Report: NCAA investigating Bledsoe - ESPN
Wow. Even I'm impressed by Calipari's speed here. I guess after you brought so many programs to their knees and bolted, you kind of get a talent for it.....
almost 2 years ago
VolBrian
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Oh, come on...
I’m sure it’s just a HUGE coincidence that he happened to end up on a Calipari-coached team. Don’t be such a hater.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
Heh
I just came over to post this. I’m sure that the results of it will be sanctions against UK just as soon as Calamari bolts for whatever team is desperate enough make that deal with the Devil.
yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes
Official MCM Hater!
"If anyone asks you, you fixed my television. Now go!"
I am stunned. Calipari's guys in trouble?
At Kentucky.
At Memphis.
At UMass.
All coincidences. Riiiiiight.
Go read ASOB.
Tru and most of the group there have lost it. They have convinced themselves that all this shows is that Calipari ends up in these situations because because basically he’s the only coach in NCAA basketball who is willing to give poor downtrodden black kids a chance to leverage themselves out of the mean streets.
Apparently no dissent of any kind is tolerated over there — it used to be a pretty solid site, but over the last year it has become steadily more creepy. I get a sort of “Stepford Wives” vibe.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
Perhaps
But I feel for Tru and the rest of the folks over there. They’re good guys with a collective good head on their shoulders, and from our experience with Kiffin in 2009, I know the dilemma all too well. Kiffin divided — between Tennessee and its rivals and between Tennessee fans themselves, and that creates a lot of tension and stress for community leaders trying to foster discussion. Even the tiniest trolls (and even some accidental trolls) can set off the community because everyone is rightfully sensitive.
When you have a great community, you’re not sure exactly what to do when the team you love makes a questionable hire. I decided to support (and even defend) him because I didn’t see how to support the team without supporting the coach, and then when he behaves exactly how everyone else said he was going to behave, he takes some of your credibility and investment in his defense with him, and it makes even the most sane and patient quite irritable. It may be very interesting to watch from afar, but — and this is just me, y’all can make your own decisions — I just can’t find any taste for schadenfreude when we just recently went through the same thing, especially when Kentucky fans mostly stayed out of the fracas when we were the ones embarrassed.
by Joel Hollingsworth on May 31, 2010 7:51 AM EDT up reply actions
Counterpoints
I am all for the civility of not going to ASOB and flaming their choice at a time when “I told you so” would be apropos. But, I am also not going to avoid the opportunity to comment on it here, when the relevant story comes up.
Calipari is a self-serving, low character, high ego snake and gets too much credit for being a great coach when he is merely an average coach with an insane ability to recruit. Am I completely suspicious that he always gets the top recruits? Do I believe that he has a third party helping him with improper benefits and record-altering stuff? Being a Memphis resident, I may be a little more familiar with the blue Kool-aid, the betrayal and the consequences at Tiger High.
I understand the points about defending Kiffin. He was an [Fulmerized} but he was OUR [Fulmerized}, so that made him part of the program. But we admitted to his shortcomings in a way that ASOB refuses to at KY.
Absolutely...
I am not going to comment there on this situation. I haven’t and I’m not going to. What’s really been amazing and sort of sad is the progression in the presentation and discussion of the issue. When the story first broke a couple of days ago the mostly level heads there were taking the sensible “let’s wait and see” attitude. Now, without a single bit of extra information, it’s developed into this sort of overly melodramic prose:
If you think the NCAA difficulties of players under Calipari’s tutelage are a trend, you are right. At-risk kids have been getting colleges in NCAA trouble from time immemorial, and that trend is so well-documented it needs no further exposition. That is the real, undeniable trend here. Calipari’s success at recruiting great players without regard to their family circumstances puts him at great risk of just this kind of scenario.
I do not and will not suggest it is okay for the penniless to break the NCAA rules, or engage in behavior that prejudices their son’s and daughter’s chances at an education. But some would suggest the solution is to avoid “those people,” the at-risk young men and women from broken families and in desperate need of money.
