Why isn’t Tim Floyd punished?

First let me clarify one thing — I don’t think any college basketball player should ever be suspended for receiving free tickets to an NBA game. I think the NCAA is too strict on what student-athletes can get as it is, and basketball tickets to one game isn’t that big of a deal.

So I don’t think O.J. Mayo should have been suspended for six games for taking tickets from Carmelo Anthony.

The NCAA did think so, however. At least until Tim Floyd told them it was his fault, then they changed their mind. From the LA Times:

USC Coach Tim Floyd’s admission of complicity in the acceptance of free Lakers tickets by O.J. Mayo appears to have spared the freshman guard a suspension of at least six games, according to information released by the NCAA on Saturday.

That bothers me, because I can’t find any report saying Tim Floyd was punished or reprimanded.

If the NCAA thought taking the tickets was a big enough deal to suspend a player for six games (over 20% of the season), then surely, a coach telling the player it’s OK is also a big deal, right? Why wasn’t Tim Floyd fined or suspended?

This sets up a dangerous precedent for the NCAA — it’s acceptable for college athletes to take free gifts, as long as their coaches sign off on it first, whether it’s against the rules or not. There’s also the possibility that coaches can just say afterwards they allowed it, whether the player checked with them or not.

Floyd issued contradictory statements about his involvement, at first saying he had no idea how Mayo obtained the tickets and then saying he had cleared Mayo to take the tickets from Anthony since the players were longtime friends.

It sounds like Floyd may have avoided a suspension to his star player by putting the blame on himself, even if it wasn’t warranted. A dangerous precedent indeed.

(Hat-tip to Bruins Nation.)

62 days’ til Opening Day

UPDATE: Video should work now. Sorry.

There’s 62 days left until that best day of the year, MLB Opening Day.

62 is also the number of RBI Troy Glaus had in 2007. That number is lower than usual because Glaus missed a lot of time due to injury, he still had an OPS+ of 120.

Of course, me and fellow Angel fans will always remember Glaus for his time as an Angel, including driving in the game-winning runs in that epic Game 6 of the 2002 World Series, where the Angels were down 5-0 heading to the bottom of the seventh and still won.

Glaus is on the St. Louis Cardinals now, recently traded there. Look for Glaus to hit pinatas in St. Louis backyards now instead of Toronto.