College Sports

China’s government has denied attempting to politicize the Olympic process, after receiving a letter from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) expressing regret over remarks made about Tibet and the Dalai Lama.

Tibet’s Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli, was speaking at a ceremony honoring the Olympic torch as it passed through Lhasa. The remarks came at a ceremony marking the reuniting of the flame with a separate flame that had been carried to the top of Mount Everest. He reasserted China’s hard line on supporters of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who has been in exile in India.

“The sky above Tibet will never change,” said Zhang. “The red five-star flag will always fly above this land. We can definitely smash the separatist plot of the Dalai Lama clique completely.”

So, China is accused of politicizing the Olympics, the world’s largest sporting stage?

Duh!

Isn’t that what virtually every nation has done since the era of the Modern Olympics has begun? Isn’t that what Hitler did in 1936? Isn’t that what the Soviets were doing in 1980 (even though there was a U.S.-led boycott)? And the L.A. Olympics in 1984 also had a jingoistic flavor (despite a reciprocal USSR-led boycott).

The Olympics provide a stage for nations to say, “Look at us! Look what we can do, what we have done!” But because China’s policies are so militaristic in form, so strident and outspoken in speech, it has a magnifying glass over it. The IOC “tut-tuts” and shakes it’s head. “Not what we expected, we are disappointed,” the organizers cluck.

Where were these people when the decision was made to place the Olympics in China? Did they not have any idea that China would use the Games as a “coming out” party? Did they think by sending the Olympics to China, it’s human rights atrocities would simply vanish? That the nation would think, “Hey, let’s clean up our act and get with the democratic program!”

Sheesh, my five year old could have seen this one coming!

Justin Gatlin, one of the world’s fastest sprinters, has given up after losing his most recent appeal to compete at the U.S. Olympic trials.

Gatlin, the defending Olympic 100-meter champion, lost his most recent appeal on June 26, and has decided not to further the case to the Supreme Court. He will continue to seek monetary damages from the U.S. Olympic Committee, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and other defendants. He claims that his first doping violation, in 2001, was flawed because he was taking prescribed medication for attention deficit disorder.

So now Gatlin will sit out the remainder of his suspension. I’m not surprised at the result of his various lawsuits. The different committees have had to take strong stances on illegal performance enhancing drugs. The violations worldwide in all areas of sports have been massive, and in some cases have threatened to do serious harm to the sports themselves. Look at cycling. It is a shell of what it once was, due to allegations and positive drug tests.

And while I have long been a Justin Gatlin fan, I think that to allow him to run would be sending a horrible message. His argument that his first violation was due to ADD medicine may be true. But even if it is, the second violation is the one that got him suspended for the duration. He knew what would happen if he was found guilty of any sort of drug violation. He associated himself with those who pushed performance enhancing drugs, all the while maintaining he was “clean.”

It caught up with him. It’s a shame, I doubt he needed the drugs to win. But he did the crime, and now he needs to do the time.

Here’s an interesting item. Duke University just won a lawsuit against Louisville by claiming they suck at football.

They really do suck at football, too. They have a mark of 6-45 over the past five years, and are 13-90 since 1999. That is really, truly bad.

The lawsuit stems from a four game series that Duke and Louisville were set to play. The first game, played in Louisville in 2002, was won by the Cardinals by a score of 40-3.

Duke yelled “no mas” and opted out of the final three games of the contract, set to be played in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The contract called for a “good faith effort” on the part of Louisville to replace Duke if they opted out of the series, and if they couldn’t replace the game with a team of similar stature, Duke would pay a $150,000 penalty for each game.

Duke’s argument is that they are so pathetic at football, the bar is set so low when it comes to replacing them, that any team would suffice.

According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Judge Phillip J. Shepherd (Franklin County, Kent., Circuit Court) agreed.
“At oral argument, Duke [with a candor perhaps more attributable to good legal strategy than to institutional modesty] persuasively asserted that this is a threshold that could not be any lower,” Shepherd wrote in a summary judgment issued Thursday, according to the paper. “Duke’s argument on this point cannot be reasonably disputed by Louisville.”

So now, not only does Duke claim they suck in football, but the courts have verified it.

Bet new coach David Cutcliffe is thrilled with this ruling. I can see it now… he enters the living room of a recruit. “That’s right, superstar, come to Duke. We stink it up on the football field, so it can’t get any worse!”

Louisville is looking over the case and will decide whether or not to appeal.

Can’t wait to see Duke’s next defense.

The University of Oregon announced in 2007 that it was ending the wrestling program to start a baseball program. The reason cited was that in adding baseball, another men’s sport would have to be cut to remain in compliance with Title IX.

Well, let’s just say that the wrestling team and it’s supporters aren’t going to go quietly. In fact, by filing a lawsuit they are making a lot of noise.

Basically, what the lawsuit says is that UO’s decision to drop wrestling to comply with Title IX is flawed, and that the decision was reached without following established University procedures as well as Oregon’s constitution and statutes.

When A.D. Pat Kilkenny announced in July of 2007 that baseball was returning to the Eugene, Ore., campus after a 28 year hiatus, he said that to comply with Title IX wrestling would be cut and women’s competitive cheerleading would be added.

