Top Ten Off-Season Stories: Part 2

Our Top Ten Off-Season Stories continues with part 2. I didn't get it posted as soon as I wanted to, but here it is. Look for another post or two about the off-season as we get ready for the pre-season top ten.


5. Reggie Bush Scandal

The scandal comes from allegations made by Yahoo! Sports (see link).Did Reggie Bush receive improper payments while he was still a student at USC? I don't know, but if he did, that would make this a full fledged scandal. Why? Because he was a Heisman Trophy winner and a National Champion. It would hurt his legacy, and his school. Not much seems to be made about it away from Yahoo! Sports unless you look at the internet message boards and blogs. I did find these articles on MSNBC, Fox Sports, and SI's Stewart Mandel. We will see what happens.


4. Arkansas Soap Opera

Wow the Razorbacks had a great season. It was entertaining. Almost as entertaining as the Off-season. Let's start at the end of the 2006 season, somewhere in late fall, maybe October, probably early November. Most of these events can be found chronicled at WholeHogSports. Just search the term on the site.

Year of the Dog, no passing game, meeting with the parents, Williams leaves (USC), Malzahn leaves (Tulsa), Mustain leaves (USC), infamous email, Lee returns, freedom of information act, Broyles retires, Dana Altman and John Pelphrey.

I will elaborate on each event in another post. It was a good time to own a website on Razorback athletics if you had a message board, because the traffic was high.


3. Oklahoma receives NCAA Penalties

The Sooners are forced to erase all of their wins from the 2005 season. I wonder, do they inherit the losses? They have some scholarship reductions, etc., etc., etc. Shame on you Oklahoma, for coming forward and telling us that you goofed. Once again, the issue is around whether or not athletes should have money while they are students (see Reggie Bush below). Usually, the school gets the worst of it while the players move on with their accomplishment to the NFL or to their career. Not so with Bomar and Quinn, the athletes in question. Coach Stoops dismissed them from the team and they both end up at a Division I-AA School (now called Championship Division because they have playoffs). Also, there was a walk on player involved, and, of course, walk on players have to abide by the same rules as a scholarship player. Go figure.


2. Nick Saban signs with Alabama

Nick Saban was so coveted by Alabama that they were willing to let him deny that he was going to 'Bama or interested in Bama in order to get him to come.What else can you say? I guess he is getting payed well, $4 million well. The story-lines here were the money and the denials. Saban comes to 'Bama with SEC titles and a National Championship. I wonder how he would look with a checkered hat.

1. Indiana Coach Terry Hoeppner Passes Away from Complications of a Brain Tumor

All of those other stories are frivolous. When you talk about someone's life, well that is a real story.Coach Hoeppner's life was celebrated by friends, family, fans, colleagues, and many more. He, like so many coach's, left a special mark on the lives of the athletes he coached. For Coach Hoeppner, most notable, Ben Roethlisberger, who called him a second father. Coach Hoeppner, coached young men because he cared about them. He wanted to see them do their best. To that, he shall always be remembered, as more than a coach.


There you have it. The Top Ten Off-Season stories. There are other stories to be sure. Depending on you who you are, they may be more compelling. For instance, if you are a Notre Dame fan, the signing of Jimmy Clausen may have been the biggest story of the year. These are my selections, but most would probably be on everyones list. Hope you enjoyed off-season. There are some points during the off-season where the rest of the sports world is just not carrying the torch very well, and you say to yourself, "we need football." One more month!