1. It’s too bad the Titans have to pay Pacman Jones. At this point, I were in the Titans’ front office, I’d try to dump his troublemaking tail.

Jones was arrested outside a bar early Friday and charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication. The Titans’ players have to be getting tired of this chump, in his second year in Nashville. The guy has been a pain in the behind from the moment he arrived.

Kudos to Titans’ coach Jeff Fisher for sitting Jones for Saturday’s exhibition at Atlanta, which was to be a Homecoming for Jones who’s from the Atlanta area.

“I am going sit him out of this game on principle and not because I believe he is guilty in this case based on what I believe the facts are at this time,” coach Jeff Fisher said in a statement released Friday. “Last January I let the team know that they would be held to a higher standard and this does not meet that standard.”
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1.No shock here that the NCAA ruled that Notre Dame football and basketball players who participated in promotional spots for a South Bend TV sports talk show won’t be penalized. The NCAA said there was no indication the violations were intentional.

I’m torn on this one. As I said a few days ago, it’s a stupid rule, yet it’s a rule that every school knows about and has known about for a long time.

But the NCAA penalize mighty Notre Dame for anything? Are you kidding? Won’t happen.
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1. Is anyone really shocked that U of M basketball coach John Calipari allowed Jeremy Hunt back on the team?

Hunt was permanently dismissed from the team last October after a fight on Beale Street, and that followed a misdemeanor assault on his ex-girlfriend nine months earlier. Hunt graduated earlier this month.

In the past, most coaches at any school would have told Hunt “good luck with your life” and moved on. But the rules of the game have changed.

Ever since the NCAA passed a rule a few months ago stating that a Division 1-A athlete who earns a degree and has eligibility left can transfer to another D-1A school and become immediately eligible, then you have some cases like Hunt. He became a free agent, meaning any school could sign him.

Calipari doesn’t want to get beat by a player he tossed off the team. There were other schools interested in Hunt, most notably Tennessee. Do you think Cal wanted to play Tennessee this season if the Vols had Hunt in the lineup?

Cal did everything he could to get Hunt back in school, and U of M President Shirley Raines apparently finally relented. So is it wrong to allow Hunt back on the team? Morally, probably so.

But the bottom line is that if the U of M didn’t allow Hunt back, some other coach would have signed him. Every school wants to win and most of them don’t care about a two-time offender like Hunt. Like Cal, they’ll spin it as a young man who is reformed.

It’s the same old story, with a bit of a new twist, because of that goofy new NCAA rule.
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1. Does outgoing NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue really think he can bully Bryant Gumbel?

Here’s the scenario. Gumbel, one of the best sports TV journalists in the business, who does great work HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” suggested on his latest show that Tagliabue show his successor “where he keeps Gene Upshaw’s leash.”

“Before he cleans out his office,” Gumbel said, “have Paul Tagliabue show you where he keeps Gene Upshaw’s leash. By making the docile head of the players union his personal pet, your predecessor has kept the peace without giving players the kind of guarantees other pros take for granted. Try to make sure no one competent ever replaces Upshaw on your watch.”

Gumbel was hired earlier this summer by the two-year-old NFL Network to do play-by-play on several late season games. But after Gumbel’s stinging remarks, Tagliabue isn’t so sure he wants Gumbel.
“Having looked at how other people have had buyer’s remorse when they took positions, I guess they suggest to me that maybe he’s having buyer’s remorse and they call into question his desire to do the job and to do it in a way that we in the NFL would expect it to be done,” the commissioner said.

Gumbel said when he took the NFL Network job as a side gig, it was with the understanding he wouldn’t be a mouthpiece for the network. Good for Gumbel. It’s nice to have so much money that you can throw a nice paying job opportunity away by standing up for your principles.
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1. It’s nothing I hadn’t seen before – Shane Battier taking a charge from one of the largest human beings on the planet.

It happened in Team USA’s win over China on Sunday night. Battier stood in the path of China center and new Houston Rockets teammate Yao Ming, after Yao picked up a loose ball at midcourt and figured he’d run over the only defender between he and the goal – Battier.

I remember when Battier once took a charge from then-Lakers’ center Shaquiille O’Neal. Shaq got the ball near the top of the guy and drove to the basket. Defenders were jumping out of the way like they were at the running of the bulls.

All except Battier. He held his ground, Shaq planted him and Battier slid to just about to the first row of seats under the basket. The most amazing thing was the officials actually whistled Shaq for the charge.

I remember turning to Griz beat writer Ron Tillery and saying, “That’s the most gutty thing I’ve ever seen.”
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1. The more I read about this, the more it seems like a bad “Saturday Night Live” sketch. Or something that should be in the script if there’s ever a sequel to “The Waterboy.”

The NFL announced this past week it would not take any disciplinary action against the Titans after their mascot’s golf cart ran into Saints’ quarterback Adrian McPherson at halftime of the exhibition game between the teams.

The Titans’ mascot is called T-Rac, a buffed up raccoon who looks like he’s on speed dial to Barry Bonds’ trainer. While McPherson was jogging back on the field for the start of the second half, T-Rac turned into Ricky Bobby, throwing items into the stands while driving a golf cart. T-Rac didn’t see McPherson and rammed him, causing McPherson to suffer a deep knee bruise.

He hasn’t been able to practice since. McPherson has had his share of troubles in his career. He signed with Florida State, but was tossed out of FSU for gambling. Now when it seems he’s about to get his career on track, he gets hammered by a giant raccoon in a golf cart.

T-Rac by the way, is played by Pete Nelson, who has the actual title of director of mascot operations. To avoid anymore accidents in the future, Pete (T-Rac) needs to get a golf cart driver. Maybe if the Saints cut McPherson, the Titans can sign him and have him drive T-Rac until the knee heals.
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1. Notre Dame is investigating the possibility it committed a minor NCAA rules violation, one of those NCAA rules that makes you want to grind your teeth.

There’s an NCAA ruled stating an athlete can’t tape a TV or radio spot to promote a program. Like if Chris Vernon of 730 ESPN in Memphis asked a University of Memphis player to tape a promo saying, “This is U of M quarterback Martin Hankins and listen to The Chris Vernon Show, because I do,” that’s an NCAA violation.

Last year USC quarterback Matt Leinart had his eligibility temporarily revoked after appearing in a promotional segment on ESPN. Leinart was reinstated after Southern California petitioned the NCAA. The NCAA said Leinart’s actions were “unintentional and inadvertent.”

Supposedly, Notre Dame football and basketball players taped spots promoting “Sports Dogz” on WSBT-TV in South Bend. Notre Dame said it doesn’t know for sure if it’s an NCAA violation. Yes, it is a violatiom. And if Notre Dame doesn’t know, then somebody in the athletic department is ignorant.

But the point is, why is the stupid rule even in the NCAA rule book?
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