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So I spy on her, I lie to her, I make promises I cannot keep ...

By Glenn Logan

Seems the news today was full of items that need some commentary, and so I think I'll indulge myself.

First off, there is this whole Kelvin Sampson - NCAA violation thing.  Man, the media and especially the pundits are teeing off on Sampson for his most recent indiscretions, and why not?  He had a pre-employment agreement with IU AND the NCAA not to do that sort of thing.  But he did.

I seem to remember a Louisville player who violated his agreement with Tom Jurich recently, and he was grasped firmly by the scruff of the neck and thrown straight under the bus.  Now Kelvin Sampson does the same thing at IU, and as punishment, he gets to forgo a $500,000 raise (we do wonder if Jurich's decision would have been different had Willie Williams come up with $500k) and what pretty much looks like a slap on the wrist.  No doubt the NCAA will have a say in all this, and who knows how it will end up, but for the moment, Sampson is still the IU coach.

Now, as a Kentucky fan, I don't really have sufficient moral authority to lecture another school about cheating.  Let's face it -- Kentucky has zero credibility when it comes to taking shots at cheaters due to our ... ahem ... rather checkered past in the area of NCAA compliance.  Fortunately, I don't have to do the lecturing here, because others have already done it for me.  Consider Rick Bozich this morning:

Many were willing to overlook the problems Sampson brought from Oklahoma because he promised those mistakes would not be repeated at IU. His solid first-year coaching and recruiting victories (which will be viewed differently today) had pushed Sampson's past into the past.

Now he has squandered the second chance -- and created another division within IU. Nothing minor about that.
Ouch.  But that's not all.  Never a shrinking violet, Leitch at Deadspin has his own axe to grind, and reports on it from the standpoint of a wounded Illini fan.  Well, Eric Gordon's decommitment did leave a mark up there.

But perhaps the most interesting details of the case come via Dick "Hoops" Weiss, who has two separate blog posts dealing with Sampson today.  The first one deals with the facts:
The university, using a local law firm, determined Senderoff had initiated three-way calls that patched Sampson into on-going recruiting conversations with recruits, their parents or coaches. Senderoff will be ineligible for a raise or a bonus for the next year.

IU said the actions did not warrant a dismissal. The NCAA has yet to look at this case.
The second one deals with some former players of Bob Knight, namely Ted Kitchell, Kent Benson and Joe Hillman, who blasted Sampson for violating his agreement with the school and the NCAA, recalling the "zero tolerance" policy allegedly embraced by the Hoosiers:
Kitchell, who said he "wouldn't hire Sampson to coach my fifth grade team,'' told the Indianapolis Star if "zero tolerance means zero tolerance, then he should be gone and (AD) Rick Greenspan should be right behind him.''
But get this -- at least one fan thinks all this compliance crap is for losers:
Some students were more willing to forgive and forget.

"Is Eric Gordon (Sampson's prize freshman guard) and a national championship worth $500,000?  Yes,'' one told the Star.
Heh.  Congratulations, Kelvin.  Some Hoosiers don't care how many rules you break, as long as your pockets are deep enough.

On another more familiar subject, it looks like we are going to have to live forever with the meme that Kentucky fans "ran off" Tubby Smith, because, well, perception is reality and by God, the press says it's reality:
Those demanding Wildcat fans and boosters essentially ran him out of Lexington and into the adoring arms of the Golden Gopher faithful who are desperate for any sign of hope.
Sheesh.  Will ... we ... EVER ... hear the end of this fiction?

Mark Story has a great article out today in the Lexington Herald-Leader.  I have been critical of Story over the years, and so have many UK fans, but this one is simply awesome.  Story points out that UK has gotten better in football for a reason, and that reason is finally making decisions that don't look like they were made for us by Louisville's athletic department:
For decades, the Kentucky football program seemed to have an unofficial slogan:

Bad Decisions R Us.

Staying with poor Bill Curry long after it was apparent that his program was dead in the water. Wasting a year of Tim Couch by running an option offense.

Putting the fox in charge of the hen house by elevating the ethically elastic Claude Bassett to director of football operations -- the one decision most responsible for the Mumme-era NCAA mess that set Kentucky back years.

To go old school, letting Bear Bryant leave didn't turn out too well, either.
Be sure to read the rest if you haven't.  Outstanding article.

Penultimately, a bleg from me to UK fans -- enough rushing the field, or the court, or whatever.  UK just got fined $50,000 for the fans rushing the field on Saturday, making the total fines we owe the SEC (so far) $75,000.  Just to put that in perspective, that fine cost us the revenue of 1667 tickets, and that's just this game.  Keep in mind that we have at least 2 more games (Florida and Tennessee) where long winning streaks are on the line.  If we win them both, the bill could come to a whopping $175,000, just for the football season.

I think we can find better uses for that money than to pay for fans to run on the field.  It's a waste, and a stupid waste at that.  Tell you what -- you want to rush the field?  Fine.  Then send the UKAA a donation for about $25 dollars.  I figure about 2000 fans rushed onto the field Saturday, and if you were one of them, pony up.  Your lack of sportsmanship comes with a real money cost.  Stop stealing from the university you allegedly support.

Last but not least Third Saturday in Blogtober brings us this bit of hilarity.  Apparently, the author is miffed because UK-Florida will get CBS HD broadcast this Saturday, and UT-Alabama gets relegated to the Lincoln Financial Network (although he still refers to the as JP Sports).  I found this priceless:
Seriously, JP doing Tennessee-Alabama is like Stevie Wonder tripping over a million dollar bill. But for the fans, it's like we're the ones who dropped the million dollar bill in the first place.
I had to laugh.  If Florida were 0-3 in the SEC and we got stuck on LFN, I'd be just as happy as a clam.  Any shot UK has at getting on TV is a beautiful thing.  Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked about Gameday and national TV and all that, but man, these fans and media that refer to UK fans as "spoiled" might want to take a look at the neighbors.




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