jlvanals

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Date	Title	Body
10 weeks 4 days ago	Agree, for the most part	No disagreement with anything you said on Crean.  But there have been a number of people (including the OP) who have referred to Meyer as being exonerated in some form or another by the NCAA.  Which is untrue.  Just trying to keep facts straight.  Lambast the inappropriateness of Crean's actions all you want, just not their factual content.  Jeff Meyer absolutely helped destroy IU's program and saying otherwise ignores what Meyer himself argued in the infractions case.
10 weeks 4 days ago	An IU fan's take on the Meyer/Crean Incident	1.  I am an Indiana grad, so I can't claim to be totally unbiased.  That being said, my brother played football for UM during the Carr era and I have nothing but love for the university. I will still probably get neg banged for this, but someone needs to tell the other side of the Meyer story just to prevent epistemic closure for those who care enough to avoid it. 2.  What Crean did was inexcusable.  Whatever beef he had with Meyer should have been dealt with off the court and not made public.  It was stupid and embarassing.   3. Many people on here don't know the details of the Kelvin Sampson saga. Meyer WAS found to have committed a series of NCAA violations, however, he was not found to have committed any MAJOR infractions.  The difference being that his violations were found to be unintentional.  Even if you believe Meyer had no knowledge that he was violating NCAA rules, it was his job to know.  And our program paid the price for it.   4.  The reason we know his calls were of an impermissible length (majority of his alleged infractions) is because of phone records.  If you really want to say Meyer didn't violate NCAA rules, your beef is with Verizon and/or the NCAA rules themselves.   5. Now there is a good argument that the call limits were stupid and shouldn't have been in place since they were recently neutered or repealed (can't remember which), but that doesn't change that Meyer was breaking the exact NCAA rules which we were already on probation for.   These are the same rule violations that got Sampson's staff into trouble at Oklahoma. Do you really think it is a coincidence that these practices carried over to IU?  My guess is if this were Ohio State or an SEC team people would be much more willing to make logical inferences about Meyer's conduct.   Regardless of anyone's willingness to infer, at the very least Meyer committed gross negligence in not following the letter of every rule when our coach was already in hot water with the NCAA.  And so, to many IU fans, they really don't care whether he intended to violate NCAA rules or not, the effect was that his actions, combined with those of Sampson and Senderoff, nuked our program.  Still, as I said earlier, Crean's behavior was embarassing and inexcusable.  But Jeff Meyer is no saint and was lucky to leave Indiana with his career intact.  He was even luckier that someone the caliber of John Beilein gave him a second chance. See for a good recap of what Meyer did (mostly impermissible calls): http://m.espn.go.com/ncb/story?storyId=3243793&src=desktop    Also for what Meyer himself admitted to doing in front of the NCAA:    http://www.indystar.com/article/20130310/SPORTS0601/303110019/Jeff-Meyer-stories-from-2008-during-IU-s-NCAA-infractions-hearing-aftermath
10 weeks 4 days ago	5th years not guaranteed	You do realize we pull fifth years all the time in football, right?  To me, that is a non-story.  The team owes you four years or a degree.  If you wanted a good story about Crean screwing over a kid, the Ron Patterson story from last fall is much fishier.  No one ever proved it was anything less than above-board, but it was a little to convenient for my taste.  Still bothers me as an IU grad.
26 weeks 4 days ago	The only solution	that saves college football from this horrendous trend is for this deal to go down in flames when it comes time to negotiate TV deals.  I hate rooting against the Big Ten, but this has to be killed with fire.
36 weeks 18 hours ago	What any football coach strives for	Onery, mean, determined sons of bitches on the field, worldly gentlemen off.  Not always the result, but that is the platonic ideal.
36 weeks 1 day ago	Agree	I keep trying to explain this to people that once you plead, you will have to explain this the rest of your life.  And even if the conviction is eventually expunged, Frank Clark is a convicted felon for the rest of his life.  Expungment just means that it won't be used against you by the legal system going forward, e.g. if he gets arrested again, the expunged crime won't be used to increase his sentence as a repeat offender.   This does nothing to help you in the non-criminal real world.
