NCAA Double-A Zone: Football student-athlete death, gymnastics tiebreak procedure and extreme college football fan August 19, 2008

Football student-athlete death, gymnastics tiebreak procedure and extreme college football fan - Aug 19, 2008 | 10:16:58

posted by: Howard Smith

We always love to hear about great student-athletes like Dartmouth's Koren Schram and Belmont's Andy Wicke. Schram is a star on the basketball court, and there is little doubt that she will be a successful professional in the medical field one day. And how about Wicke, a Belmont basketball student-athlete and future dentist, who nearly led the Bruins to an NCAA tournament upset over Duke last March? If you know of other student-athletes like Schram and Wicke, feel free to email us at hssmith@ncaa.org or mhlawrence@ncaa.org with more ideas.

At this time of year, one of the NCAA's major tasks is to certify all incoming fall-season freshman student-athletes, which can be quite a tedious and complicated chore. It is good to see that there are people like Orien Watson, who has developed a program to assist Mississippi high school students be aware of and meet the NCAA's freshman academic requirements. Let's hope that more programs like Watson's get developed around the country to help out future collegiate student-athletes.

Sad news out of Alabama, where last Friday night, Huntington freshman football player Sam Collins died after the team's second preseason practice. The cause of death has not been publicly released at this point, although the coaching staff speculated that it could have been due to a heat stroke or heat exhaustion. Last week, we wrote about the danger of summer football practices, where the heat and humidity combined with strenuous early season practices can create a dangerous mix. Our best wishes to Sam's family and friends.

Last night in the women's gymnastics uneven bar competition at the Olympics, China's He Kexin and the Nastia Liukin of the U.S. finished tied for the gold medal. After calculating a complicated tiebreaking procedure through the original scores from the judges, He Kexin was awarded the gold and Liukin got the silver. Honestly, couldn't the IOC think of a better system to determine the champion of this competition in the event of a tie? Why not simply award two golds like they do in Olympic wrestling for the bronze medal? At intercollegiate gymnastics championships, for example, two gold medalists would have been recognized. Or maybe they should let the duo have a head-to-head playoff for the gold. Did you have a problem with the IOC's tiebreaker procedure?

A few weeks ago, we discussed the dangers of sitting at field level during a professional baseball game after Chicago Cubs 7-year-old fan Dominic DiAngi got hit in the head by a foul ball. Well, last night, I attended the Indianapolis Indians AAA baseball game, and a similar incident occurred - a left-handed batter smoked a line drive down the first base line and hit a fan squarely in the head. Luckily, after several minutes, the fan was able to walk out of the stadium, and let's hope that he is OK. Additionally, one batter's bat flew out of his hands twice in one at bat, one of which sent fans fleeing out of the way to avoid the flying object. These events reaffirmed my opinions that college and professional baseball stadiums need to install a short net down both baselines to protect the field level fans. What are your thoughts on this?

You want to see a passionate college football fan? How about 51-year-old Steve Koreivo, who has seen a live college football game at all 119 Division I FBS schools over the last 32 years. And yes, Koreivo has been happily married for the last 19 years in case you were wondering. I think Koreivo should now try to tackle all of the Division I FCS schools - I'm not sure if his wife would go for this one, though.

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