Tinker:
The memories of a strong fighting feeling was fading away into wherever strong feeling fade. LSU 2013 college football season was becoming just another worn out promise of better things to come. I was trying to keep up a brave expression in the light of winning against all odds. We know in our hearts. That Les Miles was going to throw the LSU fighting tiger spirit against the stone wall, that crushed my hopes from past experiences.
Alas! That is not so. Les Miles hired Cam Cameron to charge against the enemy. To help our faith against the long odds once more. Hiring Cam Cameron to help him lead the LSU 2013 fighting tigers into the heat of the fray. How can I put this into words. The feeling that I am having because of his choice. I don't know if I am more thrilled with Les hire, or his push to hire at all.
His wiliness to still search for a better tool to make the good fight. Or whether or not Les Miles hired a very experience offensive coordinator. To help LSU. Either way I now know that Les Miles is going to try very hard to topple Alabama grip on the top of the heap.
I am once again excited about LSU 2013 football season. And I will follow him and these LSU fighting tigers into hell if need be. Because the feeling is everything.
Thanks coach, I feel like this again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
--------------------------
http://www.thetowntalk.com/
Tinkertowntalk.com
Guilbeau: Loss of junior class heavier on Miles than he let on at first
Louisiana State head football coach Les Miles is looking to rebuild after losing 11 players from the junior class. / Derick E. Hingle / USA Today
GLENN GUILBEAU The Town Talk Gannett Louisiana
BATON
ROUGE -- Louisiana State head football coach Les Miles and some others
around LSU last month tried to sugar-coat the loss of 10 junior members
of the 2012 Tigers to early entry in the NFL draft.
It
was no big deal. It was a sign of great recruiting. This happens to
great programs. These elements were true for about two-thirds of the
bunch that took off.
It
was not true for quite a few who left for reasons that have nothing to
do with a great program, such as the danger of flunking out and/or
hating school, the likelihood of getting suspended for more positive
drug tests and the silly thrill of quick money when more may be
available if one waits. That is not natural attrition.
Whether
their reasons for leaving were good or bad, the bottom line is Miles
lost 11 players he could have had on his 2013 team. The 11th would have
been Tyrann Mathieu, who was eliminated from the program for good before
the season started because of too many positive drug tests.
Even though he knew several of them were leaving early as far back as last summer, those departures apparently still weighed heavily on Miles as he addressed reporters on national signing day last Wednesday. He brought it up three times.
"We had 11 guys go to the NFL in a variety of positions, and we did our best to offset that loss with eight guys (six early enrollees and two non-qualifiers from the 2012 class) coming in in January," Miles said when asked about needs in general, not about the exiting juniors specifically. "We tried to assess needs," he said.
He visited the subject again moments later when asked about it.
"Again, this loss of the junior class and the addition of the eight and the idea that we're looking for a big man class -- offensive line and defensive line," he said. "We matched that big man class with some real skill and speed in the defensive backfield and at receiver. I like the blend of size and strength and speed."
Miles visited the subject a third time when asked about something else entirely -- how many true freshmen he continues to play year in and year out. Keep reading from Page -Read more...http://www.thetowntalk.
Even though he knew several of them were leaving early as far back as last summer, those departures apparently still weighed heavily on Miles as he addressed reporters on national signing day last Wednesday. He brought it up three times.
"We had 11 guys go to the NFL in a variety of positions, and we did our best to offset that loss with eight guys (six early enrollees and two non-qualifiers from the 2012 class) coming in in January," Miles said when asked about needs in general, not about the exiting juniors specifically. "We tried to assess needs," he said.
He visited the subject again moments later when asked about it.
"Again, this loss of the junior class and the addition of the eight and the idea that we're looking for a big man class -- offensive line and defensive line," he said. "We matched that big man class with some real skill and speed in the defensive backfield and at receiver. I like the blend of size and strength and speed."
Miles visited the subject a third time when asked about something else entirely -- how many true freshmen he continues to play year in and year out. Keep reading from Page -Read more...http://www.thetowntalk.
http://footballrecruiting.
