dolla dolla bill y'all
Oh, hey there. We have to stop meeting like this.
We don’t meet. We’re the same person. I just hit Ctrl-B and I’m you.
So I’m Tyler Durden, and you’re… Robert Paulson? No, that was Meat Loaf. Wait, Edward Norton didn’t have a name in that movie, did he? Huh. I guess I never realized that.
And neither of us knows Helena Bonham-Carter. But watching Michigan football these days is like punching yourself in the face in a parking lot, so I guess that works.
I’ll be over here making soap if you need anything
Anywho, the O’Bannon trial ended last Friday, and it’s time to poke the corpse with a stick for a while. Many people spent the weeks and months up to the trial saying that the NCAA was probably screwed. Many of those same people spent the three weeks of the trial declaring that the NCAA was DEFINITELY screwed (and mocking them at every turn). And then came the last day of the trial, in which the plaintiffs had a bad day and some people declared that the NCAA was only mostly dead. So, to clear things up, I’ll make the following nuanced legal prediction:
The NCAA remains deeply and profoundly screwed. I think.
We shall delve into the ways, and the likely outcomes, but if you don’t want to read beyond the impending blather and the jump and the more blather, you may enjoy this Fourth of July weekend comfortable in the knowledge that Mark Emmert will, in short order, have a sad.
So why did everyone say the NCAA might not have to go on the cart?
Well, the thing about anti-trust law…
[returns to rendering fat]
…is that it isn’t the remedy for all ills caused by gigantic douchey monoliths. The plaintiff (O’Bannon) has the burden of showing violations of antitrust law, not just terrible behavior; the NCAA could have burned the entire 1995 UCLA Bruins basketball at the stake and it wouldn’t be an antitrust violation. As sports law and antitrust guru Michael McCann put it, antitrust law is “about protecting competition in the marketplace for the benefit of consumers and marketplace participants.” O’Bannon has to point to a specific defined market that the NCAA is harming, and to identify who the buyers are and who the sellers are in the market, as well as the specific harm created to consumers or market participants. If you can’t figure out how that works when we’re talking about college sports, you’re in the company of at least one federal judge.
The plaintiffs struggled to articulate these things at the weird closing argument Q&A the judge did, because it doesn’t really map to college football very well. But while it is understandable, if O’Bannon can’t explain how the NCAA is harming consumers in a specific market, the NCAA could skate.
[AFTER THE JUMP: NSFMBF]
Just so we're all on the same page, this llama (via) is dressed as Batman, because Horford is transferring from a team that graduates Jordan Morgan for reasons of playing time. Farewell, and good luck, Al Llama Batman Sartre Horford; our time together was too short to understand each other, but I shall ne'er forget the awesome.
Let's start with that because things are about to get even weirder and less relevant (e.g. Michigan's spring game). But first: VICTORS:
| User | Day 3 Points | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| rgfmich | 177.25 | Design an MGoShirt |
| 814EastU | 171.75 | ANOTHER MGoShirt |
| vussmoney | 166.50 | a shirt |
| montandj | 161.50 | a shirt |
| cgoldner | 160.00 | a shirt |
If you're like "what?" that was the final standings among MGoBloggers in the Draftstreet 40k TourneyDraftstreet 40k Tourney a few weeks ago. Thank to our fantasy partners again for sponsoring the Day 1 and Sweet 16 liveblogs and everything; if anybody else wants to see how much fun it can be to give me money, jump in on the 100k MLB tourney for $22, or place in the top 5 of one of the $1 satellite leagues to win an entry.
It's a bit early for early returns, no? The Diarist of the Week™ (sorry I've been lapsing on that) is alum96 for his double feature (offense, defense) that looked at the various Übermenschen from Hoke's first uber-class as they enter their junior and redshirt sophomore season. I chart:
| Offense | Defense | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Was | Is | Player | Was | Is | |
| Kalis | 5*, Hutchinson 2.0 | Not that | Pipkins | 5* Hoke impersonator | On tra.. | |
| Magnusson | 4* Schofield 2.0 | On track | Henry | 3* Afterthought | A gem | |
| Braden | High 3*, Wisc OT | On track | Wormley | High 3* DL | On track | |
| Bars | High 3* project | Too soon | Strobel | Low 4* lolOSU | Too soon | |
| Funchess | 3* receivy TE | Great WR | Godin | 3* local DL | Useful | |
| Chesson | High 3* skinny | On track | Ross | High 4* prodigy | On track? | |
| Darboh | Low 4* possWR | On track | RJS | 4* hitter | On track | |
| A.J.Williams | 3* blocky TE | Not-good | Bolden | High 4* natural | On track? | |
| Houma | 3* runnyblocky | On track | Ringer | 3* might be Foote | Wasn't | |
| D. Johnson | Low 3* local | Gem?/inj. | Gant | 3* S/LB tweener | Too soon | |
| NORFLEET | 4* god of Smurfs | Hi. | Wilson | 4* Jamar Adams 2.0 | On track | |
| [No Quarterback] | Richardson | 4* Cass mite | Cassmite | |||
| Clark | 3* Shazorite | On track | ||||
That's actually way better than I thought. Injuries set back some of them, and half of those who don't look like they'll turn out to be Big Ten-caliber players have been getting a lot of playing time regardlesss. More amazing, only Kaleb Ringer is gone.
Speaking of Morgan:
David Merritt is doing a signing event with J-Mo this afternoon at his store on South U.
Basketball diaries/etc.: Padog is now into the better-than-Indiana part of his worst-to-first conference preview of next year's Big Ten basketball teams, with Penn State, and Minnesota. Final stats on the shooty 2013-'14 season by LSA.
[Jump for a board of great relevance]
56