It shouldn’t have to come down to the FBI doing this, but it goes to show how bad of an organization the NCAA really is. We’ve all known that for a while that schools try to recruit players in the least ethical ways and hope they don’t get caught, but it seems as though the NCAA turned the other cheek and allowed so much corruption to happen that even the most powerful investigative agency in not only the country, but possibly the world to step in and uncover all of that. This isn’t the first time the FBI has done something like this as they helped uncover all of the corruption happening with FIFA. The FBI shouldn’t have to and shouldn’t be getting involved, but considering the NCAA can’t check themselves or check possible violators, something had to be done.

Yahoo! Sports recently published an article about the FBI’s investigation that showed around 20 of the top schools in college basketball were implicated in possible NCAA rules violations. According to the ESPN article that wrote about what Yahoo! Sports had published, here were some of the violators:

Potential impermissible benefits and preferential treatment for players and families
Alabama, Duke, Kentucky, LSU, Maryland, Michigan State, NC State, North Carolina, Seton Hall, Texas, USC, Washington

Schools named in former ASM Sports employee Christian Dawkins’ expense reports (seeking reimbursement for thousands of dollars he paid to college and high school players and their families)
Clemson, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State, South Carolina, Texas, USC, Utah, Wichita State, Xavier

Schools that had players/families listed as meeting with Dawkins
Alabama, Creighton, Duke, Iowa State, Kentucky, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Texas, Vanderbilt, Virginia

Schools with active players implicated
Alabama (Collin Sexton), Duke (Wendell Carter), Kentucky (Kevin Knox), Michigan State (Miles Bridges), South Carolina (Brian Bowen), Texas (Eric Davis Jr.), USC (Bennie Boatwright)

Schools with former players implicated
Clemson, Creighton, Iowa State, Kansas, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Utah, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Washington, Wichita State, Xavier

However, the is no bigger possible violator in all of this than University of Arizona. FBI had wiretapped intercepted telephone conversations between Arizona head coach Sean Miller and a man named Christian Dawkins (this name was mentioned earlier and a very important name to this investigation by the FBI) where Miller talked about paying $100,000 so that DeAndre Ayton, Arizona’s star freshman, would attend the school. The next day after the report, Miller did not coach Arizona’s game against Oregon as both he and the school agreed to him not coaching the game claiming “best interests of the University and the basketball program.”

So who is Christian Dawkins? Well before we get into who he is, you need to know who Andy Miller is. According to the ESPN article this is what was said who he is:

“A prominent former NBA agent and the founder of ASM Sports. He represented the likes of Kevin Garnett, Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Lowry, but relinquished his certification in December amid unfolding allegations that his agency was heavily involved in the college basketball scandal. Miller’s computer was seized last year in an FBI raid. Teaming with Dawkins, Miller issued four- and five-figure payments to several high school and college players, according to Yahoo! Sports.”

Now you know who Miller is, but what about Dawkins? This is what the ESPN article had to say:

“The sports agent, former youth tournament director and AAU figure who is alleged to have been instrumental in conspiring with others implicated in the scandal to arrange payments to each of the four assistant coaches arrested in September. Before opening his own agency, Dawkins, 25, worked for Miller’s ASM Sports.”

According to the article, a few former players were listed in the documents such as Dennis Smith Jr (NC State), Isaiah Whitehead (Seton Hall), Bam Adebayo (Kentucky), Markelle Fultz (Washington), Kyle Kuzma (Utah), PJ Dozier (South Carolina), Josh Jackson (Kansas) as to having received money from their schools.

I also copy and pasted from the article some other key elements like people who are involved and the timeline of the FBI probe:

Chuck Person: The Auburn assistant employed by coach Bruce Pearl since 2014. Person previously served as an assistant with four NBA teams after 14 seasons as a player in the league. He played at Auburn from 1982 to 1986. He was fired after the November indictment.

Lamont Evans: Fired on Sept. 28 by Oklahoma State after six months on the job. Evans previously worked at South Carolina and was alleged, while at both schools, to have accepted payments.

Emanuel “Book” Richardson: The Arizona assistant employed by coach Sean Miller at the school since 2009 and previously at Xavier. Richardson was accused of accepting payments to steer players. He was fired on Jan. 11.

Tony Bland: The USC associate head coach employed by coach Andy Enfield since 2013. Bland was accused of accepting payments to steer players and was fired in January by USC; he was the last of four assistants named in the original report to lose his job.

