For the second time in as many years, Ben Roethlisyoucantspellhislastnameonyourfirsttryeither has found himself in hot water for sexual misconduct. This time, it’s at the hands (teehee) … ALLEDGEDLY … of a 20 year old college sorority girl in Placeyouveneverheardofville, Georgia.

I don’t really want to get into the details of the whole thing, because I don’t know the details of the whole thing. I don’t think anyone does. So far, what’s been said is that the girl mentioned there were some activities in the bathroom that apparently she wasn’t cool with. Big Ben stated that there were some activities that took place in the bathroom that weren’t actual intercourse, but were hankypanky. Hankypanky, of course, has recently been approved to represent sexual activities that aren’t actual sex by a panel of elite scientists. And of course, by elite scientists, I mean “me and about four other Morning Wrap listeners having the conversation.”

Frequently when you write a column of this nature, it takes a position. You take one side or the other. For or against. Cold or hot. Up or down. Yes or no. SEC or anyone else.

Unfortunately, I’ve officially talked myself in a circle on this one and I’m not sure which side is right - it’s the classic devil-on-one-shoulder-angel-on-the-other battle. Except in this case we’ve gone to 15 rounds, both are cut, and neither camp is ready to throw in the towel yet.

GIVE IT UP - YOU’RE A ROLE MODEL NOW.

On one hand, it’s very easy to want to tell our models the old “Uncle Ben from Spiderman” theory:

“With great power, comes great responsibility.”

Aristotle .. Voltaire ..... Uncle Ben Parker.

To heck with Chuck Barkley. You’re a world class athlete, you’re on television every week, and whether you want it or not, people look up to you. So, whether you like it or not, you have a social responsibility to uphold. While it may not mean much to you, it means a lot of the parents of kids out there who have to convince them why they shouldn’t be like you everytime you mess up.

Frankly, our athletes are some of the most popular people on the planet. Whether you agree or not, the ability to perform athletic feats that the vast vast vast vast vast vast vast vast ……… ::breath:: ……. vast majority of people are unable to perform places you into a bracket of celebrity in this country.

With that celebrity and ability, of course, comes money. And with that money, fame. And with that fame, ultimately, a form of power which can influence the thoughts and actions of young fans growing within the country.

If you’re given that much power and celebrity by the country, it’s because they want to be entertained by you. They want you to represent them, in some way, shape, or form.

So, don’t you, as an athlete and as someone who’s profited off of that love from fans, don’t you owe them something in return? Don’t you owe them at least the representation of someone who’s respectable, who’s clean cut?

GIVE IT UP - THEY’RE JUST ATHLETES.

No! Athletes are just people. They’re frequently twenty-something year old kids who find themselves dropped into a world where everything is at their fingertips, and all they have to do to maintain it is win.

Oh, and as far as representing you? It’s very simple: if you don’t approve of what they do, don’t support them. Don’t buy the jerseys, don’t watch the games, and don’t buy from the sponsors of the player, team, or sport. It’s that simple.

Don’t put the athletes on any pedastal. The fact is, they can run fast, throw far, hit straight, shoot well, or whatever else it is that seperates them from you. Nothing more.

So why respect them more than, say, your neighborhood doctor? A person who spends four extra years in school and thousands of dollars and who’s job is to save lives - not goals. If an athlete is successful, we get to wear a tshirt the next day, and that’s the end of it. If a doctor is successful, someone stays alive. Really - which of those deserves fireworks and Queens’ “We are the champions,” really?

THE FACT IS….

Whether an athlete is a role model is ultimately up to you, the fans.

If you like Big Ben because he’s a Steeler, that’s on you.

If you like Big Ben because he’s clutch in the Super Bowl .. twice .. that’s on you.

If you dislike Big Ben because he’s not the most cerebral player in the league, that’s on you.

If you dislike Big Ben because he apparently can’t keep his zipper up, that’s on you.

It’s on you. Not them. Don’t like them? Good for you for having convictions that prevent you from going down a path you can’t support.

Don’t care? Good for you. They’re just athletes. They’re nothing more than you or I, minus a few bank account figures and the ability to shoot the long ball. Who cares what they do?

So whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’r………………….. wait. Wrong saying, my bad.

Whether you think they’re role models, or think they’re not role models, you’re right. It’s in your head, and no where else.

There’s no right or wrong answer.

And that, my friends, is the most un-radio-friendly point of view I can take - and it’s the only one I can stumble upon.

Rob Brown General

Major League Baseball has, for the past few years, been fighting quite the steroid scandal. There’s nothing new there, we’ve all watched America’s Sport be knocked down and dragged around and covered in mud.

