Barry Larkin's Son, Shane, Classy, Athletic Just Like Dad

The kid is here to endure the madness and mayhem of March, for the first time, as a Miami point guard. The bright lights from a baseball field that shone directly over home plate had fascinated Shane Larkin, taking swings in the cage with Tony Perez and Pete Rose and spending time with his dad and every Cincinnati player as a young kid.

For as long as he can remember -- back in early childhood -- Shane imitated Perez in his at-bats, wiggling his wrist and emulating the leg kick. When he was 5 or 6, he was sure to be a baseball player, and follow his dad's footsteps. Growing up going to spring training with his father, Larkin wasn't enamored with baseball like his father.

Deion Sanders, who was multi-athletic and played in the big leagues, gave him the nickname SugaShane. Inside the clubhouse, he walked around wearily, laughed and joked around with his dad's teammates and chewed all the bubblegum. While he looked on during games, he would dribble his basketball in the Reds' dugout.

Soon enough Larkin, the son of former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, could drain a breathtaking, game-winning shot to send his team to the Final Four in Atlanta, Ga., and in the meantime, whether the Hurricanes are bracket killers or not, he's stepping onto the court with a chance to reach the ultimate goal as a player. And yet, he pursued a different game to play, he chose basketball and now he's a star for the Miami Hurricanes.

He's the son of 12-time All-Star, a former NL MVP and a Hall of Famer. The kid mostly ran down fly balls blasted to him at spring training, and eventually he was eligible to play in a coach-pitch baseball league. At age 7, when he roamed the outfield and scaled the outfield wall, he made his decision, a smart decision. From that point on, he was dribbling a ball and shooting hoops, no longer jumping and kicking off the wall and then trying to catch a ball.

When he was in elementary school, the Reds began giving him tips on hitting and conditioning him for the big leagues, but then he returned home to Orlando, Fla., and his Little League coach turned him away from the sport by criticizing his swing. He gave up on baseball, but his father passed athleticism onto his son, so daddy is still proud and attends every game his son plays.

He couldn't believe it. Barry recalls the day his son told him he no longer wanted to play baseball. He was young, wealthy and gifted, deeply in love with baseball and was lucky enough to make a living as a pro athlete, while his son was just introduced to the game. Barry's greatest surprise was his son turning down the game, in frustration. There has been almost nothing but good fortune for him ever since he began playing basketball.

More than that, Barry remembers being incredibly upset and disappointed that he quit baseball. This was a chance for him to move out of his dad's shadows -- to make his own decisions. He had another goal in mind, and just like his father but in a different sport, Shane was driven and ambitious to grab a basketball, dribble it down the floor, make plays and finish at the rack. It's not that he chose the wrong sport. He didn't. It's just that he chose a sport opposite of what his father played, and his presence this season turned Miami into a superpower nationally.

It should certainly be noted that Larkin's emergence is the reason Miami began a 6-0 start for its first in conference play in school history. It's true, becoming attached to basketball, baseball had never been Larkin's sport of choice. It's really never been something that interested him because he found it boring and too slow. It was something Barry's son never wanted to pursue. Barry had never known this before, his mind amped up as if his son was the next baseball star of the family.

It turns out that he was the first basketball star of the family, a speedy 5-foot-11 Orlando native who has flourished in the Hurricanes ball-screen offense, scoring 14.6 points and dishing out 4.4 assists a game all season. He's a well-rounded guard, a natural-born talent, the kind of player every coach wants on his team. No one, of course, is more fully developed than Larkin, just as no one can play defense and run Miami's balanced offense better than him. The ball is secured in his hands, he's a playmaker, he hardly ever makes mistakes, and more importantly, he's unselfish with the ball.

His efforts to get his teammates involved in every game, unlike few sophomore players who are selfish sharing the ball and displaying teamwork, exceptionally put together a breakthrough season for the entire program. Larkin, 20, in many ways has emerged as a leader on the court among the four other seniors in the starting lineup. It was his father's idea to instill leadership qualities in him, for whatever he decided to work towards in life, which was becoming a stud in basketball.

For too long, we have ignored Miami in the ACC and respected Duke and North Carolina -- the Hurricanes are suddenly a national power, and deservingly they are a Final Four contender on a number of NCAA Tournament brackets, including mine. So it could be he took a detour and knew he had potential to be a premier star in basketball, with his solid ball handling, with his knack and love for the game -- zealous and keen, but respectively a skilled superstar.

It's time, now that Miami claimed its first ACC Tournament championship and earned a No. 2 seed, that we realize Larkin has grown into one of the nation's top point guards under veteran coach Jim Larranaga, who was most notably for guiding George Mason to 13 straight winning seasons. There's no doubting that Larkin has been taught and groomed by his father, as a kid, and has played with such passion and energy.

