OTM Daily Action 2/22/14

Syracuse +6 @ Duke

Texas +10 vs. Kansas

Arizona -4 @ Colorado

New York Knicks +5 @ Atlanta

Bret Bielema's House of Cards

The ten second, slow down proposal for NCAA Football seems to be the story that never dies. Even though Nick Saban seems to be the popular face for this rule (even by Steve Spurrier), Arkansas Head Coach Bret Bielema is making a good case for it as well. However, he may be being a little more ridiculous about it.

Yesterday, Reports came out that quoted Bielema using the "death of a player" card.

In a Q&A with SI's Andy Staples, he explains why he said it:

 

 

"The reason I brought up the Cal player is this: We all have sickle cell players. To me, it's the most scary individual thing we face. There are no signs. There are no indicators. You test every one of your players when they come in. And there are players who come in that have no idea they have it. Then you've got to call the parents, sit the kid down and talk to them what it means -- what the possibilities of things happening are. It's a scary deal. But you contact the mom and dad and you tell them, listen, the one thing we'll do is we'll have our trainers locked into it. His coaches know. His position coach knows, and I know as the head coach. We're always going to be looking out for his well-being. You promise them that. I always make the guarantee when I'm in the parents' home. I say I can't guarantee playing time or a degree, but I'm going to guarantee that I'll help you get both. And the second thing I can guarantee is that I'll always look out for the safety and the well-being of your son. When you're halfway across the country, that means something. It means you're going to look out for their safety.

 

When this whole safety issue came up, everybody's thinking you're talking about knee injuries or hamstrings. I'm talking about the concussion crisis, sickle cell trait. This one [sickle cell trait] really scares you because you don't know when it's coming. The kids have difficulty breathing. They don't want to come out of practice or the game. All the ones I've ever been around, they want to stay in because they don't want their teammates to think they're quitting or stopping. What we began to rationalize is that when these players pass when they're involved in these conditioning drills, they pull themselves out of it or the trainer pulls them out of it because they're having difficulties. What if you're in the middle of the third or fourth quarter and you know that the kid standing 15 yards away from you or on the other side of the field has this trait. He's got this built-in possibility of something happening. Your doctors have told you about it. Your trainers have told you about it. He looks at you through those eyes or maybe the trainer even says, "Hey coach, you need to get him out of there." And you can't. You have no timeouts. He's not going to fake an injury. He's not going to fall down."

 

Wow! This kind of politicking would make Frank Underwood blush. According to a 2011 CDC Report, Sickle Cell affects 90,000 to 100,000 Americans. The Estimated Population of the United States is 316 Million.

 

I understand and fully respect the seriousness of this disease. However, this is very shallow politicking at best.

 

This is also the same guy who was whining about Urban Meyer's recruiting tactics when Meyer arrived at Ohio St.

 

Nice try Bret. Even though Nick Saban played the player safety card, we may have the call this the "Bielema Bitch Rule" after playing the death card. I'm not buying it.

UPDATE: Bielema has apologized to the family of Ted Aug, the Cal player cited in his remarks.

Sandy Barbour, AD at Cal, called Bielema's remarks "beyond insensitive".

I wouldn't go as far as insensitive. However, I would say they were very foolish in regards to tying it into a proposed rule change.

This could be a big blow to the pro-rule change crowd in getting crowd appeal, because it's obvious the pro-crowd is stretching.

After this stunt, I'd be shocked if the rule passed. Then again, look at who could decide it's fate.

 

LET THEM EAT PASTA, DAMNIT!!!!!

I know it's the fun, hip thing to rip the NCAA for lack of teeth to punishment, so on, so forth. But this next story just sets up for ridicule.

The University of Oklahoma self reported NCAA violations in regarding to hotel wifi, impermissible texts, and PASTA!

The funny thing I find about this, actually two things:

1) The violators were offensive lineman. I'm curious what the ration is in regards to pasta at a banquet. Is it one plate? Is it two scoops? And who the hell monitors this and why is it a violation?

2) In order for these players to get reinstated, a donation of $3.83 to their favorite charity was required.

Couldn't imagine how much it would have been if it had chicken in it.

As much as I oppose the paying for players because they get an educational benefit for playing in college, stupid rules like this by the NCAA makes it harder to argue against it.

Why would I want to play college football if my ineligibility will be in question over how much damn pasta I'd eat. It wasn't a Porterhouse steak for crying out loud.

Good job NCAA, you have once again proved why no one takes you seriously and why you're the punchline of most college headlines.

OTM Daily Action 2/20/14 (For Entertainment Purposes Only)

Hopefully my action will not be as disturbing as this new daggering trend that is happening at Jamaican night clubs.

Tonight's Action:

Houston -8.5 @ LA Lakers

Duke -1.5 @ North Carolina

Furman +14 @ Wofford

Might Be The Most Disturbing and Hilarious thing you'll ever see

Introducing the OTM 2014 Childhood Crush Bracket

It's been a while since I've been able to do this, and unlike the last one (Guy Movie Bracket), this one should be able to function much easier.

Introducing the 2014 OTM Childhood Crush Tournament for March Madness.

 

 

 



 

 

And that's just a sampling. Models, Athletes, etc are also elgible. But mainly what I want is nominations for crushes you had in your childhood. I will accept nominations until Championship Week, then we will do a poll and accept the Top 64 into the tournament (Seeds will be determined by number of poll votes). Throughout the NCAA Tournament, you will vote to settle the debate of greatest Childhood Crush of all time.

 

 

You can get your nominations in through Twitter, Facebook, and on my radio show 9-11a on SportsRadio 730 The UMP and 103.9FM!