That would be a solution, no doubt — to consign them to their fate and hope some NBA team finds a way to take notice, and if not, we can tut-tut their arrest on a drug charge or their death in a gang shooting from the comfort of our nice homes. Either way, problem solved, n’est pas? Our beautiful colleges don’t have to worry about dealing with the problems of the disadvantaged or the vulnerable. We’ll just deny them access to the system and thereby clean up our little NCAA compliance problem.
Great idea, that. Exclude those who might wind up doing something desperate and unethical in their past, not from greed, but from fear of starvation or exposure to the elements, and we can eliminate 90% of the problem. Refuse to recruit the kids who grew up in tough neighborhoods without fathers and barely managed to make grades high enough to qualify in schools barely fitting the designation. Question them when they do manage to overachieve for a year or two, and treat their success with suspicion. Doubt their every word, and believe those to whom they owe money.
Call me a bleeding-heart liberal, but that’s a world I really don’t care to live in.
.. which seeks to hold John Calipari up as all that right in the world of NCAA basketball, as opposed to all those other seemingly cold-hearted, perhaps even racist coaches who won’t offer kids whose grades are fixed and are obviously “forced” to accept improper benefits to keep the wolves from the door. Because, obviously, no other school except Kentucky has kids from disadvantaged backgrounds with academic issues, right? Because if other schools did give scholarships to “those people” they would have the same problems with the NCAA as Calipari teams, right? Right?
Also, I understand that you have to keep control over the community. I just don’t like the way it’s done there. They pretend to be super friendly and all about open discussion and it’s okay to disagree, but when it comes down to it, anything that makes them feel the least bit uncomfortable is quickly squelched. Can any of us here really imagine the following exchange here?
The party is over. This thing is just beginning. GO BIG BLUE!!
by Kentucky Humidity-lmao on May 29, 2010 8:45 PM CDT reply actions
Be warned.
I will not tolerate this type of commentary here.
If you doubt me, test me.
A Sea of Blue — Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
by Truzenzuzex on May 29, 2010 10:07 PM CDT up reply actions
What kind of commentary?
by TeamWeaver on May 29, 2010 10:16 PM CDT up reply actions
This is taunting.
A Sea of Blue — Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
by Truzenzuzex on May 30, 2010 10:24 AM CDT up reply action
Maybe just a tad oversensitive? Couple that with their absolute conviction that any and all criticism of Calipari is fueled by our envy and desire to have him for our own makes the atmosphere there mostly intolerable to me.
Maybe all this will turn out to be nothing. Maybe it will just be another lost season of wins for a Calipari-coached team which will be chalked up to coincidence. Maybe Cal will get a chance to coach Bron-Bron in the NBA and will make a quick exit. At this point the latter option of the three will be the only one that would earn any sympathy from me for the BBN, because anything short of that is just going to make them worse.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
If that sort of dialogue were prohibited at RTT, I would be in the Lifetime Ban Hall of Shame
Thanks again to RTT for recognizing that we can simultaneously bleed Orange and still think Kiffin is an [Fulmerized}, the football team will be darned fortunate to end up 6-6 and that our recruiting classes in football from the past four years have been mediocre (Berry aside) at best.
Case in point: each of those three items would get me warned or banned at ASOB.
For example, let’s say that I wrote, “Calipari is an [Fulmerized]” (which he is) and then followed it with 15 reasons why (for sake of brevity). I wouldn’t last 2 secs over there, even if I were a /cough, cough Kentucky alum.
Here, people may not like it or agree, but they tolerate the opinions and even discuss the merits of them.
That makes RTT the best site for UT Sports on the planet.
by memphispete on May 31, 2010 10:29 PM EDT up reply actions
Ban this guy please ^^^
;-)
"I condone fun things" ~~ Cortland Finnegan
Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me.
Georgia?!?!?!?
[FULMERIZED] [FULMERIZED] and [FULMERIZED] those [FULMERIZED] [FULMERIZED] a [FULMERIZED] whilst they [FULMERIZED] with the [FULMERIZED] in [FULMERIZED]!!!
"I condone fun things" ~~ Cortland Finnegan
Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me.
For someone who said they wouldn't be back on ASOB...
….you sure do spend a lot of time there….just saying…..
RIP Bryan S. You will be missed.
