Top ten reasons Terrence Cody flunked his Ravens physical

Ravens second-round draft pick Terrence Cody failed his conditioning test today and was forced to sit out the team’s first training camp practice.  The 349 pound Alabama product has never missed a meal, and apparently he’s added even more meals that he doesn’t miss.

Here are the top ten factors that went into Cody flunking his physical:

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The Rick Pitino extortion case is a glorious train wreck of moral depravity

The Rick Pitino extortion case is as good as it gets in a tabloid crazy nation like ours.  Here’s the background:

In August of 2003, Pitino met a batshit nuts chick named Karen Cunagin at Porcini, an Italian restaurant in Louisville’s Crescent Hill neighborhood.  The owner gave Pitino the building keys near closing time and left the pair alone.  The two then had sex at a table near the bar, which was verified by statements that both Pitino and Cunagin gave to Louisville police later on.

That must have resulted in one hell of an interesting cleanup for Porcini’s busboy.  “Hey boss, there’s something in this booth, but it ain’t marinara sauce.  Did you put Chicken Marsala back on the menu?”

A few weeks later, Cunagin called Pitino and told him she was pregnant and that the father was a noted basketball coach with a national title on his resume, and that she’d had sex with this person in a Italian restaurant.  The conversation that followed may or may not have gone something like this:

Pitino: Please tell me Bobby Knight nailed you at an Olive Garden.

Cunagin: Uh, no Rick, I’ve never sedu…uh, I mean, I’ve never met Bobby Knight.

Pitino: DAMN! What about Coach K, did you recently have a quicky with him at a Pizza Hut?

Cunagin: Pizza Hut?!?  What kind of whore do you think I am?  No, I’ve never met Coack K either.  It’s you, Rick, that night at Porcini.

Pitino: DAMN!

After that, things got even more tabloidy for Pitino, I’ll let the AP provide the quick and dirty recap:

Pitino said Sypher told him she was going to have an abortion but didn’t have health insurance, so he gave her $3,000 to have the procedure done in Cincinnati, according to the report.

Pitino, a prominent Roman Catholic, contended when the case came to light last year that he wanted Sypher to use the money for insurance, not an abortion.

Over the next six years, she married Pitino’s longtime assistant, Tim Sypher, and the two have a daughter. The Syphers separated after the Pitino affair came to light and divorce proceedings are pending. (AP via Boston Herald)

That’s right, Cunagin friggin’ married Pitino’s basketball equipment manager, Tim Sypher (thus the name change).  This chick is a special kind of crazy…but it gets better.

In April of 2009, Pitino reported that he had contacted the FBI regarding an extortion attempt made against him.  The extorter?  Oh yeah, Karen Sypher.  A week after the revelation became public, ESPN’s Pat Forde dug into the story and came up with this:

Multiple people were said to be calling the coach on behalf of Karen Sypher, sources said. She denies having encouraged anyone to harass Pitino, and denies having any knowledge of those calls before being asked about them by the authorities.

Judy Cunigan said she called and talked to Pitino once herself about three weeks ago, “to ask him what has happened to my daughter.” Cunigan said she got Pitino’s number from her daughter. Judy Cunigan said Tim Sypher came by her house the night she placed that call, pounded on the door and, after being let in, told her not to do it again.

“Now they’ve got it going around that I asked for millions of dollars,” Cunigan said. “We haven’t asked for anything but the truth.”

Judy Cunigan said other calls were made by a family friend she only identified as “Lester.” She said that to her knowledge, Lester never threatened Pitino but only encouraged him to do right by Karen.

Karen Sypher said that if Lester called Pitino, she didn’t know how he got the coach’s unlisted number. She said the only way she suspected that he had placed any phone calls to Pitino was when the FBI played an audio recording of a call over and over, and she believed the voice to be Lester’s. (ESPN.com)

As it turns out, the “Lester” placing the calls was Lester Goetzinger, a longtime friend of Sypher’s.  And how did he get Pitino’s number?  Sypher had sex with him, and in return Goetzinger called up Pitino in February of 2009 threatening to tell the public that the coach had raped Sypher.