 

OTM Daily Action 2/18/2014: Trifecta followed by Crazy 8's.

Last night I went 3 for 3 on the Daily Action. North Carolina, despite a 21-6 defecit, came back to defeat the Florida St. Seminoles. A 3-pointer by Oklahoma St at the buzzer turned out to be a blessing as Baylor was able to cover vs. the Cowboys. William and Mary over UNC-Wilmington was just easy money. So, like I always do, after a good day, I get a little greedy. Let's see if it pays off this time.

Your Daily Action for 2/18/14:

Butler +9 @ St. Johns

Washington -2.5 vs. Toronto

Wyoming -7 vs. Fresno St

Indiana +4 vs. Iowa

LA Clippers -4.5 vs. San Antonio

Clemson -5 @ NC State

Miami Heat -2 @ Dallas

Memphis -7 vs. New York

Cleveland Cavaliers -4 @ Philadelphia
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Nick Saban says he always wanted to be a Car Salesman, has no tolerance for lemons



Credit: AL.com/Credit: MBUSI/Butch Dill 

In this week's edition of Non-stories to file, there is a supposed lawsuit in regarding Nick Saban and ownership of a proposed Mercedes-Benz dealership. Crown Automobiles, out of Hoover, filed an intent to subpoena the Alabama Head Coach.

Here is the filing.

If you're asking why they would do such a thing, it's not because they're Auburn fans.

A Nick Saban owned dealership would generate buzz and influence in the state of Alabama. I'm sure that this dealership will have nothing but 5-star quality vehicles and Nick Saban probably has a low tolerance for lemons.

To take what would probably be a line from Clay Travis, only 15% could afford to buy a Benz from Nick Saban.

Crown is obviously in trouble, and competition is trying to park right by their front door.

Competition is the lifesource for great free enterprise and Crown obviously isn't confident enough to let it make them better.

This is nothing new in business, you sue to keep your competition from gaining momentum. And this is not the first time that Crown Automobiles has done this.

Should you be surprised that college football coaches would pursue business endeavors? If so, you're very naïve.

If this dealership does get built and happen, maybe Nick Saban won't reach out to the government to influence laws that make sports and luxury vehicles go from 0 to 60 in 10 seconds.

Couldn't resist.

Dee Hart.....at least that's his real name.

Photo via Birmingham News



Now former Alabama RB and 5-star prospect Dee Hart was arrested Sunday night in Tuscaloosa for possession of marijuana and giving law enforcement a false name.

It's one thing to get busted for pot, because it seems to be the norm in college football these days. However, giving law enforcement a false name is just dumb. According to a statement released by the University of Alabama, Hart is no longer on the team:

"Hopefully he will learn from this mistake and continue to work toward completing his degree, which he is on track to do by the summer." (Quote from UA via Michael Casagrande of AL.com)

How much of a dent does this put on Alabama? None, maybe opens up another spot for some in the upcoming recruiting class. Hopefully Dee Hart will learn from this and be able to move on.

NOTE: Reports say Dee Hart has not been with the team since The Sugar Bowl vs. Oklahoma.

OTM Daily Action 2/17/14

Still trying to get back on the winning track. There are no NBA games or NHL games, but there is plenty of College Basketball.

Here are today's picks:

North Carolina -1 @ Florida St.

Baylor -4.5 vs. Oklahoma St.

William & Mary -9 vs. North-Carolina Wilmington

Maybe it's time we start ignoring The Westboro Baptist Church

I know you're tired of the Michael Sam story, but it isn't going to go away anytime soon.

(Courtesy: @SBNation)

In the aftermath of Michael Sam announcing that he was gay, we knew this would eventually happen. The Westboro Baptist Church, who protested at the NCAA Final Four in the wake of Jason Collins's announcement, protested at the University of Missouri during their game vs. Tennessee on Saturday. Credit to the students, who stood in the way of these zealots that are nothing but bigoted attention whores.

On the Westboro Baptist website, there are numbers they list that would probably make anyone's, including the loving faction of Christianity, stomach turn:

      6799 - soldiers that God has killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

52,146 - pickets conducted by WBC.

918 - cities that have been visited by WBC.

1182 - weeks that WBC has held daily pickets on the mean streets of doomed america.

967 - people whom God has cast into hell since you loaded this page.

218,400,000+ - gallons of oil that God poured in the Gulf.

$17.26 trillion+ - national debt of doomed america.

8 - people that God saved in the flood.

16,000,000,000 - people that God killed in the flood.

144,000 - Jews that will be saved in these last days.

0 - nanoseconds of sleep that WBC members lose over your opinions and feeeeellllliiiiiings.

What is actually comical is that they sing parodies of songs by Lorde, Katy Perry, The Beatles, and even Blake Shelton and consider them as hymms. I'm sure Katy Perry, Sir Paul, Lorde, and Blake Shelton are thrilled to know this.

We love to throw the "Hate Speech" term over the dumbest things in this political climate. However, it's valid with these guys.

Their next "high-profile" protest will be on March 2nd at The Oscars (according to their website).

I think it's time for us as the media to begin ignoring these hateful people. Yes, I understand wanting to give kudos to the students at Missouri for taking a stand against this frivolous bigotry.

However, I think it's time we ignore them all together. Mocking them, writing about them, and trying to shame them only fuels their fire. Which is probably why they write parodies for songs by Katy Perry (who probably doesn't approve of them doing so).

We can't silence their voice by law, but we can silence their voice by clearly walking away, not writing about them, or even acknowledging their presence.

Will it work? Probably not.