That's what I was thinking
How did we expect them to respond to Cheatapari’s foolishness?
Official MCM Hater!
"If anyone asks you, you fixed my television. Now go!"
Oversensitive?
Maybe just a tad oversensitive?
Perhaps. We all organize our communities how we will. I try to ensure that we don’t wind up with a bunch of angry flamewars, and I insist on decorum.
A Sea of Blue is not for everyone. I set it up deliberately to be different from the other Kentucky sites that always degenerate into groupthink because dissenting views are not allowed, and are shouted down. I require all views, dissenting or not, to maintain respect for other members. In the case you cite, a UW fan was taunting my members. I have a one-strike policy for taunting, and what you don’t know is that he cleaned up his act, sent me a nice email, and has contributed wonderfully to the community ever since.
Couple that with their absolute conviction that any and all criticism of Calipari is fueled by our envy and desire to have him for our own makes the atmosphere there mostly intolerable to me.
What you mean "their," Kimosabe? I don’t believe I have ever said you, or anyone else were jealous of Calipari. Frankly, that accusation makes no sense. Tennessee, seems to me, has done just fine with the coach they have. What rationale would I use to imply jealousy? Who, in their right mind, would not laugh at such an implication?
What I have said, and continue to say, is that the continuing meme of criticism of John Calipari is fundamentally based on nothing. It is universally informed by the incident at UMass and the incident at Memphis. Calipari deserves some criticism for allowing Reggie Rose to travel on the team plane, and I have said that. I have also criticized him for forcing four players out at UK to bring in his own recruits. I don’t like how that was handled, and I hope it never happens again.
But the academic fraud was purely the fault of Rose, assuming the allegations are completely true (which I happen to believe). In the UMass case, Calipari turned in Camby to the NCAA when he discovered the violations. What else should he have done, fallen on his sword for something he didn’t know about or have any complicity in? There is a reason the NCAA hasn’t pinned any of the violations on him, and that reason is that he doesn’t deserve them. Unlike the NCAA, you and people like you are perfectly comfortable blaming him in spite of having even fewer facts than the Committee on Infractions did.
I also note for the record that neither Calipari nor any of his assistants have ever been implicated in an NCAA violation or finding of unethical conduct, unlike Roy Williams, Rick Pitino, and Jim Calhoun (just to name a few).
The bottom line is this — you don’t care if Calipari is innocent or guilty. None of his critics really do, because none of them take even one second to critically examine their position on him. It’s so facile to hate him, so easy to believe he’s bad that few even consider whether or not the reasoning behind their judgment may be flawed.
Whatever. Thanks for coming by and reading. You have always been welcome at A Sea of Blue, and remember, you excused yourself because you simply couldn’t handle the fact that others did not agree with you. That was your choice, and nobody else’s. Your account is still there and in good standing (as far as I know). I am a bit surprised at all this criticism of me as nice as I was to you, but it is said that no good deed goes unpunished. :-)
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
Can't speak for everyone
but specific to Tennessee Basketball fans in general, we have a “hatred” for Calipari that stems directly from his time at Memphis and is based much, much more on his statements about and attitude toward Tennessee while he was there, all of this before the Rose situation. So I think for the majority of us, what you said is exactly right – we don’t care if he’s guilty or innocent, we just don’t like him. But that dislike is unique for us in comparison to any of the other opposing fanbases you’re dealing with (you’re getting taunted by a University of Washington fan? I’m impressed.) Ours is more “that guy’s a jerk” than “that guy’s a cheater”. And of course, folks on both sides can and will disagree about the accuracy of those two statements.
That's certainly fair.
God knows, hating a coach who coached at a rival is as good a reason as there is. :-)
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
Will, I think it's "All of the Above"
Calipari is both personally disliked and has achieved his level of success with questions ranging from his ethics at a minimum to wondering whether he cheats outright while maintaining plausible deniability.
