But then, I AM cynical

So.

Rich Rodriguez is puzzled how he could have “misinterpreted” NCAA practice time rules and why “we made mistakes." He and his staff and going to look into it, figure it out, get to the bottom of it.

This after the NCAA found the Michigan football players were forced to practice longer than the athletics ruling body allows. The school has 90 days to respond to the finding.

May I suggest to RichRod that he “misinterpreted” the rules and made “mistakes” because like many D-1 football coaches, he doesn’t give a rat’s rear about whether his “student-athletes” have enough study time or not. Because it’s all about the W’s and the money the W’s will bring — to the coach, of course, not to the players.

There I go being cynical, again.

Just follow the facts

The news that the woman who made up a story about being raped by Duke lacrosse players a few years ago has been charged with attempted murder and arson — among other things — continues a cautionary tale for reporters, columnists, ambitious district attorneys and crusaders of whatever stripe.

As a complaining witness in the Duke case, Crystal Mangum was a disaster from the get-go, yet her version of what happened when she arrived at a lacrosse party as a paid stripper fit some people’s template too perfectly for them to let go.

The result was a disaster for all involved, including Mangum.

No, let me amend that: The players’ defense attorneys probably came out all right.

Friday column: Williams at least still has a chance

Early in his NBA career, Jayson Williams said, he would follow the advice of his devout mother — get on his knees and pray.

But he would pray to die.

“I dare you,” he would say. “Come on, God. Do it.”

Determining the locus of the demons afflicting anyone as tormented as Williams is probably not possible, but one source clearly is the loss of two sisters to AIDS — a tragedy triggered by a mugger’s knife-and-hammer attack on his oldest sister in 1983, when Williams was 15.

The hospital blood Linda was given to keep her alive was tainted with HIV and she developed AIDS.

Depression and drug use followed, including the possible sharing of needles with younger sister Laura, who also developed the disease. By 1988, both sisters were dead.

Williams’ anguish over this loss — its sheer senselessness — led to his anger with God and his challenge to the Almighty.

“Come on, God. Do it.”

The deity declined.

So Williams pursued his own destruction in a variety of ways — reckless driving, alcohol, drugs, guns — ways that resulted in tragedy to others, most notably in the death of limo driver Costas Christofi in 2002, for which Williams on Tuesday was sentenced to five years in prison.

During his long descent, there have been those who have continued to support Williams.

After a possible suicide attempt in 2009, Williams was remembered by one writer in his playing days as a “terrific guy who never left an autograph unsigned or a kid without a couple kind words,” as someone who, once he found NBA riches, “took in his sister’s children and raised them as his own.”

But while the killing of Cristophi is, of course, the worst thing Williams has done, the former All-Star’s incident list is long and violent.

It includes attacking a heckler with a metal folding chair; it includes nearly killing then-Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet on a shooting range; it includes blowing off the head of his “favorite” dog — and then ordering a “friend” at gunpoint to bury the animal.

It also includes directing a cover-up of the Cristophi killing, a cover-up that resulted in the conviction of two friends.

How much of Williams’ actions can be attributed to his sisters’ tragedy?

Only God knows. It’s safe to say, however, that if he’s ever going to redirect his life — as he swore to do Tuesday — he needs to come to grips with it.

And with everything else.

He appeared far from doing that in his pre-sentencing statement, which was the usual courtroom blend of accepting blame while shedding it, of apology and cheap promise.

Williams is 42 and in prison. His wife is divorcing him. His life is in chaos. Despite all that, he has something going for him that Cristophi does not: He’s alive, which means a turnaround — even if unlikely — is possible.

Next time he follows his mom’s advice, he might consider giving thanks for that.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Actually, there's little doubt

Well, well, well.

Pacman Jones (that's the gentleman's booking mug at right) recently worked out for Cincinnati, which apparently also has interest in Matt Jones. Both Jones have had more than their share of run-ins with the law — which makes them just about right for the Bengals.

Cincy’s the team, after all, that in a 14th-month span in 2006-07 had no less than 10 players arrested.

In recent years the Bengals have added the troubled Tank Johnson and the troubled Larry Johnson to the mix.

In 2007, explaining his … uh … player-personnel philosophy, Bengals owner Mike Brown said, “I guess the world is divided up between redeemers and non-redeemers. I happen to be a redeemer.”

I’m guessing what he really is is someone looking to acquire what he thinks is top talent on the cheap.

Maybe I’m a cynic.

It’s in the Bible somewhere

Evander Holyfield allegedly hit his wife several times after an argument about her payments to their church. She asked for, and received, a temporary protective order against the 47-year-old boxer.

"He said that I was being disrespectful," Candi Holyfield, 30, said in the Feb. 3 court filing. "He started telling me that I needed to start putting God first in my life."

Of course, nothing says putting God first like putting a fist in a loved one's face.

Recommended reading

Through there are plenty of reasons to hate the Yankees (their money, their arrogance, their ownership), there’s always been at least one reason the last few years to root for them — or at least be less upset when they win.

That reason, of course, is Derek Jeter.

Now there may be another reason: Curtis Granderson. Check out Ben Shpigel’s New York Times piece on the outfielder:


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/sports/baseball/16yankees.html?scp=1&sq=granderson&st=cse

Friday column: No one here is getting MY applause

When considering things done and said in the world o’ games, the word corruption often comes to mind, and the last few days have been no exception.

Let’s start with Sepp Blatter.

To do that, we have to reference footballer John Terry, who recently was stripped of his captaincy of the English national team after it came out that Terry, a married father of two, was sleeping with teammate Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend, the mother of Bridge’s 3-year-old son. Reportedly even paid for an abortion, thoughtful fellow that he is.