They are talking about him, reading about him, so everybody knows who Larkin is by now -- a burgeoning star in basketball, and the University of Miami Hurricanes are one of the biggest success stories of this tournament. All season, loudly, the Hurricanes have played tournament-style basketball with the grinding effort that makes them a potential Final Four threat. And Larkin has blossomed into one of top point guards in college hoops, and his team, the Hurricanes, finished the regular season with a 27-6 record and went 15-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

On Friday, the Hurricanes who were ranked fifth nationally in the poll will begin on the road to the Final Four. They will play against No. 15 seed, Pacific, in the East region of the NCAA Tournament. It's fair if you believe, as I do, that he's a more efficient basketball star than he is a baseball player, judging by his success on the hardwood where he's led Miami's charge to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference. In Chicago, DePaul wasn't the place he called home, and coach Oliver Purnell was trying to rebuild around him, but Larkin bailed out and transferred to Miami where he became the centerpiece for Larranaga.

It was Shane's decision to focus on basketball and not baseball. The coolest thing about Larkin is that he treats the game like an exam, and when he plays like a superstar that he is, he scores big and leads the Hurricanes to a positive outcome. It is especially all so familiar to Barry, who, like others, raised an athletic and classy son with the desire to succeed and the urge to reach his potential, but more importantly, to lead Miami to a national title.

The Hurricanes, for once in school history, are relevant in college hoops of Larkin's breakout season. The focus remains on school for the sophomore who decided to return for his junior season, staying in college and not making the jump to the NBA.

The son of a retired baseball player better put his shoes on. It's about to get good.

Miami vs. NCAA Fight Will Get Ugly

Even by Miami’s high-minded standards, amid a moment of tumult and hell from a war with the NCAA, it’s been quite a fight. If she could, Donna Shalala would declare combat on the battlefield, a woman who is anxious to finish what a corrupted organization started. Might I suggest, perhaps as the everlasting event mounts, that the tension between the University of Miami and the NCAA will only get ugly?

Because, in truth, the news that centers the Miami athletic department for its dealings with booster Nevin Shapiro, a convicted Ponzi crook, is not shrinking and won’t disappear for a long time. This is not, as we all know, the first time the school has been in the middle of a scandal ever so horrifying and shameful. Except this time, it happens to be traded punches, not to mention swinging, jabbing and counterpunching, a nasty brawl between a university and the NCAA.

Earlier in the week, Mark Emmert, as the NCAA president should to salvage his damaged credibility, admitted that his organization bungled in its investigation of Miami athletic program. And, yes, I think we all can agree that Emmert is an idiot, a steward who has taken a prestigious job to his head, fast to punish a university and evidently is more about protecting his name from shame.

It would be appropriate to place all the blame on a vaunted program if there weren’t two sides to a story. But since there is, Emmert, no matter if he apologizes and tries to protect his name and the NCAA brand, should be just as culpable for his mistakes. When you look at it, from a certain standpoint, no second thoughts whatsoever, Emmert’s believability suffers among all people.

The more we talk about him, the more we are talking bad about him, not having anything nice to say about the guy simply when he is seeking power, and isn’t bothered by the fact that the NCAA needs to be reformed. The great American folks want him out.

It seems he’s the enemy in Miami, unable to crack down on slimy agents and athletes who would receive improper benefits to violate NCAA rules. It is dumb, at best, and credulous to believe that the NCAA will find the resources to catch athletes and coaches breaking rules, especially when a number of these coaches and athletes have not been caught for infractions.

Just when the news was beginning to die down, especially with all the noise regarding the messy Penn State sex scandal, it’s become awful again, in an instant. Still, before it reaches that point, Shalala is not afraid to challenge the NCAA to a fight. It takes a powerful woman, like Shalala, to stand up to a stained organization, but she is probably more powerful than Emmert and can even qualify for his position.

So Emmert is in for a rude awakening and cannot drop the hammer on Miami. And how proper for it to be the Hurricanes, so long in the aftermath of prior scandals and misdeeds, now the victims of the NCAA. It really takes heart and guts for Shalala, who is the Miami president and the former Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Clinton, to flex her political power and argue that you cannot believe what Shapiro tells the NCAA, even though he came clean.

Looking at it from this view, Emmert is weaker while Shalala is stronger, bringing out the NCAA unethical conduct. It turns out the NCAA is just as bad as the schools it has punished, if not worse. And Shalala knows it. Just like Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, who is suing the NCAA because of its handling of the Jerry Sandusky case at Penn State, is fighting back for the sake of her university and its athletic program.

Shapiro is not credible to most. He’s certainly not credible to Shalala, but she also knows Miami had a relationship with the sleazeball. It’s unfortunate that Miami penalized itself, and banned itself from bowl games for the last couple of years, a harsh penalty for a school when the allegations were uncertain and vague.

It won’t be long until Emmert will be done as NCAA president, quickly tearing down the organization’s brand, even after admitting to his blunders. It could happen soon, if he doesn’t stop botching investigations and doesn’t get things under control. He could provide a difference and reform an unbalanced system but Emmert is desperate, unskilled and unqualified, running a shaky organization that has picked its battles with a few prominent schools without accountability for its own actions, which seems far worse than the universities it has punished.

As bad as it seems that the program’s name keeps surfacing with the same old mess — Miami is guilty as charged for its outrageous involvement with Shapiro — it shed light on a grievous issue that has not been figured out. Shapiro, who is serving 20 years in prison for managing a $930 million Ponzi fraud scheme as a sleazy booster of the University of Miami’s athletics program, provided thousands of dollars in cash and illegal benefits to football players and the men’s basketball team.