I also believe that Calipari is vastly overrated as a bench coach. BP has beaten JC more regularly than any other coach, despite having inferior talent. JC has five NBA First Rounders and didn’t win a championship. Can’t recall any other coach failing that miserably in decades. Conversely, BP gets to the Elite Eight while only having 1 second round draft pick and maybe 1 or 2 kids who get a tryout. We also beat KY with that talent disparity when it should really have been a season sweep. And, we recall what Bruce did to Calipari at Memphis – beating them more than any other school during the “most school wins” seasons.
This part
I also note for the record that neither Calipari nor any of his assistants have ever been implicated in an NCAA violation or finding of unethical conduct, unlike Roy Williams, Rick Pitino, and Jim Calhoun (just to name a few).
always cracks me up. That would be quite consoling if you were a fan of Calipari the individual (or his assistants.) But you’re not. You’re a fan of the school he coaches for. And the schools he coaches for always wind up in trouble. So good luck with that.
Lou Brock loves Lamp.
Just a question.
What does how I feel about Calipari and why have to do with the facts? Nothing, I trust.
So if you had a point, it seems to have left the building.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
Birdjam's Point Has Left The Building
"I condone fun things" ~~ Cortland Finnegan
Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me.
So you're saying that how you feel about Cal has nothing to do with facts?
That sounds about right, I guess.
I thought my point was fairly obvious, but it appears I was wrong so I will spell it out to you:
When Calipari was hired and the basketball world predictably reacted with comments that Kentucky was “signing a deal with The Devil” by hiring someone so shady (including, as i recall, some of your own fans feeling this way,) many Kentucky fans – including one of my best friends – defended the hire and insisted that Calipari was clean, using the same rationale that I quoted from you above. As I told my close friend, that rationale would be fine and dandy if you were a fan of Calipari – because history has shown that he always seems to skate on the charges that follow him around.
But unfortunately (for you and my close friend,) you are not fans of Calipari the man, or any of his assistants whose “clean” records you seem so proud of boasting about. You are fans of the school where these dirty deeds are being done. And just like history has shown us that Cal never seems to get personally implicated in these messes, history has shown that Cal always leaves a mess for others to deal with in his wake.
You may argue it is purely a coincidence or the world is out to get Calipari for unfair reasons/jealousy/envy/whatever. But you seem like a bright guy. When Cal bolts for the NBA (or wherever,) and you are vacating wins like UMass and Memphis, and your school is being sanctioned by the NCAA, perhaps then you will agree that despite his “clean” record, Calipari leaves a trail of slime wherever he goes.
Tennessee fans have seen this movie before, Tru. Barely more than a year ago we were hearing the same denials from the fans of another of our rivals, Memphis. What reason would we have to believe that it will turn out any different this time?
Lou Brock loves Lamp.
Birdjam's Point Is In The Building
Official MCM Hater!
"If anyone asks you, you fixed my television. Now go!"
by gramsey712 on Jun 2, 2010 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
You probably shouldn't throw caution to the wind with such dramatic flair.
Take it from us. Your above novel about how innocent that slimeball is looks exactly like something I would have and probably did write about Lane Kiffin last year.
If you truly think Calipari is completely free from blame in any of the prior NCAA violations at other schools you are far more naive than even we were.
As it is though, I could care less if he cheats or not, I still know he’s a slimy piece of [FULMERIZED] and will eventually be someone viewed as an embarrasment to the state of Kentucky. Saying his name will make you throw up in your mouth just like Kiffin does for us now, Zook does for Florida fans, Mike Price for Bama fans, etc. etc. etc.
"I condone fun things" ~~ Cortland Finnegan
Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me.
Whatever...
indeed. I know how things have gone for me there. I know that I’ve been posting on blogs and boards for years now, and it’s the only place I’ve ever had any real problems “getting along”. I know that I have been spoken to condescendingly and rudely for no apparent reason. That’s not to say some people haven’t been nice at times, because a few have been. Overall, my experience was not what I hoped for. So, I choose, for the most part, to just read there, and if I have any commentary on the subject at hand, to do it here.
And you are right, I don’t care if Calipari is innocent or guilty (by your definition). I can base my dislike of him solely on things I have heard him say and things I have seen him do. He’s an arrogant windbag, even if he never “cheated” in his life. Another thing you’re right about?
It’s so facile to hate himHe’s the one that makes it so easy.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
Mam!