Commented Blatter, head of the International Federation of Association Football, “Listen, this (reaction) is a special approach in the Anglo-Saxon countries. If this had happened in, let’s say, Latin countries, then I think he would have been applauded.”

Applauded.

Anyone else feel the sudden need of a nice hot shower?
Then there’s Binghamton, a formerly well-respected New York university that sold its soul for a winning basketball team.

According to the report of a four-month investigation into the rot that took hold under coach Kevin Broadus, athletes were accepted that had no business on campus, including two with GPAs under 2.0.

To accomplish this, pressure — apparently with the OK of the school president and athletic director — was applied to the admissions department.

Worse, pressure was applied to teachers to give passing grades. Worse still, coaching staff personnel did course work for players. Worse still, players committed crimes in the community and a cover-up was tried.

When the team’s star was charged with selling crack, the house of cards finally crumbled. The AD resigned; the president announced her retirement. Broadus was put on leave — paid, of course — while the school tries to figure out how to fire him without a lawsuit.

Enter Broadus’ attorney, who in an obvious bid to squeeze a bye-bye payday for his client, insisted, “Coach Broadus is prepared to return to his position and continue to lead the young men that he committed himself to lead prior to their arrival in Binghamton.”

Can we get some disinfectant with that shower?

But at least no one died at Binghamton. That can’t be said for the Vancouver Olympics, where luger Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control during a training run, hurtling off the track and hitting an unpadded metal pole.

The track had been criticized before the accident for being too fast and having inadequate walls, among other shortcomings. Yet within hours — hardly enough time for a proper assessment — officials pinned the tragedy squarely on the dead luger, and not on any “deficiencies in the track.”

Then they went about fixing the problems with the course that ostensibly didn’t exist.

Forget the shower. Wading into this story, I feel the need for a full hazmat suit.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Not sure I see the distinction

So.

On Monday, Scott McCarron said he wanted to make one thing perfectly clear: He never called on Phil Mickelson a “cheater.”

He merely said that what Mickelson was doing — using clubs with grooves that no longer conform to to USGA and PGA Tour standards — was cheating.

Oh.

The same day he denied calling Mickelson a cheater, McCarron bravely insisted he wouldn’t be silenced on the issue.

By the middle of the week, though, McCarron apologized to Mickelson — for whatever it was he said.

Tough days in Trojan-land

How bad is it these days for the University of Southern California Trojans?

Their world-class football coach jumped ship.

Their world-class football program might be looking at major sanctions — thanks to the reported sticky fingers of Reggie Bush and his family.

Their want-to-be-world-class basketball program has had sanctions leveled on it by the school — thanks to the alleged sticky fingers of O.J. Mayo. And more sanctions — courtesy of the NCAA — may be on the way.

Now the Trojans’ troubles are coming by way of a ... graduate student manager.

In a game last week at Oregon, Stan Holt took it upon himself to start jawing with the officials. How bad was it? According to official Bobby McRoy, Holt was “was screaming obscenities at him.”

Not surprisingly, McRoy took umbrage, and gave Holt a technical foul. The Ducks made two free throws, beginning a 13-3 run that turned a two-point game into a rout.

Also not surprisingly, after the game Holt was fired by Trojans coach Kevin O’Neill, who reportedly had warned Holt about yelling with the refs before.

Asked to comment by the Los Angeles Times, Holt refused comment, “except to say he is working on a statement to release to the media.”

And undoubtedly on a script for his own reality show.

I have a feeling the Trojans’ next manager will be told that whenever he feels an urge to jaw with the ref, stifle it — and go pickup some towels.

Friday column: I’m taking Darwin and the points

It appears that the Super Bowl could be hazardous to your health.

Citing a study showing that heart attacks and other cardiac emergencies doubled in Munich when the German national team played World Cup matches, doctors are warning Americans — especially those with known heart issues — to not get too excited during Sunday’s Big Game.

“I know a little bit about the Super Bowl,” study author Dr. Gerhard Steinbeck of Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich told The Associated Press. “It’s reasonable to think that something quite similar might happen.”

In the study, The AP said, Steinbeck and his colleagues “blamed emotional stress for the heart problems, but they note that lack of sleep, overeating, wolfing down junk food, boozing and smoking might have played a role too.”

So, boozing, smoking, night-owling and junk-food eating by people who already know they have heart problems — combined with getting overstimulated by watching complete strangers carry, kick and throw a leather oval to and fro — could cause some of them to move to the Big Stadium in the Sky.

I believe there’s a term for this eventuality.

Natural selection.

* * *

While we’re on the subject of brilliant behavior, I offer the actions of one Deon Anderson of the Dallas Cowboys.

According to police, Anderson got into a early-morning dispute with another man this week outside a restaurant/saloon at, oh, just about closing time.

When the man begin laughing, Anderson allegedly pulled a gun.

While I’m sure that at the time the move seemed a reasonable response to mirth, the Cowboys fullback may feel differently now that he’s been arrested on a charge of deadly conduct. The police, you see, found the gun in nearby shrubs — loaded and with a round chambered.

Besides his legal problems, Anderson is likely to face certain employment difficulties. The NFL, I believe, frowns on this sort of breach of decorum.

Before pulling the weapon — in fact, before driving to a bar with one — Anderson would have done well to consider a couple of recent incidents involving athletes and guns.

Plaxico Burress, late of the New York Giants, is in prison for his little 2008 nightclub mishap.

And Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, soon to be late of the Washington Wizards, have been suspended for the rest of this NBA season — sans pay — for bringing manhood extensions into their locker room.

As neither of these episodes ended well for the athletes involved, one would have thought Mr. Anderson would have paid attention.

I guess not.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.