Jim Gatto: The senior Adidas marketing executive at the center of the scheme, according to federal officials, to direct payments to prep players and their families in exchange for their commitments to play at Adidas-sponsored college programs. He was widely known in college basketball as a key dealmaker in the apparel and shoe industry.

Merl Code: The Adidas consultant, former Nike employee and Clemson basketball player charged with federal wire fraud for his work with Gatto to funnel payments to prep players and their families.

Brian Bowen: The No. 14-rated prospect in the recruiting class of 2017, he signed with Louisville and ultimately played a key role in the toppling of coach Rick Pitino. Bowen was identified in the initial FBI findings as a prospect who received payment. Yahoo! reported that Dawkins paid for $1,500 in plane tickets for Bowen and that his family received at least $7,000 in benefits. Bowen joined coach Frank Martin’s team at South Carolina in January and has not been cleared by the NCAA to play.

Jonathan Brad Augustine: Former AAU director and youth coach implicated in September as a co-conspirator in the scandal. Federal prosecutors asked a judge in early February to drop charges against Augustine.

Munish Sood: The financial adviser named in September by federal officials, he was accused of arranging at least $22,000 in payments to Evans. Sood formed a sports management firm in 2017 with Dawkins and also directed payments to Bland and Richardson in exchange for influence, according to the feds. Sood was not among the eight men indicted in November.

Rashan Michel: The former NCAA referee arrested in September who owned an Atlanta-based clothing company and was alleged to have arranged $91,500 in payments to Person for the coach’s influence. Michel reportedly outfitted many NBA and NFL stars.

Timeline of events

Sept. 26: The FBI and United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the arrests of 10 men, including assistant coaches Person, Evans, Bland and Richardson, in connection with fraud and corruption schemes under investigation since 2015. The federal officials alleged that the coaches took cash bribes from business managers and financial advisers in exchange for the coaches’ influence to direct selected players and their families to retain the services of the advisers who provided the bribes once the players entered the NBA. Additionally, a senior executive with Adidas was accused by the feds of working with the corrupt advisers to funnel payments to high school players and their families in exchange for the players’ commitments to attend Adidas-sponsored schools.

Oct. 16: Pitino was fired by Louisville, completing the Hall of Fame coach’s separation from the school after he was placed on administrative leave on Sept. 27 — one day after the unveiling of the scandal by federal officials. Louisville was fingered by the feds for directing money from Adidas to two high school prospects, including Bowen.

Oct. 18: Tom Jurich was fired with cause as athletic director at Louisville.

Nov. 7: Eight of the 10 men arrested in September — the four coaches, plus Gatto, Code, Dawkins and Michel — were indicted by a federal grand jury in New York.

Feb. 15: A U.S. district court judge denied a motion to dismiss charges against Gatto, Code and Dawkins.

Feb. 23: Yahoo! Sports publishes documents from the FBI’s investigation into college basketball corruption that show possible NCAA rules violations by more than 20 Division I teams.

That is a lot to digest, but it doesn’t stop there. Clearly the NCAA were sitting on their hands and not doing a good job of keeping schools in check. Simply, they did not do their job or they did not do it well. It seemed like the NCAA was apathetic to keeping up with their standards and turned their cheeks to being ethical. The NCAA also has a history of committing some cold and heartless acts, along with some minor but petty ones too, as they have penalized schools for violations that are, for a lack of a better term, harsh. Actually, that might be an understatement as I would categorize it as cruel. A coach took one of his players, who had just lost a parent, out to lunch before putting him on a plane to go back home and the NCAA deemed that as a violation. That’s a violation you turn the other cheek on instead of turning your cheek on something thats a lot more serious because you either don’t want do your job to investigate it or you’re too incompetent to do it. Here is a segment that John Oliver did that talks about the NCAA as an organization.

Then there is the president of the organization Mark Emmert who came out with a statement after the Yahoo! Sports article:

“These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America. Simply put, people who engage in this kind of behavior have no place in college sports. They are an affront to all those who play by the rules. Following the Southern District of New York’s indictments last year, the NCAA Board of Governors and I formed the independent Commission on College Basketball, chaired by Condoleezza Rice, to provide recommendations on how to clean up the sport. With these latest allegations, it’s clear this work is more important now than ever. The Board and I are completely committed to making transformational changes to the game and ensuring all involved in college basketball do so with integrity. We also will continue to cooperate with the efforts of federal prosecutors to identify and punish the unscrupulous parties seeking to exploit the system through criminal acts.”

