The victim of the Purple Nurple, Sixers center Spencer Hawes, is reportedly in stable condition but will be equipped with a custom nipple tassel of his left teat for the next two weeks to prevent further injury.
The Sports Hernia Blog
Milwaukee Bucks guard Earl Boykins has been suspended for one game for making contact with an official during Monday night’s game against the Atllanta Hawks. Boykins will serve his suspension tonight and won’t play against the Bulls at the United…
Inside the Bulls
According to multiple reports, including reports from American Hockey League (AHL) Executives, Connecticut Whale forward, Mats Zuccarello, has been suspended for one game due to an incident he had with Worcester Shark forward, and one time NHL 50-goal scorer for the San Jose Sharks, Jonathon Cheechoo on December 17, 2010. During Friday nights game, Zuccarello and Cheechoo raced for a puck that slid into the corner of the rink, and as they approached the puck Cheechoo was shoved into the boards [...]
Gack Sports
The second half of last night’s game against the Clippers got a bit chippy, first with an incident between Brian Cook and Joel Przybilla that led to Cook’s ejection from the game, and then another, albeit lesser one between Andre Miller and Blake Griffin. Cook was suspended for two games for his flagrant foul against Przybilla, while Miller has been suspended one game for “unnecessary roughness.” Blazersedge has the press release.
Nate McMillan has yet to announce Miller’s replacement in the starting lineup for tomorrow night’s game against Phoenix. Patty Mills played well last night, but it’s more likely that McMillan will move Roy to point guard and shift Wesley Matthews to the 2 spot, returning Nicolas Batum back into the starting lineup at small forward. We’ll keep you updated with McMillan’s decision.
Wednesday the NCAA announced in a statement, “Auburn University football student-athlete Cam Newton is immediately eligible to compete, according to a decision today by the NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff.”
Despite rendering Cam Newton eligible, the NCAA noted:
According to facts of the case agreed upon by Auburn University and the NCAA enforcement staff, the student-athlete’s father and an owner of a scouting service worked together to actively market the student-athlete as a part of a pay-for-play scenario in return for Newton’s commitment to attend college and play football.
In the same statement Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president for academic and membership affairs, said that Cam Newton not knowing about his dad’s activities is essentially what caused him to be completely cleared:
In determining how a violation impacts a student-athlete’s eligibility, we must consider the young person’s responsibility. Based on the information available to the reinstatement staff at this time, we do not have sufficient evidence that Cam Newton was aware of this activity, which led to his reinstatement.
The Newton situation is not without precedent.
In 1995, the father of Arizona Wildcats basketball star Damon Stoudemire was accused by the NCAA of accepting a plane ticket from an agent. Stoudamire denied knowing of the arrangement while his father, Willie Stoudamire, also denied accepting the ticket.
After the NCAA informed Arizona of its allegation against Stoudamire’s father, the school immediately suspended the star guard while simultaneously filing an emergency appeal with the governing body seeking Stoudamire’s immediate reinstatement.
In announcing the suspension of Stoudamire, the WASHINGTON POST reported that Arizona Athletic Director Jim Livengood said at the time:
“I need to make this very clear and very distinct. Damon has done nothing wrong. Damon knows nothing of what has transpired, and Damon has had no part in that.”
The BOSTON GLOBE subsequently reported that instead of immediately reinstating Stoudamire, as it did in the Cam Newton case, the NCAA “suspended Stoudamire for the last regular-season game, reinstating him for the postseason tournament.”
In his 2007 book Lute! The Seasons Of My Life, Lute Olson wrote of the suspension:
Damon had done nothing wrong, he wasn’t even aware where his father had gotten the ticket.
Frank Burlison of the LONG BEACH PRESS-TELEGRAM reported at the time that the NCAA’s final ruling on the matter, which did not come until after Stoudamire had sat out a game and before the final NCAA basketball tournament brackets were set, may have hurt Arizona’s seeding for postseason play:
Arizona (23-7), expected to earn a No. 3 seed (perhaps in the West), was given a No. 5 seed and shipped to the Midwest, where the Wildcats will face at-large selection Miami of Ohio in Dayton on Thursday.
The lower-than-anticipated slot led many to speculate that the committee may have been told by the NCAA’s Enforcement branch that Arizona All-American guard Damon Stoudamire may not regain his eligibility for the tournament.
Sources said Stoudamire, a preseason all-American, was under investigation because of the possibility his father might have accepted an airline ticket from a sports agent.
Danny Robbins of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE reported the details of the NCAA’s decision to force Stoudamire to miss a game while possibly injure his team’s March Madness seeding:
Carrie Doyle, NCAA director of eligibility, said the one-game suspension was considered a sufficient penalty. She also said Stoudamire’s father, Willie, had repaid the value of the ticket.
More from NCAA director of eligibility Doyle in 1995:
“(Agent Steve) Feldman has admitted that he wants to represent (Damon) Stoudamire and had provided the (plane) tickets to his father in hopes of representing the son on a professional level. Damon Stoudamire states that he had no knowledge of the relationship between his father and Feldman.“
The similarity between the Cam Newton and Damon Stoudamire cases is indisputable. (more…)
The SEC has suspended Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl for the first eight league games this season, after Pearl lied to NCAA investigators about rules violations, which included entertaining potential recruits in his home.
Pearl’s first game back will be the Tennessee at Kentucky game on Feb. 8.
The SEC statement on the suspension:
“The suspension from coaching duties has been imposed after a careful review of the facts established during the NCAA’s investigation and reported to the SEC office,” conference commissioner Mike Slive said Friday in a statement. “I am extremely disappointed in the nature of the violations involving Coach Pearl and the Tennessee men’s basketball program.
“The penalty applied to this circumstance is significant, which is consistent with the directive approved by the SEC membership in 2010 granting the commissioner authority to act in such cases.”
Matt Roark
At his weekly press conference today, UK football coach Joker Phillips said today that wide receiver Matt Roark was suspended for the Mississippi State game for a violation of team rules.
Know we know why.
WLEX is reporting that Roark was arrested on a DUI charge Sunday morning.
Phillips said the suspension was for one game.
A one-game suspension for a DUI? Or did Phillips not know of the DUI when he spoke Monday?