Will Shalala win the battle peacefully?

This can’t be happening. Of course it can. This may yet be remembered as the craziest showdown in sports, crazier than the scandals in the past, more interesting than a game itself once Shalala is through with the NCAA. Standing up for her university, Shalala has swagger in a clash with the NCAA.

Months since the astonishing news where the NCAA bullied and shoved Miami around, Emmert and the people under him have not recognized that the Hurricanes can be a threat and a fatal storm to the organization. The NCAA, breaking its own rules, is no match for Shalala in the boxing ring or the Octagon. It looks as if we’re in for an endless struggle before these two parties reach an understanding.

But, in the meantime, Miami’s accuser is just as dirty as the NCAA, which is all the more reason Emmert and the organization sided with Shapiro, without knowing the actual facts. It won’t be surprising to see him dismissed for hypocrisy and the lack of institutional control.

So it should come as no surprise that he will be gone soon, considering that he cannot administer a system or enforce the rules. No one can trust Emmert when he admitted that his investigators, yes those working under him in the Miami case, gathered information erroneously to give its brand a bad name as critics are all over Emmert, calling for his job.

It’s bad anytime an organization has to pay almost $20,000 to Shapiro’s attorney to use her ability and power in Shapiro’s bankruptcy case. After those working under Emmert were breaking the rules, he was not holding himself accountable.

If it was up to me, I would fire him, but the NCAA executive committee has no intentions of dismissing Emmert.

The NCAA won’t ever go away, not until Emmert does.

For the Hypocrisy In College Football, Miami Can't Be Given Impunity

The slimy university, though suitably in position to avoid the harsher punishment known as the Death Penalty, has no chance of curtailing the recent allegations. The wrongdoers accused of fraud are enabled to skate freely without paying for the crime, sadly aglow with pride, not ashamed of the deceit and infractions.

For the sordid scandal, leaving a toxic wasteland in Miami, a town shares the university's anxiety in a state of disbelief learning that the "U" stands for unbearable. If we insist on the fact that Miami has never broken NCAA rules -- which are prohibited and aren't meant to be broken ever -- then we are nonplussed and downright mindless.

So there he was, a former booster Nevin Shapiro who was a crook and sleaze ball, a deceptive jerk for influencing and brainwashing kids to allegedly take extra benefits. And the players, as usual, bent over backwards for Shapiro's treachery. There he is, incarcerated in prison after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme.

He told it all and revealed every accusation in an interview with Yahoo! Sports. What's even more egregious in the aftermath of the Miami scandal, is that more names are leaked to the allegations. If and when these accusations are proven to be true, we must not rule out the 37-word statement Purdue released last week, acknowledging there weren't "eligibility issues" with quarterback Robert Marve.

For this was ultimately an archetype to punish Miami, to teach a valuable lesson for a murky school disheveled. But you know and I know -- and the university knows -- that it should have had its most recent national title vacated and be placed on probation. When a scandal stretches beyond insanity, when the mere description of a name adds to the horror, the madness suddenly becomes worse. It feels like an episode from the Twilight Zone, if nothing else.

And really now, Marve was among 65 current or former Miami players leaked in the investigative report for allegedly accepting improper benefits from Shapiro. Marve, a top prospect was constantly in trouble, a testament to what was already a disconcerted program keeping many secrets of Miami's dirtiness and infractions. Even if none of the players are ineligible, allegedly accepting cash, gifts, access to VIP rooms in nightclubs and dinners at an expensive Miami Beach steakhouse, there's no excuse for Miami to break from its violations.

Now, the people running the Miami program are acting like uneducated fools, pretending as if the alleged scandal has never surfaced. No one here is taking full accountability for the rotten, noxious misdeeds humiliated by the insanity in the past week.

This is where the people are stunned a week later in disbelief as it brought forth a shocker to people's sensibilities from a logical standpoint. If the people weren't shaking their heads before over such an unbelievable event, they're now definitely shaking their heads worn down by the frequent disclosure of absurdity.

The public love is lost for Miami, a program accumulating much antipathy only for refreshing us with the memories of the ghastly scandal at USC that involved former running back Reggie Bush, who received improper benefits and cash to support his family. Or even when Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel was fired and blamed for the university's scandal of five players selling memorabilia for tattoos.

Those in the know realize that 72 players have been named and given bundles of cash and had prostitutes to satisfy their sexual activities, plausibly. This is horrible, a nasty scandal that only causes problems as the season quickly is upon us and as longtime athletic director Paul Dee, who was a chairman of the NCAA's infraction committee, is liable for the blame.

It would be simple to abandon Mark Emmert of the NCAA, the president serving in office as a disgrace, if nothing else. In fact, he has not impressed no one during his regime and already has been humiliated, not too sure exactly what his plans are to put an end to the misdeeds. It's not happening soon, in fact, it may not even happen this decade but many years from now.

Dee is just as much as a fraud as Miami sadly and he's evidently apathetic. There is enough evidence to punish the Hurricanes harshly and, if the NCAA handed sanctions to USC and Ohio State, then in fairness -- shouldn't Miami be penalized after the university was found guilty from the details provided by Shapiro if he's telling the truth?

