I’m a big fan of college basketball, but over the last few years, especially this year, the NCAA Tournament and March Madness has lost a bit of its luster for me.  I think the biggest reason is that the whole one-and-done concept is killing the college game.

I think the idea of forcing players to go to college (by way of the NBA age restriction) is one of the dumbest rules in sports for many reasons.  It’s just a bad idea all around in my opinion.

First of course is that it ruins the quality of the college game.  By forcing the top talent into the college game instead of allowing them direct entry into to NBA has caused a huge dilemma for college coaches looking to build a program.  It’s hard to build a program without the top players, and to get the top players a coach has to deal with the fact that many of these players won’t stay more than a season, or maybe two.  This makes it impossible to maintain any continuity.  Look at teams like Kentucky and North Carolina.  These teams will have almost complete turnover of their rosters after this season.

This not only makes it hard on the coaches, but on the fans.  It’s almost impossible to follow the game from year to year.  It’s impossible to develop any familiarity with the teams from year to year.  It’s almost as if a college basketball fan has to start over each season, learning who the players are, what teams may or may not be good etc.  And by time that can be done, the season is over.  Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Austin Rivers etc.  We as fans never even had a chance to get to know these guys.  By time we start to really see then develop and appreciates their games, they are gone.  There are no star players in college anymore.

Another byproduct of recruiting the one-and-dones and other top talent is that the experience level of the players on the court goes down. Even though the top programs have the best recruits and talent, there is an element of inexperience that often can’t be overcome.  It has made these teams vulnerable and makes for sloppy basketball.  While some may disagree, I think that this parody is bad for the game overall.  Many will argue that the tournament is more exciting with all the ‘upsets’, and the success of teams like VCU and Butler.  But I see the opposite.  I think these ‘upsets’ are watered down.  The more we see it, the less exciting it is to see the mid major knock off Duke or Kansas or North Carolina.  I think the game is better when there are a number of consistently strong, dominant teams.

It also dangerous to force players to college when they have no interest in being there.  These players have zero incentive to respect the college game and its rules.  By the time things come to light, the player is usually long gone.  Look at Derrick Rose who got Memphis in trouble because he had someone else take his SAT’s for him.  By the time sanctions were handed down he was already and NBA star.  He’s now the MVP who just signed a $200M shoe deal and no one cares that he cheated.  Another example is OJ Mayo, who left a wake of carnage behind him at USC after it was revealed that he was taking money from an agent the whole time he was in college.  He was long gone before anything was discovered and his career has seen no ill effects.

To me there is a simple solution.  Apply a rule like baseball has.  If a player wants enter the draft right out of HS, let them do so.  But if they choose college make them stay for at least three season’s before they are draft eligible again.  The system in place now, which essentially lets the NBA use college basketball as it’s farm system, at no cost, is just not working and its killing the college game.

Call it dumb and dumber for two Yankee golden-arm pitchers who threw away their careers with off-the-field hijinks….It was as if he had a death wish for his career and now he’s succeeded. This is an injury far worse than the blown-out elbow. – Bill Madden, Daily News

Call it a freak accident. Call Chamberlain a good dad. He still should have been smarter than to get on a trampoline. – John Harper, Daily News

Joba Chamberlain has for the most part taken a beating from the media this week for being so irresponsible in playing with his child on a trampoline.  I know it’s basically the media’s job to blame someone or something for everything that happens in professional sports, but they need to cut Joba a break here.

I pulled these quotes both from Daily News but it’s the same theme everywhere.  That Joba was somehow wreckless by taking his kid to a recreation center to play.  Bill Madden’s article even starts by comparing getting on a trampoline to former Yankee prospect Brien Taylor, who suffered a career ending injury in a bar fight back in the early 90′s. To compare a player jumping on a trampoline  with his kid to a late night bar fight is ridiculous.

It’s easy for us as fans and media to see these guys as something more, or something different, but professional athletes are at the end of the day regular people who lead lives off the field.  They raise families, play with their kids, and do things around the house just like anyone else.  Their job just happens to be professional athlete.  It’s one thing if a player was out riding a motorcycle, or skiing, or climbing a mountain.  Those are inherently risky activities.  But playing on a trampoline with with your kid is not.  It’s wrong for us to expect these guys to live completely sheltered lives.