Charles P. Pierce had the most perfect response to Emmert’s comments in his Sports Illustrated article:

“For the love of heaven, please shut up. There is some talk abroad in the land that the findings of this investigation will lay amateurism to rest once and for all. Read Emmert’s statement again. He sees this as an opportunity to position the NCAA again as the guardians of academic and athletic purity, as a way to break its two-year losing streak and regain control over the help. If you need more evidence that this is Emmert’s long game, consider that the FBI already has said that the universities involved are not objects of the investigation. So, players get named and shamed. Coaches get fired. Agents go broke on legal fees. But Boards of Regents go merrily on, waving their foam fingers in the air and grazing the buffet tables and groaning boards paid for by their ‘corporate partners.’

Emmert gets to puff himself up about ‘those who play by the rules’ while his lawyers equate the athletes who pay his salary with convicts working in prison sweatshops. (There’s a very audible dog whistle in there, too.) From all this I conclude that this FBI investigation, while a colossal waste of time and money, is one of the best things that ever happened to the NCAA and to its status quo, a status quo that remains an affront to common sense and simple justice. And the FBI, god knows, should have better things to do than to gumshoe around trying to figure out who paid for somebody’s sandwich.”

Thank you Charles, you cannot say it any better. Emmert is trying to make himself look serious, but I for the life of me cannot see him that way. Considering how adamant he is that players are just amateurs and shouldn’t be paid, he seems as though only cares about the money. In our article about the Larry Nassar trial, we mentioned that The Athlete’s Nicole Auerbach came out saying that NCAA president Mark Emmert was informed about 37 incidents at Michigan State that Nassar committed in 2010 and did nothing. So there are two hypotheses here about Emmert, he either only cares about the two money grabbing sports in football and in men’s basketball or he is incompetent. It also could be a combination of both, but with how much money the NCAA makes from television ad revenue during the Division I men’s basketball tournament (in the billions of dollars range), you cannot rule out corruption. Did the NCAA not learn from the mistakes of corruption from the FIFA scandal? Also, the FBI should not be coming in to do the NCAA’s job of investigating these violations. And lastly, with this probe, the NCAA should have done their job of suspending the players such as DeAndre Ayton because of the violations which would have made him ineligible (there is a rule that says that if a player accepts money from an agent, they are deemed ineligible). It didn’t though and because it was so close to the tournament, the NCAA let it be because they probably didn’t want a star player sitting out of their biggest money grabber (the NCAA had deemed a few players ineligible, but no big time names which only goes to show that money is only on their minds). Ayton is likely to be gone after this season anyways as he is probably going into the NBA draft, but over the offseason, the NCAA will have to do a lot of work. Clean up the mess and clear out any trace of corruption. But most importantly, the NCAA needs to do a better job of cracking down on schools.

*Tali Raphael’s column about the probe is linked as well. A great read for any college basketball fan.

Sources:

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22555512/explaining-ncaa-college-basketball-scandal-players-coaches-agents

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketballs-fbi-probe-gets-specific-with-players-teams-named-in-report/

https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2018/02/26/ncaa-fbi-investigation-recruiting-violations-mark-emmert

https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2018/2/23/17043928/fbi-corruption-investigation-dennis-smith-asm-miles-bridges

So one might think the state of North Carolina is taking the College Basketball scene by storm as they have UNC, Duke, NC State, NC Central, and UNC Greensboro in the NCAA Tournament this year, but people are over looking a city in Ohio where College Basketball has become a hotbed. That city is Cincinnati. I have lived in this city for two years so I am watching my third season of college basketball in the Queen City and came in not knowing what to expect. I am from D.C. and went to college in North Carolina, two environments where the sport thrives, so I know my college basketball. What is going on here in Cincinnati is just simply incredible. The city has two programs in Xavier University and University of Cincinnati where they have been absolute powerhouses this year including both being in the top five in the AP Rankings at one point. Xavier is ranked the highest it’s been in school history (3) and also got their first ever one seed while UC is ranked 6 in the nation and have a two seed. These two schools also have a rivalry between them as they play each other at least once per season which is dubbed the Crosstown Shootout. While it is not at the same level nor anywhere near the hype of a type of rivalry like UNC-Duke, the hatred is there and bragging rights are on the line for the next 364 days. The city seems to shutdown just to watch that game. College Basketball is huge here. But with that, let’s look at the teams:

University of Cincinnati

While this team won’t hurt too much when putting points on the board, don’t underestimate these guys, they are really freaking good. Led by Mick Cronin, this team relies on it’s defense as they only allow 57.2 points per game which is second in the nation, while also nabbing 39.1 rebounds per game (tied for 20th in the nation). On offense, Gary Clark is their best player, but they have got some other guys who can do damage in Jarron Cumberland, Cane Broome, and Jacob Evans. However, beating these guys is no easy task as they could literally ride their defense to victory. While, their offense is not overwhelming, it’s not too shabby either.