Yes, indeed Miami should be chastised.

What sort of punishment should we expect from the NCAA? None? Maybe.

In that same breath, as one of the hottest topics in sports, it's vague at the moment whether or not the NCAA will hit Miami with the Death Penalty, which would be a historical punishment if the association drops the hammer on the Hurricanes. If so, then the Canes are banned for an entire season, a missed season for one of the most prestigious teams in the nation for Miami's previous history of dominating the Atlantic Coast Conference and stockpiling titles, profoundly armed to pursue national championships with such tactful recruiting and mentoring of players.

The worse that could happen is the death penalty, judging from SMU's troubles when the program diminished and plunged so fast that it still hasn't recovered. This is where Miami comes to mind as the NCAA wants to use the tainted school as an example by issuing the death penalty, which means no games but players would be allowed to practice in only conditioning drills in shorts and no pads.

Whatever the NCAA people running the association have in mind, Miami doesn't need to be punished really bad but the NCAA just needs to send a message and particularly after the athletic department was incompliant and had been aware of the transgressions crippling a popular program in the nation. The spectrum of violations, even if Shapiro was profoundly immersed into Miami’s athletic culture, is reprehensible for a university that allegedly breaks the rules and disrespects academia. Guilty as charged.

All I know is Miami should be slapped with 2-year probation.

Miami Sabotages Its Identity

This is essentially the darkest era of college sports, a point in time that scumbags, con artists, scummy agents ultimately tarnishes a prominent university after being involved in allegations of illicit sins.

Words aren't necessary. It happens commonly and unpleasantly that schools are battered by public humiliation for allowing scumbags to manipulate student athletes in accepting improper benefits, with all the hysteria and duplicity unleashing the disingenuousness of collegiate sports.

The troubles of the latest scandal alone, shocking as it is hearing that the Miami Hurricanes are caught in a malicious storm, might be a hint of serious trouble of this recent controversy. There was University of Miami president Donna Shalala, calmly responding for the first time since an NCAA investigation horrified the school's athletic department and said she is "upset, disheartened and saddened by the recent allegations."

With plenty of absurdity rupturing the well-known program in the nation, the truth is that Miami is saddled with the essence of someone else's wrongdoings, similar to how an innocent person could be in the wrong place at the wrong time and be in the company of a crooked outlaw.

Though the talk regarding an 11-month investigation by Yahoo! Sports alleged that former booster Nevin Shapiro -- who is currently serving 20 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme -- lavished at least 72 athletes from a span within 2002 to 2010 with impermissible benefits, the spate of this scandal is messy and flummoxed.

“Make no mistake – I regard these allegations with the utmost of seriousness and understand the concern of so many of you,” Shalala said in a statement. “We will vigorously pursue the truth, wherever that path may lead, and I have insisted upon complete, honest, and transparent cooperation with the NCAA from our staff and students. Our counsel is working jointly with the NCAA Enforcement Division in a thorough and meticulous investigation, which will require our patience.”

The bombshells exactly aren't quite far-fetched in a sleazy generation of insanity and fraud in a sport for which the NCAA system is unsound and specious. If we believe the accusations by Yahoo! Sports, after interviewing with a rogue and convicted felon, it could be the only reasonable solution to address the issue and minimize some of the embarrassment that has crippled the whole university.

But after major infractions, which admittedly are as despicable as previous violations at other schools -- the Hurricanes are on the brink of destruction and quickly fading in the darkness as the current wrongdoers. It should be noted, as the shame hovers above a damaged athletic department that could possibly be imposed a harsh sanction, Miami is nearly sabotaged and seems to be flirting with the likelihood of the Death Penalty.

It's a climate of hypocrisy and falsehood that continues, with enough evidence in prior years, to hatch ghastly and sickened sins and diminish integrity and credibility. Then we come to the craziest scandal, two weeks away from the 2011-12 college football season.

Just as several universities are tying to deal with punishments in their post-scandals for violating NCAA rules, a protocol no program really ever abides by, it became a matter of which athletic programs from coast to coast were in attempt to have an edge and beat the unsettled system.

Along the way, if you believe the outrageous story, Miami was just as guilty and allegedly broke NCAA rules, including Shapiro as documents revealed that he set aside the rules. Contrary to his theory, he and Miami were looking for a clean getaway and played fast and loose with the rules, but the NCAA had finally discovered the U's dirty secrets.

Shaprio, even more than he had with his close peers or own family, had contact and a strong relationship with elite Miami players -- including Vince Wilfork, Jon Benson, Andre Johnson, Kellin Winslow Jr., Antrel Rolle and relatively 12 players on the current roster. At that point, his relationship with the players was undiscovered until he came clean and told Yahoo! that he uncovered the truth by conveying the accusations because many of the players he befriended and supported bailed on him when he needed help following his arrest.

The idea of this happening for years is deceitfulness and ruination for a tattered program with asterisks given the history of remarkable feats and victories to establish a tradition that could've lasted eternally had it not been for the embarrassment, a saturation point when the institution and NCAA people have reacted.

