Tag: UCLA

Actually, the University of Central Florida football program should be seriously considered for the playoffs. Yes, it is a smaller Division I university, but it has shown it can handle whatever the bigger universities can throw at it.

First, it currently has a perfect record unlike Clemson who is ranked in the top 4. Although the American Athletic Conference is not considered a powerhouse conference, UCF has defeated Maryland (Big 10), Cincinnati, Connecticut, SMU and Memphis. To say that UCF got lucky or those were inferior schools of their respective conferences would be disrespectful of those schools and diminish the athletic prowess of their respective conferences as well. For example, Memphis defeated UCLA (PAC-12) and Navy but was handed a 13-40 defeat by UCF.

It will be interesting to see if the Playoff Committee will agree Tuesday evening . . . last year, Western Michigan University was in a similar situation with a perfect record but larger universities got to play in the playoffs. Yes, Western Michigan did lose in the Cotton Bowl to Wisconsin but the opportunity to play in the playoffs should still have been theirs despite the potential of losing.

The playoff system was created to replace the BCS to create an atmosphere of more competitive fairness. But if the smaller schools like Western Michigan and UCF remain left out in the cold, then the BCS still remains just under a different name. It’s time to shed the BCS completely, and let the “Davids” play the “Goliaths.”

Yes, the playoff system is about money as well as competitiveness. Some of the larger schools are well known to travel well like Ohio State, Stanford, Michigan and Alabama for example. But smaller schools are close-knit. A big event like the playoffs will inspire them to stop everything else and show up.

Every now and then the Davids do win, and the money will still come.


Source: CFB

Ray Rice, Pete Rose, Lance Armstrong, Art Schlichter, Zeke Elliott, Michael Vick, Floyd Landis, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, are all players who have committed a crime–either on the field of play or off–that caused them to lose favor with the fans and the broader community.

The question becomes how long do we continue to persecute those athletes after they have apologized or finished their sentence. There are 3 UCLA basketball players–LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill–who are now facing that same persecution. While these players like the ones listed above brought the persecution on themselves, it remains to be seen how long they must face this persecution. Currently, the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) has stated these players are suspended indefinitely.

And so it seems most players who bring persecution on themselves by committing illegal acts or cheating by using performance enhance drugs end up with lifetime bans. This is true of Pete Rose, Lance Armstrong, Art Schichter, Ray Rice and Barry Bonds. The lies were too big when they came to light. Yet, fans and the broader community in general seem to be able to move past the mistakes of others like Michael Vick, Maria Sharipova and Zeke Elliott after they have paid their dues and apologize.

So, how long will those young men from UCLA have to wait before they will see grace and mercy again from the general public? Well, it may depend on how they handle their suspensions. Will they be arrogant and state shoplifting is not a big deal? Or, will they realize the errors of their ways and truly change?

According to Stadium’s The Rally’s poll of viewers, 44% believe that these young men deserve to be suspended for the entire year. A year’s suspension is actually a small penalty to pay considering these young men were looking at 10 years of hard time in a Chinese prison. Let’s hope these young men learn from the likes of Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress and x so they can change themselves, their surroundings and their futures.


Source: CBS Sports