Xavier

While University of Cincinnati might be a defensive brickhouse, Xavier is an offensive juggernaut putting up 84.3 points per game which is 11th in the country and they average 16.6 assists per game (21st in the nation). So they clearly move the ball around a lot and it seems like they share a lot too. That must be why they are so good offensively. Chris Mack is the head coach and is honestly very good at his job. The team is led by Trevon Blueitt on the court as he may be one of the most underrated players in College Basketball, but he is also backed up by J.P. Macura, Naji Marshall, Kerem Kanter, and Quentin Goodin who are all capable of being dangerous especially when Blueitt is on the bench. Goodin drives this offense as well as he puts up 4.9 assists per game. Although the defensive numbers suggest they are poor as they average 74.5 points allowed per game (235th in the nation), they actually aren’t bad with a pretty solid zone defense and they nab 38.4 rebounds per game (42nd in the nation). Plus they play in a tougher conference. Xavier is well balanced, deep, and just really talented with an explosive offense and solid defense. People seem to underestimate them (I know I did earlier in the season), but this team could bring a championship to the city. Honestly, this is one of the most balanced and deep teams I’ve ever seen.

Be on the watch out with these two schools in this tournament as lot’s of analysts think that both these squads are favorites to make the Final Four. If the stars do align here, there is a possibility that both these schools could face off in the Final Four which would cause this city to go into a frenzy. Both fanbases should be excited for this tournament and both should be excited for what could possibly happen, but for now, the rest of the country needs to take notice of both these schools as they are both very talented. Oh, and the rivalry might be given that national recognition the city wants and deserves.

Since the NCAA Division I Tournament is upon us, I figured I would post my five favorite games from March Madness to get not only myself excited for the tournament, but for you the readers.

*Note: These will not be in order, it’s just my five favorite

University of North Carolina-University of Kentucky: Elite 8 2017

As a UNC fan, this game went from scary to jubilation in mere seconds. Kentucky had just tied the game at 73 after scoring on a three pointer and I thought to myself “Well, this is going into overtime.” UNC ran down the court getting the ball into Luke Maye’s hands and he scored with 0.3 seconds left in the game. I was in a bar, being the only UNC fan in a bar filled with UK fans, and I saw them jumping and screaming over them tying the score, but I had never seen it go so quiet once Maye scored that basket and my voice was the only one screaming. An incredible wave of emotions. Otherwise it was such a great game to watch as it was so back and forth and the fact that it came down to the last seconds of play.

Gonzaga-UNC: Championship 2017

The year before ended in heartbreak. This one was great as UNC was able to give their fans the championship that alluded them the year before. But don’t get me wrong, it was not an easy game to watch as it was very close. Gonzaga was a very good team and at one point I thought they were going to win it. It was as late as 27 seconds left in the game that UNC was ahead by only one point, but they came away with a win and with the national championship.

University of Alabama-Birmingham-Iowa State: Round of 64 2015

This game was a power struggle and having been in Birmingham two years earlier, this one meant a lot to me as friends had lost the football program and people were still bitter about it. This win in the tournament was absolutely needed for those in the Magic City. Honestly, in terms of fundamentals, it was not a good game. However, in terms of the how exciting the game was, it was incredible. UAB could not shoot a three all game until Robert Brown nailed one with under a minute to go. While it was not the game winner, it was the difference in the game as UAB pulled off the upset.

Maryland-Indiana: Championship 2002

This was back when I was a Maryland fan. This team I loved as it had my all time favorite College Basketball player in Juan Dixon, and it also featured Steve Blake, Chris Wilcox, and Lonny Baxter. That team was deep and very talented. The game seemed closer than the score suggested, but at the time this was the single greatest game I had watched (Yeah, this might be a bit biased).

George Mason-UConn: Elite 8 2006

There will never be a better and incredible game as this one. No other game, no matter who plays, will top this game. George Mason was making a cinderella run, but they had to face the mighty UConn Huskies in the Elite 8 in order to make the Final Four. UConn was clearly more talented, but George Mason wanted it more. The wave of emotions was all over the place. Watching players like Lamar Butler and Jai Lewis who led this team to this moment and the coolest part of this was everyone in the D.C. area was cheering on the team. When the final buzzer went off and George Mason won, it was as if they had just won the National Championship. It was a really special moment and if anyone could understand the magnitude of this and why there could never be a game more incredible than this one.

