So after drowning our sorrows in brown liquor and codine last night, Todd woke us up with a screaming phone call to get up and get working providing you, our loyal readers, with what information is out there on the status of Marcel Dareus.
Coach Saban is going to be on the podium at SEC Media Days in a few hours so we all want to be up to speed by the time he starts laying waste to the Wynfrey Hotel conference rooms. So lets get our butts in gear and get started, why don't we?
For those of you late to the show, the initial article on the investigation by the university penned by ESPN's Ivan Maisel and Mark Schlabach can be found here. It also includes Coach Saban's comments about agents are contained therin as well"
What the NFL Players Association and the NFL need to do is if any agent breaks a rule and causes ineligibility for a player, they should suspend his [agent's] license for a year or two," Saban said. "I'm about ready for college football to say, 'Let's just throw the NFL out. Don't let them evaluate players. Don't let them talk to players. Let them do it at the combine.' If they are not going to help us, why should we help them?"
As for the daily newspapers this morning: Gentry Estes at the Press Register, Michael Casagrande of the Anniston Star and the Tuscaloosa News's Chase Goodbread & Cecil Hurt have as good a roundup of all the known facts as you are going to find out there. In all these cases they haven't really broken much on their own but we figure it's only a matter of time.
Here on RBR we have our initial reaction thread full of the expected wailing and gnashing of teeth and PICTURES WITH WORDS ON THEM. Enjoy. Please don't feed the trolls. If you prefer a little more rational reaction you should check out Pete Holiday's assessment of the NCAA's options given what we know of the case and then Outsidethesidelines' evaluation of what it means for Alabama directly. There's also this examination of the program's approach to agents post Andre Smith (but pre-Marcel). Read them, memorize them. There will be a test.
Dr. Saturday over at Yahoo!Sports has his usual comprehensive assessment and a sage warning: "If you're the type who's really enjoying this bit of schadenfreude courtesy of the mighty Tide and Gators, we'll just assume your alma mater is next."
AJC's Tony Barnhart has a column this morning elucidating his delight at the prospect of a furious Nick Saban taking on sleazy agents. Comon, don't deny it doesn't make you shiver evilly as well, son.
In that same vien, The Press-Register's Mike Herndon and Mark Wiedmer of the Times Press also hold forth on the issue of unscrupulous agents in their respective columns. All provide a decent take but expect a lot more of these to emerge in lieu of actual news on Dareus' status.
Around the Blogosphere:
- Capstone Report: Six reasons to look on the bright side.
- Team Speed Kills: "It's looking more like SEC Commissioner Mike Slive's goal of getting every league school off of probation would be more easily attainable if it was a goal of getting every league school on probation."
- 3rd Saturday in Blogtober: "At this point, I’m just dreaming, but wouldn’t it be nice to see the NCAA finally stand up for the players they are supposed to be protecting?"
- Tower of Bammer: Seems... critical, of the NCAA's sudden discovery that sports agents exist.
- Wolfe Reports: Fears the sky may be falling.
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EDSBS: Gets its gloat on. Gets the facts wrong. Quotes Foucault.
- Track Em Tigers: "How far is this going to go? Wow. Bubonic plague doesn't spread this quickly."
- Rocky Top Talk: Shocked.
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Conquest Chronicles: Who's next?
If you are looking for Twitter feeds to keep updated on developments during the day, here are the ones we recommend. They were cranking out the info last night when there wasn't much to be had.
- ESPN's Bruce Fieldman
- ESPN's Joe Schad
- Press-Register's Gentry Estes
- Tuscaloosa News' Cecil Hurt
- Scout.com's Andrew Bone
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Roll Bama Roll (of course)