The worst of it all is that the story broke with specifics on Tuesday and reportedly said the improper benefits were given to recruits and coaches. But the weirdest part of this story is that the administrators had knowledge and were evidently aware of the negligence and fatuous ignorance.

The public hardly ever likes to hear about violations, burned out completely, ready to move past the mortification stemming from more and more disgrace ... if only the craziness ends soon and Miami is punished greatly for its dirtiness and absolute infamy. It's harder to inflict the so-called Death Penalty these days, a one-year ban of the program -- including other hefty penalties.

If the NCAA were to banish a program for a full season, then it would roughly diminish television packages for superconferences, lower revenue at many athletic departments and it would ruin the scheduling. The shame of it would then linger into court presumably as ugliness lurks as we are closer to the prelude of the college football season.

The outrage of this story is that Shapiro was welcomed on the sideline or in the press box for Miami games and he was such a commodity in which he had a lounge name after him. It's no coincidence that he was seen on a photo alongside Shalala and the coaching staff, all while he was giving the players cash, offering prostitutes, entertainment in his multi-million dollar home and yacht.

He was even paying for expensive trips to pricey restaurants and night clubs, jewelry and rewards for excellent plays on the field. And yes, worse possibly, he paid for an abortion for a stripper who was impregnated by a player. Then, at one point in his insidious livelihood, if he ever had a legit livelihood -- mind you -- he co-owned Axcess Sports and Entertainment, an agency that signed two first round picks from Miami.

As he confirms the story with photos, phone records and even receipts, Shapiro said he also sent payments in the best interest of Axcess and paid $50,000 bundles of cash to Wilfork as he lured recruits. Shapiro, unlike many slimy providers, hosted parties for the players and gave plenty of gifts to them.

These accusations are just as gruesome as many recent scandals -- are shocking and repulsive -- when Southern California star running back Reggie Bush accepted cash and gifts from wannabe agents that benefited his family to eventually have his Heisman award vacated, when Ohio State coach Jim Tressel stepped down in denial and was humiliated after standing for the travesty of his players selling memorabilia to be given free tattoos.

And now there is Shapiro, a crook who was involved with so many players for quite some time. The irony here is that an entire decade is likely tainted, building relationships with former coach Larry Coker and Randy Shannon in that span. The list of 39 players and recruits he named were said to have received prostitution paid by the booster, but the names remain unknown as Yahoo! won't release the players involved.

With that in mind, he never had difficulty arranging hotel rooms for women to meet with the players at specific locations. He really told it all when he admittedly divulged that he violated NCAA rules with the knowledge of six coaches, three on the football staff and three on the basketball staff. So now, he confessed that he was acting worse than a pimp to improperly pacify players by giving the needy athletes gifts in a decade of irrelevancy, smearing the unforgivable national-championship appearance of the moment the Hurricanes claimed the gleaming crystal ball.

Shalala touched on pride and having faith in her statement as well: “To our students, parents, faculty, alumni, and supporters – I encourage you to have patience as the process progresses; to have confidence in knowing that we are doing everything possible to discover the truth; to have faith in the many outstanding student-athletes and coaches who represent the University; and to have pride in what our University has accomplished and aspires to be.”

It's all lost. Tainted or real. Asterisks or legit. The U stands for unbearable and uncertainty.

Florida State Transforms From Inept to Competent, Almost Back to Relevancy

And so ends the beginning to an appealing chapter in one of the most inter-state clashes in college football. In the midst of an eventual upset, as crazed activities materialized in South Beach on the night women dressed in sexy attire and fanatics hosted tailgate parties, the Miami Hurricanes were supposed to deliver with an enormous win.

It’s impossible to sugarcoat Florida State for shocking the nation, taking control early with a 21-0 lead in the first half and eventually coasting to a 45-17 win. Every coach has a starting point and flashbacks in his career.

By waiting patiently behind legendary Bobby Bowden, who imprinted a signature on a prominent football program as the second-winningest coach in major college football history, his successor Jimbo Fisher symbolizes aspiration at Florida State.

The Seminoles, tired of being described as inferior, weren’t surrounded by mediocrity or anguish on Saturday, bound to win 10-plus games this season. So now Fisher, a recognizable guru, had been the voice of the program for the last few seasons, being groomed from the sidelines and watching the old-timer Bowden orchestrate his playbook. But eventually, you knew it would happen. And now, it has happened.

This week, of course, Fisher has a signature win in the Florida State-Miami rivalry. In my mind, clearly, he needed to pull off the biggest game on the schedule of the delighted and traditional program to declare citizenship. This week, in a convincing fashion, the Seminoles are dominant and haven’t suffered much despair in a season the team is bowl eligible, in a season the team is finally acknowledged.


By now, the Seminoles have vividly put aside the disillusionment, following a brutal, slaughtering rout. If ever there’s an appropriate moment for the Hurricanes to return among college football’s premier program, to leap into bowl contention, and to be discussed periodically, it wouldn’t be at this moment. A humiliating loss, a huge letdown, leaves behind a dubious notion in Miami.