On February 23rd of this year, former Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin, posted a story on Instagram a picture of a gun with the high school he attended, the Dolphins, former teammate Richie Incognito, and a couple of other people tagged in it. In the caption it said “When you’re a bully victim & a coward, your options are suicide, or revenge.”

Many may remember an incident with Martin when he was with the Dolphins about five years ago when the team asked Incognito to toughen up Martin and when doing so he bullied Martin calling him the derogatory term for an African-American and did several other horrible things. However, it showed a problem that is not only deeply engrained in sports, but in our culture. It showed that bullying still persists. We all talk about combating it, including our first lady, but with the new age in the internet, bullying is alive and well.

Another thing to consider is mental health. Bullying does take a toll on one’s mental health. When you are constantly being harassed, there is always a breaking point. But the question is what happens when you reach it. There are some people who can take it because mentally they are strong, but there are some who are not quite that way. Martin falls in that category.

I was bullied a lot when I was in school. I was small and weak so I was a perfect target for a bully. It wasn’t great in elementary school, but I got through it. The worst was in high school. There was one kid who did not like me at all for whatever reason and I was their target. They created a fake profile of me on Facebook and impersonated me in a group that was dedicated to the future college I was about to attend. Luckily enough, people who I was about to attend college with, figured out that it was a fake. That person did some damage, but it wasn’t enough. It actually became a joke among some people I went to school with. But this person really had a vendetta against me as he tried hard to ruin my life. Eventually that person went away, but the emotional scars were there.

I was also on my high school basketball team, which the same kid played on, but he wasn’t the only one on my squad who were flat out mean to me. There were times they got in my face and that’s when my breaking point came, but it could have been much worse as I would just push them. No punches thrown, nothing too serious. I know why they disliked me (or at least had a great idea of why they didn’t), albeit it was very ridiculous as to why they were. In fact, it was hypocritical as I was essentially a benchwarmer and they were upset when my coach praised my work integrity. It was immature and childish, but it was high school. Things might have been different now, but at the time it was ridiculous.

I did bend, but did not break. While there were times I thought about quitting to just get away from their shenanigans, I thought to myself “Then they would win,” and decided to not do so.

Others are not lucky though as this is a serious issue in our country. I would love to see the research about the correlation with mental health and bullying as someone who has experienced it, it’s not a fun thing to go through. I’m not an expert in psychology, but what I do know is that bullying takes a toll on mental health even as evidenced with Jonathan Martin, who even admitted a month after retiring that the reason why he decided to leave the sport was because of mental health struggles and suicide attempts. What happened with Martin was absolutely scary and it shows how fragile the human mind really is. Playing sports should be fun and it should be able to allow anyone to get away from bullying, but as evidenced, it does not. Maybe we should as coaches and teammates try to help end bullying in sports by calling it out. Bullying should have no place in sports let alone our culture as it shows it could hurt someone’s mental health. Sports are meant to be fun and no one should have to be harassed in it.

*Here’s a link detailing the whole story

France Vs England

James: “England lost a crucial game to Scotland last week and it might have hurt their chances at winning the tournament. They will face France this week and are likely to win, but what they will need to do is win big against the French. Winner: England.”

Ireland Vs Scotland

James: “Ireland won convincingly against Wales and Scotland had a great victory against England. This clash will very likely decide who wins the tournament though Ireland is ahead by a good margin in the points side of things. Winner: Ireland.”

Aaron: “CALCUTTA CUP WINNERS! Holy smokes! I did not see that coming. Scotland took it right to the English defense. Huw Jones with a brace of tries and playing some amazing rugby. The Scottish offense has found their stride and are becoming very threatening. But now they face an undefeated Irish team. Ireland’s offense looked every bit as lethal as it has all year, but their defense looked vulnerable. Jonny Sexton also missed a few kicks that could’ve sealed the deal against Wales earlier in the match. Despite all that, Ireland took the victory over Wales. For the first time this competition I’m going with the upset. A surging Scotland might surprise the Irish. Advantage: Scotland”

Wales Vs Italy

James: “Wales had a good game against Ireland, but the Irish proved to be too much for them. However, they are going up against the worst squad in the tournament in Italy, who lost by 17 to France and should be able to rebound. Winner: Wales.”

