The National, 5/15/12: A Day to Celebrate.

Sometimes Arbitrary and Capricious Works Out: The National Football Foundation has announced its College Football Hall of Fame class for 2012, and finally Bill Snyder is (indirectly) represented as former Wildcat linebacker Mark Simoneau is among the list of 17 former coaches and players to be inducted December 4 in South Bend. Joining Simoneau in the 2012 class are former coaches R.C. Slocum, Philip Fulmer, and Jimmy Johnson, and former players Art Monk, Charles Alexander, Dave Casper, Gabe Rivera, Greg Myers, Hal Bledsoe, John Wooten, Jonathan Ogden, Otis Armstrong, Scott Thomas, Steve Bartkowski, Tommy Kramer, and Ty Detmer. Simoneau will join Gary Spani (also a former Chief, amusingly) as K-State inductees.


There's a lot to be said against the CFBHoF's selection criteria, in which guys like Howard Schnellenberger and Joe Montana aren't eligible for various reasons. However, in defense of those criteria... winning 60% of your games as a coach used to mean your team, on average, was no worse than 6-4 every year. It looks a little different in our day and age, where the cut line would be something like 8-5 every year, but still: if a coach went 8-5 every year, would you call him a hall of famer? The 60% cutline is arbitrary, but is it really something you want to argue against in the larger scheme? You coach 20 years, that's basically going 150-100. For players, the big sticking point is whether or not you were named a first-team All-American by at least ONE of the sanctioned selection bodies, and again one has to ask: if you weren't even considered the best player at your position by any one of four different selectors in any one of your years playing college football, do you belong in a hall of fame?

No News Is No News: Nothing new today on the Florida State story, except for Tommy Tuberville saying it wouldn't suck, and a source informing Brett McMurphy that the Big 12 itself really just doesn't know whether they want to expand or not even if FSU is willing. In fact, there seems to be a sense that this isn't a "Texas doesn't want it, other people do" thing so much as a "Nobody at all seems to be able to make up their mind whether they want to expand or not" thing. (Which is to say, even Texas seems to waffle somewhat on the topic.)

Won't Someone Think of the Anterior Cruciate Ligaments?: Gary Parrish of CBS reports that the NCAA rules committees for men's and women's hoops have decided to recommend a rule change requiring all courts to be of a "consistent surface". That's another way of saying that they're recommending that on-court decals be banned, which would have the effect of removing all non-permanent court decorations. If it's not lacquered over with urethane like the rest of the court, it won't be there. The recommendation is, of course, in reaction to complaints that the decals tend to be slippery and are a risk to player safety. Also recommended: a crackdown on coaches... shall we say, engaging in whimsical antics. (This means you, Frank Martin.)

No More Concerns About Manhattan in December: One thing about the playoff format has been decided once and for all: the playoff will not include any on-campus games, according to Michigan State AD Mark Hollis.

Take THAT: So, Virginia Commonwealth was going to join the Atlantic 10 in 2013. Only, it turns out that according to CAA by-laws, they'd have been ineligible for the conference tournament in 2012 as punishment for leaving or some such. As a result, VCU said "fine, we're outta here now", and will be joining the A-10 this July. (Butler will still hold off until 2013.) Under CAA bylaws, by leaving early VCU also forfeits their pending NCAA tournament payouts... which includes their entire Final Four payout from 2011. This story isn't over yet, kids.

Also, YOU Take THAT: Conference USA appears poised to move their 2013 conference tournament to Tulsa. Why? Because it's currently scheduled to be held in Memphis, and, well, they'd really rather not face the spectre of Memphis winning the conference tournament in their home town as a "See ya later" on their way to the Big East.

Diablerie: Former Kentucky basketball player Michael Porter was arrested this morning on charges of sexual abuse against two teenage girls. ... Idaho WR Ken McRoyal, a walk-on who'd earned a scholarship for 2012, was fatally shot at a party in Los Angeles this weekend. ... Missouri QB Corbin Berkstresser, who was previously lauded in this space along with teammate T.J. Moe for doing a solid and taking a disabled girl to her prom, was arrested this morning on a hit-and-run charge. Just goes to show, people are both good and bad. ... Arkansas WR Kane Whitehurst, who was arrested earlier this year on drug charges, is no longer an Arkansas WR as the team has dismissed him. ... ESPN has renewed 30 for 30, and the first new installment will be a Bo Jackson documentary. Via Jason Kirk, we have a clip from the film featuring Bo's bicycle ride across Alabama in support of the tornado relief effort last year, and here's a little discussion between Jon Bois and Bomani Jones about how awesome Bo really was. ... Tate Forcier: Hamilton Tiger-Cat.