Unverified Voracity: Yip Yip Yip Edition (Yip) Comment Count

Brian

We have a future nemesis. This is going to be an edition of UV heavy on the backtracking, unfortunately, so we may as well get it out of the way right now. I've been dismissive of the idea that Michigan turned down Tory Jackson, but that was, uh, wrong:

The brashness didn't end there. He [Jackson] talked about:

Being snubbed by the University of Michigan: "I hope they regret their decision not to sign me."

Jackson got dissed; now Jackson is pissed. It says something when the South Bend Tribune has a massive story on a Notre Dame recruit that's headlined "Irish recruit could use serving of humble pie"(!) and filled with passages like so:

If Irish coach Mike Brey happens to have a muzzle laying around somewhere, he might want to have it fitted for Jackson....

Damn! The Free Press also has a snide article on Jackson's postgame outburst:

moments after his 24-point, nine-rebound performance led Buena Vista to a 57-52 win over Berrien Springs in the Class C state title game Saturday at the Breslin Center, Jackson was asked what it meant to finish his career a champion.

He must not have heard the question properly.

"The win today let all the Mr. Basketball voters know they were wrong," Jackson said. "They were wrong about me. They were against me. And now I'm on top, I have the last laugh, so I still feel like I'm Mr. Basketball. I feel like I'm the best in the state. Not to take anything away from the winner. I have respect for him, but I feel like I'm the best, and I showed it tonight."

(Emphasis mine.) Obviously Jackson's attitude made quite an impression on more than one media member. If -- and this seems like a moderately sized "if" -- Amaker picks up Patrick Beverly his decision to snub the mouthy, 5'9" Jackson looks like a good one.

Backtracking Part II: Right, in this space previously:

Meanwhile, on "Mondays With Myles" the critical subject of discussion: the dangers of rushing the court. Because that's the most pressing issue we've got right now. Yep. Nothing else to address. Save the childrens!

This week's Mondays with Miles:

On today's edition of Mondays With Myles, Dr. Brand and I discuss academic fraud and its effect on intercollegiate athletics.

We address the diploma mills that provide prospective student-athletes with meaningless degrees, how those students get past the NCAA Clearinghouse and the responsibility of institutions to admit individuals who are qualified to be there.

Objection withdrawn.

(BONUS Audiopalooza: EDSBS interviews Bruce Feldman, proprietor of the Feld-blog.)

Let the Jack Johnson Watch begin. The News & Observer probably had this ready to go moments after Michigan's season ended:

Jack Johnson's college season is over. The big question now is whether his college career is over.

Survey says "probably not"...

"I think the only way you're going to get me out of here is at gunpoint," Johnson told reporters after a win in the conference playoffs.

... but we've been here before.

Further tourney fallout: Yost Built and Maize 'n' Brew contribute column-ish things; Western College Hockey recaps the CCHA carnage (1-4 overall, outscored 24-8).

Hey, baseball! BC&RS recently took in a Michigan baseball game and file a report heavy on the excellent pictures. Recommended for anyone inclined to find baseball players dreamy.

Etc.: The Georgia Sports Blog asks Buckeye Commentary about the 2006 Buckeyes; True Hoop says the author of the SI blog story "doesn't get it"; Sactown Royalty says Bill Simmons "doesn't get it"; Page 2's Patrick Hruby gets it with an excellent article cataloguing tired sports topics:

We're all guilty -- of pandering, of laziness, of covering the same old stories in the same reflexive ways, until we're no longer beating a dead horse, but rather throttling a bottle of glue produced from said dead horse. There's little new to say, few angles that haven't been strip-mined, no cliché that can't be deployed, Delta Force-style, on a moment's notice.

What follows is a "tired sports story ban" that all members of the media are invited to read and sign. I'm on board. I will do my best as a member of the unwashed online masses (I don't even have a liberal arts degree):

X

Lo, it is done.