After sexing up Goetzinger to get what she wanted, Sypher proceeded to sex up attorney Dana Kolter, who then signed a joint letter with her demanding money from Pitino and threatening to file suit over that romp in Porcini’s back in 2003.

While she was busy mounting half the guys in Louisville to help move her plot along, she got her husband Tim to take a written list of her demands to Pitino.  That list included college tuition for her children, a couple of cars, money to pay off her mortgage and $3,000 per month.

With his hand forced, Pitino basically had no choice but to notify the authorities that he nailed a crazy chick in an Italian restaurant six years ago, paid for her abortion and then watched in horror as she married a member of his staff.  After all that, she was now trying to extort money from him.

In retaliation, Sypher filed a report with the Louisville police department in June of 2009 saying Pitino had raped her in 2003.  Apparently she didn’t get the opportunity to sleep with a police captain in exchange for having him go over to Pitino’s house and arrest him in front of his family.

That’s your recap, and the trial itself started yesterday.  I’ll let Andrew Wolfson of the Louisville Courier-Journal fill in some of the particulars about it:

But Assistant U.S. Attorneys John E. Kuhn Jr. and Marisa Ford have amassed more than 5,000 pages of evidence with which they’ll try to prove that Sypher — then married to Tim Sypher, Pitino’s equipment manager — made “threatening communications with intent to extort,” lied about it to the government and retaliated against Pitino for reporting the alleged extortion.

The charges carry a combined maximum sentence of 26 years, although under federal sentencing guidelines, Karen Sypher would, if convicted, more likely face seven to eight years behind bars.

The government’s witnesses in the two-week trial will include Pitino, who may testify as soon as Tuesday.  Spokesmen for U of L President James Ramsey and Athletic Director Tom Jurich, who have stood by Pitino, despite a clause in his contract that allows him to be fired for acts of “moral depravity,” declined to comment on the trial. (Louisville Courier-Journal)

I’m fascinated by this whole affair partly because there’s not a sympathetic figure to be found in this train wreck.  Everyone involved is coming off like a slimeball, including the administration at Louisville.  What more does a coach have to do to break a moral depravity clause in a contract?   Get caught running a dog fighting ring?

By retaining Pitino, you give opposing coaches like John Calipari (who’s no saint himself) all the ammo they need to recruit against your institution.  “Hi (insert name of blue chip recruit), this is Coach Calipari calling from Kentucky.  I heard you’re considering Louisville.  By the way, you been keeping track of this Karen Sypher case?  No?  Well then, let me fill you in…”

We’ll see what happens when Pitino takes the stand today or tomorrow.  Sypher’s lawyer James Earhart (hey, an attorney, they’re the biggest slimeballs of all!) will ask undoubtedly Pitino about the following:

Earhart said Sypher didn’t call the police after leaving Porcini because she didn’t think anyone would believe her. After telling Pitino she was pregnant, the coach made a veiled death threat, Earhart said.

“He makes a suggestion of something having to do with concrete shoes and a river if this matter can’t be resolved,” Earhart said. (AP via SI.com)

With Sypher’s track record, I highly doubt that this allegation is true, but it would have been sorta cool if it was.  And it would have gotten that much better if Sypher had pulled an Oksana Griogorieva and taped it.  In such a scenario, would Rick Pitino then be considered morally depraved by the powers that be at Louisville?  Who knows.

All things considered, has Rick Pitino been a failure at Louisville?

Raymond Cotton’s case of nitwit-itis torpedoes Ole Miss’s QB depth chart

A few weeks ago, Raymond Cotton was Ole Miss’s quarterback of the future.  Today, he’s on the verge of being South Alabama’s quarterback of the future.  How did it come to this?

For starters, Cotton’s never been completely healthy since he signed with Ole Miss in 2009.  A torn labrum in his throwing shoulder has only been further irritated by the increased number of passes he’s had to throw since becoming a collegian.

However, that injury didn’t prevent him from participating in the Ole Miss spring game this year, a game in which he didn’t fail to impress (5-of-7 for 178 yards and 2 scores).  But sophomore Nathan Stanley, who’s backed up Jevan Snead the last two seasons, also had a pretty good effort, going 11-of-16 for 166 yards and a couple of scores.