The much anticipated book “The Big Miss”, written by Hank Haney, Tiger Woods’ former swing coach was finally released this week.  Excerpts from the book have been floating around in the media for weeks, and most of it has reflected pretty poorly on Tiger Woods. 

Although Haney has always claimed it was a “golf book”, it became pretty clear that there was much more than golf mentioned in the book, with many personal details about Tiger and his family being disclosed. It’s been portrayed thus far as more of a “tell all” than a “golf book”. Topics like Tiger being cheap, badmouthing Phil, his chilly relationship with his wife, and the source of his injuries have all been hot topics.   

Haney so far has taken a fair bit of heat for writting the book.  Many golf writters have taken issue with the subject matter in thebook. And Rick Smith, a prominent swing instructor who used to coach Phil Mickelson was especially vocal saying:

I would rather be broke and not have a penny to my name before I violate the code of player-teacher confidentiality. In 27 years out here, I’ve never done that. I’m personally upset with Hank because he’s broken and violated our code of ethics. If you have the opportunity and you’re privileged to conversations, you will not and should not share anything from them with anyone. I don’t care who it is. For all the guys who have committed their lives to teaching, this should be very upsetting and I know that I’m not the only one that feels this way. What Hank did is against the rules.

Until today I hadn’t heard much of a defense from Hank Haney.  After hearing Haney on WFAN this morning with Boomer & Carton , I must say he didn’t help his case much.  The guy basically came off like a huge jerk.

When asked bluntley by Carton how he can justify breaking the above mentioned player/coach trust by including so many salacious details about Tiger’s persoanl life in a so called “golf book”, Haney related everything back to golf saying that it all played a part in Tiger’s ‘mindset’ on the course.  While that may be true, it’s a terribly weak excuse by Haney.  If that’s the justification, is anything off limits?  Everything going on a players life will effect thier mindset on the course, but that doesn’t make it right to include it in a book.

When further pressed, Haney then invoked the “it’s ok because everyone else is doing it” defense, saying if he broke the player/coach code then so did guys like Phil Jackson and Joe Torre who also wrote books and included similar unflattering comments about star players like Kobe and A-rod.  Again while true, it doesn’t make it right. Haney also went as far as to say that he could have included even more personal detail but did not, acting like we should consider him a good guy or something, since he didn’t include more. 

Finally, Haney tried to downplay the non-golf details saying they were only a minor part of the book, and aren’t part of the overall theme.  I haven’t read the book so I don’t know if that’s the case, but if it is, then why put them in there in the first place?  The only reason for it is self serving promotion of the book at the expense of Tiger Woods.  Its the same reason the book is being released a week before the Masters. 

I really suggest listening to the rather heated interview on WFAN this morning if you haven’t already done so (audio here).  Craig Carton comes  right out and calls Haney out on his BS and absolutely tears him a new one.  If anyone still wonders why superstar athletes are so guarded and untrusting, “The Big Miss” is example 1A.

The news broke earlier this week that the Saints were interested in bringing in Bill Parcells to coach the team next season during Sean Payton’s suspension.  And over the course of the week it’s looking more and more like Parcells is interested and may take the job.

Although the NFL has come out and said that it would not object to the hire, this just doesn’t sit well with me.  The idea of a team that’s supposedly being punished, going out and bringing in a Hall of Fame Coach, just doesn’t make sense.  It kind of takes all the punishment out of losing the coach for a year when you can just bring in Bill Parcells from the bullpen.  If a player were to be suspended for a year the team can’t just bring in a replacement. Not without salary cap consequences anyway.  In most cases a team would be likely to simply cut such player and move on.  It shouldn’t be any less difficult for a team when a coach is suspended.

Another point that was clarified this week was the 8 game suspension of Saints GM Mickey Loomis.  When this punishment handed down I didn’t understand how the punishment of a front office executive who has no on field involvement could be determined by a number of games.  As it turns out, it is literally an 8 game suspension starting after the final pre-season game, which could be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.  This means that Loomis can handle free agency, the draft, and all the final roster decisions before the season starts.  He’s essentially still being allowed to handle all the most important parts of his job.  His suspension for the first games games comes at a time when the GM is likely doing very little of importance anyway.  Is this a punishment or an unpaid vacation?

