11W's Heart of It All Classic opened up yesterday. The Business/Science Division's voting can be found over here. (#5 Les Wexner vs. #12 Charles Kettering and #8 Jack Warner vs. #9 Charles Martin Hull are the two most-contested matchups in that region.)
The Arts Region voting can be found over here. (#6 Dave Chappelle vs #11 Drew Carey and #8 Halle Berry vs. #9 Woody Harrelson are the two closest matchups in that region.)
We'll open up two wickedly stacked divisions, Sports and Military/Politics later today. (PLZ BELIEVE I'VE GOT AN ARMY OF CHINESE GOONS READY TO SWARM THE BALLOT BOX IN NAME OF PRESIDENT WARREN G. HARDING!!!) First round voting will be held through Friday night, with the second round starting to open up on Saturday.
On to the news.
SPRING PRACTICE IS BACK. Ohio State returned from Spring Break yesterday, and its football team will be having its third spring practice later today. Eleven Warriors will have all bases covered once that practice commences.
OSU FOOTBALL CLINIC. Here's a sweet release for interested parties:
COLUMBUS, OHIO — The 83rd annual Ohio State University football coaches clinic, scheduled for April 10-12, will serve as “A Tribute to the Great State of Ohio Football” with keynote speeches by both of the state’s NFL team head coaches as well as guest lectures from Urban Meyer and some of the greatest coaches the state has produced in the college and high school ranks.
Open to high school, middle school and youth league coaches, Ohio State’s clinic typically draws a huge contingent of coaches interested in the detailed chalk talk lessons and in-person looks at the Buckeye practices. This year, attendees will hear from a who’s who list of coaches, including:
- Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis (8 p.m. Thursday, April 10)
- Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine (10 a.m. Friday, April 11)
- Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer (9 a.m. Friday, April 11)
Man, what I would give to be a fly on that wall, if only to hear Marvin Lewis' thoughts on Jay Gruden talking Mike Brown out of drafting Colin Kaepernick and opting for Andy Dalton.
THE NCAA IS GETTING SUED AGAIN. Remember when NCAA actually intimidated its student-athletes? Yeah, those days are long gone. With the O'Bannon case heading to trial this summer and Northwestern's attempt to unionize college football, the NCAA was dealt another legal blow yesterday. From ESPN:
In the most direct challenge yet to the NCAA's longstanding economic model, high-profile sports labor attorney Jeffrey Kessler filed an antitrust claim Monday in a New Jersey federal court on behalf of a group of college basketball and football players, arguing the association has unlawfully capped player compensation at the value of an athletic scholarship.
"The main objective is to strike down permanently the restrictions that prevent athletes in Division I basketball and the top tier of college football from being fairly compensated for the billions of dollars in revenues that they help generate," Kessler told ESPN. "In no other business -- and college sports is big business -- would it ever be suggested that the people who are providing the essential services work for free. Only in big-time college sports is that line drawn."
[...]
"We're looking to change the system. That's the main goal," Kessler said. "We want the market for players to emerge."
Tick, tick, tick, NCAA... tick, tick, tick.
NOT A GOOD LOOK, KID. Dominic Cizauskas was Wisconsin's High School Defensive Player of the Year and a three-star linebacking prospect. He was verbally committed to Wisconsin since last summer, but ominously didn't sign his Letter of Intent on February 5th's National Signing Day.
Yesterday, we found out why. From ESPNWisconsin.com:
MADISON - Dominic Cizauskas, once a member of the 2014 recruiting class at the University of Wisconsin, has been charged with sexual assault.
[...]
According to the criminal complaint, the alleged incident took place on Dec. 14 at a campus residence hall. The alleged victim told authorities she had been studying when she heard someone asking for directions to her room. Cizauskas then opened her door and walked in. The two had been exchanging text messages earlier in the night. The woman said that Cizauskas smelled of alcohol and he told her that he had “consumed 10 shots within one half-hour”.
The complaint states the alleged assault occurred over the next hour, with Cizauskas undressing the victim and forcing her to have intercourse. The woman, a UW student, told authorities it was not consensual.
I'm so sick of reading about idiot kids sexually assaulting women. This one is especially perturbing because it occurred during an official visit.
This kind of stuff could happen anywhere, but man it'd be cool if we could start teaching some of these highly-touted athletes that women are not their property in the year 2014.
And before somebody gives me the "WELL YA KNOW ALL A GIRL HAS TO DO IS PICK UP A PHONE AND CRY RAPE" — just don't. Just pour a glass of water on your keyboard and take a walk outside, please.
BIG HOUSE TO REMAIN THE DRY HOUSE. The only positive thing you'll ever hear me say about Michigan Stadium is its devoid of advertising. Seriously, in 2014, that's pretty sweet.
But Michigan might want to to reconsider their ban on alcohol if they plan on losing five games a season:
Amid the push by some schools across the country to serve alcohol in stadiums during football games, Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon told AnnArbor.com Monday that his institution has no intention of joining the growing trend. Brandon pointed to the liability issue as well as all of the headaches such a move would bring.
“You’ve got to set up places to vendor this stuff and you’ve got to make sure you’re selling it to the right people, not the wrong people,” Brandon said, “and then you’ve got to deal with all the ramifications of alcohol being served in an area where you’ve got a lot of young people and a lot of underage people.
“Sometimes people lose track of the fact that we have to organize and manage 110,000 to 115,000 people all in one tight space, and get them in there and out of there safely. I don’t think serving alcohol is going to make that job any easier.”
I'm torn on the issue of serving beer in college stadiums. On one hand, I think it's hilarious to pretend booze aren't ingrained into the culture of college football. On the other, I can see why it makes lawyers of these universities quake at the idea of assuming all that liability.
I've also witnessed my fair share of brawls in NFL stands that probably wouldn't have happened if the participants weren't lubed up.
I suppose, in the end, it's probably for the best. Although this means people will continue to smuggle a lot more potent substances into stadiums than a Bud Light draft.
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