Rich Rodriguez is in a peck of trouble at Michigan, mostly because he went 3-9 last season — which is causing people to come out of the woodwork to cause him problems.

Now I have no feelings about Rodriquez, either way, but I’d say this: There isn’t a successful Division I program in the country that could stand up to serious scrutiny about how much time its players spend practicing — in season or out.

The NCAA mandates 20 hours a week, which doesn’t begin to cover the amount of time these kids spend in and around football. The summer “voluntary” workout program is a joke. You have entire teams choosing to spend their summer in some little college town working out together, as a squad. If you’ve ever seen some of these workouts, you’d know that while coaches aren’t there, they are behind the scenes pulling the strings.

You can say that in exchange for a scholarship at a school like Michigan, a student-athlete ought to be willing to work hard, like a full-time job. That’s fine — then don’t make any rules about practice time. But the sad thing is, if you don’t make those rules, the practices would NEVER stop.

The ridiculously deceptive world of big-time college sports rolls on. And it isn’t going to change, folks. And I guess that’s fine. Just understand what it’s about. And a lot of time it’s not pretty.

Tweet This Post

Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Michigan, NCAA, Rich Rodriguez

I’ve always believed forced sportsmanship is not sportsmanship at all. It’s a show. A forced happy ending to a bad morality play.

I’ve hated it when I’ve seen high school teams, for years now, line up at the end of games and just robotically walk through a line absently slapping hands with their opponents after a game. Stupid. Meaningless. It’s all a joke.

Now, the NCAA is going to ask its football teams to shake hands PRIOR to games and the Ducks and Broncos will be among the first to test it out. I’m not worried about fights breaking out as teams do this, although I’ve heard that concern, particularly in games involving long-heated rivals. And I will tell you that forcing players into close contact moments after each team’s coach has spent 15 minutes in a locker room firing them up to knock each other’s block off isn’t exactly the most intelligent idea I’ve ever heard.

Mostly, I just think it’s so absurd to force handshakes out of people who don’t mean anything by it that it almost becomes a parody of sportsmanship.

I can remember the first college football game I ever watched, at then Multnomah Stadium, one of those Oregon-Washington games that was always transplanted to Portland each season because Multnomah was the biggest stadium in the state (young people won’t believe that what is now PGE Park once held 36,000 or so for football).

Anyway, at the end of the game, there was no forced lineup of teams at the 50-yard line. No, the teams just sort of melded. Players who didn’t feel like shaking hands headed to the locker room. Others stood several minutes, arm in arm or in small clusters, talking about the game and sharing a moment of peace with an opponent. I liked it a lot.

When I was in high school, it was the same thing on the athletic field. After a game, if you were hurt (physically or mentally) you headed for the showers. But most often you met your opponent in the middle of the field for a handshake or a chat. You sought out the players you knew or that you wanted particularly to congratulate. It was informal — but very real and special.

Nowdays? Sorry, they’ve taken that specialness out of it and turned it into some version of what used to happen on the playground in fifth grade when little Johnny and little Billy got into a tussle. You know, Mrs. Good, the teacher on playground duty, would grab each one and make him apologize to the other, then shake hands.

“Tell Billy you’re sorry,” she’d say. “And Billy, you tell Johnny you’re sorry. Now shake hands.”

Yeah, that worked out really well.

Out there on the field before an emotional game is waaaay too late to teach anyone the value of sportsmanship. It’s not the proper time or place. It’s just a grandstand move, meant to somehow put a context to a game that has really nothing to do with the game itself.

But maybe it makes school presidents or wealthy alums somehow feel better about sanctioning the brutal spectacle that follows. The idea originated from the coaches and I can’t help but think they’re sucking up to someone with this plan — which deep down they have to know is a complete and utter waste of time.

Tweet This Post

Tags: Boise State Broncos, College football, Dwight Jaynes, NCAA, Oregon Ducks, pre-game handshakes, sportsmanship

Many years ago I was covering the University of Portland’s basketball team, under the great Jack Avina. Jack was one of a kind, an old-school gruff guy who insisted his team be disciplined and work hard, not only on the floor but in the classroom. But he always had the welfare of his players in his heart. At the same time, he had a terrific graduation rate and probably the best basketball teams that school ever produced.

I remember one season we were in California for a couple of games and Jack and I were having lunch. He reached into his wallet to pay his share of the check (now that I think about it, probably my share, too) and I saw an airline ticket (Hey, this was back in the day of paper airline tickets — nothing online in those days).

I asked what the deal was with the ticket. He told me one of his players (who will go nameless at this late date) had a father in another city who was very ill and may not make it through basketball season. This was an open-ended ticket Avina had bought, in the player’s name, to go home if he needed to get there in a hurry — no matter where the Pilots were.

