Good recruiting begets good recruiting. Or something like that. In any case, the best person to talk up a program is someone who's committed but still in high school. Meet Chris Payne.
Since becoming South Carolina’s first commitment for the Class of 2009 in March, Payne has been preaching the Gamecocks football gospel to whichever top players he can get in touch with.
"I’ve met a bunch of people from all over," Payne said. "I try to talk to someone every other week. I try to get in touch (via phone, e-mail or text) with at least two every week."
Good luck, Chris. Success now could lead to success when you get to Columbia.
C&F's fixation with Dawn Staley continues. But, once again, with a legitimate news peg -- sort of -- in the form of a cushy AP profile of the new South Carolina women's basketball staff.
Not obsessed with you, Dawn. I promise.
There's not much new in the piece, though it rounds out Staley's time with the Olympics team and points out how important the teams she played on were to the sport's prestige.The U.S. women were the world's best in the 1980s, winning Olympic gold in 1984 and 1988. That began to crumble in the early 1990s, however.
In 1992 at the Barcelona Games, the American women were blotted out by their male counterparts, the NBA stars who made up the "Dream Team." The results were disappointing as well, the two-time defending gold medalists settling for bronze.
When the United States women followed with another third-place at the 1994 world championships, women's basketball's leaders thought it was time for a "Dream Team" of their own. ...
That they did (in 1996), sweeping to a perfect 8-0 mark as they averaged more than 102 points a game. Their 111 points scored in the final game with Brazil were the most ever in a women's gold-medal game.
102 ppg in 2008-09 would be nice, Dawn. But no pressure or anything.
Signed, sealed, delivered. Demetris Summers will make the roster of the Calgary Stampeders, Person reports. And he's already making a good impression. Sure, it's Canadian football. But it's better than nothing. And it could lead to the NFL.
This is just...ugh. As EDSBS points out in its post on this topic, sometimes there just are no words.
University of Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly is waiting for clearance from school president Nancy Zimpher that would allow former Minnesota player Alex Daniels to become a member of the Bearcats' football team. ...According to a July 18, 2007, Associated Press story, Dominic Jones, a junior and one of the best defensive players on the Minnesota team, was accused of having sex with an 18-year-old woman who was "physically helpless" after a night of binge drinking at a campus apartment in early April of that year.
Investigators said Daniels used his cell phone to film Jones having sex with the woman. Hennepin County (Minn.) attorney Mike Freeman said Daniels and Minnesota players E.J. Jones and Keith Massey also had sex with the woman earlier that night. ...
When asked if he were concerned about public relations fallout if Daniels joins the UC team, Kelly said: "If he was charged with a crime, I would be concerned, but he was never charged with a crime. What we're dealing with here is bad judgment."
No language is designed to describe how sad this is.