And the likelihood of a Seminoles downfall is highly unlikely, given the compromising stance of Fisher and the infinite maturity of a sizable program. Ultimately, even without Bowden, the Seminoles cannot be ignored favored to win every game, until the final game on the schedule comes against the Florida Gators. The bragging rights clearly go to the Seminoles. On the same night the Gators were beaten by LSU in another breathtaking finish.

Even more than last year, when the Seminoles were distracted by Bowden’s retirement plans and coaching travails, Florida State owns three consecutive ACC wins recently. Deep down, as worthwhile as each victory inserts a strong hypothesis of superiority, Fisher is no longer coaching in the shadows of a legend.

For all the triumph of late, it initially restores relevancy and lifts the psyche of a program hallowed with tradition and cultural aspects. And, best of all, the Seminoles’ phenomenal turnaround shouldn’t be downplayed. Such is the reality of Florida State trashing Miami on the road in a rivalry game or having enough star power to reconstruct fortune in a regime.

Although the man he replaced, Bowden, oddly went against Florida State and picked Miami to win the game. He still dislikes the way his tenured ended. Eternally, however, he’ll pose as the iconic coach to ever lead the program, and we can argue that he never really desired to retire.

It wasn’t long ago, in a contest the Seminoles fell to the Hurricanes, when Bowden tried to diagram a play, but the coaching staff ignored his creative ideas. And still, Miami prevailed in the game on a last-second pass by the Seminoles that bounced incomplete in the end zone.

Given a chance to redeem dismay and erase the memories of heartbreaking defeats, the Seminoles prevailed while the Hurricanes wilted. If he’s presenting mental toughness and operating with his brilliant offensive tactics in his impressive tenure, Fisher, while mentoring in the shadows of a legendary coach, appears to be leading the Seminoles back to national title prominence.


If this happens to be the end of the twilight era and the beginning of a shinning age, as they persist in growing as ACC agitators and pose as a viable threat in the near future, the Seminoles could encounter a rematch with Miami in the ACC title game.

But, the school located in Tallahassee is good. And suddenly, the moment is here, but no one is enjoying the moment more than Fisher in his first season at the helm. With the vanity of sturdiness in an inadequate conference, the Seminoles easily can pull away and be crowned conference champs at the end of the season.

As the clock tickled down, Fisher was drenched in a Gatorade shower. It obviously cooled down the well-respected coach on a humid night, but it also was a nice birthday present. In celebration of his 45th birthday, he was presented with the largest margin of defeat in the series since Miami’s 49-27 win in 2001.

However, he’s not satisfied aiming for initiative goals, which is arising onto the national stage to win a national title and symbolize the meaning of football at Florida State.

“It was as good of a birthday present as I could have asked for, phenomenal,” Fisher said.

He tries to obstruct such sentiment because of his immense desires of inheriting the gleaming crystal balls in the future. Indeed, he’s well on his way. This time, the Seminoles buried the Hurricanes on their turf. The game was over, maybe before it even started and was controlled by the Seminoles invigorated ground attack, rushing for a total of 298 yards—the most against Miami since Virginia Tech had 272 yards earlier in the season in a 31-7 loss.

But more impressively, Ponder completed 12-of-21 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns. More than ever, he converted 6-of-12 third downs. It was evidently the turning point in Florida State’s offense, just as their head coach is the critical juncture.

By jumping out to an early lead, the Seminoles’ defense had momentum and energy to make it miserable for a struggling Miami offense. Early on, FSU’s defense seemed fierce and violently pressured and sacked Harris. Of the previous meetings between 1983 and 2001, the Florida State-Miami rivalry has determined the national champ seven times in 19 seasons.

Though it was an imperative win, that is not to say they’ll win a national title.

I’ll guarantee that maybe Florida State wins the prize really soon.

So, watch in another year.

The Latest of Jacory Harris Shows That Racism Is Still a Problem, Even In Sports

Jacory Harris had a very disappointing game when the Miami Hurricanes took on Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Harris tossed four interceptions in the team’s loss. Although there had to be a negativity said about Harris, one man went overboard. The man sent a Twitter message to Harris’s Twitter account, saying that the reason the Hurricanes lost was because they had a black quarterback.

Now, to me, that just sounds terrible and it is something that is definitely not right to say in today’s world. Since this incident happened, all the players on Miami’s roster had to terminate their accounts on the social network. Harris said it didn’t bother him all that much.

“Not really worried about it,” Harris told the Associated Press. “I know people say things like that. It’s part of the sport. Got to get used to it.”

Nobody could ever find the tweet again since the termination of the account. It was recalled that this isn’t the first time that Harris has received racist comments.

“It’s flat-out wrong,” Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt said. “It’s sad. It’s disappointing. In a position that we celebrate, living in one of the most diverse communities in our nation, to have this type of behavior is appalling. It’s not tolerable. Jacory is a very talented young man. We’ll just continue on focusing to do the right things and rise above these type of comments.”

Harris said this is a final message on his Twitter.

“You see some things and you get kind of hurt, because sometimes it’s your fans that say the things,” Harris said. “It’ll be the ones that probably just before the game wrote you some encouraging message, then after the game say they don’t want a black quarterback here. Stuff like that. It’s cool.”

