A couple of days ago we posted this story on a young Ohio State football fan who named his brain tumor “Michigan,” because why wouldn’t you name cancer the thing you hate most?

And here is the fantastic response from Michigan’s coach, Brady Hoke:

Michigan football coach Brady Hoke has no problem with Grant Reed comparing his team to cancer.

In fact, he’s thrilled about it.

Mainly because Reed, a 12-year-old Ohio State fan who named his cancer tumor “Michigan,” is following through on his promise.

He’s beating “Michigan.”

“Well, number one reaction is we were glad,” Hoke said Wednesday during the first day of the Big Ten media days in Chicago. “We were excited for that young man. And being a father, our children are so important and you try and put yourself through what that family has gone through.

“So him beating Michigan, in this context, we were all for it.”

Hoke recently offered Reed and his family four tickets to this year’s Michigan–Ohio State game on Nov. 30.

The rest here.

Reports are that the shortstop, Mattingly Romanin, is doing fine. Which is good becasue now we can laugh as much as we want at the video:

Blake Baxter of The College Fix chronicles the sports scandals that continue to nag Rutgers:

The latest controversy involves Julie Hermann, who was hired as Athletic Director to replace Tim Pernetti. Pernetti was forced to resign in the fallout of the embarrassing scandal. Recently, allegations were made that Hermann, herself, has a shadowy past that has included actions not unlike the very behavior her predecessor was fired for enabling. Now, there is an outcry for not only her ouster, but also for that of the only person still standing in the original scandal’s aftermath – Rutgers University President Robert Barchi.

AP:

The president of Ohio State University said Notre Dame was never invited to join the Big Ten because the university’s priests are not good partners, joking that “those damn Catholics” can’t be trusted, according to a recording of a meeting he attended late last year.

At the December meeting of the school’s Athletic Council, Gordon Gee also took shots at schools in the Southeastern Conference and the University of Louisville, according to the recording, obtained by The Associated Press under a public records request.

The university called the statements inappropriate and said Gee is undergoing a “remediation plan” because of the remarks.

Gee apologized in a statement released to the AP.

“The comments I made were just plain wrong, and in no way do they reflect what the university stands for,” he said. “They were a poor attempt at humor and entirely inappropriate.”

Gee, who has taken heat previously for uncouth remarks, told members of the council that he negotiated with Notre Dame officials during his first term at Ohio State, which began more than two decades ago.

“The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they’re holy hell on the rest of the week,” Gee said to laughter at the Dec. 5 meeting attended by Athletic Director Gene Smith and several other athletic department members, along with professors and students.

“You just can’t trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday, and so, literally, I can say that,” said Gee, a Mormon.

The rest here.

What’s his remediation plan? To learn better jokes?

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

There’s a point Ervin Mears Jr. wants people to understand, and it’s the reason he filed a federal lawsuit when his son was ousted from the high school track team:

“Children have rights,” Mears, 68, said, “just like any adult.”

In this case, he said, it’s the right to run.

On May 6, Mawusimensah Mears, a sophomore at Sterling Regional High School in Camden County, was kicked off the team, the suit says.

Eleven days later, his father sued in Camden, naming the coach, athletic director, principal, superintendent, and school board.

The suit says his son was subjected to bullying and harassment. It seeks $40 million plus 2012 and 2013 varsity letters and championship jackets.

The jackets are a nice touch, because if you win $40 million, why not get the jackets for free? Oh, there’s more:

He ran track in high school and the military and said his son “comes from a family of track winners.” The boy was the “undefeated champ” in the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter runs as an eighth grader at a Catholic school in 2010, the suit says.

Eighth grade superstar! And the dad is worried his son is going to lose out on a college scholarship. . .

It’s unfair, Mears said, that his son wasn’t allowed to compete, even though he may have been faster than some seniors who raced. “If he doesn’t qualify, then the clock will say he’s not fast enough,” said Mears, who worries his son may be losing out on the possibility of a college athletic scholarship.

A scholarship? Um, maybe somebody needs to tell this father that scholarship money for ‘Track and Field’ is a fraction of what football players or basketball players get. But the father isn’t done:

“Participation in extracurricular activities is a right,” Mears said.

Not allowing his son to participate constitutes bullying, harassment, and an “abusive school environment” in which the sophomore’s rights to due process and freedom of speech were impeded, the suit says.

Running sprints is now a First Amendment issue? The whole, sad piece here. 