The final development from earlier in the week is that FOX is interested in hiring Sean Payton as an analyst for the 2012 season while he is suspended.  This, much like the idea of Parcells coaching the Saints for the season, just makes a mockery of the whole concept of punishment.  While the NFL has stated that “His (Payton) involvement in any non-NFL employment or business matters is not our decision”, you would think they’d have a little more to say on the issue.  While the NFL doesn’t have the legal right to stop it from happening, you’d think FOX would try to avoid ticking off the NFL and the Commissioner if they came out and said the league was against it.

Also, I think its just bad business on the part of FOX, who according to Senior VP Lou D’Emerilio feels that “Sean is bright, articulate and obviously contemporary, and any network with NFL rights would have to consider it.” I’m sure Payton would be a good analyst, but he’s being punished by the league for egregious behavior.  He shouldn’t be glamorized on TV, on the NFL’s own broadcasts while being suspended.  I think everyone would agree that it would be in bad taste if FOX were to run highlights of illegal hits, or condone that type of behavior on the field.  By hiring Sean Payton and promoting him on NFL broadcasts, that’s what they might as well be doing.

And on top of that, there would be a potential conflict of interest since Payton, while suspended, is still and employee under contract of the Saints. Analyst have a difficult enough time remaining objective when they’re not also employed by an NFL franchise.

Keith Law ran a chat today over at ESPN, and it got me thinking a bit about Mets prospect Josh Edgin:

Steve (NY) Any opinion on Josh Edgin? His stuff looks pretty impressive from the left-side. May even make Mets’ OD roster despite never facing AA hitters yet.

Klaw (1:57 PM) Middle reliever – not a surprise that a good LH A-ball arm could jump to the majors and throw 50 innings in a pseudo-specialist role. Teams are often too slow to push those guys anyway.

It looks like Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus was pretty busy with Michael Pineda questions today. Here are a few from his chat today:

Joe V. (Washington, DC): Kevin: OK, what do you think about Pineda? A: He’s a little out of shape and is conserving his best stuff for the season or B: Last year took a ton out of him and it might take him an entire year to regain lost velocity or C: There’s in injury there and the Mariners knew what they were doing in getting rid of him.Kevin Goldstein: Closest to A, but I don’t think he’s conserving his best stuff as some sort of plan as much as he’s building it back.

I agree that A is more where he stands. Pineda already knows he can blow his fastball by hitters, and has been working on his changeup, as well as pitching to contact in an attempt to get more ground balls and keep his pitch count down. I’m of the belief that once he’s on the mound for his first real Yankees start, he’ll be cranking upper-90s fastballs down the plate and dominating hitters like he did last year.

SamLindauer (NY): There seems to be some debate as to whether the Yankees should send Nova to the minors to start the season. Some say Pineda should go down. Would this make sense for the Yankees?Kevin Goldstein: I would be really confused if either went down.

I’ve heard a lot of discussion about this, and personally, I think it’s stupidity in every sense of the word. Both Pineda and Nova belong in the rotation, and should only be demoted if they pitch themselves out of a job. Turn them loose out of the starting gate and let them do their thing.

This is just ridiculous. From an ESPN report on their website, on Nike suing Reebok over releasing Tim Tebow Jets apparel just as their deal with the league is about to expire, and Nike will pick up:

According to the lawsuit, new Nike-supplied uniforms for all 32 NFL teams will be unveiled next week in New York City, kicking off a five-year deal for Nike to be the league’s exclusive provider of on-field apparel, including game uniforms and sideline apparel. Reebok had been the supplier for the last decade.

The lawsuit said demands for Tebow-related Jets apparel was intense last week during a normally subdued time for NFL merchandise sales.

It said Nike, based in Beaverton, Ore., believes Reebok was shipping large volumes of Tebow-related apparel products to retailers for sale to the public this week, damaging Nike’s ability to capitalize on a “unique and short-lived opportunity.”