Rivals.com
Where do the FBS signees come from?
Dallas Jackson
Columnist
Dallas Jackson is the National Columnist for Rivals.com. Email him your comments or story ideas to DallasJ@Yahoo-Inc.com and follow him on Twitter.coaches are getting less out of time spent in Texas and
Ohio.
The findings are part of the statistical analysis Rivals.com does annually (and, we know, a few more signees are still coming in). This year, it shows that one of every 124 high school players in Florida signed a Division I FBS scholarship. That's far more impressive than Texas, where one of every 475 players signed a letter of intent.
Texas is king in total number of players signing -- bettering its annual competitor in raw numbers, Florida (346 to 332). California (251), Georgia (184) and Ohio (145) are the only other states with more than 100 signees.
The gap at the top was closer than normal as Texas had 25 fewer signees year-over-year. Ohio had 14 fewer.
Of the big five states, California added 23 signees, Georgia secured 19 more and Florida gained seven FBS signees. Virginia saw the largest improvement in signees in the class of 2013 versus 2012 by adding 27.
Florida was one of just four states to have a ratio of less than 1-to-250. Georgia came in second (1 of every 178), Utah third (1 of every 229) and Hawaii fourth (1 in 244). Louisiana just missed, having 1 of every 251.
Vermont and Maine were the only states that did not produce a recruit in consecutive seasons. Alaska, Montana, New Hampshire, and North Dakota joined the group without a signee in the class of 2013, while Wyoming, Rhode Island and South Dakota all had one player sign with an FBS-level program.
| BY THE NUMBERS | |||
| A state-by-state breakdown of Division I FBS signees per participant. Data collected from participation stats distributed by the National Federation of High School Sports and signees as reported by Division I FBS schools and the Rivals.com database. | |||
| State | Signees | Players | Ratio |
| Florida | 332 | 41,127 | 124 |
| Georgia | 184 | 32,726 | 178 |
| Utah | 36 | 8,212 | 229 |
| Hawaii | 20 | 4,875 | 244 |
| Louisiana | 81 | 20,293 | 251 |
| Alabama | 83 | 22,715 | 274 |
| Maryland/D.C. | 49 | 15,639 | 320 |
| Ohio | 145 | 46,463 | 321 |
| Oklahoma | 35 | 11,298 | 323 |
| Virginia | 79 | 25,456 | 323 |
| Arizona | 36 | 12.237 | 340 |
| California | 251 | 104,334 | 416 |
| Pennsylvania | 63 | 26,370 | 419 |
| New Jersey | 56 | 25,592 | 457 |
| North Carolina | 73 | 35,338 | 485 |
| Texas | 346 | 167,477 | 485 |
| Nevada | 14 | 7,059 | 505 |
| Tennessee | 40 | 22,994 | 575 |
| Indiana | 38 | 22,050 | 581 |
| Illinois | 77 | 47,445 | 617 |
| Mississippi | 34 | 22,306 | 657 |
| Missouri | 35 | 23,178 | 663 |
| Colorado | 23 | 15,595 | 679 |
| Michigan | 62 | 42,743 | 690 |
| Arkansas | 15 | 11,440 | 763 |
| South Carolina | 24 | 18,854 | 786 |
| Kentucky | 17 | 14,042 | 826 |
| Washington | 26 | 22,090 | 850 |
| Delaware | 3 | 3,028 | 1010 |
| Oregon | 13 | 13,243 | 1019 |
| Idaho | 7 | 7,217 | 1031 |
| Connecticut | 10 | 10,602 | 1061 |
| Wisconsin | 24 | 28,426 | 1185 |
| New York | 27 | 35,552 | 1317 |
| Kansas | 9 | 14,246 | 1583 |
| Massachusetts | 10 | 19,865 | 1987 |
| Nebraska | 5 | 10,041 | 2009 |
| West Virginia | 3 | 6,089 | 2030 |
| New Mexico | 3 | 6,764 | 2255 |
| Iowa | 8 | 19,519 | 2440 |
| Wyoming | 1 | 2,680 | 2680 |
| Rhode Island | 1 | 2,953 | 2953 |
| Minnesota | 7 | 23,816 | 3403 |
| South Dakota | 1 | 3,606 | 3606 |
| Vermont | 0 | 1,172 | 0 |
| Alaska | 0 | 2,063 | 0 |
| North Dakota | 0 | 3,201 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 0 | 3,530 | 0 |
| Maine | 0 | 3,721 | 0 |
| Montana | 0 | 4,691 | 0 |
Talk about it in The Main Board
http://espn.go.com/blog/
College Football Nation Blog
Freeh responds to Paterno family report
February, 10, 2013
By
Adam Rittenberg | ESPN.com
Judge Louis Freeh on Sunday responded to the Paterno family report criticizing his investigation into the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
Freeh called the Paterno family report "self-serving" and noted that Paterno's testimony to a grand jury shows a lack of appropriate action by him and other top Penn State officials after former assistant Mike McQueary informed Paterno of a 2001 incident between Sandusky and a boy in the showers of the Lasch football building.
