CBS didn’t duck it. Not exactly. In the open to Tennessee-Ole Miss, play-by-player Craig Bolerjack said, “[Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin] was stunned by the arrest of three freshmen Thursday.” And during the first quarter, CBS inserted a treatment of the story, ending with the accused left off the trip.
Still, it looked and sounded like performing one push-up, an obligatory, “Let’s cover our butts then drop it.” Left unaddressed was the big picture: College sports’ academic fraud problem, while still enormous, has been surpassed by its crime problem. Big-time sports schools continue to provide full scholarships to young criminals, fighting one another to lure bad risks to their campuses for the sole purpose of winning ballgames.
What Bolerjack described as arrests for “attempted robbery” actually were for armed robbery. And two of the accused are known as “prize recruits.” And what analyst Steve Beuerlein described as, ugh, “a distraction” for poor Tennessee is actually a plague.
So many Tennessee players have been arrested in the past dozen years that Knoxville PD patrol cars began to carry team photos; a KPD outreach program was established to try to prevent crime among the school’s football players. According to The Tennessean, five years ago 11 players were arrested in 13 months.
And funding the racket are hundreds of millions of dollars provided by CBS and ESPN, among others, in SEC and NCAA TV rights. There’s at least a little TV money in every arrested recruit.
Next up on CBS on Saturday was Florida-South Carolina. South Carolina and Tennessee for years have fought to see which school can produce the most arrested football players. South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia, as a 20-year-old freshman, was arrested three times. Florida doesn’t do badly, either. Very distracting.
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Based on the replays it showed of Maurice Jones-Drew‘s excessive TD dance — five replays before halftime! — that was the biggest play in yesterday’s Jags-Jets game. And does Dick Enberg, born and raised sportsman, really think such displays are great, or is that just pandering? Meanwhile, at least four plays passed before the CBS crew realized that Jets SS Jim Leonhard had left the game because of an injury.
Monmouth will play at St. Peter’s on — and for — ESPN, tomorrow. At 6 a.m. Live. Part of ESPN’s hoops marathon. St. Peter’s coach John Dunne said he campaigned for it.
“It’s great for us to get that kind of [TV] exposure,” he told the AP.
Six a.m. on a Tuesday, 3 a.m. Pacific? Well, that is primetime in Kazakhstan.
Best college QB I’ve seen this year is Stanford redshirt freshman Andrew Luck. Vision, touch, 6-foot-4, 235. As seen on MSG2, USC’s secondary, in a 55-21 home loss, wasn’t as bad as Luck was good. . . . ABC/ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, during Notre Dame-Pitt, spoke of “a true sophomore.” Stop, please, when you get to “true senior.” . . . Mississippi St. (maroon and white) wore its black jerseys for ESPN and Nike.
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Candid Corner: Rangers radio analyst Dave Maloney, during Saturday’s game, asked why Ranger Marc Staal plays the power play: “He doesn’t handle the puck well enough.” . . . Golf Channel’s Steve Sands, following tape of Tiger Woods firing his driver to the ground (again), from where it flew into the gallery: “Inexcusable from the world’s No. 1 player, the face of the game.” True, but since when are you allowed to say that on TV?
Speaking of Woods and TV, the Australian Masters telecast listed the leaders alphabetically, thus Woods, tied for first after three rounds, was listed third. On U.S. TV, where transparent stupidity rules, Woods, no matter if he’s tied with 10 for 10th, must be listed first. . . . CBS College Sports Network apparently has interest in unsigned NBAer Wally Szczerbiak.
SEC Network’s Kentucky-Vanderbilt, on MSG2, included this from play-by-player Dave Neal: “Vanderbilt, this season, plus-two in the turnover department, picks up their first interception of the year. Eddie Foster, the true freshman, with his second interception of the year!” Got that? That telecast included a graphic showing UK 0-for-2 on third-down, Vandy 3-for-6. That UK was winning, 7-3, was irrelevant.
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Our Sports Culture: When Chris Fowler, on ESPN’s “GameDay,” said TCU must win with “style points,” he meant that poll voters reward blowouts. Merely winning by, oh, 17 isn’t enough. Leave the starters in, run it up. . . . ABC/ESPN’s Lisa Salters explained that the parents of Pitt QB Bill Stull watch from a ramp in the upper deck to avoid hearing Pitt fans jeering their son. Wonder how many of those fans were raised on “ESPN attitude”?
MLB Network presents Bob Costas‘ recent chat with terminally ill Ernie Harwell tomorrow at 8 p.m. . . . How come no one on ESPN reported that No. 11 Ohio State, at home, beating No. 10 Iowa was an upset? Or did I miss it? . . . Why do CBS’s college and pro football promos include so many clips of players show-boating? Is that how CBS folks want their kids to play? Or just our kids?