You were asked(by a lot of members)to not come back to ASoB because of your continuous barbs and negative remarks. You were a visitor. You don’t come to our house and talk “your trash” Good riddance
Happy Days are here again! Wildcat's have #1 recruiting class again!
Hmmm...
You seem to remember things that I don’t.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
But I thought we were calling them ASOLOL!
by Incipient_Senescence on Jun 1, 2010 1:38 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Dare I say
I lol’d?
"I condone fun things" ~~ Cortland Finnegan
Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me.
Why do you feel the need to badly, and unfairly, misrepresent my essay?
I don’t say what you claim I say at all.
The only conclusion I can reach is, you either did not read the piece, or you just wanted to attack A Sea of Blue for some reason.
I don’t mind my position getting attacked, but I am disappointed that you would raise a strawman and dash it asunder.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
I don't feel I did misrepresent it....
but certainly everyone is free to go read it for themselves and make up their own mind whether I did or not. I assure you I did read it several times, because I was somewhat puzzled at what you seemed to be saying, and I wanted to be sure I understood. Here it is if anyone else wants to see if they agree with my summary:
http://www.aseaofblue.com/2010/5/30/1493516/kentucky-basketball-the-tie-that
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
In this case your point of view and it's skew towards the orange hues prevents you
from seeing simple facts and logic presented in a lucid and straightforward manner. What Tru refuses to do in his writings is ignore other points of view, no matter how ludicrous they may seem to the rest of our blog. By failing to give another side the light of day, you lose credibility with the rest of the blog. And that is OK, because you are not expected to as a fan. As an author/blogger/poster Tru doesnt allow himself the luxury of ignorance or nonchalance when looking at his subject matter. So when he does allow himself a little bit of a “homer” type attitude, detractors such as yourself claim he is blinded by his place as a Kentucky Fan. Tru gives more light to the opposition than anyone I know on any blog. You madam, simply refuse to allow even that slightest of a pass for his work. Much the same way you make comments which when analyzed point out your inability to do the same in your writings.
I AM THE CAT......The Cat In The Hat!!!
You folks...
really feel you must have the last word, don’t you. Everything you write about this subject just points up your hypocrisy.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
Oh dear....
According to this post, and the comments:
http://www.aseaofblue.com/2010/6/2/1494193/uk-basketball-a-big-blue-nation#storyjump
I am a “poor soul” who is an “anti-UK sports fan”. I’m also “mad because I was asked to leave” (which is a surprise to me); I’m a “piece of work” who is “bitter, bitter, bitter”; I’m putting my health in danger because of my “irrational hate”, and my favorite…
that blogger is a she……what kind of she I dont know…..but a sheI’m not even sure what that’s supposed to mean, but knowing the person who posted it, I’m sure he meant it in the worst possible way.
Of course, as I said above, it’s all due, of course, to the fact that I’m sooooo jealous that I’m not a UK fan:
the Big Blue Nation will continue to support Calipari and his initiative to keep Kentucky basketball on top of the mountain … looking downward on the green eyes of the accusing wannabes.
This seems to assume that I’m not able to choose which team I want to support or something, and I’m doomed to be the fan of another lowly team and can only dream of being a UK fan.
Wow.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
Perception is one thing
But until anyone at UK is proven to be guilty of violations; this is all wishful thinking on the detractors of UK’s part. I have already gone on record as saying we should have hired Dan Issel prior to Gillespie to have a long term approach at success for our program; but then we did the unexpected and hired Gillespie. He was fired with a bright season ahead for his third year, with adequate talent. But adequate has never been enough at UK. So we hired Calipari. Again a chance was missed to hire someone from the program. The combination of an instant gratification society, and an athletic director who is not in the mold of CM Newton is why we are where we are at. And that place is: With a second consecutive number one recruiting class; and the opportunity to Beat UT again. If Cal or UK is sanctioned by the NCAA for real or imagined offenses, I’m sure the RTT crowd will love it. Just as I did as Fulmer back stabbed Johnny Majors and stole his job; and when Lane Kiffin disrespected your school and state by basically saying USC was better, and dumping UT like a bad habit.
"all the way"
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