Go pound sand, Nike. Reebok still is the official provider of merchandise for the league until their contract runs out. It’s a smart move on their part, and one last way to maximize the revenue associated with their partnership with the NFL.

Those are my two cents. What’s your take?

I did I piece on some of my favorite Yankee prospects for 2012 over at Pinstripe Alley, one of which is left handed pitcher Nik Turley. Here is what I had to say about him:

Nik Turley, LHP- A broken hand cut his ’11 campaign short, but what he showed at Charleston was certainly no joke (82.1 IP, 2.51 ERA, 82/21 K/BB). The key to Turley’s success was a step forward with his command, as he dramatically cut his walk rate down from his first year in the minors (4.23 at Low-A in ’10, 2.30 at Single-A in ’11). He has a workhorse frame (6-6, 230 lbs) that should stand up to a heavy workload, and may allow him to add a few more ticks on his low-90s fastball. A strong 2012 season could catapult him into the organization’s Top 10 prospect discussions.

A lefty with the potential for plus velocity, good control, and a legitimate out pitch? Sign me up! I see Turley as a player that could really rise in the Yankees system this year if he continues the upward trend he showed last season prior to his injury.

Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances get all the hype in this system, but you shouldn’t sleep on Nik Turley.

The NFL made the news official on Tuesday: the 2012 season will open with the Giants hosting the Cowboys in prime time on Sept. 5. It’s a Wednesday match this year, to accomodate the Democratic Convention scheduled for the next day.

We already knew the Giants would be hosting this game. It’s one of the perks of winning the Super Bowl: you get to host the lid-lifter the following season. Dallas is a natural pick here for obvious reasons – a buzzy team and a gigantic rivalry game – but there is one element to this match that surprises me.

With NBC securing this opener, it marks the third straight time the Giants and Cowboys have played on their network rather than the natural spot of FOX (the owner of the NFC). Now FOX understands that some of its better games are going to land on Sunday nights and Monday nights, be it from the original schedule or through the flex system in the second half of the year. But it can’t be thrilled that one of the league’s best matchups is flying the coop yet again.

For my money, it’s a major win for football fans. Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth are the best announcing tandem in the league, and NBC’s production team is head and shoulders above every else’s. Maybe you have five friends that like Joe Buck, but I sure don’t. And Troy Aikman’s not the most distinguished analyst in the game, either.

We’re just five-and-a-half months away, so get your popcorn ready.

The news came down, appropriately for 2012, in a Tweet. Syracuse guard Dion Waiters is going pro, as expected.

I just want to thank everybody who supported me my two years at Syracuse I appreciate the love y’all showed towards me I will miss y’all.

It’s early to project where draft prospects will slot, but I’ve yet to hear anyone suggest that Waiters will be a lottery pick. I could see him going in the middle of the first round, the latter stages of the first round, or even the second round. And with that in mind, I wonder why he’s not coming back to Syracuse for another year.

Waiters showed flashes of electricity as a sophomore, averaging 12.6 points per game as the team’s sixth man. He was far and away the best halfcourt scorer on the team, someone who could get his own outside shot or take the ball to the rim. His 28-point barrage against Cincinnati in the Big East Tournament was a national coming-out party.

But if Waiters returned to the Orange next year, he’d be the unquestioned centerpiece of the offense, a starter and a big-minutes player. He’d probably have a shot at being the best player in the conference. Why not return for one more go, work on your game and your defense, get more time to build a national reputation?

If Waiters doesn’t go in the first round, he’ll probably regret this decision. First-round picks get guaranteed contracts, while second-round players aren’t assured of anything. If I had to bet, I’d peg him for something in the first round, but it ultimately depends on what the rest of the class looks like.

Next up for Syracuse fans: the waiting game on Fab Melo. The sophomore center had a breakthrough year (he was Big East Defensive Player of the Year), but he also ran into constant academic problems, leading to a couple of suspensions. He’s probably not mature enough for the NBA right now (and his offensive game needs a ton of work), but teams can obviously see a pro body and limitless potential. Had Melo been eligible for the NCAA Tournament, the Orange likely would have beaten Ohio State in last weekend’s East Regional Final.