I covered this with the grey-colored hat over at FanHouse. But our friend Senator Blutarsky has a little fun at our expense by pointing at Vince’s Moody for Heisman post (which I quite liked, by the way) when the news of the day is, of course, Hornsby’s felony theft of a dead girl’s credit card.

I’m at a loss over this one. Truly. The best case scenario here is so bleak that it’s not even worth considering. Somehow Hornsby ended up with a teammate’s dead girlfriend’s credit card and then used it. For. Six. Months. First use was the day after her death. Proceeded to use it another 69 times. Rang up $3,000 worth of debt.

Help me understand Hornsby’s thought process here. Let’s be wildly optimistic and say that via some kind of sketchy arrangement Jamar had “permission” from Ashley Slonina to use the credit card, given that his financial scenario — a crappy one — was well known to his teammates and coaches. Hell, homeboy sold his BCS ring and got stung last year for selling his free football tickets. So maybe she was trying to help him out in some way by lending him her card. Yes, that’s probably off by 100%, but I’m just setting up stage two, so bear with me.

Now Slonina dies tragically in a motorcycle accident with walk-on Michael “Sunshine” Guilford. Hornsby allegedly accompanies Joe Haden — Slonina’s boyfriend — to her apartment to clean out her stuff. Had to be a rough moment, to say the least, for Haden — and in theory, for Hornsby as well, given that they’d both lost a teammate and a friend. The credit card was either in Hornsby’s possession prior to this sad errand (using our wildly optimistic scenario above) or it wasn’t, in which case Hornsby actually stole it when this opportunity presented itself. Either way, at this moment, surely a scholarship athlete attending the University of Florida is smart enough to recognize that he can’t use this card because he’ll almost certainly get caught. For christ’s sakes, it belongs to a dead woman.

In the background, grieving families. Grieving teammate. Grieving team.

Stealing her credit card? Going on a six-month spending spree across the state of Florida? Using it in such excess that he racked up a felony theft charge?

Sorry, Hornsby can’t be that “poor.” He’s on scholarship. Plenty of students get by on less.

Sickening.

There’s really only one way to handle moral turpitude of this caliber and that’s to remove Hornsby permanently from the team, say “good riddance,” and never look back. Hopefully this character spends some time in jail while he’s at it. There you have it — O&B Hue’s take. Hopefully we can move past this, but make no mistake about it, this is dreadful first and embarrassing second. And probably will be for awhile. How awful.

Update… Statement from Urban Meyer on Hornsby on Friday afternoon: “He is not a part of our program.”

Thank you, Coach.

Congrats to Alabama on a well-deserved victory. On a day when we needed to impress our harshest critics, we did our worst. As for morphing into superstars, Mykal Riley had a Kobe-esque 23 and Richard Hendrix had 22 like LeBron.

If you shoot 37% from the field like Florida did, you win with good defense. Either Florida wasn’t playing good defense or Alabama was just plain hot. I’m going with the former. Nick Calathes didn’t exactly have his best game in a Gator uniform; he had more fouls (4) than made field goals (3). 1-5 from 3 isn’t anything to cheer about, either. Unless of course, he’s Dwight Howard.

Speaking of big men, I think Marreese Speights should have gotten more involved into the offense. After all, he was on fire with five out of six shots and 15 points. But at least I’m complaining that he didn’t get enough touches for once. Who would have imagined?

Oh well, there’s not much to say that hasn’t already been said. We’re headed for the NIT. The streak of nine consecutive tournament appearances is broken. Hey, there’s one more game to look forward to, isn’t there? Oh well, the Spring Game is in less than a month if that idea doesn’t pan out.

Stay tuned for a sneak peek at next year’s team!

Turns out, there are things far worse to a college basketball program than Patrick Patterson’s broken foot or a missed NCAA tourney trip.

Try this one: Harvard’s, HARVARD’S, hoops program got caught with its hand in the cookie jar. There are a litany of recruiting violations, including illegal contact with a recruit’s father, an assisstant coach playing illegal pickup games with a recruit, and the signing of players below Harvard’s normally lofty standards.

Apparently, head coach Tommy Amaker, resentful of Boston’s sudden boom in sports success, felt a need to catch up. So he hired Bill Belichik to help him out.

Okay, so I made that last one up. But seriously, Tom, why do it? Messing around at America’s most prestigous college makes no more sense than Tim Tebow trying to imporve his football prowess by taking steriods. In trying to improve something great at the price of excellence, everyone loses.