From Freeh's statement:
I stand by our conclusion that four of the most powerful people at Penn State failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade. These men exhibited a striking lack of empathy for Sandusky's victims by failing to inquire as to their safety and well-being, especially by not even attempting to determine the identity of the child who Sandusky assaulted in the Lasch Building in 2001.
One done on behalf of the Joe Paterno family. And the other done by Judge Louis Freeh. Jerry Sandusky is in prison, and Joe Paterno is dead.
I for one don't have any sympathy what so ever for the Joe Paterno legacy. Instead I keep wonder how the abused boys who are now older people feel. What a terrible deplorable crime that they have suffered through. God have mercy.?
It's
scary to think some people see protecting children is political or a
sport. We're not rooting for teams. We're trying to understand why
children were repeatedly violated in the shadow of a revered
institution- that did good but allowed horrific things to happen.
Exactly.
And the Freeh report ignores this. Today's report has a significant
focus on why children get molested, and how the signs are easily missed
even by trained and experienced professionals.
Freeh
response was pathetic. How about rebutting the facts and proving your
assumption. The fact is the freeh report seems like one of the rush
jobs before the excuse that my dog ate it. The sloppiness of the freeh
report was inexcusable for the money he was paid. I suspect freeh's
reputation took a big hit on that report.
Remember one thing that keeps being ignored: Paterno always disliked Sandusky, merely valuing him as a football coach. Freeh conveniently omits this personal dislike. There was never any need to protect him, as Freeh suggests.
--------------------------
http://www.orlandosentinel.
After Te'o hoax and lower-profile gaffes, schools grapple with social media
Colleges seek to protect athletes from high-profile social media miscues
People believe he was
tricked, but didn't like that he used the death of someone he had never
met for publicity during the season.
(J. Meric / Getty Images) |
By Matt Murschel, Orlando Sentinel
February 10, 2013
Ray Shipman quickly learned anything and everything he posted online could get him into trouble.
Shipman began his college career as a basketball player at the University of Florida, then made the unusual decision to transfer and play football at the University of Central Florida.
He had a strong academic record throughout college and communication was never a challenge for him. But even Shipman was startled by how his words could come back to haunt him.
"I remember tweeting something out about the University of Florida basketball team," he said. "I was aggravated by the way they were playing, and I just wanted them to play better. And then the University of Florida newspaper ran my tweet in the paper the next day. And that right there opened my eyes. They can twist up your words and everything. That's why it's almost better to just stay away from it."
It's hard to imagine 140 characters can change your life.
When Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o began his online relationship with a person he believed to be female named Lennay Kekua, it started with 140 characters on the social media site Twitter. As we've discovered, the ambiguity of social media sites make it the perfect backdrop for online predators.
Lennay Kekua wound up being a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo who perpetrated an elaborate hoax on Te'o that garnered the attention of an entire country. The Te'o saga introduced a wide audience to "Catfish," a movie and later MTV television series that follows people who have been duped into relationships with people who lie about their true identities.
Gaffes ranging from Shipman's Twitter update posted in frustration to Te'o embarrassing tale have many schools and universities stepping up their efforts to help teach and monitor their athletes.