Following the game, here’s what Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt had to say:

“We’re not afraid to play Raymond Cotton,” Nutt said. “He’s can rise to the occasion. We will make a decision on his physical status in the next two weeks. The best case scenario is if Raymond can rehab and play, but we’re going to do what is best for Raymond.” (AP)

If you’re Nutt, what are your options?  Your backup quarterback from the previous season didn’t do anything to fall out of the race for the starting job while your prized redshirt freshman is nursing a bum shoulder.

It’s obvious to everyone observing the situation that Nutt couldn’t very well name Cotton the starter.  But instead of coming out and saying just that, Nutt hedged his bets a little bit.  His motivation for doing so may have been a desire to keep his quarterback’s spirits up.

However, instead of comforting Cotton, Nutt’s approach appeared to have emboldened him.  Reports started circulating weeks ago that he expected a lot of playing time this fall ahead of Stanley, whose superior knowledge of the offense didn’t appear to be that big of a deal to Cotton.

Apparently Cotton is of the belief that SEC coaches start inexperienced quarterbacks who have torn labrums all the time, it’s not that big of a deal.  Good health and familiarity with the playbook?  I guess those are both HIGHLY overrated attributes in the mind of a redshirt freshman.

If you think Cotton was getting these crazy theories on depth chart management from his parents, think again.  They, along with Ole Miss coaches, had been telling him to stay put:

“If (Raymond) listens to mom and dad, he’ll make the right decision,” Nutt said.

On Friday at Southeastern Conference Media Days, Nutt said Cotton’s status with the team was still uncertain. The redshirt freshman quarterback has told people on campus he plans on transferring after the summer semester, but Nutt still wants him to stay.

The third-year Ole Miss coach said he hoped to meet with Cotton and his parents sometime on Friday, and that the issues could be resolved by the end of the weekend. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)

Oh, there was a resolution, alright: Raymond Cotton is transferring, with a likely destination being South Alabama.  Why South Alabama?  He’s familiar with the Mobile area after his family moved there following his senior year of high school in Ft. Meade, Md.

It appears that Nutt and his staff did everything in their power to keep him in the fold.  Unfortunately for them, they were dealing with a kid who refused to look at the big picture.

Cotton’s head scratcher of a move now leaves Ole Miss with two scholarship quarterbacks, the aforementioned Stanley and junior college transfer Randall Mackey.  Ouch.

Suddenly, Ole Miss might be a very likely destination for Jeremiah Masoli, a guy whose rap sheet sank what had been a fantastic career at Oregon.

He’s got a year of eligibility left and can play immediately because he’s got his undergrad degree in hand.  But can Nutt afford to roll the dice on a troubled player who had two run-ins with the law in a six month period?

I don’t think Nutt really has a choice at this point, not with his quarterback depth chart in ruins.  He’d probably settle for a decent kid to fill the third string spot at this point.  But it would be a mighty nice luxury if the quick fix happened to be one of college football’s most dynamic talents.

Jeff Fisher’s new least favorite person: the coach of his alma mater

It’s damn near the end of July and USC head coach Lane Kiffin has gone and hired Kennedy Pola away from the Tennessee Titans to be his offensive coordinator.  This is after Kiffin stated publicly that he would be the one calling the plays this fall for the Trojans.

The trouble for Kiffin, who’s mastered the art of getting himself into hot water, is that by hiring one USC alum (Pola was USC Class of ‘85), he’s gone and pissed off another, that being Titans head coach Jeff Fisher (USC Class of ‘80).

“I am very disappointed in Lane Kiffin’s approach to this,’’ Fisher said. “Typically speaking when coaches are interested in hiring or discussing potential employment from coaches on respective staffs there is a courtesy call made from the head coach or athletic director indicating there is an interest in talking to the assistant.”

