Trust Issues

As we all settle onto the couch this Sunday for the last game of the last day of another glorious football season, its hard to know what to feel: satisfied about another season full of triumph and surprises?  Or just exhaustion and a sense that we’re glad its all over.

Unless you live somewhere around Tuscaloosa, Baltimore, or San Francisco, it’s hard to feel good about how the year turned out.  But I don’t just mean the wins and losses (in the case of USC that’s plenty), but the last few weeks has brought a flurry of revelations about some of the most discussed figures in the sport.  And it seems that the football world could use a huge dose of ethics right about now. 

Before we get to football, let’s set the stage with the unmasking of the biggest lie in all of sports: Lance Armstrong’s institutionalized cheating in the Tour de France.  For seven straight years he dominates the pinnacle event of cycling and we all hold him up as something superhuman; a demi-god in spandex.  As the titles get racked up, rumors fly.  Numbers one through three were stunning.  As he passes four, rumors turn to accusations.  Lance responds with libel suits.  Four turns to five, then six.  Now a “whistleblower” appears and his ridiculed and harassed by Lance’s lawyers.  Finally the seventh title arrives and the demi-god bikes off into the Texas sunset.  But the net of silence begins to unravel.  Teammates are caught, some finally confess and point fingers at Lance.

And through it all, Rick Reilly of ESPN and Sports Illustrated stands by Armstrong.  For more than a decade, Reilly passionately defends the “most tested athlete” ever; he must be clean.  (It is true that he is the single most studied human subject in all of medical science.  Dozens of Exercise Science articles have been written about his body and physiology.  He got away with doping during the Tour because he used Epogen, a natural agent that boosts red cells, and transfusions of blood, which are virtually undetectable) 

As we passed through the final act of the Lance Armstrong saga this month, with his extremely belated public admission, we have been forced to reassess the human we believed to be something more.  Of all the interviews, editorials, and discussions I have heard on this subject, nothing tops Rick Reilly’s expression of shock and betrayl.  Check it out here: http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8852974/lance-armstrong-history-lying

Lance Armstrong’s deceit was professional and legendary.  But a number of personalities in college football demonstrated ethical lapses recently.  Did Bret Bielema's jump from Wisconsin to Arkansas catch you by surprise?  It sure caught Athletic Director Barry Alvarez by surprise.  And he's that guy that worked in the next office down the hall from Bielema.  Alvarez had no idea and heard about Bielema's leaving first when the news hit ESPN.  It is customary when a team poaches another school’s personnel to notify the AD that they are interested.  The AD would then keep that information confidential until the interview process is complete.  Apparently that level of courtesy is not expected in Fayetteville (which is odd, because as I have written in this column many times before, our visit to Arkansas was one of the most courteous road trips I have ever experienced, only exceeded by Nebraska).  One would think that the number of 0’s on Bret’s check was enough for him to forget his Midwestern roots and sense of Iowa nice (he has a Hawkeye tattoo on his leg).  His increase in salary works out to be about $400,000 ($480,000  if you factor in the cost of living change, as Fayetteville is about 20% cheaper than Madison as per bestplaces.net).  Which is nice, but hardly astronomical.  Why did he make the change?  Wants a new challenge?  Winning in the Big 10 was getting too easy?  The SEC is just that more cool?  And why did he bolt from a Rose Bowl bound Wisconsin in such a bridge-burning fashion?  We’ll keep an eye on this story going forward.

