Jim Tressel out at Ohio State. The Columbus Dispatch says he resigned, but strongly suggests he was pushed.
Everyone was expecting this in light of Ohio State’s recent troubles, and I get the feeling someone thought it was good timing to do this over a holiday weekend.
Former Texas governor William P. Clements, Jr.
I always thought Clements was an interesting character. He was the first Republican governor elected since Reconstruction; as a matter of fact, his campaign was the first (and only) political campaign I recall any of my family members volunteering for.
On the other hand, I wasn’t aware until many years later that Clements was involved up to his ears in the SMU scandal. (A Payroll to Meet
Sorry: I intended to link to this yesterday, but got distracted.
Rich Cho out as GM of the Portland Trail Blazers after 10 months on the job.
The classic definition is, of course, the guy who murders his parents and then asks the court for mercy because he’s an orphan.
I think we may have a new one: the Fiesta Bowl wants their illegal campaign contributions refunded.
Harmon Killebrew. (What a great name. Why don’t parents give their kids names like “Harmon” any more?)
Sorry, not really much to say beyond that.
The BCS oversight committee has rendered their decision in the case of the Fiesta Bowl. (See previous blog posts here, here, and here.)
And the decision is…the Fiesta Bowl stays in the BCS, but pays a one million dollar fine.
Also, there’s a bunch of happy horses–t about hiring outside auditors, doing an annual audit, “cut[ing] ties with board members who engaged in inappropriate behavior”. You know, the usual load of crap.
In other news, Captain Renault is shocked, shocked to find out that gambling is going on.
(Hattip: NRO‘s “Right Field” blog.)
I have no joke here, I just like saying “competitive pole dancing“.
In case you were wondering, the sanctioning organization appears to be the US Pole Dancing Federation.
Lawrence pointed me to Bill Simmons’ recent column about the NBA playoffs. I don’t care much about the NBA, but I loves me a good “The Wire” quote fest. Shame that Simmons couldn’t find a way to work what’s recently become my own personal favorite quote, but what can you do?
So we’ve reached the last TMQ of the interregnum. What pressing questions were you hoping TMQ would answer? “What does Bin Laden’s death mean for U.S./Pakistan relations?” “Trump: serious contender or joke?” Nope…
WCD got into it a bit last week with Lawrence over the merits of the NFL draft. It is our position that the draft just really isn’t that important to NFL teams. We do not dismiss the draft totally; a team may get lucky and pick up, say, an Earl Campbell. But teams are just as likely to get lucky and pick up, say, a JaMarcus Russell. Our belief is that good coaching, good team building, and good player selection (remember, players don’t have to come from the draft; undrafted unwanted free agents that do surprisingly well are an ongoing TMQ trope) are more important than draft choices.
With that introduction out of the way, let’s jump into TMQ’s annual “mock the mock drafts” column.
Felony possession of a firearm. Drug possession. Theft. Four arrests in one week.
Sounds like the UT football players have gotten out of hand, doesn’t it?
Oh, I’m sorry. Did I say UT? I meant Rice University.
(Sadly, these arrests weren’t enough to push Rice onto the board in the most recent Fulmer Cup update. Maybe next week?)
The Los Angeles Dodgers are now being run by Major League Baseball.
And we’re only 1/10th of the way through the season.
I may have more to say on this later. Not sure.
By way of the LAT, we have learned of a new book: Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball’s Longest Game
Barry’s book is about the April 18, 1981 game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings, which went for 33 innings, the longest game in baseball history.
We’re not sure if we’re going to purchase this or not. On the one hand, it does push some of our hot buttons (failure, Rhode Island). On the other hand, it sounds like the kind of lyrical baseball horseshit we hate. If any of our readers purchase and read Barry’s book, we’d welcome a review.
Edited to add: Lawrence pointed us to a review of a new Richard Feynman biography, Quantum Man: Richard Feynman’s Life in Science
The Dallas Stars have fired Marc Crawford. I think I speak for many of my readers when I say “People still play hockey? That’s a thing?”
The California Legislature is considering revoking the city charter of Vernon, a notoriously corrupt city in L.A. County. But business owners are worried…
Should the Chowchilla school bus kidnappers be paroled?
Sagra Italian Restaurant damaged by fire. The SDC ate there, and, well…we wish the owners the best, even if we can’t say we were wild about the restaurant.
I intended to blog this a few days ago: the latest APD suspension is for 90 days. In this case, the officer in question “was rude to a citizen and initially gave misleading statements to investigators”.
Oh, sure, you laugh at me for picking the Cubs to win it all. But I’ll point out that the Cubs have actually won a game this year, unlike certain other teams (cough cough Houston cough cough) I could name.