“Geesh, don’t write anything,” Jack told me then. “It’s an NCAA violation. But what am I supposed to do, have a kid miss a chance to see his father on his deathbed just because the NCAA won’t let me help him with his ticket home? It’s stupid. The kid doesn’t have any money for an airplane.”

I loved it at the time that Jack felt that responsible for the young men on his team. It was a time, by the way, on The Bluff when the administration would allow Jack to recruit one player per season who didn’t quite meet university admission standards. The deal was, Jack had to be personally responsible for that player’s classroom performance. And he was. I believe about 95 percent of those players left with a degree.

I assume there’s probably a difference of opinion on Jack and the airline ticket. Sure, such things can be abused. But I’ll side with my friend Jack Avina every time. Compassion should never be outlawed, by the NCAA or anyone else.

Tweet This Post

Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Jack Avina, NCAA, University of Portland basketball

Like in situations like this, where it throws the book at Southeast Missouri State, for a bunch of nickel-and-dime violations that wouldn’t even get a second thought at the big-time basketball schools.

Keep the little guys down, is usually the NCAA credo. Don’t let anybody move up and challenge the big boys. If you’ve been cheating for years, it’s OK. We just don’t want any new schools doing it.

Tweet This Post

Tags: Deadspin, Dwight Jaynes, NCAA, Southeast Missouri State

Hey, I’ll be the first one to admit, I was conned, too. I sat here all week thinking that Portland State had found a first-round matchup it could handle in the NCAA tournament. Xavier was a team the Viks could play, I said.

Well, it took about five minutes of watching the two teams on the floor together to realize that Portland State was seriously out of its element. The size, the quickness, the defensive skills — it was too much for PSU and it’s ridiculous to expect the Vikings to beat a team of that caliber.

Sure, the close-in three-point line in college basketball always gives an underdog a chance. If you have one of those crazy nights where the ball just goes in all the time, you can beat anybody. It’s a great equalizer. But realistically, even with that line, you can’t expect upsets of that magnitude to happen.

The very idea that these “mid-majors” can compete for very long in the tournament is a little bit silly. No, it’s a lot silly. They might steal a game every once in a while, maybe two. But the only reason these teams are in the tournament is to grab a little piece of the financial pie. Upsets? There are more of them in the regular season than there are in the tournament.

But the NCAA has been selling all this “madness” stuff for so long that people buy in. For every shocking upset there are 40 PSU-Xavier games. It’s all a big lie and I can’t believe I actually swallowed it again.

I’ve written this before and I still believe it: Schools from puny conferences like the Big Sky shouldn’t be in this tournament in the first place. Yeah — get all fired up about being in the “Big Dance.” But for me, why are you in a tournament that you can’t win?

I think the NCAA ought to go back to having Division II and III classifications that are realistic and usable. Why would you ever want your team entering a tournament it can’t possibly compete in? What’s the point? The glory days of Portland State football haven’t come since they’ve moved up to the Big Sky and the I-AA (or whatever they’re calling it these days) level. The glory days came at a lower level, when nearly 20,000 people were jamming the stadium for Division II playoffs. Winning, no matter the level, is what’s fun for players and fans.

I have no problem with schools having big dreams. But let’s all come back down to earth. And if I ever again pick any Big Sky team to win a tournament game, please feel free to spam me all day.

Tweet This Post

Tags: Dwight Jaynes, March Madness, NCAA, Portland State University, Xavier

College basketball is beginning to remind me of little kids’ sports — where all the little tykes get a trophy at the end of the year so that no one’s self-esteem drops.

Come on — if you don’t get in the NCAAs, there’s the NIT, the College Insider.com tournament and the College Basketball Invitational. How bad do you have to be to not be in one of those tournaments? (Oops, sorry Ducks.)

Is there no shame? Oregon State goes 13-17 and is just giddy about playing in the CBI? Good grief, how the mighty have fallen. Give them all a certificate, a big hug and a pizza party!

Tweet This Post

Tags: College basketball Invitational, College Insider.com Tournament, NCAA, NIT, Oregon State Beavers

A copy of an e-mail I got today:

 Hey Dwight.

How about a comment on the mid majors getting frozen out with only 4 in this year. And the last 6 in being from big conferences, and 4 of the last 6 out being from mid majors?

seems like the NCAA is going after the money, not to get the best field.

Yeah, I have to tell you, I’m just SHOCKED the NCAA is going after the money. SHOCKED, I tell you!

Tweet This Post

Tags: Dwight Jaynes, March Madness, mid-majors, NCAA