Now, whether they’ve earned it or not, that’s a decision that can only be made up in the minds of the fans… or the not fans. However, baseball has just been handed a perfect opportunity to prove that they care, that they want to fight back … and it’s come from our allies across the pond.

The United Kingdom Anti-Doping Agency has delivered the first positive test for Human Growth Hormone, or HGH, as well as the first suspension for the use of the drug.

Terry Newton, a former player for the Wakefield Rugby club who was fired after the positive test, has also been banned from the sport for two years. It’s the first positive test for HGH, as well as the first suspension for the drug, in a major sport.

Baseball, as well as most other professional sports in North America, have put a ban on HGH that’s been in place for as long as ten years. However, there hasn’t been a test capable of detecting the use of the substance, and their have been rumors of its use throughout the major leagues.

The UKADA has defended the test, and stated an enormous belief both in its accuracy and reliability.

Here’s hoping Major League Baseball takes the hint.

-rb

Rob Brown General

Let’s have a moment of silence, please. If you don’t mind - please minimize your browser, open up your iTunes and play the “Lonely Man” song and take just a moment with me, if you don’t mind, to celebrate the life and times of Colonel Reb, who was officially dumped as the Ole Miss mascot this week.

Since his birth, he's bee.... well, really, he's ALWAYS looked old.

Of course, Colonel Ed hasn’t ALWAYS been a hard nosed representation of the always serious Southern gentlemen and, some say, Civil War veteran (come on. They’re called the Rebels. Don’t play coy with us, Ole Miss…)

What a stud...

Anyway, the school has gone ahead and asked for the students to vote on

1) If they want to replace the mascot at all, and
2.) What the new mascot should be.

I, of course, feel that not having a mascot is akin to wearing only pads on the field. Why in the world would you do so? I mean, it’s your IDENTITY. How in the world do you identify yourself without a mascot? I mean, some people may have been (understandably) upset by the Rebel mascot, but at the same time, how the heck are they going to identify you if you have NO mascot at all?

So, I present to you my proposal for the new Ole Miss mascot:

Come up with ONE Rebel more well known than this one. I challenge you. GO OLE MISS!

Rob Brown General

Very rarely does a topic come along that elicits a serious, stragith-faced response from me.. mainly because I am, for the most part, incapable of delivering one.

However, my stance on the Tiger Woods situation has climbed to one of those types of events.

This morning, I attempted to make my stance on my new opinion of Tiger VERY clear, and I thought that it was rather simple - apparently not.

Let me start with the brief history of my Tiger fandom.

I bought and wore red Nike shirts-because that’s what Tiger wore. I drank Tiger Gatorade-because that’s what Tiger drank. I swang Nike irons on the course-because that’s what Tiger swang. I wore Nike spikes-because that’s what Tiger wore. I played Nike Ones, my first “real” watch was a Tag-Hauer and I learned how to bounce a golf ball on the end of my pitching wedge when I was bored - because all of that made up Tiger Woods.

And Tiger was the best.

Tiger wasn’t a golfer. And he wasn’t a model. And he wasn’t a playboy. And he wasn’t a billionaire. He was the Ken Griffey Jr. of our day - the guy who was just cool. The million dollar smile, the ability to stand over a 17 footer and almost seem to say “watch this” before knocking it down to win his next six-figure prize check and trophy.

Tiger was the best. He took a sport that I loved and became so good at it, owned it so much, that it seemed instead of saying “I want to be the best golfer ever,” you started to say “I want to be Tiger Woods.”

I saw full grown men playing on Sunday afternoons wearing Tiger Woods gear. He could take men, who are supposed to idolize no one but themselves, their families and their own fathers, and turn them into fans. Fanatics. No… FANATICS.

But what does it take to have that much admiration for someone? Whether it’s Tim Tebow, or Drew Brees, or anyone else who plays a game for a living?

You have to like them. You have to be able to say “I like the way that person is.” You have to be able to say “I’ll defend my opinion of them.”

Unfortunately, I can no loner do that with Eldrick Tiger Woods.

What he did crossed a line. Listen, I’m not a prude and I’m not stuck in the 1700’s. Stunningly enough, people sleep with more then just their spouses now a days. Do I agree with it? Moot point. Fact is, it happens.

But Tiger wasn’t just another billionaire playboy athlete with money to burn and a libido to much. A 24 year old single wide receiver goes out and pulls stunts like that - whatever. He’s got no commitments, he owes nothing to anyone.

Tiger isn’t a single 24 year old. Tiger is married. Tiger has professed undieing love to a woman. Tiger has fathered two children with this woman and Tiger started a family with this woman.

And he didn’t just “cheat” on her. It wasn’t an “oh my God, I screwed up, I’m so sorry, let’s fix this” kind of thing. This wasn’t one mistake, one thing to forgive.