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Dear O&B Audience:

I formally apologize for writing the article, “Patterson Declawed for Season” on the afternoon of February 29, 2008.

My words were damaging to fanbases for both schools and do not represent the opinions of either the University of Florida or the Gator sports teams. At its core, college sports should emphasize good sportsmanship between the coaches, players, and fans of both schools.

Even though I am a still a relatively inexperienced blogger, there was no excuse whatsoever for putting out the abomination that each and every one of you saw on Leap Year Day. I did not write mercifully toward the Kentucky forward, and I do not expect any mercy in return.

Nevertheless, I ask for your forgiveness and will try to make it up to you with more mannered posts.

For the record, I wish Patrick Patterson no ill will in the future and hope that he has an excellent career in both Division I basketball and the NBA.

Sincerely,
Vincent Peter Gagliano

This just in: FSU has responded to its academic cheating scandal by trying to police itself. Measures include reducing scholarships in all sports, firing guilty staffers, and requiring all AD administrators and non-administrators to attend a four-hour class in “responsible decision-making” There is even talk of a number of guilty students suffering a loss or reduction in their eligibility.

Don’t get me wrong, my inner Gator gets a demented pleasure out of seeing Free Shoes U. suffer for its crimes, but I’m concerned that what the school is doing vacillates between noble and disturbing. A big reason: the way Noles athletics is structured within the university.

Florida State’s athletic department is considered a division of the school itself and gets money from the university’s coffers. But it’s structure, while widespread, is not universal; UF’s University Athletic Association is considered a private business and generates its own revenue. While this may seem trite, a self-disciplinary policy would have vastly different effects depending on the school receiving sanctions.

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Apparently things have become so bad in Tallacrappy that one website has decided to take a new approach. Nate Greer is one of the hacks over at NoleDigest.com who, when not covering recruiting, likes to normally focus on such delusionally sappy and slanted topics like “FSU’s Future is Bright” or “FLORIDA STATE WILL REBOUND“. You know, the typical team propaganda that you would expect from a biased website paid for by FSU supporters. College fans are like the general population: they would rather hear good things than the truth. Greer is a strong disciple of the “I would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism” theology.

Unfortunately, things in Bowdenville have taken a turn and gone from “bad” to “worse“. With the omnipresent specter of NCAA sanctions, coaching confusion/senility and an overall lack of leadership, both players and fans alike are filled with a sense of dread regarding the future of the program. When there are simply no longer any credible facts or plausible opinions to support the misguided belief that cherry pies and sunshine await around the bend there’s only one option left . . . . attack someone else! The best target to unite your fan base would be to attack a rival whom you desperately yearn to be like; a program whose recent accomplishments feed your own insecurity and lack of self worth. And for FSU that target is obvious – The University of Florida.

So what things do they have to say about Titletown USA? Well, from “Is Florida One to Judge?”

Friday afternoon we briefly spoke to E.J. about the article that came out from that infamous site FSU fans are aware of (Gatorcountry.com). When asked about it, Manuel said, “Man, some guys came up to me and just said they were reporters. They asked me about the scandal and I told them my thoughts. I had no idea they were from a Florida site. Had I known that I would have stayed away from that. I know the FSU fan base doesn’t like the Gators.” It looks like Manuel was taken advantage of. To his knowledge, it was just another reporter trying to get an update with him. He was emphatic in apologizing, but it looks as though he isn’t the one who should be apologizing; it’s the unscrupulous, grubby reporters looking for information based off lies and untruth.

To give people some background on this. Previously Gatorcountry.com had conducted an interview with EJ Manuel at one of the High School All-America Game camps. The article posted by Gatorcountry is available only to subscribers but in synopsis it basically describes Manuel as a very polite and unassuming young man who has all the tools of a high caliber quarterback. After a few generic platitudes regarding his season and some benign quotes Manuel was asked what he thought about the current academic scandal. EJ stated that the FSU coaches had set him straight. The Nole Coaches assured Manuel that all this academic cheating had happened about THREE YEARS AGO and had NO IMPACT on the people there now.