36 weeks 1 day ago	Does not matter	1.  Any employer will google him from now on and know that he plead to a second degree felony.  Too many newspapers, blogs, etc. for this to be covered up.  So what he is absolutely required to reveal is immaterial. 2.  No employer asks just for convictions.  If he takes the bar, tries to pass the boards, whatever, they will ask him whether he was ever charged with a felony or ever plead guilty to a felony.  For the bar I know you have to list, literally, every interaction you've ever had with the law including speeding tickets (which in my case were expunged, but still required to be listed meaning I had to go back to the Johnson County courthouse and have them pull my ticket records to ensure I remembered where and when I got a ticket in 1999).  A friend from law school was initially denied admission to law school as well as the bar on his first application because he had 3 minor in possession incidents, two of which had been expunged.  3. Even if employers didn't ask, this is not information you want an employer to find out later.  He will have to explain it at every juncture in his life as a prophylactic measure.
36 weeks 1 day ago	Really?	Honestly, I don't care about the football implications of the decision.   Second degree home invasion, a felony, is a serious crime.  If someone was in there when Mr. Clark went in to steal the laptop or if someone caught him in the act, who knows what happens.  The potential for serious injury is there, especially considering that Mr. Clark is likely twice the size of the person he was stealing from.  Regardless of what punishment is required by law, discipline is not limited to what the law and/or school regulation dictates as the minimum.  The reason I would want a more serious punishment is because this sends the kid the message that what he did was worth 1/13th or 14th of the thing he cares most about (football).    Maybe Frank Clark doesn't care that much about football and suspending him more games wouldn't be any more of a deterrent than 1 game, but I wouldn't bet on that.  The kid intentionally did something he knew was immoral and illegal and also something he should have known could put others in harm's way.  That kind of abject selfishness deserves a more serious response than what we've seen so far.  Now, am I clamoring for Brady Hoke's head or something? No.  But if it was my son, I would hope his coach and those who cared about him (including me) would respond in a much stronger manner to make sure this didnt become a habit and really ruin his life.
36 weeks 1 day ago	Ok...	I state that in the post, that the plea was probably because the prosecutor had a stronger charge on the table (maybe first degree, arguing somehow that someone was in the "residence" when Mr. Clark invaded it.  Tenuous, but since it is a dorm, an enterprising lawyer might try to make it stick), but that could also be the result of Mr. Clark's attorney thinking there was exposure to jail time.  The issue is that I, as a lawyer, am not pleading my client to a felony unless there is some evidence of culpability.  Some commenters have implied that Frank Clark might not have done anything wrong and that he was pleading just to get this over with.  If he plead to a misdemeanor that would be a possibility, but since he plead to a felony that implies the prosecutor had something more than just hearsay backing it up.
36 weeks 3 days ago	Always TL;DR	I'm a lawyer.... this is what we do.
36 weeks 3 days ago	Coach knows best?	This non-suspension is problematic.  Hoke suspended a player who PLEAD to a second degree felony charge for one game.  What's worse is the number of commenters on here espousing a know-nothing, "coach knows best" mentality that would fit in quite well on bucknuts.   If the recent spate of scandals in college football taught anyone anything it should be that many times the coach often does not, in fact, know best and needs to be held to account.  Especially popular coaches who the fan base reflexively assumes will "do the right  thing." Further, for those arguing that pleading to something does not necesasrily mean the person is guilty of the crime, you are generally correct.  However, that depends on the plea.  As a lawyer who does pro bono criminal work, I can tell you that I would almost never advise my client to plead to a felony without some evidence of culpability.  Why? Because status as a felon is a big deal in today's society and, even if "expunged" from your record, that fact will have to be disclosed on every job application you fill out from that day forth.  This is not an insignificant black mark to carry around the rest of your life. Further, if the alleged perp violates the terms set forth by the prosecutor he can have a number of rights stripped from him due to his newly minted status as a felon.  That Mr. Clark's attorney  felt Mr. Clark should still plead to such a significant charge probably indicates that the attorney felt there was some risk of conviction to a more serious crime , possibly first degree felony home invasion or that the plea would prevent the prosecutor from pursuing the most draconian penalties available under the law.  (see for statute: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/%28S%28fnllhkalysz0ja55dgigk2ju%29%29/mile...).    In the end, I don't care if Mr. Clark is deep down a good guy, would never do this again, or has a slew of mitigating factors in his favor.  He admitted that he broke into a residence (dorm room) and committed a felony (presumably the theft of an item $1800 in value).  That is unacceptable behavior for a Michigan football player and any human being in general.   Felony home invasion is a crime punishable by 15 years in prison.  The Michigan legislature did not create a penalty that stiff because home invasion is no big deal.  People are killed or injured all the time in simple home invasions gone bad.  Suspension from the program for a year would be a tolerant response; a single game smacks of a program with d-line issues trying to get their best players on the field at all costs.