While the lawsuit was filed Friday, the brewhaha really heated up over the winter. When challenged about the decision, the University really stepped in it by saying that, well, um, it’s not really Title IX.

OK, what could be the new excuse?

In both February and March, UO associate A.D. Neil Zoumboukos acknowledged that Title IX did not require UO to drop wrestling. He went on to say that the University was dropping the sport for four reasons:

1. UO doesn’t have a wrestling facility
2. Eugene lacks a fan base
3. There is an opportunity to capitalize on an investment
4. There is a lack of support for wrestling in the Pac-10 and NCAA Division I

This opened the door for the supporters of the wrestling program to allege that the University was violating Oregon’s anti-discrimination laws by not applying the same criteria to all programs evenly. As examples, the lawsuit cites the lack of support and fan base for women’s lacrosse and competitive cheerleading. Cheerleading itself is not even an NCAA sport. They also state the UO wrestling team outdraws several women’s programs in attendance, and while none of the women’s programs are self-sufficient, the wrestling program has been offered significant financial aid by the wrestling community to endow the program.

This is an interesting approach, and I’ll be interested to see how it all comes out. I was at Tennessee when the wrestling program was cut in the early 80’s, but UT’s administration was up front about the reasons… the cost outweighed the benefits. UT was the last remaining SEC team with wrestling, which meant they traveled to every meet, usually long distances. The wrestlers weren’t happy (I still remember the t-shirts that said, “Wrestling Got the Big Orange Screw” with a picture of an orange with a screw through it), but it made sense in the long run.

In the case at Oregon, it seems like the administration is doing the UO Duck Two-Step. Just tell everybody the real reasons, whatever they may be. There may still be a lawsuit, but at least the administration won’t look like a bunch of liars.

Indiana University is announcing changes within its athletic department, as a result of the alleged infractions incurred by former men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.

My reaction? Big deal.

Sampson was already under sanctions from his previous coaching stop at Oklahoma when he was hired by Indiana. When I heard who IU had hired, I couldn’t believe it. When I heard that he was being accused of doing the exact same thing at IU that he had done at Oklahoma, well, no surprise there.

Any university that reaches out to hire a coach that has been found guilty of recruiting violations isn’t making a smart move. But in this case, it was even more incredulous because Sampson had just been sanctioned by the NCAA, and appeared to have no feelings of remorse whatsoever. So he burns Oklahoma, bails and heads to IU, gets them in trouble, gets a fat paycheck for $750,000 (just to go away!), and now Indiana is left to clean up the mess.

And he managed to do all this in under two years… Bravo!

And now, with the NCAA infractions committee getting ready to meet next week to go over alleged rules violations by Sampson at IU, Indiana wants to show that it has cleaned up the program, and that this won’t happen again?

Sampson should have never been hired in the first place! Indiana made it’s bed; guess what, now it’s time to lie in it.

As a college sports fan it makes me mad. Indiana, a school known for playing by the rules, hired a known rule breaker. Why? They wanted to win games. And Mike Davis wasn’t “sexy” enough for them.
There is a lesson to be learned here… but excuse me if I doubt that other university administrators are listening. Everyone takes the high road as long as they are winning. But lose a few? No matter how clean the program, see you later coach! And if the next guy bends or breaks the rules?

It’s all in the game.

O.J. Mayo, formerly of Southern Cal and currently prepping for the NBA draft, arrived in Orlando on Thursday and faced the media at a press conference held at the Grand Cypress Hyatt.

He is in Florida for the NBA’s physical and agility testing.

And, as expected, most of the questions centered on allegations by ESPN’s Outside the Lines, which claims that cash, gifts and various other extra benefits were passed on to him by Rodney Guillory, a runner for agents Calvin Andrews and Bill Duffy of Bill Duffy Associates (BDA).

Sticking to his story, Mayo continued to deny the allegations. He says he never accepted a penny, and paid for his own portion of the meal when he ate with Guillory.

“I understand the rules,” said Mayo.

When asked why Louis Johnson made the allegations, Mayo says he doesn’t know, but suspects ulterior motives.

“I understand that he’s writing a book,” Mayo went on. “I haven’t talked to Lou, Louis since January.”

Oops.

On Outside the Lines, Mayo is seen talking to both Johnson and Guillory at USC on March 7. Then the threesome gets into Guillory’s car and leave.

Mayo claims he was “overwhelmed” when he first heard of the allegations, on Mother’s Day. “As the oldest son, you don’t want to bring that on your mother on Mother’s Day. I was totally overwhelmed and didn’t understand what was going on.”

When asked if he will cooperate if contacted by the NCAA, Mayo said, “I can be as cooperative as possible.”

OK, I’m not sure what that means. “As cooperative as possible?” At what point would it be impossible to cooperate?

At any rate, Mayo is no longer represented by BDA. He says that he and his family felt like it was time to cut ties, with all the drama that is going on.

I don’t know where this torrid tale will end, but I have a sneaky suspicion that, while Mayo may be moving on to the NBA and what will probably be a lucrative career, USC will be dealing with the nasty aftermath for a few years to come.

Maybe Mayo should consider cutting a check to USC to pay for the upcoming investigation. Seems like the least the soon-to-be multi-millionaire could do.