Take the University of Michigan, which revealed in 2011 it had hired a consulting firm to teach its athletes about the dangers of social media.
The company had a female staff member add athletes as friends on Facebook and followed them on Twitter. She then searched through the accounts for anything that could be construed as inappropriate and brought it to the attention of the school. During a presentation with sports teams, the athletes were used as examples of what sort of message they were sending out into cyberspace.
It's those messages that Lee Gordon said are key when dealing with issues of social media use by athletes.
"There are so many athletes who are not doing it the right way," said Gordon, who is vice president of corporate communications for 180 Communications, the company the University of Michigan hired back in 2011.
His company specializes in public relations and media training for colleges and professional teams. Last year, the company worked with 15 to 20 schools, including Michigan.
According to Gordon, 180 Communications isn't a monitoring company. It educates those involved on the dangers of social media and teaches them how to handle certain situations themselves.
"How do you monitor 100 football players 24 hours a day seven days a week?" Gordon asked.
While education is one method of guarding against social media mistakes, some schools have gone to the extreme of hiring companies whose job is to monitor the social media habits of their athletes. Companies such as UDiligence or Varsity Monitor filter through the athletes Facebook posts and Twitter feeds and notify the school when something questionable is posted.
However, schools walk a fine line legally when it comes to what they can or cannot do in regards to monitoring their athletes' social media accounts.
"Schools have to be very careful," said Bradley Shear, a Maryland-based attorney who specializes in sports and social media.
California, New Jersey and Delaware have all passed legislation that makes it illegal for schools to ask athletes for their digital credentials, including Facebook, Twitter or Instragram usernames and passwords. Michigan just passed its own legislation in December and both Texas and Maryland have bills pending.
According to Shear, the goal of the legislation is two-fold: It provides a legal liability shield for athletic departments while also protecting the personal privacy of students.
"Schools do not want to have access to this stuff," said Shear. "Since they don't have the legal duty to monitor everything their kids are doing offline, they shouldn't have a legal duty to monitor what their kids are doing online.
"There's no reason why a student shouldn't be forced to turn over their digital credentials. It's a constitutional issue."
In the case of Notre Dame and Te'o, Shear said the school did the best that it could do with the situation and hired a private investigator to review the incident.
Like most college-aged students, athletes want to participate in social media as well. Although, most college students aren't being followed on Twitter or Facebook by reporters, bloggers and thousands of alumni.
All it takes is one questionable post and that athletes' words or photos can appear on every sports blog and message board across the country. It's one of the main reasons some college coaches want to avoid the whole situation and simply ban their players from using social media sites during the season.
Jimbo Fisher, Steve Spurrier and Mike Leach are just a few coaches who have banned their players from using Twitter one time or another during a football season.
While an all-out ban may seem like the perfect solution, many suggest it is not.
"It's a terrible idea," Gordon said. "Essentially, what you are doing is putting a Band-Aid over a problem.
"At some point in these guys' lives, they are going to have access to Facebook or Twitter, and so if you haven't educated them at all about what they are supposed to do, you're preventing the inevitable."
Shear added, "What is that teaching students? Last time I checked, don't you go to college to learn how to be a productive citizen? If you went to college to be a productive citizen, then you should also learn how to be a productive digital citizen as well.
"A coach is a teacher, and what is a teacher supposed to do? Teach. And by banning something, you are not teaching."
So, what is the best way to help student-athletes avoid putting themselves in precarious online situations similar to Te'o?
"I really think the best way of going through this is educating your students," said Shear, who noted it's important for the schools to find educators with good credentials who know what they are doing when it comes to social media.
"Educated them and when you think you've educated them enough then educate them some more."
For Gordon, whose company specializes in social media education, the advice is simple: think before you tweet.
"You have to think of every Facebook post and tweet as a business opportunity," Gordon said. "You never know when something you say or something you do on social media is either going to enhance something you can do in the future or prevent you from doing something in the future."
