Monday, February 22, 2010

No News Would Be Good News

It should be slim pickin's at this time of year as far as the world of college football is concerned.  The members of the Class of 2010 have signed their letters of intent and that should be it until spring practice begins.  Alas, there is news, and it surely ain't good.
  • The saddest news item came Thursday from Georgia, where an 18 year old kid named Rajaan Bennett was shot to death, apparently by his mother's ex-boyfriend, who then killed himself.  Rajaan Bennett had signed a letter of intent to attend Vanderbilt.  There's absolutely nothing good associated with this story, simply another dream destroyed.
  • At Ole Miss, a 20 year old kid who had transferred to Mississippi from a juco collapsed early during the his new team's first workout and died at a local hospital.
  • The Oregon Ducks now have about a half dozen players who have been arrested or accused or implicated in criminal acitivities of varying severity since last season's on-field activities concluded.  There's clearly some connection with the choices that coaches/recruiters make when considering the sum of physical ability and individual character.  You can't recruit criminal potential and expect it to disappear when the cheering stops.
  • Floriday booted a redshirt freshman D-tackle from the team after he was arrested for smacking a couple of women at a party.  Keep an eye out and see if he resurfaces somewhere.
Here's hoping that no more news events happen...but they will.

Off topic: I fell off the wagon yesterday evening. I watched some Olympics on TV.  I watched some of NHLUSA beat NHLCanada, then I went where I promised I absolutely would not : ice dancing.  It brought me to a new conclusion,  that my intense distaste for this particular event is largely a by-product of the cloying and annoying expert commentary of the skating announcers.  I am not about to adjust the audio and become a big supporter (though I was prompted to learn that Moldavia ceased to exist 150 years ago, though the music lived on for two American ice dancers in their odd little costumes, but that's another story), but the athleticism of the participants surely merits respect.   The contributions of the skating expert announcer, on the other hand, deserve a big "blechhh".
That is all.

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