However, all the Hurricanes’ players’ Twitter accounts weren’t deleted because of the message Harris received, but it’s a good thing they deleted beforehand so the message won’t cause such a fuss as it already is.

“We choose to focus on those positives rather than one individual, who chooses to make such ignorant comments,” Shannon said. “It’s sad that Jacory would be exposed to those types of statements. They have no place in our society and are not tolerated at the University of Miami.”

Harris said he won’t let the comments affect him.

“It’s happened before, but it’s nothing that I’m worried about,” Harris said. “I’m not worried about it, so you guys shouldn’t be worried about it. I’m OK with it. It’s not a problem. Not with me.”

His teammates were furious of what happened, however.

“Hearing something like that, coming here to a diverse school, you would think we’re past that,” said defensive lineman Marcus Forston, who was Harris’ high school teammate at Miami Northwestern High. “That’s in the past. We all came to this school together. We’ve got a diverse locker room, and in there, you don’t want to hear anything like that.”

“We’re going to take it with a grain of salt and make it a positive thing. So they’re saying that we don’t need that type of quarterback or they’re saying we’re not good enough or that we’re supposed to be winning championships? It’s because we are supposed to be doing that,” said linebacker Jordan Futch.

Miami is the only team that has a basketball coach and a football coach that are African-Americans, which are Shannon and Frank Haith.

Harris is trying to focus on the team’s next game against the Pittsburgh Panthers and will try to not worry about the hate message he received on Twitter.

“It is disheartening. It’s something that you look it and it kind of brings you to tears, a little bit,” Harris said. “But at the same time, you know it’s just a comment. Nothing else will be taken after that. There will be no steps taken after that. That’s his opinion. That’s that person’s opinion. Got to live with it.”

This news easily shows that racism is a big problem in today’s world. When can people stop with race? Why do people need to keep creating walls to divide us from each other? What’s the difference about your skin color, religion, or anything. We are all human. And what makes it worse is that it is probably coming from some redneck white man.

The man should realize that his people did one of the worst things for the last 300 years. Slaves, name-calling, racial slurs, and a whole lot more. They went as far as to creating a clan and burning people’s houses down to hanging them to death. Seriously? What’s the deal?

And bringing this B.S. into sports just makes it a whole lot worse. When does a skin color matter? There’s so many bad things that go on in this world, and this has by far have to be one of the worst. And this man is probably very narrow-minded. No disrespect to white people, but a lot of them are just narrow-minded. I am Indian as my parents were from India. I have taken some racial slurs before, and seeing this just bursts my bubble.

A lot of white folks think that a colored person can’t come to America because they can’t speak English or anything. It just has to be owned and run by white people. Seriously? The racists out there should come out of their rock they are living in and see who are President is: Barack Obama, ladies and gentleman. Oh, and news flash: English is ripped off from many languages. Along with that, the white people stole the land. It was originally owned by Native Americans.

So many racist things have been said, and in sports. Without a lot of the “colored” people, as you wish you may call them, we wouldn’t appreciate music the way it is, sports the way it is, entertainment the way it is, or the world the way it is. Since the many things that have happened to people like Michael Vick, or Terrell Owens, more racial slurs come up.

It is just not right. Racist is easily one of the worst things that has happened in sports. Easily. No question about it. From LeBron James’ decision to Jacory Harris, the racism continues. From Hank Aaron and his hate mails to N.W.A. and their support of the Oakland Raiders, the racism continues.

A lot of disrespect is still in sports. For example, take a look at three sports teams. They are pretty much showing huge disrespect to the Native Americans. The teams? The Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins, and the Cleveland Indians. All of them show Native Americans in their logo, and for years, there has been protest of the logo. It’s just terrible the way they show the disrespect.

It affects children in this way. I read a great report by Jody Wagner over at Bleacher Report. He found a report from Professor Cornel Pewewardy of how racist logos like what they show in the teams I just labeled affect the children of our society.

Jacory Harris had a very disappointing game when the Miami Hurricanes took on Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Harris tossed four interceptions in the team’s loss. Although there had to be a negativity said about Harris, one man went overboard. The man sent a Twitter message to Harris’s Twitter account, saying that the reason the Hurricanes lost was because they had a black quarterback.

Now, to me, that just sounds terrible and it is something that is definitely not right to say in today’s world. Since this incident happened, all the players on Miami’s roster had to terminate their accounts on the social network. Harris said it didn’t bother him all that much.

“Not really worried about it,” Harris told the Associated Press. “I know people say things like that. It’s part of the sport. Got to get used to it.”

Nobody could ever find the tweet again since the termination of the account. It was recalled that this isn’t the first time that Harris has received racist comments.

“It’s flat-out wrong,” Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt said. “It’s sad. It’s disappointing. In a position that we celebrate, living in one of the most diverse communities in our nation, to have this type of behavior is appalling. It’s not tolerable. Jacory is a very talented young man. We’ll just continue on focusing to do the right things and rise above these type of comments.”

Harris said this is a final message on his Twitter.