For example, Gordon has seen scouts come to the NFL Combine with printouts of athletes' conversations on social media sites such as Twitter and question them on why they felt the need to post select messages. In some cases, those 140 characters can have an impact on a player's draft status.
Gordon has one simple piece of advice for athletes.
"If you don't need social media, stay off it," he said.
In the end, the Te'o situation was one extreme example of the dangers of social media. It likely won't be the last.
Shear said, "I think the Manti Te'o matter is just the tip of the iceberg for what may happen in the future."
Shipman said UCF football coach George O'Leary discouraged players from using Twitter, especially during the football season, but he did not ban it. His staff monitors player accounts, but Shipman said they weren't required to hand over passwords.
"When I was there [at UCF], I was always having to look out for the younger guys," said Shipman, who has exhausted his eligibility at UCF. "In high school, they could tweet whatever they wanted or post pictures of whatever they wanted because they weren't under that big of a microscope, but once they get to college everything they tweet will come out and I told them to take that down before coach or someone else sees it. The microscope for college athletes on the social media is very large."
While Shipman thinks it's best to stay away from social media, he admits it's tough to do and still has an active Twitter account.
"I feel like we have so many other things to focus on, but we live in an age that social media is a big part of it," he said. "It's come to a point where it's hard for players to stay off it."
mmurschel@tribune.com
Shipman began his college career as a basketball player at the University of Florida, then made the unusual decision to transfer and play football at the University of Central Florida.
He had a strong academic record throughout college and communication was never a challenge for him. But even Shipman was startled by how his words could come back to haunt him.
"I remember tweeting something out about the University of Florida basketball team," he said. "I was aggravated by the way they were playing, and I just wanted them to play better. And then the University of Florida newspaper ran my tweet in the paper the next day. And that right there opened my eyes. They can twist up your words and everything. That's why it's almost better to just stay away from it."
It's hard to imagine 140 characters can change your life.
When Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o began his online relationship with a person he believed to be female named Lennay Kekua, it started with 140 characters on the social media site Twitter. As we've discovered, the ambiguity of social media sites make it the perfect backdrop for online predators.
Lennay Kekua wound up being a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo who perpetrated an elaborate hoax on Te'o that garnered the attention of an entire country. The Te'o saga introduced a wide audience to "Catfish," a movie and later MTV television series that follows people who have been duped into relationships with people who lie about their true identities.
Gaffes ranging from Shipman's Twitter update posted in frustration to Te'o embarrassing tale have many schools and universities stepping up their efforts to help teach and monitor their athletes.
Take the University of Michigan, which revealed in 2011 it had hired a consulting firm to teach its athletes about the dangers of social media.
The company had a female staff member add athletes as friends on Facebook and followed them on Twitter. She then searched through the accounts for anything that could be construed as inappropriate and brought it to the attention of the school. During a presentation with sports teams, the athletes were used as examples of what sort of message they were sending out into cyberspace.
It's those messages that Lee Gordon said are key when dealing with issues of social media use by athletes.
"There are so many athletes who are not doing it the right way," said Gordon, who is vice president of corporate communications for 180 Communications, the company the University of Michigan hired back in 2011.
His company specializes in public relations and media training for colleges and professional teams. Last year, the company worked with 15 to 20 schools, including Michigan.
According to Gordon, 180 Communications isn't a monitoring company. It educates those involved on the dangers of social media and teaches them how to handle certain situations themselves.
"How do you monitor 100 football players 24 hours a day seven days a week?" Gordon asked.
While education is one method of guarding against social media mistakes, some schools have gone to the extreme of hiring companies whose job is to monitor the social media habits of their athletes. Companies such as UDiligence or Varsity Monitor filter through the athletes Facebook posts and Twitter feeds and notify the school when something questionable is posted.
However, schools walk a fine line legally when it comes to what they can or cannot do in regards to monitoring their athletes' social media accounts.
"Schools have to be very careful," said Bradley Shear, a Maryland-based attorney who specializes in sports and social media.
California, New Jersey and Delaware have all passed legislation that makes it illegal for schools to ask athletes for their digital credentials, including Facebook, Twitter or Instragram usernames and passwords. Michigan just passed its own legislation in December and both Texas and Maryland have bills pending.
