K-State Football
More watch lists! Nigel Malone and Arthur Brown are on the preseason watch list for the Nagurski Award, which recognizes the most outstanding defensive player in college football.
The Freeh Report
Former FBI director Louis Freeh released his Penn State report yesterday, and it was as bad (if not worse worse) than anyone could have imagined.
He won't get the credit for his column like others because his name isn't Dan Wetzel or Andy Staples, but Austin Meek wrote a great column looking at the local angle, such as there is one, for this story. The Freeh Report should be required reading for all athletic department and university administrators across the country, as a reminder of what can happen when we forget "the difference between professional success and personal integrity."
Sam Mellinger writes more extensively on the topic of the role the culture of sports played in the Penn State coverup. Nobody is suggesting that administrators at every (or even any) major university are covering up the crimes of child predators, but they're all one Jerry Sandusky from finding out if their administration really is different.
There were a lot of good columns on this issue from yesterday, including Andy Staples, Dan Wetzel, Stewart Mandel and Jason Whitlock(yes, Jason Whitlock). I'm going to write more extensively on it, this weekend I hope.
After listening to the Border Patrol this morning, Nate Bukaty reminded me of another example. He talked about a couple Nebraska fans he knew blaming the girl Lawrence Phillips beat, Kate McEwen, for her own assault. Of course, Tom Osborne knew that Lawrence just needed football in his life, and we all know how that worked out. And there's the old "Coach and Jury" article from 1995 detailing Osborne's meddling in the investigation and prosecution of his players. Nebraska fans sent Osborne to Washington as a legislator, he still runs their athletic department, and it wouldn't surprise me if some Husker fans find this and defend all his actions as though he did nothing wrong.