When you talk about the SEC and burning bridges, you have to be talking about Lane Kiffin.  It took great restraint, but I managed to avoid writing another entire column on how much I am embarrassed by our coach.  But I need to vent for at least a paragraph.  He starts the year by blocking USC hero and Hawaii head coach Norm Chow from using the coliseum field before the first game.  Then he tries to cheat with jersey switching against Colorado (really, we need help to beat Colorado?).  Then an assistant deflates balls before the Oregon game and takes the focus off one of the most entertaining defeats I have ever experienced.  After sliding into the Sun Bowl, he can’t control his players complaining about El Paso, pisses off Georgia Tech by standing them up for a banquet, and finally a fight breaks out in the locker room after the embarrassing loss.  OMG.  When will it end?  Pete Carroll’s legacy at USC is no longer controversial.  Uncle Pete instilled a sense of pride and respect with his players.  His sideline charisma shined.  “The visor” hides behind his laminated spreadsheet and cant get out of his own way with his poor play calling. 

Ok, let’s all say it together now: “Yeah, but he sure can recruit.”  True enough.  Which makes you wonder, what does he tell these kids to get them to commit to his dysfunctional family?  Does his sense of unethical behavior extend to recruiting?  You bet your sweet ass it does.  The latest embarrassment is a story about USC pulling the scholarship of Kyle Fitts, a recruit from Redlands, CA. (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/recruit-decommits-usc-lane-kiffin-pulls-scholarship-three-165651928--ncaaf.html)  The kid commits to Kiffin, finishes his high school requirements early, gets packed up to enroll at USC this Spring, then learns just days before starting that Kiffin has reneged and doesn’t have a scholarship for him yet after all.  It is a direct result of the draconian 75 scholarship limit imposed by the NCAA, but the way it was handled was, in a word, unfortunate.  Now, Kiffin will face a extra level of distrust by recruits.  Crap.  Maybe we can get a new coach. 

Like Oregon!  Chip Kelly’s jump to the NFL was the most highly anticipated coaching change of the off-season.  But after flirting with Cleveland for . . . um . . . all year, Phil Knight of Nike opened his checkbook to entice Kelly to stay in Oregon after all.  Oh well, that means that Kelly will ravage the Pac- 12 for another .  . . wait . . . what?  Kelly left for the NFL?  Where?  Philadelphia?  Uh . . . OK.  If you have a strange sense of schadenfreude, check out the “most commented” articles on the website of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  They all relate to Chip Kelly!  Just when Clevelanders were starting to get over the great traitor LeBron James, they found a new sports personality they can love to hate. 

Just when I was getting my head around this string of betrayals and mis-truths, along came the weirdest, most amazing, most captivating, sexiest, most confusing sports story I can ever remember: Manti Te’o’s imaginary girlfriend.  The story is too convoluted to summarize here.  And, considering all the airtime it has eaten up, we all know the details by now.  What I will say is that I believe Te’o when he says he was fooled and he had invented his own details to make Lennay Kekua more real.  But coming on the heels of lie after lie after lie, this one really blew my mind. 

There are 207 days from the Super Bowl until USC opens their season at Hawaii. 

So from when I am writing this, there are 211 days, 21 hours, and 36 minutes until Hawaii!

Fight On,

Hans

PS: After depressing you with pages of guilt and lies, I would like to leave you with a better taste in your mouth for the off-season.  I found this delicious article on possible realignment for the Big-10. (http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/70523/b1g-ads-geography-could-drive-divisions )  Some sort of movement within the divisions is likely to occur before 2014, and I am so pleased that geography will be considered.  Rutgers, Maryland, and Ohio State are all within an easy drive of Penn State.  Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Illinois schools are a short drive from Iowa.  It just makes more sense for all the non-football sports to do it this way.  My favorite part of the article is about the competitive balance in football despite geographic alignment: 

“But as many fans have pointed out, the Big Ten still could maintain competitive balance with a more geographic split. Ohio State and Michigan could form an Eastern bloc of sorts, but Wisconsin has won three straight Big Ten titles, Nebraska played for one last year and other programs like Michigan State and Northwestern have emerged.” 

 Does this sound familiar?  It should – I wrote something similar in August 2010!  (http://underdogcontest.blogspot.com/2010/08/ready-for-autmun.html)

Here’s to shedding the ridiculous Legends and Leaders division names.