Category — College Football

First day back to the office and look who shows up.
Johnny Manziel created some excitement (including some from Nats’ Manager Davey Johnson) today in San Diego, where he was on hand to throw out the 1st pitch at the Padres-Nationals game at Petco Park. Manziel also took some hacks in the cage as Padres Manager Bud Black threw batting practice.

The former OU coach passed Tuesday from brain cancer in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 79. Fairbanks led the Sooners to 3 Big Eight Championships before bolting Norman for the New England Patriots in 1973.
NewsOK.com

The former OU quarterback, who led the Sooners to 2 national championships during the ’70s, was killed along with a friend Sunday in a plane crash in South Bend, Ind. He was 60. Davis had also worked as a broadcaster.
Reuters

Probably thought it was some freaks from California.
A 65-year-old Buckeyes fan couldn’t believe what she encountered in Tennessee. Cops there couldn’t tell the difference from a Buckeyes sticker or a picture of some sticky icky.
“We’ve got reason to believe you’re transporting Merl G Juana.”
We couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried.
Columbus Dispatch

Tip of the cap to The Big Lead.
The Heisman, courtside seats to NBA games, Leno, Letterman, hot girlfriend…
So the next upgrade for Johnny Manziel surely would be spending down time with Rick Ross, no? What’s Mike Stoops going to say about this?

It was the biggest story of the college football season, and we all bought into it.
That makes us all either romantic fools of giant saps.
Or maybe just romantic saps.
You can make your own judgement now, even though all the facts are not in and may never be known to the general public.
One thing is for sure, Notre Dame is all in.
The school put its reputation on the line Wednesday night when it came to the defense of its most recent football legend, Manti Te’o.
The university that gave us the Four Horsemen, the Gipper and even Rudy now has brought us the legend of Manti.
History has called into question just what the Gipper said on his deathbed, and the Rudy story was, well over the top. Hollywood will do that.
But this Te’o thing is off the charts. One thing is for sure. Notre Dame either believes or has to believe its guy.
The rest of us just wanted to believe.
Irish officials gave themselves no wiggle room as they responded to the story that Te’o’s dead girlfriend never existed. This despite several people saying they met her and even some saying they saw her on campus, one of them being a priest.
This might be the greatest hoax since Orson Welles proclaimed to the world that Martians had landed outside New York City in 1938. Back then, people were willing to fling themselves out of windows before being captured by the invading aliens.
At least nobody got killed in this hoax, or at least nobody who was ever alive.

The story tugged at our hearts when we first heard how Te’o’s long-time love, Lennay Kekua, died of leukemia just 6 hours after his grandmother passed and he still he went on to play against Michigan State.
We bought into the tale hook, line and sinker.
Maybe that makes us all romantic saps. Or giant fools.
The web site Deadspin.com gave us all the buzz kill when it reported Wednesday that the entire story was a hoax.
Te’o had reportedly told Notre Dame officials the day after Christmas that this was a fact when he got a phone call from the dead girl’s number and the voice he believed was hers proclaimed she was alive.
If this was truly a call from the great beyond it would have made the story that much better.
This is not the first time the public has been duped. Sports Illustrated did an entire piece on a made-up pitcher for the Mets named Sidd Finch in the spring of 1986. They did it on April 1st, making fools of all who believed.
That was harmless and funny at the time, and the magazine was quick to come out with the fact the story was fiction. Nobody, not even Yankee fans, threw themselves out of windows over a great pitcher going to the Mets.
What makes this different is 1 big thing — Te’o.
If he knew, and it is hard to believe he didn’t, then he did all this for publicity. Strange considering he was already the biggest name on the most covered college football team in the land. And he has been doing this hoax for 3 years or so.
Planning a Heisman Trophy run as a sophomore seems like a long reach for a motive.
If he is the victim, well, I just feel sorry for the young man.
Either way, NFL teams will find out the truth long before they turn over millions of dollars to the first-round pick. So we will know all the facts 1 day.
Notre Dame claims it knew already, having hired an investigative firm to look into the facts.
Its athletic director stood before the world and told us all they did their homework and they believe their linebacker. Jack Swarbrick even broke down during his defense of Te’o. Hard to believe he or the school would be in on the hoax.
However, they may not want to play the part of giant fools either.
Maybe I would say I was convinced had I not seen this act before.
I recall Penn State doing the same thing in telling the world it knew nothing of Jerry Sandusky’s crimes and at first defending Joe Paterno’s actions, or lack of action.
And let’s not forget Lance Armstrong’s tour de farce and his years of denial about using performance-enhancing drugs while capturing 7 Tour de France races. Even Oprah can’t save him now.
Then there is Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro. Their words seem hollow in the face of evidence and common sense.
Yet there were the Irish, standing by their man.
Maybe they are right. Maybe Te’o was just a victim, fooled by folks who found their big fish and reeled him in, gobbling up the rest of us in the net.
Maybe.
Thinking of him as a big dupe still makes for a nice ending.
But if we believe that, maybe we are just giant saps and romantic fools.
That sure sounds better than the other option.
Jim Gazzolo, a frequent contributor, is managing sports editor of American Press in Lake Charles, La.

OutSports.com

Lance Armstrong is probably the happiest camper today. But Oprah isn’t.
Deadspin.com

Unlike a lot of folks, I sometimes appreciate the sarcastic style of L.A. Times columnist T.J. Simers. After all, for almost $200,000 a year, what’s better than investing in a writer who makes a living tearing sports figures to shreds?
Still, I’m trying to grasp why Simers decided to hold hands and watch last night’s BCS train wreck with embattled SC Coach Lane Kiffin, more than a week after Kiffin was labeled the “Unabomber” with that hoodie and forgettable performance in a loss to a horrible Georgia Tech team in the Sun Bowl. Come on T.J., you going soft on us again?
Simers doesn’t even ask Kiffin about the recent wave of recruits who have decommitted to USC. All we get is another tearjerker about how Kiffin is sorry he screwed up the Trojans, college football’s preseason No. 1. Try telling that to many of the SC faithful who are calling for his head.
It’s also hilarious that the 2 most divisive figures on the L.A. sports scene, Kiffin and misguided Lakers’ owner Jimmy Buss, get the softball treatment from the hardest hitting columnist in L.A.
What’s up with that dude?