Aaron: “There is no doubt in my mind that Wales will win this match by at least 3 tries. The Italian defense has been terrible all competition continuously giving up try after try. Wales played and incredible game against Ireland and almost took the match. A late try by Ireland sealed their fate; the score did not reflect how close this game was. Wales are a much better team than Italy and have also been able to score consistently. Leigh Halfpenny should have a good game from the boot as well. The Italians will try to prevent themselves from going winless, but I don’t think its gonna happen this year. Advantage: Wales”

I have lived in Cincinnati for the past two years and I’ll tell you what, it’s sneakily a very passionate and sports crazed city. When it’s the Crosstown Shootout (a college basketball rivalry between University of Cincinnati and Xavier), the city shuts down. When it’s gameday for the Bengals, all of the Skyline Chilis are filled and the riverfront bars are packed with a gameday concert going on outside. And of course the Reds which makes Opening Day look like a holiday with a parade, a concert, and having a big ol’ party right outside the stadium. People love their sports here. But there is something else here that is big and it’s taking the whole city by storm. What that might be is a second division soccer team called FC Cincinnati.

What people don’t know about this city is that soccer has always been huge here. There had been a few professional teams that have tried here, but it never amounted to anything. Then comes in a former Bengals front office executive and former City Council member, Jeff Berding, to be president of a new soccer club with a mission to not only make a successful soccer team here in the city, but to also bring Major League Soccer here. What has happened here the first two seasons has been remarkable. The crowds have been absolutely nuts as I have been to two games and each time I enjoyed it because of the atmosphere. Some players who are in the MLS and once played in Europe like Bastian Schweinsteiger said some some of the crowd experiences were comparable to games in Europe. That’s attractive for any MLS team and for MLS. In fact, some of the crowd numbers the team has is better than even some in England and they out draw more than all, but six clubs in the MLS.

The quality of play has been no slouch either as the team continually manages to find solid players. The fact they have found players like Sean Okoli, Austin Berry (who has since retired), and Djiby Fall, it also attracts fans because of how well you’re playing. They have made it to the playoffs two years in a row which brings in even more fans.

Don Garber, the MLS commissioner, saw first hand how crazed the city was with the team and the sport when FC Cincinnati made a magical run in Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup beating the likes of MLS teams Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew. He saw how much soccer was loved here in the city. It should be a slam dunk of a decision to put an MLS team here.

Also, since MLS is trying to help grow the sport here in the country, Cincinnati is a perfect melting pot of what soccer could be like in our culture here in the United States. Soccer will never be bigger than baseball, basketball, football or even hockey, but it could become engrained in the culture. Just go to one game this upcoming season at Nippert Stadium and you will see what I mean. Just look how rowdy the fans get in their section called The Bailey which is where the most passionate fans sit each game.

One of the prerogatives for getting a team in the MLS is building a new stadium. The dilemma for the franchise is where will they put a team in the city. There are two spots in the city that are being looked at and it’s the West End neighborhood and Oakley neighborhood. If they were to pick a spot in the city, it should be Oakley, but the problem would be costs. There is one other spot which is not technically in the city, but basically is, and in my opinion would be the best for the franchise. That place would be Newport, Kentucky. A small town in Northern Kentucky that is on the other side of the bridge from Cincinnati (it literally is as I can see into Newport from my apartment). That area has an area called Newport on the Levee which has restaurants, movie theater, bars, and an aquarium. But fans can also hang out on the riverfront on the Cincinnati side of the bridge where there are plenty of restaurants and bars for them and then lead a march across the bridge to the stadium for the games. I honestly think that would be really cool and makes the most sense. Some people don’t like the fact that it’s not technically in the city limits (or Ohio for that matter) and they want it to feel more authentic. I think that’s just a ridiculous thing to get upset over, but I get their gripe. However, in my opinion, this is the best option. And with FC Cincinnati saying it will privately finance their building of a stadium, Newport should jump all over it.

Now I have heard from two different people (one randomly from sitting next to them on a plane who claimed that they knew about this while going to the city on business) that Cincinnati will get the next spot in the MLS, though it is not 100 percent set in stone so it could easily go to either Sacramento or Detroit, which were the other finalists. It seems Garber has seen what I’ve seen and that’s great. If Cincinnati was to get the next franchise, don’t be surprised. The fact that I’ve heard the same story from two different people, who don’t even know one another, leads me to believe that it is true. And hopefully it is as this city deserves another professional sports team here.

*Here’s a video that will give you an idea of what the FC Cincinnati craze is like.