According to Shear, the goal of the legislation is two-fold: It provides a legal liability shield for athletic departments while also protecting the personal privacy of students.
"Schools do not want to have access to this stuff," said Shear. "Since they don't have the legal duty to monitor everything their kids are doing offline, they shouldn't have a legal duty to monitor what their kids are doing online.
"There's no reason why a student shouldn't be forced to turn over their digital credentials. It's a constitutional issue."
In the case of Notre Dame and Te'o, Shear said the school did the best that it could do with the situation and hired a private investigator to review the incident.
Like most college-aged students, athletes want to participate in social media as well. Although, most college students aren't being followed on Twitter or Facebook by reporters, bloggers and thousands of alumni.
All it takes is one questionable post and that athletes' words or photos can appear on every sports blog and message board across the country. It's one of the main reasons some college coaches want to avoid the whole situation and simply ban their players from using social media sites during the season.
Jimbo Fisher, Steve Spurrier and Mike Leach are just a few coaches who have banned their players from using Twitter one time or another during a football season.
While an all-out ban may seem like the perfect solution, many suggest it is not.
"It's a terrible idea," Gordon said. "Essentially, what you are doing is putting a Band-Aid over a problem.
"At some point in these guys' lives, they are going to have access to Facebook or Twitter, and so if you haven't educated them at all about what they are supposed to do, you're preventing the inevitable."
Shear added, "What is that teaching students? Last time I checked, don't you go to college to learn how to be a productive citizen? If you went to college to be a productive citizen, then you should also learn how to be a productive digital citizen as well.
"A coach is a teacher, and what is a teacher supposed to do? Teach. And by banning something, you are not teaching."
So, what is the best way to help student-athletes avoid putting themselves in precarious online situations similar to Te'o?
"I really think the best way of going through this is educating your students," said Shear, who noted it's important for the schools to find educators with good credentials who know what they are doing when it comes to social media.
"Educated them and when you think you've educated them enough then educate them some more."
For Gordon, whose company specializes in social media education, the advice is simple: think before you tweet.
"You have to think of every Facebook post and tweet as a business opportunity," Gordon said. "You never know when something you say or something you do on social media is either going to enhance something you can do in the future or prevent you from doing something in the future."
For example, Gordon has seen scouts come to the NFL Combine with printouts of athletes' conversations on social media sites such as Twitter and question them on why they felt the need to post select messages. In some cases, those 140 characters can have an impact on a player's draft status.
Gordon has one simple piece of advice for athletes.
"If you don't need social media, stay off it," he said.
In the end, the Te'o situation was one extreme example of the dangers of social media. It likely won't be the last.
Shear said, "I think the Manti Te'o matter is just the tip of the iceberg for what may happen in the future."
Shipman said UCF football coach George O'Leary discouraged players from using Twitter, especially during the football season, but he did not ban it. His staff monitors player accounts, but Shipman said they weren't required to hand over passwords.
"When I was there [at UCF], I was always having to look out for the younger guys," said Shipman, who has exhausted his eligibility at UCF. "In high school, they could tweet whatever they wanted or post pictures of whatever they wanted because they weren't under that big of a microscope, but once they get to college everything they tweet will come out and I told them to take that down before coach or someone else sees it. The microscope for college athletes on the social media is very large."
While Shipman thinks it's best to stay away from social media, he admits it's tough to do and still has an active Twitter account.
"I feel like we have so many other things to focus on, but we live in an age that social media is a big part of it," he said. "It's come to a point where it's hard for players to stay off it."
mmurschel@tribune.com
The real life of our American soldiers;
Pookaroo Williams shared I RODE MY HARLEY TO TRAILER WEEK / NICE TRAILER PUSSY!!'s photo.
Never Forget!
-
Thomas Williams I like that picture of the fallen. Being greeted by the ones who were lucky enough to stay alive, after the war. Together, in one moment. Great feeling. The picture of our countrymen. Very human people who had to fight a war.
No comments:
Post a Comment