FOOTBALL

In college football, the mighty USC Trojans have taken a huge hit this off-season.  They lost their head coach, Pete Carroll, and then got in trouble with the NCAA for recruiting violations.  And many believe Pete Carroll jumped ship for the NFL because he knew the glory days were over.  Then we saw their former offensive coordinator, Lane Kiffin, come running back.  In his lap… a school with a 2-year suspension from post-season play.

The main controversy is over the recruiting of Reggie Bush.  Bush was an absolute superstar at USC, and now the Trojan organization is trying to completely shed themselves of that era.  They gave illegal benefits to Bush and also O.J. Mayo in their basketball program.  To try and show their remorse, they’ve returned Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy.

While the 2-year suspension is bad, the severe restriction of scholarships over the next few years will truly damage USC’s program.  They fired their current athletic director and hired Pat Haden, but without scholarships, the best-of-the best won’t want to play at USC because they can’t go there for free.  USC disappeared during the 1990’s, had an amazing resurgence this decade, but are now poised to go to the bottom of the ranks again.  This opens the door for a new power in the PAC-10.  Watch out for Arizona, Cal and Washington.

HOCKEY

In a follow up story from the hockey world, it appears that the NHL is rejecting the incredible 17-year, $102 Million offer the New Jersey Devils offered Ilya Kovalchuk.  They said it was an attempt to circumvent the league’s salary cap.  This is accounting ‘cuteseyness’, but at the end of the day, offering that deal and breaking it up into various payments for different years was New Jersey’s attempt to keep a great player not only for his whole career — but even past it.  He was going to get paid until he was 44.  Assuming he only plays to his mid to late 30s, that’s practically 6 years where he wouldn’t be on the roster (and his salary wouldn’t count against the cap that year)  This kind of thing is very bad for the league.

BASEBALL

Finally, in baseball — the end of an era.  Lou Piniella is retiring as manager of the Chicago Cubs.  Piniella has been coaching for nearly 40 years.  He’s 66 years old, has five trips to the World Series, and proudly owns 3 World Series Rings.  Piniella said he just can’t handle the grind any more.  When he says grind, he doesn’t mean actually managing the game — that’s easy on the body.  He just can’t do all the traveling anymore.  Remember, baseball is a long 162-game season, and you’re on the road for half of that.  Piniella is done with it and wants to focus on spending more time with his family.  Congrats to Lou for a great career.