I am a big fan of the sport without a doubt. I can remember the last of the Michael Jordan years with the Chicago Bulls thinking how great the sport was. I was a huge fan of basketball even to the point where I actually was more into it than football (which many will think is ludicrous considering my love of football now). I was a fan of the Bulls, Sacramento Kings (yeah, that was a fun phase), and the Washington Wizards in my days of an NBA fan. Then something happened, high school basketball happened.

I played high school basketball and honestly I enjoyed playing it, but my coach was very disciplinary and I felt like I learned how basketball should be played from him. I learned the fundamentals, how important defense was, and how being flashy was not going to win you games despite how cool it was. It was how basketball should be played. However, he told my team that he used plays that were designed by coaches from Duke and University of North Carolina. As the years went on playing the game I learned something, the NBA is not great. Call me bias all you want, but it is not.

While in my time of playing high school basketball, I became a lot more appreciative of college basketball. I had already loved college basketball and was riding high after the whole George Mason cinderella run to the Final Four, but high school basketball made me love the college level even more. While college is not perfect, it’s the way the sport was meant to be played. The NBA to me is just a show. They seem to care more about being flashy, let offense run everything, never play hard nosed defense or play the fundamentals, and there is absolutely no parity in the league. We all know who makes the NBA Finals every year. It’s too predictable. In college, any team can win on any given night despite who is the most talented. Players try hard to grab a rebound, take a charge, position themselves well to defend, power their way to the basket for a hook shot, and ambitiously try to swipe the ball for a steal, while also passing the ball enough to create a great opportunity to shoot. College basketball is about the fundamentals, the NBA is about the entertainment. If you’re a true basketball fan, college is for you.

That being said, the NBA could be better. The league has the best players in the world and that’s not even debatable. They are the most athletic and the most skillful, so clearly they are the best basketball players in the world. If the NBA wants to be fun to watch, they should go back to the basics: play hard nosed defense, create opportunities by passing the ball more or trying to go down inside, taking a charge, and aggressively go after a ball off the boards, basically needing to play the fundamentals to make the league even better. If you have the best players in the world in your league, take advantage of that by having them play the sport the way it should be played.

I was watching some highlights of the NBA All-Star Game recently and when LeBron James’ team played fundamental basketball to win the game, I saw what could of possibly been the best possible basketball I’ve ever seen. Stephen Curry took the last shot and missed badly, but LeBron’s team played such great defense that they made the shot impossible to make and honestly, Curry’s team had no chance of penetrating that defense or creating an opportunity at scoring. I saw what could be the best for the league if players actually played every aspect of the game. The NBA was great up until the mid-2000s, but in the last decade, they chose to go more of a flashy route. Another prime example of how great the NBA could be was Game Seven of the 2016 NBA Finals where the Cleveland Cavaliers, led by LeBron, won a tight battle against the Golden State Warriors to win the first championship in 52 years. I believe the stakes were so high, that’s why both teams played the best possible basketball they could play. I wasn’t even an NBA fan and I loved that game. LeBron’s block on Andre Iguodola late in the game just went to show how great the NBA could be if the players actually played defense. I firmly believe if the NBA went back to basics, there would be more exciting and close games.

I truly believe the NBA could be great again if playing the sport the way it should be played. These players are the best in the world and if the league wants to make basketball bigger globally, maybe if they went back to the basics to show exciting a close game could be, it would help. But it also would help bring back those fans whom they’ve lost including myself. I truly think the league could be better if they became as fundamentally sound as college ball is.

*Here is an article talking about how the NBA has lost it’s way

So hear me out about this, what I am suggesting may be a crazy, but really interesting idea for a change to the NFL. This will drastically restructure the league and the playoffs, but it should help in terms of fairness. While one might think this would not go over well, just hear me out and think about it before you rush to conclusions. So what am I suggesting? Well this is what I want to change about the sport:

Get rid of divisions

Yes, you read that right: divisions would be a thing of the past. So you’re probably thinking how would that work. Easy, you play everyone once in your conference. That’s 15 games, but what about the 16th game? You play your closest rival from the opposite conference (or you could alternate every year with another team from the opposite conference). If that 16th game came to play your closest rival in the opposite conference, you would have to alternate who hosts every season (and if it was playing any team from the opposite conference it would be the same deal). In terms of where the games will be played, well you would have to alternate every year who hosts so like for an example in the games that are played between Green Bay and Dallas: in 2017 the Packers would host and then in 2018 Dallas would host and so on and so forth. But with this format, it would bring more fairness in the standings which leads to my next point.

