Tuesday Skull Session

RIP Captain Lou Albano

Happy Tuesday everyone, and welcome to your morning Skull Session. Yesterday, instead of paying attention to sports like I probably should've been (since, as you may be aware, I write for a sports blog), instead I directed most of my attention to the goings on in Los Angeles, where the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo is taking place. Being the nerd that I am, a trip to E3 would be the equivalent of what most of you would imagine a hypothetical football game between the '68 Buckeyes and the '61 Crimson Tide, played in a 250,000 seat version of Ohio Stadium where beer and nachos are free and plentiful.

Also it'd be played on the moon. With jetpacks. And the refs are all clones of Abe Vig- you know what, I'll just stop there. You get the idea.

Anyway, my point is that if you like video games, E3 is amazing. Also amazing are the various attempts by video game companies to seem cool and hip to their consumer base; E3 wouldn't be E3 without several stilted and drawn out scripted conversations between two geeks with no acting experience or stage presence whatsoever. It says something when Kobe Bryant is the most natural performer on a stage full of people who have been prepping a presentation for months.

Microsoft and Sony have already done their presentations, but you can watch Nintendo's presentation here, today at 8pm EST (edit: I was wrong, it was at noon! Sorry if I caused you to miss it, but if it's any consolation I missed it too). That is, if you're a big wussy baby who likes games for girls (oh God I hope they show more of the new Zelda game please please please please).

On To Manlier Things Although I guess it depends if your definition of "manly" involves lying to the press about your coach-in-waiting having multiple drunk driving incidents on his record, which the university attempted to cover up. Which is exactly what current West Virginia head football coach Bill Stewart apparently attempted to do, being the once anonymous source that told a reporter that future coach Dana Holgorsen had been involved in six "alcohol related incidents" over the years. The fact that it's a lie is beside the point, if he did this, Stewart would be guilty of trying to get rid of his successor before the university could force him out.

All of which is pretty Machiavellian for West Virginia. As Dr. Saturday muses, it definitely brings up the issue of just how good of an idea having a coach-in-waiting actually is, given high profile dust ups at Florida State and Texas involving the same issue.

Bobby Throws His Chair Into The Ring And I'm pretty sure 99% of us agree with him:

Bob Knight has criticized the NCAA rule Ohio State football players broke when they sold and traded their personal memorabilia. ... Knight says he understands a rule was violated, "But it was an idiotic rule." ... Knight also said the NCAA "is so far out of touch with the integrity of the sport that it's just amazing."

KABLAM. Maybe Bob Knight isn't what anyone would call the most squeaky clean of college athletics icons, but on the other hand it's nice to hear someone of his profile echo the thoughts that most of us have been thinking since this whole thing broke.

The Mountain West Has A New Logo Which was kind of necessitated due to the loss of BYU and Utah. Not that the old logo (which I kind of dug, what with the purple mountain majesties and whatnot) really was inadequate, but hey, just because your new girlfriend is also named Jessica doesn't mean you stop telling people that you got that tattoo because you're a huge Allman Brothers fan. You know what I mean?

No? Well the point is that your new girlfriend is Boise State and she is going to run you ragged because she knows damn well you aren't gonna do better so you might as well get that logo changed. Honestly it's not too bad.

As The Diebler Turns I've made mention of this before, but Jon Diebler's NBA odyssey is fascinating to me for a couple of reasons. First, he's a Buckeye. Ohio State ride or die. Secondly, I keep getting this mental image of Diebler's face as Lebron James runs him over like a freight train (that's not to say Mr. Dielber isn't an NBA athlete... okay, yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying). And lastly, I'm just as interested as Jon seems to be about how the NBA will view a guy with exactly one NBA-caliber skill.

“I was talking with one of the (Pacers) coaches during the workout, and he told me, ‘Do what you do best,’” Diebler said. “I know what my strengths are. Yes, I need to prove that I can do things off the dribble. But when it comes down to it, I’m a shooter, and I’m going to shoot the basketball when I’m open.”

I think this is actually pretty cool, and i would love to see the Diebster make an NBA squad as the specialist who comes off the bench and is the dagger in the hearts of the other team with 5 seconds left to play. Dieblerwatch continues.

Maybe I Should've Been Watching Hockey Instead Of The Uncharted 3 Trailer I literally yelled "HOLY CRAP" when I saw this.