AP:

Michigan coach Brady Hoke has taken the Notre Dame rivalry up a notch.

Hoke made a crowd chuckle on Monday at West Michigan Sports Commission luncheon by saying the Fighting Irish are “chickening out” from the storied series.

Notre Dame exercised an option in its football-scheduling contract with Michigan last fall to cancel games from 2015-2017.

Hoke lamented that the Irish will continue to play rivals Michigan State and Purdue, joking he knows why they made that decision.

The leading rusher for the Nebraska Cornhukers in their spring-game scrimmage was Jack Hoffman, who sprinted 69 yards for the score in the 4th quarter. Jack is also seven and currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment for brain cancer. Here’s the video:

Turn the speakers up and enjoy the call, the fans and the team running onto the field to help #22 celebrate. 

Excuse me. It got a little dusty in here:

Might the color of a visiting team’s locker room at a major Midwestern university be a matter of interest to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights?

Jill Gaulding, a cofounder of the advocacy group Gender Justice, claims that the University of Iowa is engaged in “pink shaming” and “cognitive bias” by making its football team’s opponents dress and undress in a locker room that is painted . . . pink:

“Most people understand the pink locker room as a taunt against the other team, calling them a bunch of ladies/girls/sissies/pansies/etc.,” according to an information sheet Gaulding and Gender Justice law partner Lisa Stratton distributed to the workshop attendees.

Gaulding’s handout quoted a passage from Fry’s autobiography where he said pink was a “passive” color and might put opponents in a passive mood. “Also, pink is often found in girls’ bedrooms, and because of that some consider it a sissy color,” according to a quote Gaulding said she took from Fry’s book.

Gaulding said she believes the university could be subject to a lawsuit if it maintains the pink locker room. The UI receives federal funding and is covered by Title IX and Title VII rules, which prohibit discrimination based on gender.

More here. 

A touching tale of the minutes following Kevin Ware’s horrific injury:

When Louisville forward Luke Hancock saw Kevin Ware lying near the sideline with a shattered right leg, he initially recoiled like his teammates. Some Cardinals were vomiting, others were crying and inconsolable.

But then Hancock thought back to last summer, when he suffered a gruesome shoulder injury in a pickup game. He remembered how others were aghast. He remembered how former Louisville guard Andre McGee was the only one to rush to his side, to rush him to the hospital. He remembered how much that had meant.

So as Ware lay there in the first half of the Cardinals’ NCAA tournament victory over Duke on Sunday, scared and alone and stunned, Hancock ran to him. He held Ware’s hand and told him they would get through this together. He told Ware he would say a prayer for him.

Ware didn’t respond at first, because he was in shock. Hancock took a deep breath, closed his eyes, clenched Ware’s hand and started the prayer.

“Lord, watch over us and let Kevin be OK during this tough time,” he began. “The Lord does everything for a reason, and He will get us through this.”

Hancock said he did all he could to keep from breaking down, to keep tears from falling onto his fallen teammate. He found out later that Ware also was trying not to cry, trying to stay strong for him.

Ware also had an excellent interview on ESPN recently about his injury. The University of Louisville guard is a soft-spoken young man who seems very humble and grounded. I’m certainly rooting for him to make a full recovery back to the hardwood next year.

The sports-world is abuzz over this piece by former New York Times reporter Selena Roberts for a blog called Roopstigo on corruption within the Auburn football program.

However there are problems popping up with Roberts’s story. She gave an interview to AL.com in defense of the piece. An excerpt:

Roberts, an Auburn graduate, talked about her story on the AU football program, the allegations and subsequent denials by key figures, with AL.com Wednesday night. A transcript of the eight-minute conversation is below.

AL.com: Mike Blanc is now denying some of the things he said to you. What’s your take on that?

Roberts: Well, I think I mentioned this to you before in an email. It takes a lot of courage to speak the truth and to go out and have some conviction about . . . a subject that, let’s face it, at Auburn, draws a lot of backlash. I think it’s unfortunate that he’s taking that stance, but given the pressure he’s under I can see how it happens.

AL.com: Do you think he changed his story after this story got so big today?

Roberts: I think any time athletes talk and have interviews, I think they’re used to, maybe a smaller market or something like that, I don’t know. I don’t know why he would change his stance, to be honest with you. I don’t know what goes on in his head.

AL.com: Neiko Thorpe says he was misquoted in the story.