Playoffs

In the 16 team conferences, the top six teams on each side advance to the playoffs. So essentially the playoffs will stay the same except there will be no division winners or wild card teams. However, the top two seeds will continue to get byes and will matchup with lowest possible seeds left in the postseason. I don’t think too much should change there.

Scheduling

How the scheduling should be done should be simple. To avoid any complications, once the season gets to the mid-point, every team will get a bye. Yes, all 32 teams will get byes in the same point of the season. As for when the AFC-NFC matchups happen, they should either be the first game, mid-point, or last game of the season. Pretty simple, right?

No more ties

I hate ties. They really hurt the sport and I think they are too freaking confusing when it comes to playoff scenarios. So we need to get rid of them. How would that work? Well, the first overtime should remain the same with what the rules are now, but there will be another overtime that would be College Football overtime rules style. However, the teams should start at the 50 yard line instead of the 25 yard line like how College Football does. That could create more interesting games and more intrigue.

That’s what I have right now, but thats what I would like to see happen in the NFL. Really different, right? Yeah, it’s a pretty radical proposal.

I’d be happy to answer any questions with my proposal and would appreciate some feedback.

The NCAA recently came to the conclusion that enforces Notre Dame to vacate wins from the 2012 and 2013 seasons after their appeal against sanctions about academic misconduct was denied. Notre Dame had made the 2012 College Football Championship game and also won 21 games in those two seasons. It was revealed that a trainer who was also a student at the time was completing coursework for a couple of players and according to Sports Illustrated was also to have “provided impermissible academic benefits to another six.” Five players were suspended before the 2014 season for “academic improprieties,” which brought the attention to the public of what was happening on the football team. During this time, Everett Golson, the school’s quarterback during this period, was suspended from the school for the 2013 season because of academic reasons. A school which prided itself for it’s football and academics, was caught. Also here was an interesting part of the Sports Illustrated article about what else happened with this:

“The NCAA initially ordered the wins vacated in 2016 but the school filed an appeal, which was denied Tuesday. (Other sanctions included a year of probation, a $5,000 fine and a show-cause order against the trainer accused of facilitating the academic fraud.)”

Notre Dame got what it deserved. This was the right thing to do by the NCAA. But as you may ask “Well why did you say it was not fair?” Well, let’s take a look at the University of North Carolina academic scandal.

Many may remember in October 2017, UNC was awaiting on a ruling about possible sanctions against their school for possible academic violations (both “possibles” in this sentence are key words). The NCAA could not conclude as to whether there were any violations when the evidence was clearly against the school. Essentially, UNC created a sham course that players took to help with their academics. How they got around possibly getting sanctions was that the school allowed non-athlete students to take the class. It was a clever way of getting around possible sanctions, but ethically this was absurd. The school should be ashamed of themselves for doing what they did. It may not have been academic fraud on a technicality, but that’s what it really was. It may not have been a course designed to benefit student-athletes, but that’s what it really was.

While it may not have been an academic scandal, the recent sanctions handed down from the NCAA to Louisville from something that was out of the school’s hands, was harder than what may have been warranted. UNC got lucky. Notre Dame got slighted.

Now to the topic about whether it was fair. If UNC got off scot free, then yes, it was unfair to Notre Dame. It was the right ruling, but it was not fair. What happened with the players who allowed this was something that may not have been preventable by the school. However, I do not know whether or not they knew and we will probably never know the full story, but it sounds like something that Notre Dame may not have been able to detect and prevent. As to what UNC did, it’s clear they knew what they were doing and that it is wrong. The fact that they allowed the class to be available to anyone is literally the only reason why the school did not get in trouble and that’s a load of crock. Same thing as with the Notre Dame scandal, we may or may not ever know what happened, but I cannot stress any more as to how unfair this is. That does not mean Notre Dame shouldn’t be punished, they absolutely should be, but I think the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. As for the case of UNC, while technically there may not be enough evidence to warrant serious punishment, there needed to be something.

If the NCAA cannot figure out how to distinguish or how to properly punish schools for infractions committed like how Notre Dame and UNC did, they need either better leadership or a better legal department and better investigators. If it comes down to the general public making better judgments, then shame on the NCAA. And if situations like this keep happening, then NCAA may fear a loss in not only finances, but also respect as it could turn away a lot of fans. Let’s hope the NCAA can do better especially on the eve of the Larry Nassar Trial and how poorly that was handled. The NCAA needs to learn how to become more competent and how to see things the right way instead of turning the other cheek. If I were the NCAA, doing the right thing would be highly suggested when it comes to ethics.

*The link to the Sports Illustrated article.

*A link to an article about the UNC academic scandal