-picture for the deeper thinkers like Chas and Spy. For us, the UFL is going to have at least some ripples since a) kicker Tanner Brown made two 60-yarders in the same game, which will assuredly earn him a trip up the alphabet from the UFL to the NFL, and b) those 60-yarders are worth four points rather than the traditional three.
> Baylor School alum Nick Kurtz is a bona fide superstar. Kurtz homered twice Monday for the A’s. Man, Kurtz is going to look great in Dodger Blue in the near future.
> Braves return to action again tonight.
> Best story you may not have heard about was Trey Mancini returning to MLB on Monday night. Mancini was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2020. He recovered but was released in 2023. In his first big-league at-bat in three years Monday he smacked an RBI single much to the delight of his Angels teammates. Here’s more.
> It’s a long way to Week 1 in college football, but man, UT portal prize Chaz Coleman has already had quite the ride in KnoxVegas with the Vols football program. Coleman’s status with Josh Heupel’s crew seems best-described as ‘iffy’ with a capitalized ffy.
> Nic Smith, a 20-year-old University of Kentucky defensive lineman, died, the school announced Monday. Rest easy Nic, and this is heartbreaking for someone so young.
> Also, Chuck Barkley’s analysis of the halftime show by Cardi B was priceless.
Today’s questions
True or false, it’s Tuesday. Morning Ernie.
True or false, the Sorsby ruling will be overturned on appeal.
True or false, the NFL should adopt the four-point scoring for 60-plus-yard field goals.
True or false, you are rooting for the Spurs, or shall I say, rooting against the Knicks.
True or false, Nick Kurtz and DGG will eventually be on the Rushmore of all-time Baylor School professional athletes.
As for today, June 9, let’s review.
Secretariat won the Triple Crown on this day in 1973.
Dick Vitale is 87 today. Hope you are well Dickie V.
Nice trio of thespians celebrate birthdays today. Michael J. Fox is 65. Johnny Depp is 63. Natalie Portman is 45.
Does the last one make the Rushmore of Natalie, real or fictional?