Is This Thing On?

Testing . . . testing . . . one, two, three.  Are we on?  Okay, good.

With the holiday season upon us, things start to get crazy.  Office is closed; people work shorter days; people take longer weekends; in general, work productivity begins to decline.  The GameTime, TBD© office is no exception.  As such, things have been dark around here for the past few weeks. [Editor's Note: as evidenced by our November 19th post (from which, I might add, we learned a large proportion of our male readers find Blake Lively and her . . . um . . . "large proportions" quite satisfying) and the subsequent Thanksgiving weekend break.]  But we are up and running at full steam this week.

However, you will fins this Link Dump is dominated by entertaining videos.  Unfortunately, sports-related news have been dominated this past week by LeBron's return to Cleveland and the Cam Newton pay-for-play scandal.  And you know that we pride ourselves on finding you the non-mainstream articles; the stuff you will not find on the front page of ESPN.  So when not one, but two stories are dominating the news cycle, those obscure stories we love so much become harder to find.  That being said, The Chief would like to take a brief moment to comment on the Cam Newton pay-to-play scandal.

When the Chief was in law school, he was a staff writer for, and then Editor-in-Chief of, the Entertainment Law Review at his school.  The Review focused on legal issues related to . . . shockingly . . . the field of entertainment, which included sports.  As a staff writer, the Chief devoted many hours and even more pages crafting a defense of the NCAA for its rulings on the eligibility of former-USC receiver Mike Williams and former-Colorado kick-returner/Olympic skier Jeremy Bloom (both had been ruled ineligible by the NCAA for various reasons).  As such, the NCAA's recent ruling with regard to Cam Newton left him a little disappointed.  For those of you not completely familiar with the scandal, allegedly Cam Newton's father, with the help of another individual (known in the recruiting world as "a runner"), sought money (allegedly upwards of $180k) from Mississippi St. to secure a commitment from his son.  Mississippi St. was Cam's number one choice because his former quarterback coach was now coaching there.  As the allegations go, Mississippi St. said "No thanks." and Cam's father told him he was not going there and that is how Cam ended up at Auburn.  Yes, we find it very suspect that all of these allegations have arisen as Auburn approaches a national championship and Cam a Heisman trophy, but now that they are out there, would we not expect the NCAA to do the right thing? [Editor's Note: don't answer that . . .]

Without boring you with too many specifics, various NCAA bylaws declare a student-athlete ineligible if he or she, or his or her relatives and friends, accepts money, travel, or other benefits from someone marketing his or her athletic talents (see, e.g., the Reggie Bush scandal).  Auburn found Cam Newton violated these rules, declared him ineligible, and then immediately sought reinstatement from the NCAA.  The NCAA reviewed the facts and found Cam's father (a pastor nonetheless) and this runner had inappropriately sought money for Cam's services in violation of the bylaws.  HOWEVER, it also found that there was no evidence that Cam had knowledge of this, applied a safety-net provision of the bylaws, and declared Cam eligible to play.  And that, my dear readers, is where the NCAA loses all credibility in this ruling.  He had no knowledge?  Common sense would tell you he knew what was up.  Do not believe me?  Imagine you have your heart set on going to one school and one school only (let's call it . . . oh, I don't know . . . Mississippi St.).  You tell your dad it is your dream to go to this school and he says that sounds good.  Then, a few months later, completely out of the blue, your dad says you can not go to the school you dreamed of, but instead you have to go to another specific school (let's call School B . . . um . . . Auburn . . . that sounds like a fun word).  So, Mr. NCAA, am I supposed to believe that, when presented with this exact situation, Cam did not question his father or get the least bit suspicious?  This is a boy who dreamed of being reunited with his quarterback coach.  And I am expected to believe that when his father said that was not going to happen Cam did not want to know why?  Give me a break.  Logic, common sense, basic reasoning skills; these are the only things everyone needed to use to know that Newton should be declared ineligible.  Unfortunately, logic, common sense, and basic reasoning are three things the NCAA lacks . . . especially when it could result in a non-BCS team wining the national championship.

Deep breaths.  Deep breaths.  Sorry, we got a little fired up there.  So, while we go for a short walk, maybe grab some lunch, and take a few deep breaths, here are some none-LeBron and non-Cam Newton stories you might have missed from this past week:

• It is good to see that Marisa Miller is already in the holiday gift-giving mood.  First, she went on Conan in this dress.  Then, she went on The DP Show and said that, if she was in an experimenting mood, she would not mind spending some quality time with Jessica Biel.  Yeah, good luck getting that image out of your head anytime soon.
• Deadspin's Drew Magary hits the nail on the head with his "Hater's Guide to Taylor Swift".  I think he should start writing songs . . .
• In case you were confused with your United States geography, Dallas-Fort Worth is located in the east-to-northeast portion of the country.  So much for those funny southern jokes we like to make.
• Soon, all college girls will be able to justify the "Freshman 15".
• As if we needed another reason to prove the BCS system sucks, Nevada cost itself only about $1 million by beating Boise St. last week.
• Deplorable does not even begin to describe this crime.
• Mediocre hockey players serve as proof to what we already new: hot chicks love money.
• Okay, we lied, one link related to LeBron's return to Cleveland.
• Only with the Los Angeles Clippers does this sort of thing happen.
• Man sues former NBA player for coming onto his court and taking it to the hole.
• If you can get past all the grammatical errors [Editor's Note: did I mention I'm an editor?], here is a look a MJ's new crib.
• Just go ahead and add "pools w/ observation windows" to the list of places I am afraid to swim.
• If you are not too busy on this fine Friday afternoon, here is a look at some of the funnier things associated with the WWE.

I am not going to beat around the bush, we have some pretty fantastic videos lined up for you this week.  It helps that we have been out of commission for a while so that we a couple extra weeks worth of videos for you.  So, with that:

• What is the most adventurous thing you have done lately? Quadruple flip from a ninety-nine foot rope swing?  You win.
• Every once in a while, Saturday Night Live actually pulls something out of the funny bag.  We like to save you the trouble of having to watch the other eighty-eight minutes of the show.
• Only in the South is a beer bong interrupted by this kind of unidentified flying object.
• Around Christmas time, Oprah surprises one lucky audience by being part of her "Favorite Things" episode, during which she gives everyone in attendance a crap load of her . . . well . . . favorite things of the year.  And the audience goes nuts . . . literally.
• I am sure you all have seen this interception a thousand times by now, but it still remains the most impressive interception I have ever seen.
• I am going to go out on a limb and say that is not her first time doing that . . .
• I do not know how Jimmy Kimmel does it week-in and week-out, but his "This Week in Unnecessary Censorship" always gets me.

Have a great weekend everyone!