Manuel continues to say that the FSU Coaches told him there were actually about EIGHT HUNDRED STUDENTS involved but (of course with FSU being the bastion of academic integrity and NCAA compliance that it is) they were SINGLING OUT THE FOOTBALL PLAYERS!!! Manuel admits he was concerned at first but now he’s solid to the Seminoles. And THIS is what Noledigest considers “unscrupulous, grubby reporters looking for information based off lies and untruth“??? Ummm . . . a direct quote from a kid regarding what coaches told him is now labeled ‘unscrupulous reporting’? (more…)

The NFL and football has become the latest battle ground in the racial tension that underlies US Society.  On July 16, Michael Vick, quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury as part of a conspiracy to breed, train and fight Pitt Bulls on his property in Surry County, Virginia and for cruel and inhumane treatment of losing dogs or dogs deemed worthless because they would not fight.  However Michael Vick isn’t just a typical NFL quarterback, Vick is the “next generation” NFL quarterback and a player who has enormous popularity, especially among young black athletes.  Although his performance and results have been erratic the past few years, no one doubts the excitement he brings to the football field and the amazing highlights he performs on a regular basis.
 
Vick has not been someone who has stayed out of the limelight and criticism and scandal has managed to follow the quarterback over the years.  Michael Vick is a man noted for establishing the Vick Foundation to support at-risk youth after school programs in the Metro Atlanta area and donating to the families of the Virginia Tech Tragedy as well as for his incidents in flipping off the fans of New Orleans and the infamous “Ron Mexico” court cases where he was sued by a woman who accused him of giving her herpes (the case was later settled out of court).
 
According to a poll by the Atlanta Journal Constitution 45.9% of Georgians believe the Atlanta Falcons should release Vick while 45.7% believe they should keep him until a verdict is rendered.  But looking closer at the numbers shows that 54.4% of whites felt Vick should be released compared to 26.6% of blacks.  65.6% of blacks felt the Falcons should wait until a verdict while only 36.7 of whites felt the same way.
 
The Kansas City Star states that Mike Vick had deliberately maintained his “street cred“, aka his credibility amongst urban youths, by being involved in the hip hop culture.  Hip-hop culture is defined as one that glorifies negative behavior and attitudes to the detriment of the historically positive reputation of previous black athletes.  Jason Whitlock, the author, states that despite his financial security he felt compelled to participate in a hobby that had no reward other than his personal reputation among his friends and family.  LINK 

Some folks question why the federal government put so much energy prosecuting dogfighting when so many crimes against people go unpunished.

“They need to be over in Newport News where the kids are shooting each other,” said Reginald Evans.  “What do you think is more important?  A dog or a child?”  LINK

Others feel like Vick was targeted specifically because he is a famous black athlete.

“So what’s the story here?  Plain and simple, the government wants to make an example out of a high-profile sports figure.  And since they can’t seem to snag Barry Bonds, Michael Vick will have to do.”  LINK

Despite the racial divisions emerging in the opinions regarding this situation, it seems likely that no matter how this ends it won’t end well for either Vick or anyone associated with him, including the Atlanta Falcons.  For someone who once had a brilliant and promising sports career ahead of him, it looks now as if Vick’s legacy might not be football related at all but rather as a cautionary tale to future athletes of the benefits of avoiding these types of situations and predicaments.  And if that turns out to be the case then perhaps this will all have a positive ending after all.

Take the worst coach from each BCS conference, throw ‘em together into one Worst Coach Playoff, and who “wins” the WoW (Worst of the Worst) Award? The last place finisher in the playoff is the Worst BCS Coach in the Country.

That’s the premise here, in any case. Why do it? Because a coach’s perceived abilities in his profession correlates to his draw of team and conference, and that bears consideration. For example, would Sylvester Croom, whose perenially miserable Mississippi State Bulldogs be able to knock out the worst of the ACC or Big East? We never get the chance to know, because these teams will likely never face each other unless they manage to play in a low-tier bowl. And the chances of that happening are slim to none.

We’ll be dividing this up into slivers by conference. The full list of BCS conferences:

• ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference)
• Big XII
• Big East
• Big Ten
• Pac-10 (Pacific Ten Conference)
• SEC (Southeastern Conference)

Now, an entirely unscientific selection of coaches from each conference.

Part I: ACC

Teams: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami (FL), North Carolina, NC State, Virginia, Va Tech, Wake Forest

Worst coaches selection:

In some ways, the ACC is an especially tough one to judge because the conference is in a state of flux. Longtime powerhouses, FSU and Miami, have struggled these past years. Meanwhile, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech have been on the rise. Wake and Va Tech both logged double-digit win season in ‘06 (Va Tech: 10-3, WF: 11-3) while the ‘Noles and the ‘Canes were barely able to combine for over ten wins. Va Tech’s Frank Beamer and Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe are safe from the dubious honor of being selected to play in the 2007 Worst Coaches Conference Playoff.

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