Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Spurrier and other Smart Guys

1) I really hate to break this to Steve Spurrier, as if the Old Ball Coach will ever hear of this, but he is not the center of the universe. Spurrier is upset because two of his recruits at South Carolina were denied academic entry to the university.
http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/7097586

All I can say is OUTSTANDING! I wasn't sure lots of the major universities still had admission standards (I know the lower level state universities don't), especially for athletes. Maybe, just maybe, but probably not, a few universities will start enforcing admissions standards. Ted Kennedy will probably pass a field sobriety test before that happens.

2) This clown who caught A-Rod's 500th home run ball. (Sorry, but I couldn't find a link to the story. Saw it on Mike and Mike this afternoon). This guy was recently unemployed. He had to empty out his savings to buy Yankees season tickets. Now he has A-Rod's 500th home run ball and want to cash it on it. The economist in me is all for this. It is his money and he can spend it how he wishes. And any ball that goes into the stands becomes the fan's property and he can dispose of the ball as he chooses.

Taking off my economist hat now, I hope A-Rod doesn't give the joker a red cent! If you are unemployed and clear out your savings to buy baseball season tickets, you really should check your priorities. One way or the other this guy will cash in because someone will pay a few thousand dollars for the ball. Good for him. But otherwise, what a doofus!

2 comments:

eddy coop said...

While I agree with the spirit of your point about Spurrier, I think you're overlooking something important to the particular situation. My understanding from sports reports is that the athletes were qualified for admission under the NCAA standards which had been previously communicated to Spurrier. There were ongoing discussions at the university about the idea of raising their standards above the NCAA (which approved the kids through their screening process) requirements, but the new university standards had not yet been put in place. So, Spurrier recruits these two kids during the winter recruiting period in good faith, they commit to So. Caro. (and close the door on other offers, because each school has a scholarship limit which they fill) and then the school administration decided in the spring or summer to raise the standards and deny these kids admission. That's unfair to the athletes and to the coaches.

If they want to raise the standards for next year, I'm all for that. Require the athletes to meet exactly the same standards as any other student applying to the school. But, don't do it after the fact in such a way that you put your employees, the coaches, in a position of reneging on an important commitment and put the kids at a disadvantage by denying them the opportunity to go to their second choice school. Spurrier's right to threaten to resign under these circumstances and the school should back down in this case.

Matt said...

Nice point eddy coop. I simplified the situation. However, someone in Spurrier's camp should have known that the university was considering raising admission standards above the NCAA level. Spurrier should have informed his recruits of this so they knew what could happen. Spurrier should also understand by this stage of his career how universities operate.

The situation may have been influenced by the admissions committee operating under what I call "university time." It works like this: "We need to make this decision by March 1, so let's set the next committee meeting for April 10." So instead of making a decision in a timely manner so Spurrier knows what he's dealing with, they screw around and change the rules on him after he's made decisions. I've had to deal with such things several times where I'm at.

So your right, it's unfortunate for the two kids. However, academically, they'd probably be better off at a lower level school for a year or two. The university also shouldn't change the rules in the middle of the game, but I don't expect that to change anytime soon. As for Spurrier, not the best situation, but my sympathy for him remains minimal. I think that So Carolina will placate him somehow.

Thanks for stopping by the blog and commenting! Now I know someone actually reads the darn thing.