39 weeks 2 days ago	Probably because	they all worked with Adam Jacobi (now of Bleacher Report, formerly of BHGP), progenitor of the meme.  Also, Matt Hinton and Tom Fornelli.
40 weeks 1 day ago	IU Scholarship Crunch	Brian, As an Indiana grad and lifelong IU fan, I just wanted to thank you for being the only major media personality I follow to point out how shady our university has been in dealing with Ron Patterson and how he probably got screwed.  Tom Crean has been oversigned in that class for months and no one knew how it would get "resolved" until, with 5 days until the deadline, Patterson purportedly got a C- when he needed a C in summer school to gain admission to IU.  I always thought IU fans were a cut above other sports factories, especially after our long cold winter following the Sampson debaucle, but I was dead wrong.  Almost every IU fan I know is taking the same "basic inferences = baseless speculation" tactic that still plagues both the OSU and Penn State fan bases.   That kid hopped on the IU bandwagon in 2010 when no one wanted to come here and to now have him leave in this way is sickening.  I don't think it is a coincidence that he was our lowest ranked recruit in his class as well (suppose someone could argue for Jurkin, but he plays a position of need, so relatively his worth basketball wise is higher).  Anyway, I wish this would get more coverage because Tom Crean is going to do the same thing next year and we'll again be in a position where we have to hope a recruit or one of the kids on the team screws up.  And that is unacceptable to me, at least.  I'm half expecting IU fans to come off peegs to flame me here too, but I'm glad that someone else thinks this whole situation stinks.
1 year 10 weeks ago	Urban Meyer	did in his last two years at Florida.
1 year 17 weeks ago	Let's just stick to the facts	They're bad enough.  As a public school employee in PA Paterno is required to report suspected abuse to his immediate superiors, not the police.  Paterno did that.  Which is why he wasn't charged with anything.  That says nothing of the moral rectitude of his actions.  He did what was legally required and most of us agree that was not enough.  Also, Brian's characterization of Sandusky and Paterno as friends is flat out wrong.  Sandusky hated Paterno for not allowing him a chance at the head job in 1998 when Paterno essentially fired him for working too much with the Second Mile and not enough on PSU football.   Doesn't change the sitution; Paterno tacitly enabled a child molester, but I don't think there is any need to pile on with inaccurate information.
1 year 20 weeks ago	@Leveon Bell	Lol u mad?
1 year 20 weeks ago	Good point	I'll be in my beat up Michigan Hat, a little too dressy for the place, I had to go into work this morning.  Justin Van Alstyne.  Looking forward to meeting everyone.
1 year 20 weeks ago	Superdome to Courtyard Mariott	Should be fine.  Especially before and after the game.  Wouldn't make the walk at a random time though.
1 year 20 weeks ago	Cab fare	From the Sheraton to the French Quarter, I think you're looking at $30-$40 each way.  That's a guesstimate of course.  As for how easy cabs are to get, it really depends on the time of night, etc. but there are a number of cabs in New Orleans and it generally isnt a problem.
1 year 24 weeks ago	Walk back	Yeah, just follow the crowds back to Canal/Bourbon.  I wouldnt go off on any side streets that arent well lit, etc.
1 year 24 weeks ago	Nothing cliche about it	I love crawfish and so does everyone down here, if I only had a few days in New Orleans, I'd find some crawfish too.
1 year 24 weeks ago	Tchooup Challenge	You know, Creole Creamery is my favorite ice cream place ever and less than 3 blocks from my front door, but damn if I've ever been man enough to take on that challenge.   All I can say is from the pictures in the store it looks MASSIVE. As for the Huey P., it is a gigantic clusterfuck right now.  Closed every other day, down to one lane, recommend against that one.
1 year 24 weeks ago	For the Ritz: Sazerac bar is	For the Ritz: Sazerac bar is right across the street, very nice place, upscale.  Also, Carousel bar right down the street and Bourbon is within walking distance as well (whole host of options there).  As for the game, I would walk it, especially from the Ritz, but I wouldn't normally walk that direction not on gameday.  I also agree that an mgohappyhour would be a great time, I could think of a few bars in the downtown area that might work.
