Knucklehead of the Week
Rutgers hired athletic director Julie Hermann to help it recover from the Mike Rice basketball abuse saga. Turns out Hermann left her volleyball coaching job at Tennessee 16 years ago after her team wrote a letter to the athletic director outlining Hermann's abuses. Her players said she called them "whores, alcoholics and learning disabled." Hermann has no recollection of the letter, of course. Rutgers paid $70,000 to a search firm to find Hermann.
No way Ohio State president Gordon Gee loses his job over his verbal jabs directed at Notre Dame, the SEC, Louisville and apple pie. The only thing that could sink Gee, a fund-raising machine, is if he claimed that Woody Hayes vacationed every summer in Saugatuck, Mich., and wore maize-and-blue swim trunks while strolling on the beach. That might do it.
Many of us turned up our noses when Major League Baseball announced it was adding a second wild-card team for the playoffs last year. If you're a Reds fan, that plan doesn't look so bad now. The National League Central is home to the Cardinals, Pirates and Reds — three of the top six teams in the majors — and could end up with both NL wild cards.
This weekend’s Reds-Pirates series in Pittsburgh has a big-time feel to it, which is nice considering the only events in the Steel City that usually create a buzz include Ben Roethlisberger shaking off blitzing linebackers and flinging the football 60 yards downfield.
My son asked about Ryan Ludwick the other day. I was driving at the time, focused like a laser on the road, so my first thought was "Who?" Oh, yeah, Ryan Ludwick. Reds left fielder. Hit 26 homers last year before injuring his shoulder on Opening Day. He might be done for the season, but Cincinnati has figured out how to win without him.
Enrollment numbers used by the OHSAA to determine divisions for sports the next two years indicate there are eight high schools in Ohio that had more than 1,000 boys and 1,000 girls in grades 9-11 last October. Seven of them are in the Southwest District. The state's Big 8: Centerville, Colerain, Fairfield, Lakota East, Lakota West, Mason, Mentor and Oak Hills.
The Institute of Medicine wants physical education to become a core subject in our schools because our kids are so fat. I'm OK with that, as long as dodge ball is part of the curriculum. I loved P.E.; it was a nice break from trying figure out geometry proofs.
Wonder what OSU athletic director Gene Smith thought of Gee's remarks about Notre Dame. Smith, of course, played football at ND and graduated from that prestigious university.
UD student-athletes had a group GPA of 3.26 for the spring semester. Twenty-one of those 385 Flyers recorded perfect 4.0's. Impressive.
How far has the Tour de France fallen? Defending champ Bradley Wiggins will not defend his title later this month. Anyone heard of that guy?
About the Author