“So I am very disappointed in the lack of professionalism on behalf of Lane, to call me and leave me a voice mail after Kennedy had informed me he had taken the job. It is just a lack of professionalism.” (The Tennessean)

This has given Kiffin an opportunity to practice something else he’s gotten good at, that being damage control.  Here’s the statement he released today in an attempt to smooth things over:

“We reached out to Kennedy Pola yesterday to gauge whether he had any possible interest in returning to USC before we moved forward with the process.”

“Kennedy said he would think about it and get back to us today. Once Kennedy did call back earlier today, out of my great respect for Coach Fisher I immediately reached out to Coach to make him aware of the situation.”

“I have spoken with Coach Fisher and he now has an accurate understanding of the timeline of events.”

“We realize the timing of this isn’t perfect for all parties, but this is a great opportunity and promotion for Kennedy.” (Orange County Register)

I think it’s highly doubtful that Fisher would accept an invitation from Kiffin to give the Trojans a pep talk in the near future.  But whether or not Fisher and Kiffin speak to each other ever again isn’t what interests me in this matter.  No, what’s fascinating to me is what motivated this hire in the first place.

After running backs coach Todd McNair was released nearly a month ago in the fallout of the Reggie Bush scandal, it opened up a spot on the Trojan staff.  So you’d think the position of running backs coach would be the one that would be filled.

That’s exactly the position that Pola’s worked for the last six years in the NFL.  In fact, Pola was the running backs coach who preceded McNair at USC.  He left the school in early 2004 to take the same position with the Cleveland Browns, where he took over for…Todd McNair.

There’s no reason Pola would go back to USC and assume his old duties, not after he’s gotten a great reputation in the NFL for being a great tutor of running backs.  So it makes sense that nothing less than coordinating duties would lure him away from the Titans to work for Kiffin (I’m sure Pola will also tutor USC running backs as well, though).

But why would Kiffin give up those duties so close to the start of the season?  My theory is that it’s got something to do with last week’s hiring of Pat Haden as USC’s athletic director.

Did Haden force this hire as a way of putting his stamp on the program?  That might not ever be made clear, but the timing is mighty curious…and a little strange.  If this is Haden’s handiwork, then it appears he’s already confused about what an AD does.  His role is to keep the football program squeaky clean and on the good side of the NCAA, not to dictate who’s calling the plays in the Coliseum.  Whether you like Kiffin or not, that’s his job to decide.

Josh Shirley disgraces himsely at UCLA, but gets a reset at U-Dub

A little less than two weeks ago I speculated whether or not UCLA had to officially release three of its prized football recruits (Josh Shirley, Paul Richardson and Shaquille Richardson) after barring them from enrolling in school this fall.  UCLA’s actions came after the trio were arrested on suspicion of stealing another student’s purse.

First off, I can say for certain that the purse in question did NOT belong to Nikola Dragovic, the marshmallowy soft member of the UCLA men’s basketball team.   Secondly, it turns out UCLA did end up granting the three football players their official releases.

However, I’m still of the belief that the school didn’t need to, their actions up to that point had already voided the LOI’s, thus making Shirley and the two Richardsons recruitable players again. But that’s all neither here nor there.

There’s now been official confirmation from Washington that Shirley has enrolled there and will start his Husky career this fall:

Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian announced today that Josh Shirley, an incoming freshman student-athlete from Fontana, Calif., has signed a financial aid agreement and will join the Husky football team when players report to fall camp on Aug. 8.

“We are very aware of the circumstances surrounding Josh,” said Sarkisian. “We have done our due diligence and truly feel that this is not indicative of his true character or the way that he was raised. We are excited about the opportunity Josh has to excel on the football field, in the classroom and in his personal life in our environment, around our people at the University of Washington.” (University of Washington)

I’m a pretty easy going kind of guy, I’m all for a teenager being given a second chance if he owns up to a knuckleheaded move.  But has Shirley even had the time to own up to anything?  It seems like Sarkisian had this kid’s ass enrolled only moments after Rick Neuheisel got through putting his boot to it.

How about letting the kid cool out for a year at a junior college?  If no purses come up stolen at the school, then it’s all well and good, Josh learned his lesson and it’s on to a D-I program.  But instead, Shirley’s now enrolled in his second Pac-10 school this month.  And I’m sure he’s learned his lesson.

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