The National, 4-10-12: Waive Goodbye.

I intended to post yesterday -- in fact, as an administrative note, my general intent is for The National to post on a M-W-F basis -- but Monday turned out to be a light day for college news without simply revisiting the Petrino situation. It's a good thing I waited, though, because wouldn't you know it, there's a national story that directly relates to us.

As you all know, Ernie Zeigler was fired by Central Michigan, setting off a sweepstakes for both himself as an assistant coach, and his son Trey as hot transfer commodity. Ernie hasn't accepted a job anywhere yet, but Trey is transferring to Pittsburgh, where he'll have two years of eligibility remaining.

The question now is which two years Trey's going to play, as Pitt is going to apply for a waiver of the normal one-year waiting period before a transfer is eligible. The argument is that he had to leave Central Michigan because his daddy got fired, and since he had no choice but to leave he shouldn't be subject to the residential year.

Do I have an opinion on this? Do birds fly south for the winter?

I acknowledge that I would probably not have made this argument had Trey, with or without Ernie, arrived in Manhattan. That's because I am a fan, and while about 99% of the time I can be completely objective, when you dangle a talented player in front of me my rationality can dive out the window. As such, I recognize that this could be seen as the rantings of a scorned fan at a spurned institution.

However, I would have been wrong to not make the argument in that situation, and since we're not in said situation I'm not going to bypass the argument now.

Trey Zeigler should not be allowed to skip the residential year at Pitt, because the idea that he was "forced" to leave Mount Pleasant because his daddy was fired is laughable, childish, and more than a little spoiled. Trey Zeigler is an adult. Trey Zeigler does not depend on his daddy anymore for food and a place to live -- and, in fact, is having his room and board provided by a publicly-funded institution in compensation for his skill at playing the game of basketball. Even if Trey was still living at home at Central Michigan, legally that means his scholarship simply didn't include room and board (providing him the financial benefit of same would be an NCAA violation).

Or. to put it more bluntly and concisely, "butthurt" is not the same as "being forced to leave". Trey Zeigler chose to leave Central Michigan because he didn't want to be stuck at a mid-major program without his father. Chose. The Chippewas did not fire Trey Zeigler; they fired Ernie. His reasons for transferring are no different than those of any other player who just wants to get the hell out of Dodge because they're unhappy, and that shouldn't be rewarded by waiving a rule to which all those other players must adhere.

Other items of note from the weekend and Monday:

K-State's path to a conference title got easier yesterday as Thomas Robinson of Kansas and Perry Jones III of Baylor both declared themselves eligible for the draft. Neither move was particularly unexpected, but it's nice to get confirmation that they're out of our hair. In draft declaration news that doesn't affect us at all, Vanderbilt's John Jenkins also declared, while Michigan's Trey Burke has decided to stick around for another year because who wants to leave after suffering an embarrassing loss to a 14-seed?

The Isiah Thomas experiment is over at Florida International, and ESPN's Dana O'Neil absolutely kills it describing how the entire fiasco was ludicrous from the day it started. His now-former players, however, have staged a walkout in protest, which is just adorably cute, y'all. Stupid, but cute.

In news which is only "news" insofar as the NCAA has released their report on the investigation (i.e., we already knew there was an investigation ongoing even if this detail has apparently taken everyone by surprise for some reason), Baylor is facing sanctions in both basketball programs for impermissible texting by the coaching staff. What nobody is surprised about is the discovery that Scott Drew's ethics are questionable. However, I'll have to admit that it's a shame the brilliant 40-0 season turned in by the Lady Bears is going to be tainted by this scandal.

I've said everything I need to say about Bobby Petrino, but Bomani Jones is still on the case. Not discussed therein: Yesterday, the 17,000 angry Razorback fans who joined the "Team Save Coach Petrino" group on Facebook converged in The Gardens to protest and show support for the embattled coach. Oh, wait. Not 17,000. Only 200. Guess slacktivism has infected our football, too.

Oh, and Urban Meyer has never seen Meet the Parents, and is still a Gator. Also, he is a Division I football coach, which means he is a horrible person by default and you should be surprised by absolutely nothing you read in that article unless you are naive and sheltered.