This was a choice. And a choice. And a choice. And a choice, and a choice and a choice and a choice and a choice……… for three years.

I don’t like Tiger. I find what he did reprehensible and unacceptable and while I can’t say “unforgiveable” because I’m a very forgiving person, I can say it absolutely disgusts me.

And I don’t like Tiger. I can’t be a fan of Tiger. I can’t ever look at him and just “forget” what happened, that he did this to a family and to the woman he said he’d love unconditionally forever.

Is it my business? No. Hell no. Not a damn bit of it.

But now I know about it. Now I know the real Tiger.

And I don’t like him.

And if you don’t like someone, you can’t be a fan.

The shirts are put away, I’ll switch back to VitaminWater, and the hats will be donated to Haiti or wherever else they’re needed. I can’t do it. I can’t be a Tigermaniac anymore.

I don’t like him, and I can’t be a fan.

Rob Brown General

Get a Who Dat? NATION shirt from TSP. Click here to show your colors!

INTERNET54 General

Pat Yasinskas just posted some notes that I think Saints fans will find comforting as they head into the divisional round of the playoffs versus the Arizona Cardinals.

Since the merger, only one team who has scored 50 points in one game has returned to win their next round game - the proof and research, since I’m too lazy to do it, is here.

Also remember that while the Cardinals did score 51 in that game, they also gave up 45 to the Packers - an offense that I would argue isn’t on the same playing field as the Saints (provided the Saints are back on their A-game, which is in no way guaranteed - although having Shockey, Moore and Meachem all back at 100% should be a huge boost.)

I’ll have my takes on all four games for you later this afternoon.

-rb

Rob Brown General

Mark McGwire admitting that he used steroids is like me admitting that I had dinner last night. While there’s a doubt that, hey, maybe it got skipped one time, anybody who knows me knows damn well that I’m not missing a meal.

So, now we have to ask the more realistic question: how are we supposed to react?

Artificially Big Mac is trying to convince us that steroids only helped him recover from injury, and didn’t help him hit the longball. Fair enough, Big Mac.

In fact, the argument could be made. In 1987 during his rookie year, McGwire tattooed 47 rocks over the yellow stripe, earning him the most homeruns ever tagged by a rookie. So, clearly he was CAPABLE of hitting the longball before he started plugging needles into his backside.

Mark would then go on, over the next four years, to knock in 32, 33, and 39 homeruns a year for his next three years. That puts him amongst the best four year starts in MLB history. And obviously, when it was all said and done, slugging 500+ HR’s after that start wouldn’t be incredibly mystifieing.

So where do the ‘roids come in? After looking at the stats and seeing how incredibly his first four years of numbers were, it’s tough to NOT think - maybe he’s right. Maybe the ‘roids didn’t neccesarily help him hit the bombs, and simply were in place to help him heal up from injuries like he said.

Then again, I hate to see “common sense overrules the numbers,” but this:

Good thing it's from this side. From the other side all you can see is the bat.

can’t POSSIBLY hit as many homeruns as this:

What the hell is IN that milk?!!?

…..right?

BigMac has said he started the ‘roids pre-1998.

Fair enough. But if he’s telling the truth about the steroids only being used to help injuries, then it would’ve started - more than likely - in 1993. While BigMac has never played a full 162 game season, that was the first year injury really knocked him down - he stepped to bat in only 27 games that year, and only 47 the year after that.

So, if the ‘roids started there - which I’m not sure if it’s safe to assume they did or did not, but I’m going to anyway because, hey, no one can tell me not to - then the homeruns after that should be slightly higher than his first four years … if they indeed help with the longball.

Now, I’m not sure how to look at the info past where the steroids come into play. On one hand, the numbers didn’t skyrocket. In fact, the average stayed around the same for the most part. However, when did his first two seasons of 50+ homeruns take place?

Yeup. The two years after he got past his injuries.

Fair enough. Coincidence, maybe?

1997 was the year McGwire was sent from Oakland to St. Louis. He pounded out 58 home runs that year between the two squads.

So if 1997 was his first year back and he went to 58, how in the world did he add almost another TWELVE the very next year - remember 1998? That was the year he pelted SEVENTY homeruns - to an already monster season?

Must’ve been that milk he was drinking.

And it wasn’t just that year - he was only five shots off pace in 1999, when he drilled 65 and left everyone else in the dust.

Then, the scandal hit. And age hit. And it all started falling. While for most players the 32 he hit in 2000 would’ve been a huge season, for a guy who was coming off of back-to-back 65+ shot seasons, cutting them in half was drastic.

It also times up pretty well to the world getting “smarted up” about steroids in baseball.

