It's Impossible To Hide A Forked Tounge Forever...

Keep it short and sweet this week. This one goes out to my Illini fans and alums. As the week of conference tournaments is about to commence, I find it appropriate to vocalize my gleeful joy of seeing one of the slimiest hypocrites in sports finally have his number called. The slimy hypocrite of which I speak is of course, is University of Tennesee basketball coach Bruce Pearl.

In case you haven't been following, Bruce Pearl was caught having "Impermissible contact" numerous times with a prospective student-athlete. On the surface, it's not really that juicy of a violation. I'm sure it happens all the time in college basketball actually. It's just rarely reported. That's not why this is fun for me though.

What makes this violation fun, is that Bruce Pearl - the same Bruce Pearl who for nearly three decades has comported himself as standing for integrity in college basketball while simultaneously portraying himself as a martyr for ratting out Jimmy Collins and Deon Thomas in 1989 - was given the chance to tell the truth right away about these violations, and Mister Integrity himself chose to lie about them!

Pearl and Tennessee tried to call off the NCAA Watchdogs by having the SEC impose an 8 game suspension earlier this season, but it didn't work. The NCAA has concluded their own investigation and now Pearl will have to report to the Infractions Committee on June 10, where it is presumed that he will be given an even bigger beat-down by the NCAA and should hopefully result in Pearl's firing.

This is a happy time for people like me who know Bullshit Artists when they smell them, Illini fans, Jimmy Collins and Deon Thomas. Don't get me wrong, it's hardly "justice" in any traditional sense. Matter of fact there's still plenty to be outraged about since Pearl has gotten to keep his job so far. Still, the fact that it is now officially on the NCAA record that this man has been exposed (yet again) as a snake, is worth a smile. As Will Leitch so eloquently put it :

"There are Illini fans who found the most satisfying tournament win during the Final Four year not the comeback win over Arizona, but the trouncing of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Bruce Pearl. We watched Pearl's ascension the last few years, the look-at-me faux charm, the ingratiation with ESPN personalities, the car salesman hustler, knowing that eventually, the world would see the real Bruce Pearl, the one we remember from 20-some-odd years ago, the snake. He tried to straighten up and fly right, pretend he was someone other than the slimy bullshi**er he always was, but a man can not change his nature. There's no schadenfreude for Tennessee; I feel bad for them. But we all knew this day was coming. It's Bruce Pearl, after all."

Indeed Will, it IS Bruce Pearl after all...

Money Talks (B.S. Runs The Marathon)

Big shout out to my guy and fellow UD Flyer Rossi for supplying this info to me last week. I've been meaning to get to it, but got a little sidetracked. In case you were ever wondering what profit vs overhead your favorite schools basketball program pulled in this year, the good folks at CNNMoney.com have the answer for you here. Some interesting numbers that stick out:

1. Last season's National Championship participants didn't make any money. Butler University broke even, while the Dookies took a $2,000,000 dollar loss.

2. The biggest margin loss belongs to Karl Malone's Alma Mater Louisiana Tech at 307%.

3. The biggest Profit Margin belongs to Ohio State at 71%, followed closely by the University of Illinois at 67%. Out of the top ten schools in Profit Margin, four schools are in the Big Ten Conference.

4. The most expensive program out there in terms of actual dollar also belongs to the Dookies, but what's really interesting is the 2nd most expensive program running...MARQUETTE! Can't say I would have guessed that, but here we are.

5. The program that brought in the most raw dollars belongs to Louisville and their Wandering Wang of a coach Rick Pitino. They managed to bring in $25.5 million this year.

In terms of my beloved UD Flyers, the numbers are pretty intriguing. There's only 7 other programs with a higher profit margin. Of those 7 schools, Dayton's not even a tenth of their size enrollment wise. They're knocking on the door of bringing in 8 figures in terms of revenue, which begs the question...Is Dayton spending enough money to be taken seriously, or does more need to be spent in terms of recruiting?

One thing I do know for sure, every school hates when numbers like these are published for three reasons. One, if they're hemorrhaging money like say Northern Illinois University, it's embarrassing to the alumni and students. Two, if they are showing that they're making a substantial profit but there's no Elite Eight or Final Four appearances, the alumni and students begin to wonder if they are being taken advantage of. The third reason schools hate when this information gets out, is because it gives people like me ammunition in the argument against keeping it illegal to pay these players. I've often said these players bring in a ton of money for their schools, and they should be paid accordingly. The concept of a "student-athlete" is one of the biggest myths out there in sports, and it's time we all stop kidding ourselves and just accept the fact that these players are merely employees of the school and nothing more. Last time I checked, employees should be paid for their work.

Anyway, I hope you find actual tangible dollars basketball programs bring in as interesting as I do.