Roberts: Like I said, I think it’s very difficult to take a strong stance and to tell the truth and then to have to deal with the consequences in a place where I think the story even shows that there is a great deal of pressure to keep what’s in-house, in-house. I think the entire sort of umbrella of the story explains just what’s at risk for people who step outside the bounds. In some ways, it almost dovetails with the story that they may not know exactly what’s going on. They may feel that kind of pressure to then alter what they said to me.

A couple of things. One: she doesn’t have the players on tape? It’s not just one player saying she stretched the truth, but many. And two, Selena Roberts is a name recognizable to anyone who followed the 2006 Duke Lacrosse rape case. Let’s take a walk down memory lane thanks to our friends at the Media Research Center, who were critical of her reporting for the New York Times from the get-go:

As the “case” winds down to its ignominious end, Roberts returned to the subject on Sunday (Times Select $ required), whining about some of the “loquacious bullies” who emailed her in support ofthe lacrosse players and against her biased columns- “several hostile lacrosse advocates have burned a hole in my in-box as well over the past year.”

But Roberts had nothing to say on Sunday about local North Carolina district attorney Michael Nifong’s unethical behavior in pushing rape charges against the Duke lacrosse players (the most she could muster was to call him “one part district attorney, one part clueless Columbo”), or the assumptions of guilt by liberal Duke faculty, or the false charges from the alleged rape victim.

Roberts started off with snottiness: “The ubiquitous ‘Innocent’ wristbands of the yellow ‘LiveStrong’ variety have become a wardrobe accessory akin to a watch for some Duke lacrosse supporters.”

Later on, Roberts tried to conflate the false rape charges with what she considers athletic misbehavior on campus (as if non-athlete students have never done similar things).

“What happens if all the charges are dismissed? There is a tendency to conflate the alleged crime at the Duke lacrosse team kegger on March 13, 2006, with the irrefutable culture of misogyny, racial animus and athlete entitlement that went unrestrained that night.

“Porn-style photos of two exotic dancers – one of whom was the accuser – emerged from cellphone camera downloads. Heated exchanges between players and dancers occurred. Racial slurs were heard. And in an ‘American Psycho’ reference, a repulsive e-mail message depicting the skinning of strippers was sent by a player, Ryan McFadyen, who, to his credit, has since apologized.”

Note the double standard: While the woman who made false charges of rape has yet to be named in the media, but Roberts still feels free to criticize lacrosse players by name in print.

Keep in mind, the MRC piece above was written a year before Nifong was eventually disbarred for his conduct in this case.

As far as the Auburn story from Roberts, I’m not putting much faith in its accuracy at this point. Stay tuned for updates.

Noah posted on basketball coach Rice’s tirade at his players yesterday, and today we learn he’s been fired.  Good riddance.

And for the record, I stand by my statement calling for Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly to have been fired in 2011. 

Yes, coaches yell at players as they should. But there is a line and both of these men crossed it.

There’s isn’t much more to add to this video (courtesy of ESPN) of Rutgers coach Mike Rice physically and verbally abusing his players:

Of course, no one is shocked that a coach uses obscenities directed at his players. After Tyler Clementi’s suicide, though, it’s jarring to hear a coach — a Rutgers coach — call one of his players a “faggot.” There’s a time and a place for yelling and screaming. It’s unlikely, though, that Rice deployed his obscenities strategically to maximize his players’ intensity and readiness to play.

Bobby Knight was one of the all-time great college coaches when it came to winning games. But he too was abusive toward his players, and he ultimately got fired for violent behavior against them. Here’s a news flash: Mike Rice is no Bobby Knight, and Rutgers basketball is no Indiana. Some argue that Indiana should have fired Knight long before they finally did. I say Rutgers should fire Mike Rice today. 

For more information about the story, read here and here. 

Amazing. ABC News:

Kevin Ware is already up and walking, and he’s got a nice souvenir to keep him company until he’s cleared to return to Louisville.

Cardinals coach Rick Pitino brought the Midwest Regional championship trophy when he visited Ware, who remains hospitalized after surgery to repair a gruesome fracture in his right leg.

“He was real excited about (the trophy),” Pitino said after visiting Ware again Monday morning. “I said to him, ‘You want me to bring it back or stay with you?’ He said, ‘It’s staying with me.’ I said, ‘All right, just make sure you don’t lose it.’”

During a 2-hour surgery Sunday night, doctors reset Ware’s broken tibia and inserted a rod into the bone. Because the bone broke through the skin, Pitino said doctors are monitoring Ware to make sure no infection develops. If there are no complications, he should be released Tuesday.