The next year, the count dropped again: this time it was 29. It was also his last year in league.

I can already hear the argument: “but Rob, in 2000 and 2001, he was 36 and 37 years old!”

Yes, I’m aware. But he was 34 when he drilled freaking SEVENTY homeruns! Did that two years take him from king of the hardball to the Crpyt Keeper that fast?

I’m not sure what to think: what about you?

-rb

Rob Brown General

University of Florida head football coach Urban Meyer resigned unexpectedly on Saturday.  His final game as the head of the Gator Nation will be January 1, 2010 against Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl.

According to reports from ESPN, Meyer released the following statement:

“I have given my heart and soul to coaching college football and mentoring young men for the last 24-plus years and I have dedicated most of my waking moments the last five years to the Gator football program.  I have ignored my health for years, but recent developments have forced me to reevaluate my priorities of faith and family.

“After consulting with my family, Dr. Machen, Jeremy Foley and my doctors, I believe it is in my best interest to step aside and focus on my health and family.”

Following the SEC Championship game against the number 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, Meyer was hospitalized briefly for what was called at the time, “dehydration.”  In the light of this report, there is now speculation that the incident in Atlanta may have been more serious than previously reported.

Meyer achieved an .849 winning percentage (56-10) in his five-year run, highest in Florida school history.

UPDATE (12/28/2009): 

Meyer’s resignation was converted into a “leave of absence,” at least on paper.  Meyer said during a Sunday afternoon press conference at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans that he believes in his gut that he will be coaching the Gators in 2010.

Others are not convinced.

There has been speculation that the rapid reversal was at least in part to prevent any wholesale abandonment by Florida recruits.

With Meyer out and most of the “premium” college coaches already installed in their 2010 positions, a Meyer-less Florida program would be far less appealing to incoming recruits than what they believed they signed on for.

After a somewhat lackluster offensive performance in 2009, installing offensive coordinator Steve Addazio as interim head coach would likely have resulted in some premier recruits taking their skills elsewhere, including to SEC rivals Tennessee and Alabama.

Meyer’s Harvin-esque reversal of field on Sunday will do much to allay the concerns of recruits who might be hearing from Lane Kiffin or Nick Saban (after the recruiting dead period, of course).  The idea that Meyer will be involved in the Florida program with an eye toward returning to the sidelines will certainly give recruits some reassurance that the Florida program in which they’ll participate resembles the one they’ve watched Meyer create in five years in Gainesville.  And it will definitely give them more confidence than turning the reins of one of the nation’s premier programs were handed over to career assistant, Addazio.

All indications are that Meyer’s medical issues are real and a serious threat to his long-term health.  There is also little doubt that the first lady of the Gator Nation, Shelley Meyer, has expressed her concern to her husband.  Any married man who has felt pressure from his better half can recognize this in Meyer’s words.

The only question in my mind is not the veracity of the stated reasons for Meyer’s resignation on Saturday.  It’s the motivation for his Sunday change of course.  Was it really due to the inspiriation provided by the Gators’ players and coaches during Sunday morning’s practice, as Meyer indicated, or was it a concession to the Florida program to stem the bleeding of recruits long enough to get a name head coach in place?

Time will tell but it took a helluva bold move by Meyer to turn the attention of football fans in the state of Florida away from Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden’s final game of his illustrious career on Jan 1.

But “bold moves” are exactly what have typified Meyer’s 24-year coaching career.  And he’s got one more game left to coach.

At least.

More to come.

~Smokey Joe

Joe Mayes Florida, SEC

Florida State University head football coach Bobby Bowden announced his retirement in a statement released by the university.

Joe Mayes General

Florida State University officials have confirmed that there will be an announcement this afternoon – probably in the form of a press release — after head coach (for now) Bobby Bowden meets with the football team, scheduled for 2:15 Tallahassee time.

The school would neither confirm nor deny that the announcement will be Bowden’s retirement but three independent sources are reporting that this is the case based on discussions with “high-ranking” university officials.

All three reports are consistent in saying that yesterday’s discussion between Bowden, university president T.K. Wetherell, and Director of Athletics Randy Spetman focused on Bowden’s role with the team going forward.  The options presented were:

1.  remain as “head coach” while ceding most of the decision authority for the program to Jimbo Fisher, or

2.  step down.

All three sources report that Bowden has elected the latter option and the school will announce his retirement following the 2:15 team meeting.

Additionally, one source reports that a new contract for Jimbo Fisher, reflecting his position as head coach of the Florida State Seminoles, was completed last night as well.  No details about the contract are available at this point.

Stay tuned throughout the day for additional information on the retirement of Coach Bowden.

Will keep you posted as I get additional information.

~Smokey Joe

Joe Mayes Florida State, General