Early arrivals, trash talking, new three-point line and open tryouts - Oct 09, 2008
posted by: Howard Smith
- It is becoming more common for future collegiate baseball student-athletes to graduate high school a semester early so that they can get to their campus, begin classes and adjust to college life. In these cases, the student-athletes forgo their senior year of high school eligibility, but aren't able to compete in college baseball until the following year. It seems that this trend will only become more popular as student-athletes feel the need to keep up with their fellow incoming freshmen. Do you think this is good for the student-athletes? Shouldn't they enjoy their senior year of high school?
- In anticipation for this weekend's matchup between LSU and Florida, LSU defensive tackle Ricky Jean-Francois said this about Florida's Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow: "If we get a good shot on him, we're going to try our best to take him out of the game." I'm not a big fan of trash talking during the week of a football game, especially in intercollegiate athletics. Jean-Francois later retracted the statements, saying that he would never intentionally try to take another player out, and LSU banned him from talking with the media for the rest of the week. Are Jean-Francois' comments being blown out of proportion?
- Believe it or not, college basketball season is right around the corner. The big rule change this year is the longer three-point line, moved a foot back to 20 feet and nine inches, in all three men's divisions. This will certainly be a discussion topic on the Double-A Zone and around college basketball in the upcoming months, but what are your preliminary thoughts on this?
- Washington State's football team has struggled on the field this season, partly because it has lost its top two quarterbacks to injury. This forced the coaching staff to move its scout team quarterbacks onto the roster. This left an opening on the scout team, and to fill the spot, the team held an open tryout for any Washington State student. Freshman Peter Roberts, a high school quarterback, beat out 28 other students to earn the spot in front of hundreds of spectators. It's not a good sign when a team has to hold tryouts in the middle of the season. Have you ever heard of anything like this?