1 year 24 weeks ago	The problem	is that it isn't crawfish season.  Good time of the year for oysters though (its an R month!!).  Even if it was though, rarely do you get crawfish from a restaurant (at least boiled and not in a dish).  It's just something you have, kind of like a backyard BBQ.  Google cooter brown's menu... they might offer boiled crawfish all year and if they do I'd be willing to bet its pretty good.
1 year 24 weeks ago	To the Superdome:	On gameday, that could work, but I would walk up St. Charles to Poydras and then take Poydras to the dome. Not the quickest way to do it, but by far the safest.  Also could take the street car to poydras (big street near le pavillon hotel, hard to miss) and walk up Poydras to the dome.  Just don't trust google maps to take you on a safe route to the dome from that location.
1 year 24 weeks ago	Jacque Imo's	Is also excellent.  Another one I should have added, especially as a pure cajun restaurant and for the general atmosphere of the place.  Maple Leaf bar next door is also pretty awesome and a little known fact is that you can cut the line by ordering your food from the maple leaf and eating it in there.
1 year 24 weeks ago	Maison St. Charles	To the Quarter:  I would not walk that.  Just jump on the st charles streetcar line (which ends  at bourbon and Canal) to get to the quarter, it runs pretty much all the time, but much more sporadically at night.  And it is safer.  I would also just pay the $10-$15 to cab back after drinking.  Costs much less than replacing your phone/wallet/etc.  Also of note: The street car drops you off at Canal and Bourbon coming from uptown, but to go back uptown (towards cooter brown's/your hotel), the streetcar starts the line on St. Charles ave.  Another thing to note is that all the street names change after you cross Canal St.  So, for example, I work on Carondelet St, which BECOMES bourbon once I cross canal into the French Quarter.  Similarly, Royal St in the quarter becomes St. Charles avenue once you cross canal.  So if you're looking for the street car in the quarter, remember you have to find canal, cross it and then go to st. charles, which is the same street as Royal in the quarter.  Confused yet? :)
1 year 24 weeks ago	1.  Sheraton on Canal.  Great	1.  Sheraton on Canal.  Great choice, great hotel, right in the middle of everything.  Gameday I would just walk to the game.   Now, I wouldn't go that direction on any other day as a general rule, but on gameday the whole area will be swarming with police and other fans, not a problem.  I would also walk to Bourbon St. or Harrah's.  When I say take cabs everywhere, I mean to anywhere you aren't sure of how to get to that isn't on a street car line.  You don't want to get lost in a shady area of NOLA.  2.  Cooter Brown's for Jan 2.  Easiest way to do this is to get on the St. Charles Streetcar line headed uptown.  It is a beautiful tour of the best parts of new orleans and will drop you off right in front of cooter B's (just get off at the Carrolton Stop).  It is a long ride and sometimes it can be tough to tell exactly where you are, but just ask the driver or use a smartphone with some location service.  You can also take the street car back to the final stop which is less than a block from the Sheraton.  The street car is $1.25 each way, per person, EXACT CHANGE ONLY (unless you want to waste .75 cents or whatever denomiation you put in larger than $1.25).  Easiest way to avoid that hassle is to get 4 ppl together who want to ride the streetcar then its an even $5 for all of you each way.  3.  Alumni club tailgate: I would hit that up.  The surrounding area isn't that great and its all one big tailgate anyway.  4.  It is some badass fried chicken, that or McHardy's Chicken and Biscuits is my personal favorite in NOLA.  If you want the best fried chicken ive ever had period, you'd have to drive out to Reserve, LA to Connie's.  And that is only open from 10-3 M, T, Thr, and F.  Don't ask why, I still can't figure it out.
1 year 24 weeks ago	The earlier you go to Cooter	The earlier you go to Cooter Brown's the more likely you will be to get a seat.  If you get there in time for the early (11 am, remember we're on central time here) games, you should be fine and be able to get a good post.  Enough TVs in the place to watch each game, but the SEC ones will usually have the largest contingent and thus preference for the bigger TVs.  However, this is not a problem during bowl season since generally we're playing the SEC.
1 year 24 weeks ago	Too many good things?	You are right, they're both amazing restaurants, Brennan's moreso for brunch, I'm not a huge fan of their dinner.  Biggest mistake so far: can't believe I forgot patty O's on the bar list.  Losing my memory these days....

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