Quite the contrast to scumbag Urban Meyer. I don't see Brady faking any heart attacks anytime soon
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After 12-year-old Grant Reed finished his final chemotherapy treatment a couple weeks ago, he made a new friend; but it's fairly surprising that the new friend is Michigan coach Brady Hoke.
It's surprising considering Grant, a lifelong Buckeye fan, nicknamed his cancer "Michigan" and set the goal of beating Michigan.
When NBC4 first reported on Grant's fight with "Michigan," Hoke told Sports Illustrated kids that he was wishing Reed well in his fight and said in this rare case he was happy someone "Beat Michigan."
On Monday, Hoke called Grant and his family at their Bellville home with words of encouragement…and an offer.
Hoke offered the family four tickets to the 2013 Ohio State-Michigan game.
Grant's father, Troy, said his son did not hesitate to answer the coach. "He gave a very clear yes—he's very excited," Troy said.
Hoke did not say where the tickets will be in the stadium, but Troy says it's no big deal. "Sad to say, in Michigan Stadium there's no bad seat."
"There was no way we could have pulled off getting tickets otherwise," Troy said.
The Rotary Club of Jackson, Michigan has offered to pay for the Reed family's hotel stay.
Troy says Hoke told Grant that he needs to keep on working hard to beat Michigan and that the two made some small talk on the phone.
"It's getting hard to keep my dislike for them, because they've been so classy and unbelievable to us," said Troy, who played in the OSU marching band along with his wife, Denise.
"But it won't be hard to cheer for the Buckeyes in November," said Troy.
I feel weird defending Meyer and OSU, especially against scUM, but:
That's Meyer with Grant Reed, so probably not the best story for knocking Meyer. It's actually a good opportunity to remember that these programs do a lot of good in their communities, despite how much I hate them every Saturday.
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Meh, kind of hard to point fingers at anyone in college football over that type of stuff. He certainly has that holier than thou thing about him, but college football coaches are all kind of maniacs in their own way.
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A month and a half after taking his frustrations for College Station public, Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel found a landing spot just down the road this weekend.
Problem was, the frat boys of Austin don't take kindly to their longtime rival's quarterbacks.
Manziel, attending a fraternity party in the West Campus area near the University of Texas, was "quickly and harshly" kicked out of the event Friday night, according to SB Nation's Texas site, "Burnt Orange Nation."
A brief YouTube video accompanying the SB Nation report shows Manziel barely evading the brunt of an airborne beer can amid screams that include "get the f--- out" as he leaves the party across an outdoor patio, dressed in a soaked pink golf shirt and black baseball cap.
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Thank you for everything CP. Good memories and thankful for everything that has been done to help me out. I will no longer take part on these boards. Take care, Go Flames Go.
NOW THE SEASON has almost arrived, the problems papered over for the good of everyone who counts on Johnny. The bars and restaurants in town are packed, and the owners thank his father for the huge spike in business. That's what he brought College Station. When he goes to practice, he passes the blue rented cranes and the Acklam Construction trailers, the lightning pop of acetylene torches. As the program embarks on its second season in the SEC, a cavernous new football atrium is rising day by day and will essentially serve one purpose: to display Johnny's Heisman for recruits. That's what he brought the school. Sumlin got a $1 million raise. That's what he brought his coach. In exchange, Johnny received a fishbowl he's not mature enough to escape, and, of course, the Heisman Trophy.
The family is angry about the trophy, which really is a symbol for every little indignity, real and imagined, fueling the rift. This January, Johnny's family wanted his copy of the Heisman, which the school told them hadn't arrived yet from New York, Paul says. So finally Paul contacted the Heisman Trust, which told them it had shipped the trophy directly to Texas A&M. Paul suspected the school misled him, using the second Heisman to double its fundraising and recruiting possibilities. Texas A&M, through a spokesman, appeared baffled at the accusation, and it's difficult to find the line between a lie and a simple miscommunication. (The Manziels received their Heisman in January.)
The Manziels don't understand why the school lets the NCAA probe their lives, starting with the assumption that they are cheating, as if an endless back and forth about a rich family spending money really addresses the most dangerous consequences of Johnny's fame. Paul Manziel thinks the school compliance department actually works for the NCAA, and in a meta way, he's right. If A&M doesn't fully cooperate with questions about, say, courtside tickets and fancy vacations, it leaves itself open to sanctions. The Manziels understand the risks and the stakes. Johnny is in the wilderness of his own bad decisions right now. From the Manziels' perspective, everyone, from Sumlin to the school to the NCAA, seems to care deeply, even profoundly, about helping him through, just a little bit less than they care about helping themselves.
"It's starting to get under our skin," Paul says. "They're so selfish."
The Manziels are tired of a coach getting a million dollars and their son getting an appointment with a therapist. They're tired, and they're scared, because they've seen the pressure build and build, and they don't know what might happen next. Or, more accurately, they know exactly what happens next, if Johnny doesn't grow up.
The farm roads and state highways between College Station and Tyler blurred under the wheels of his black Mercedes-Benz, the one he wanted so badly that his dad finally bought it for him. Paul Manziel didn't want his son to do something stupid to get it for himself.
The NCAA rules are indeed stupid. I mean just look at Hockey. The Flames can't even pay for a flight for their prospects to attend prospect camps. They can't cover their hotel rooms while they attend the camp.
Alabama's football program made a profit of $45 million in 2012. I understand that a lot of this money helps fund sports that don't have 100000 people in the stands, so I'm not necessarily saying the kids should be paid by the program, but let them earn money on the side from their celebrity. It's so lame.
The Knight Commission released a report compiled over the last 18 months, and presented to the NCAA, yesterday. The full report is below, but here are some of the highlights (per the Deadspin article)
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The study has three recommendation:
Put independent experts onto the NCAA Executive Committee and D1 Board of Directors; The current members all have financial stakes in the matters they're deciding.
Rein in management of the bowl games; The current postseason revenue is "fragmented," and can lead to disasters like the Fiesta Bowl fiasco. Instead, the commission urges that less of the money go into the pockets of the people operating the bowl games, and more "to directly support athletes’ educational experiences."
Change the current distribution of revenue; The commission says the current model contains "distorted incentives," and more money should go to programs that give priority to education.
The bigger issue, and as Deadspin notes one that will be driven by money not a report like this, is the call to look into the formation of a super-conference made up of the big 5 conferences. Personally I think that would be better for everyone, but it's easy for me to say as a fan and alum of a school that would benefit from that. Either way something needs to change, the exploitation of college football players has become obscene. I used to be okay with the way things worked, a free education isn't a minor thing, but the unbridled cashing in on individuals while at the same time cutting them off from cashing in themselves has gone too far.
