Since we have been talking and writing about Bruin baseball last few weeks this video was timely:
That is a video from back in the day, featuring two former Bruins, as Freddie Mitchell was interviewing current Philly superstar Chase Utley. HT to Mullet from AOL's Fanhouse for locating that video. I love the pop up stats. Absolutely hilarious. Chase is of course a rock star in the city of brotherly love (for more on him and his Phillies you can always check out The Good Phight). While things at least in the world of professional sports didn't work out so well for Freddie.
Moving on from the diamond to roundball. Some interesting news out of the NCAA involving Dan Guerrero:
The NCAA will examine issues facing men's basketball players in an effort to improve their academic performance.
NCAA officials announced Tuesday the formation of a group that includes coaches, athletic directors, college presidents and others to investigate issues that may be hindering academic achievement.
Dan Guerrero, UCLA's athletic director, will be chairman of the group, which is expected to submit recommendations to the Division I Board of Directors by the end of 2008.
"Nothing will be off the table,'' NCAA President Myles Brand said.
If not for an adjustment allowed for squad size, up to 45 percent of Division I men's basketball teams could face penalties for poor academic performance, Brand said during a conference call with other officials and reporters.
The panel will review several factors that affect basketball but not necessarily other sports, including length of season, the semester-straddling season, and time away from campus.
The group will look at "what would make sense in terms of basketball'' to help student-athletes improve their academic performance, Guerrero said.
This is a great honor for DG. And somewhere out there Timmeh and Mikey (Garrett) collars got a whole lot tighter. I mean how long can those guys get away with putting together a glorified AAU program made up bunch of losers who jump from schools to schools and then have to leave school early because they can't make it through Senora Rossa's difficult midterms.NCAA officials announced Tuesday the formation of a group that includes coaches, athletic directors, college presidents and others to investigate issues that may be hindering academic achievement.
Dan Guerrero, UCLA's athletic director, will be chairman of the group, which is expected to submit recommendations to the Division I Board of Directors by the end of 2008.
"Nothing will be off the table,'' NCAA President Myles Brand said.
If not for an adjustment allowed for squad size, up to 45 percent of Division I men's basketball teams could face penalties for poor academic performance, Brand said during a conference call with other officials and reporters.
The panel will review several factors that affect basketball but not necessarily other sports, including length of season, the semester-straddling season, and time away from campus.
The group will look at "what would make sense in terms of basketball'' to help student-athletes improve their academic performance, Guerrero said.
Sticking with hoops Painter has a post on DN's UCLA blog on Coach's whereabouts. He is "looking as spry as ever," cracking jokes, and maintaining a busy summer schedule.
And we will end this Humpday with a little football note. Its official: McGee is gone. He is transferring to Ole Miss for play for Ed Orgeron, the former Trojan assistant coach, who is basically the SEC village idiot who recruits try to run away from. I found it pretty funny that when news came out about McGee looking to transfer I wondered aloud whether there was something wrong with that picture. Of course some KD supporter came on here (and other message boards) to provide a breathless defense of Karl Dorrell saying that he wasn't really going anywhere. Sure the kid might have had family reasons to leave Dorrell's program. But one has to wonder why he was so desperate to leave Dorrell's program that he is willing to sign up to play for one of the biggest jokes in college football.
I don't think it is unreasonable to speculate this has something more to do family related reasons and issues like how he was (mis)used in his freshman year at UCLA might have also played a factor in his decision. Whatever. Its all water under the bridge. We wish McGee luck. Had he stayed back at UCLA he would probably have had the chance to play for a brand new HC at the end of this coming season anyways. He just decided to expedite the whole process of playing for a new HC even if it meant for playing for a total clown.
GO BRUINS.