“You see some things and you get kind of hurt, because sometimes it’s your fans that say the things,” Harris said. “It’ll be the ones that probably just before the game wrote you some encouraging message, then after the game say they don’t want a black quarterback here. Stuff like that. It’s cool.”

However, all the Hurricanes’ players’ Twitter accounts weren’t deleted because of the message Harris received, but it’s a good thing they deleted beforehand so the message won’t cause such a fuss as it already is.

“We choose to focus on those positives rather than one individual, who chooses to make such ignorant comments,” Shannon said. “It’s sad that Jacory would be exposed to those types of statements. They have no place in our society and are not tolerated at the University of Miami.”

Harris said he won’t let the comments affect him.

“It’s happened before, but it’s nothing that I’m worried about,” Harris said. “I’m not worried about it, so you guys shouldn’t be worried about it. I’m OK with it. It’s not a problem. Not with me.”

His teammates were furious of what happened, however.

“Hearing something like that, coming here to a diverse school, you would think we’re past that,” said defensive lineman Marcus Forston, who was Harris’ high school teammate at Miami Northwestern High. “That’s in the past. We all came to this school together. We’ve got a diverse locker room, and in there, you don’t want to hear anything like that.”

“We’re going to take it with a grain of salt and make it a positive thing. So they’re saying that we don’t need that type of quarterback or they’re saying we’re not good enough or that we’re supposed to be winning championships? It’s because we are supposed to be doing that,” said linebacker Jordan Futch.

Miami is the only team that has a basketball coach and a football coach that are African-Americans, which are Shannon and Frank Haith.

Harris is trying to focus on the team’s next game against the Pittsburgh Panthers and will try to not worry about the hate message he received on Twitter.

“It is disheartening. It’s something that you look it and it kind of brings you to tears, a little bit,” Harris said. “But at the same time, you know it’s just a comment. Nothing else will be taken after that. There will be no steps taken after that. That’s his opinion. That’s that person’s opinion. Got to live with it.”

This news easily shows that racism is a big problem in today’s world. When can people stop with race? Why do people need to keep creating walls to divide us from each other? What’s the difference about your skin color, religion, or anything. We are all human. And what makes it worse is that it is probably coming from some redneck white man.

The man should realize that his people did one of the worst things for the last 300 years. Slaves, name-calling, racial slurs, and a whole lot more. They went as far as to creating a clan and burning people’s houses down to hanging them to death. Seriously? What’s the deal?

And bringing this B.S. into sports just makes it a whole lot worse. When does a skin color matter? There’s so many bad things that go on in this world, and this has by far have to be one of the worst. And this man is probably very narrow-minded. No disrespect to white people, but a lot of them are just narrow-minded. I am Indian as my parents were from India. I have taken some racial slurs before, and seeing this just bursts my bubble.

A lot of white folks think that a colored person can’t come to America because they can’t speak English or anything. It just has to be owned and run by white people. Seriously? The racists out there should come out of their rock they are living in and see who are President is: Barack Obama, ladies and gentleman. Oh, and news flash: English is ripped off from many languages. Along with that, the white people stole the land. It was originally owned by Native Americans.

So many racist things have been said, and in sports. Without a lot of the “colored” people, as you wish you may call them, we wouldn’t appreciate music the way it is, sports the way it is, entertainment the way it is, or the world the way it is. Since the many things that have happened to people like Michael Vick, or Terrell Owens, more racial slurs come up.

It is just not right. Racist is easily one of the worst things that has happened in sports. Easily. No question about it. From LeBron James’ decision to Jacory Harris, the racism continues. From Hank Aaron and his hate mails to N.W.A. and their support of the Oakland Raiders, the racism continues.

A lot of disrespect is still in sports. For example, take a look at three sports teams. They are pretty much showing huge disrespect to the Native Americans. The teams? The Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins, and the Cleveland Indians. All of them show Native Americans in their logo, and for years, there has been protest of the logo. It’s just terrible the way they show the disrespect.

It affects children in this way. I read a great report by Jody Wagner over at Bleacher Report. He found a report from Professor Cornel Pewewardy of how racist logos like what they show in the teams I just labeled affect the children of our society.

“Children’s self images are very pliable and susceptible to external forces, especially if they are steeped in violent and negative images. Unfortunately, for Indigenous Peoples many false images of ethnicity still dominate the consciousness of the American psyche,” he said.

Here was the following I read in Wagner’s report of what others have said:

LA Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke said, “It’s a horrible derogatory name towards Native Americans!” and “I can’t believe it’s been allowed to go on this long.”

Writer Suzan Shown Harjo said, “The r-word is the most derogatory thing Native Peoples can be called in the English language.”

Artist Charlene Teters said, “American Indians are human beings, not mascots.”

Xavier University Professor David Rider said, “Negative images and attitudes toward American Indians have served precisely the same function: To protect the historical oppressors from a sense of guilt over the atrocities committed agianst Indians and to justify further exploitation.”

It’s time to put an end to racism, especially in sports. I know there are still some really dumb people out there who still haven’t come to the fact that their time with bossing around the “colored” people is now over and they will continue to be the dumb redneck racists they continue to be.

But I hope one day this all stops.

Because it’s getting annoying.

And it could ruin our world as we know it.