Craziness in Recruiting

This absolutely pisses me off - story here. Can you believe that some high school kids are actually being advised to fail classes in high school so they can fit through a loophole in the NCAA legislation and get them into college with subpar test scores. Read the article for details, but check this out:

Andrey Jones's mother, Shannon, said she was advised by Boston College assistant coach Keith Willis and the coach at the Connecticut prep school at which Jones eventually would enroll that it would be in her son's best interest not to graduate from high school. Andre Jones said he intentionally failed English during the second semester of his senior year to not meet graduation requirements.

Now here's what ticks me off. Forget that the NCAA is a beauracratic nightmare. Put that aside. I am ticked that there are coaches that would actually advise a kid to fail a class. Think about that for a minute. That is just sleazy and unscrupulous. I don't care if the NCAA is a bunch of dolts with rules that have loopholes. This looks like something that has never been brought to the attention of the NCAA. Look at this quote:

"Given the situation the way it is, it forces people . . . to do some things that I personally don't think are the right things to do, but they may be the right things to do for the kid," said George Washington University Athletic Director Jack Kvancz.

Sorry for this, but that is complete and utter bullshit. The right thing for the kids is to bring this to the attention of the NCAA and lobby for change. Nobody says they have even thought about this option.

You know, I look at my "rap-sheet" for the month of July (I have now added an arrest for Nick-Caner Medley of MD, in case you missed it) and I look at the repeated scandals and I wonder why I have not lost my faith in sports. At the end of the day, it is the draw of the game. The elegance of the game played well is the difference. Everything that surrounds it is noise. That goes for football and baseball as well. That's why baseball will always survive greedy players striking because $20 million / year is not enough. The game itself is the draw. Players come and go but the game itself remains. It's the game I tell you.