The rest here.

The Miami Herald reports:

A quick NCAA/UM update on a day the Dolphins got back in the free-agent market by signing Bears guard Lance Louis:

### The NCAA investigator who took over the University of Miami case last May attempted, as her fired predecessor did, to use Nevin Shapiro’s attorney to help build a case against Miami – a detail curiously omitted from the NCAA-commissioned report detailing the NCAA’s improper handling of the case, according to an email exchange between the parties that was relayed to me by two people.

Meanwhile, UM also will allege that NCAA investigators lied to interview subjects by claiming that other people interviewed made comments they never made, in order to trick the subjects into revealing incriminating information they otherwise might not have, according to multiple officials familiar with the NCAA’s case against UM and former coaches. UM believes such behavior is unethical, and it clearly is.

Both of these details will be included in UM’s motion to dismiss the case that will be submitted to the NCAA on Friday.

UM also will claim that significant charges made against UM in the NCAA’s notice of allegations are uncorroborated by anyone besides Shapiro, and that tainted evidence has not been fully purged from the case.

The NCAA already has informed UM that the infractions committee does not have the authority to dismiss the case before a full hearing in mid-June, but UM is disputing that contention.

Among the new details in the case: Stephanie Hannah, an NCAA director of enforcement who took over the UM case late last May from fired Ameen Najjar, continued Najjar’s policy of working with Shapiro’s attorney, Maria Elena Perez, to try to build a case against UM.

The Cadwalader law firm, asked by the NCAA to investigate its handling of the case, indicated that Najjar ignored the NCAA legal counsel’s instructions and accepted Perez’s proposal to use bankruptcy subpoenas to compel depositions from witnesses who had refused to cooperate with the NCAA. In exchange, Perez would be paid; Perez claimed it would be for her time and expenses, Najjar claimed it would be only for expenses.

“The Perez proposal was unquestionably a bad idea for the NCAA,” the report said.

The rest here.

From the can’t-make-this-up department, “conservative” John McCain is showing his true colors with his Final Four picks: he’s using the Huffington Post for his bracket. The HUFFINGTON POST!?!?!?

To be fair, it was probably a staffer who passed these around the office for everyone to fill out, which makes it worse. What are his staffers doing on HuffPo?

But what I really have a problem with is — shocker — Senator McCain’s hypocrisy. In 2011, this is what he had to say about college sports:

How do you feel about problems in sports, like the BCS, get brought to Congress to discuss being fixed?:“First of all, I’m embarrassed that Congress would have to get involved in something like this. There’s neither the talent nor the expertise residing in Congress. Second of all, I’m disgusted with these institutions that call themselves higher learning and education because it’s all about money. … It’s all about money and your own television network and your own players and then they expect these players to adhere to a very high code of conduct. And I do, too, but come on. This is destroying, really, any semblance of the word amateur in college sports.”

So, rather than use the NCAA tournament to reiterate a legitimate point, he buys into the hype and fills out a bracket because all the cool kids are doing it? If you think there’s too much money in college sports, don’t celebrate March Madness.

And if you’re a conservative, certainly the last place you celebrate the tourney is on HuffPo.

Our Point-Guard-in-Chief has made his Final Four picks:

Louisville, Ohio State, Florida and Indiana.

I figured he’d be too busy dealing with the potential use of chemical weapons in Syria, the economy, assault weapons, etc. to really focus on basketball this year, but it looks like I was wrong! Kudos, Mr. President, for taking the time to focus on what really matters.

For the second year running, we’re proud to bring you some Right Field rules to March Madness bracket picks. If you followed our rules from last year, you just might have found that magic touch that enabled you to not embarrass yourself in your colleagues’ eyes. This year, we can promise a similar level of competence.

Perfected and honed over decades, this year’s guide contains some of the classic rules — and some updates, as well.

1. Don’t fall in love with the upset. It can’t be said enough. It’s fun to root for the underdog (and you should do so with joy, even when it might bust your bracket), but Cinderella is rare for a reason. Fill out your bracket from the inside out to make sure you don’t end up with double-digit seeds competing for your national title. If you like Louisville (1) to win it all, start there and work backwards.

2. Brand-name coaches have brand names for a reason. You’ve probably heard of Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino, Roy Williams, Bill Self, and Tom Izzo. They’ve built great programs and they know how to win in March. That will make all the difference. If you think you’ve got a toss-up on your hands, go with the brand-name coach. (And never go against Tom Izzo.)

