Alabama Fan Strikes Again
Former LSU signal caller and now Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger was out at a local bar last week and started talking about college football with a fellow patron. Shortly after, Mettenberger was sucker-punched by an Alabama fan according to a report in the Tennessean.
“Here’s the truth: The guy said something about ‘Roll Tide!’ to Zach, and Zach turned around and said ‘Good luck with that,’ ” bar owner Steve Ford said. “And the guy’s buddy then sucker-punched Zach.
“I promise you that Mettenberger did not throw a punch. He didn’t do anything. The guy sucker-punched him in the eye, that’s the bottom line, and the guy that punched him started running out the door. My door guys had to chase him down.”
Our take: Alabama fan strikes again. Seriously dude, we all love college football but adults don’t punch other adults over college rivalries. On top of that, you’ve violated all sorts of guy code in sucker punching someone then running away. Neither Nick Saban nor Bear Bryant would be proud.
Chuck Martin Is His Own Man
It’s part of the coaching cycle to leave your current job for a promotion. Coordinators at bigger schools take head coaching jobs at smaller schools all the time. Generally, it’s a stopping point and eventually that coach will have aspirations to take over a larger program.
Former Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin left his position for a head coaching job.
Sounds pretty normal, right?
He left one of the most storied programs in the nation to take over one of the worst teams in the nation at Miami of Ohio, and took a significant pay cut to do it.
“I’m just a little bit off,” Martin said when asked about his decision.
Martin’s taking over a team who lost all 12 games last season and are riding a 16-game losing streak. They ranked 122nd in total offense (out of 123 teams) and 113th in defense.
Our take: The Redhawks have taken quite a fall since the days of Ben Roethlisberger. Chuck Martin is obviously comfortable financially and in his own skin to take a job like this and it will be really interesting to see what kind of success he can have there. Any new job is all about the entry point, and Martin will be considered a savior if he can get this program to bowl eligibility in a few years.
Does Cheating Pay?
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby made headlines this week as he stood on his soapbox and spoke about cheating in college football.
“Enforcement is broken,” he said. “The infractions committee hasn’t had [an FBS] hearing in almost a year, and I think it’s not an understatement to say cheating pays presently. If you seek to conspire to certainly bend the rules, you can do it successfully and probably not get caught in most occasions.”
So whenever you have multi, hundreds of million dollar payoffs there will be people bending the rules. It seems a little difficult to fire a series of undirected stones without making sure your own garden is in order.
Our take: If you want to talk about cheating, great. It carries absolutely no weight whatsoever if you don’t actually point at a specific target. It’s difficult to take anyone seriously if they offer a generalized statement with no proof, no direction and no solution.