3. Chicks dig the long ball. A classic for any lower-ranked team looking for an upset: getting hot from beyond the three-point line will cause the big, powerful, methodical teams to go nuts. Lower-ranked schools with streaky shooters are fun upset picks. Harvard (14) and South Dakota State (13) were both top-ten in the NCAA in three-point percentage. (So were Duke and Indiana, but you’re already expecting them to win a few games.) Not that it means they’re a lock or will even pull off any upsets, but just know that they could cause some headaches.

4. Never bet on the West Coast. In the past 15 years, only two teams from the Mountain or Pacific time zones have made it to the final four: UCLA made it three straight times, from 2006 through 2008, and Arizona won the tournament in 1997 before making it back to the Final Four in 2001. Beware of Gonzaga (1) and New Mexico (3).

5. Unique teams have unique advantages. For some of the less-prestigious programs playing against other teams that are seeing them for the first time, gadgetry and trickery can be powerful allies. Look at Virginia Commonwealth University, for example: Their max-effort full-court trap defense is something that schools within their conference prepare to face for months. Schools that never expected to play against VCU will have, at most, a few days to prepare.

6. Matchups matter. For all we just wrote about the power of a unique attack, matchups still matter. Not many teams have seen Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense, but Syracuse is susceptible to very good three-point shooting teams precisely because of their defensive system. Wisconsin plays a slowdown tempo that allows them to keep pace with superior competition, but it also makes them vulnerable to just a few good plays from lesser opponents.

7. Duke is always overrated. Just kidding. But they’re fun to hate. They’re actually very good and are generally a pretty good bet to win a few games. Just know this: They’ve been a 2-seed in four previous tourneys and made the Sweet 16 only once in those years.

8. Everything you know — including what we’re telling you right now — is wrong. Your brother could win it all by making predictions based on the color of Lego blocks his son picks. Your boss could win it even though she’s an NFL fan who thinks that Duke can’t possibly be good because there are no Dukies in the NFL. The office geek could win it based on what schools kinda sound like his favorite sci-fi heroes. (Marquette’s probably his pick.) Use your own system and have fun.

Oh, but don’t pick Duke. Everyone will hate you if you win.

— Kevin Glass is the managing editor of Townhall.com. Christopher Regal is a graduate student at George Mason University.

From the New York Times:

In recent years, where stadium naming rights could be sold, universities and professional sports teams have sold them — to airlines and banks and companies that sell beer, soda, doughnuts, cars, telecommunications, razors and baseball bats. This led to memorable examples like Enron Field, the KFC Yum! Center and the University of Phoenix Stadium.

On Tuesday, that trend took another strange turn when Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton, firmed a deal to rename its football building GEO Group Stadium. Perhaps that pushed stadium naming to its zenith, if only because the GEO Group is a private prison corporation.

For this partnership, there is no obvious precedent.

The university’s president described the deal as “wonderful” and the company as “well run” and by a notable alumnus. But it also left some unsettled, including those who study the business of sports and track the privatization of the prison industry. To those critics, this was a jarring case of the lengths colleges and teams will go to produce revenue, of the way that everything seems to be for sale now in sports — and to anyone with enough cash.

“This is an example of great donor intent, terrible execution,” said Paul Swangard, the managing director at the University of Oregon Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. “Here’s a guy with strong ties to the university, who wants to make a difference, and is mixing his philanthropic interest with a marketing strategy that doesn’t make any sense.”

There’s a reason people hate Duke basketball, and it’s not jealousy of their successful squeaky-clean program:

Though Thursday night’s showdown between Duke and NC State should have been defined by the tremendous offensive performances given by both teams (Lord knows college basketball could use the pub), it was a second half cheer from the Cameron Crazies that wound up being all anyone could talk about.

Thanks to the magic of Twitter, word quickly spread after the game (which was not nationally televised) that the Duke student section had chanted “how’s your grandma” at NC State guard Tyler Lewis while he shot free-throws during the second half. Lewis’ grandmother died last week.

On his Facebook page, Justified’s Nick Searcy shares a similar anecdote from his time at UNC :

“When I was at Carolina, one of our players lost his mother and his father in a horrible shotgun murder/suicide. Duke fans, at the next game he played against them, chanted ‘How’s the Family?’”

Stay classy, Crazies.