Southern Miss revokes scholarships over racist chants

That didn't take long. The that I'm referring to is the University of Southern Mississippi administration taking away the scholarships of those who participated in the "Where's Your Green Card?" chant directed at Kansas State point guard Angel Rodriguez.

The five members of the pep band lost their scholarships, were removed from the band, and ordered to complete a two-hour cultural sensitivity training course this week.

USM issued an apology last week to Kansas State point guard Angel Rodriguez after he was the target of chants of "Where's your green card?" during the Wildcats' 70-64 second-round victory in the NCAA tournament. Rodriguez had 13 points and four assists in the game. 


"The students have been forthcoming, cooperative, contrite and sincerely remorseful. They acted rashly and inappropriately, and now see the gravity of their words and actions," Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Joe Paul said in a statement. "This is a teachable moment, not only for these students but for our entire student body and those who work with them."


Rodriguez has taken all of this in stride and to his credit hasn't made much of a stir about it.

Rodriguez said last week he accepted the apology because "there's ignorant people and I know that's not how they want to represent their university.


Besides, Rodriguez is from Puerto Rico which is a U.S. commonwealth and don't need green cards to come over to the great 48. Next time they might want to get their facts straight.

Zeigler leaving Central Michigan

Trey Zeigler and Ray McCallum Jr. were decorated, four star recruits coming out of high school. Both decdied against high major offers to play for their fathers at Central Michigan (Ernie Zeigler) and Detroit (Ray McCallum Sr.) respectively.

Zeigler reportedly will be leaving Central Michigan after his dad was fired from his head coaching position.

 Central Michigan star Trey Zeigler, whose father, Ernie, was fired as CMU's head coach last week, has been granted his release from school, according to collegebasketballtalk.com, and will transfer.


Zeigler will visit Duke this weekend, and also has heard from UCLA, Pittsburgh, Michigan and Michigan State, according to a tweet from All Eyes on U Hoops, which covers Midwest basketball recruiting. The Recruit Scoop tweeted that Zeigler will choose from MSU, Duke, UCLA and Detroit Mercy. 


I think he might wind up with UCLA as they were one of his finalists coming out of high school. With Michigan State signing Gary Harris in next year's class and Michigan's class full I don't think he'll land at either one of those schools. I don't know about situations elsewhere, but the darkhorse in this derby would be Detroit, as McCallum and Zeigler are reportedly pretty good friends.

Berkman feels Selig extorted the Astros

Lance Berkman may find himself in a meeting with the commissioner for some rather opinionated statements he had regarding the sale and impending move of the Houston Astros to the American League.

Berkman was a long time Astro and still a popular figure in the Houston area, even though he plays for the division rival St. Louis Cardinals. He didn't bite his tongue on his feelings about how Bud Selig handled the sale of the Astros and says he would tell him if he was given the chance.

"I hate it. I feel like, basically, the commissioner extorted Jim Crane into moving the Astros," Berkman said of Houston's new owner during a conversation with two reporters.   


"If he (Selig) called me, I would tell him," Berkman said. 


Berkman also said he would have no problem telling Selig he extorted the Astros.

"Yeah, because I think that's exactly what it was: "We're going to hold the sale of the team up until you guys agree to switch'," Berkman said. "And it just so happens that the Astros were being sold right at the optimal time for that to happen."


Furthermore Berkman doesn't like the Astros' move to American League and doesn't care for their style of baseball. He says it makes no sense for the Astros to go to the American League and if anyone should go it should be the Milwaukee Brewers.

"It makes a heck of a lot more sense for the Brewers to go back to the American League from a historical standpoint," Berkman said. "Maybe not geographically, but it makes limited sense for the Astros to move from a geographic standpoint because they have the Rangers but then most of their away games are going to be starting at 9:30 p.m. Houston time.


"I just think when you have a franchise that has 50 years as a National League entity, and then you switch over to the American League, I just don't like it. I'm not in favor of it. I don't like the AL style of baseball to begin with. That plus the history element of it makes it ... I don't like it." 


I do agree that Milwaukee should make the switch back to the American League since they have a team built for that style of play. But from a competitive standpoint, I don't think the Brewers can win consistently with the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Angels and Rangers around.

Vladimir Guerrero may be thinking of heading to Japan

Surprisingly no one has given any thought of signing Vladimir Guerrero. He can still swing it, even though he has to cheat on fastballs, but he can no longer play in the field.

That almost spells it out for anyone. I guess no one has room for a one trick pony on their roster, if your name isn't Manny Ramirez. Guerrero does plan on playing somewhere though. He just doesn't know where. According to his agent, one of his options may be playing in Japan.

Fernando Cuza indicated to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com that Guerrero will wait around for the phone to ring until the end of spring training, but considering he has no business playing the outfield at this point and so few teams aren’t already set with designated hitter options the market for Guerrero seems unlikely to heat up. 

Guerrero, who had a reputation of being a notorious bad ball hitter, was one of my favorites because of that aforementioned trait. I wouldn't like to see him end his career in Japan, but you have to do what you have to do. I wouldn't want to see him flailing away helplessly and being overmatched against major league pitching.

I would bet on someone throwing him a bone before the season starts.      

20 questions

1. Shouldn't Vlad Guerrero be signed already?

2. Why doesn't Pete Gillen have job?

3. Is this the official end of Tebowmania?

4. Did the Lakers make the best trade deadline moves and are they in prime position to challenge the Thunder?

5. Have the Wizards finally rid themselves of their headcases?

6. Will Gilbert Arenas have an impact on the Grizzlies?

7. Can Peyton Manning get the Broncos multiple Super Bowl trophies?

8. Don't you think if Florida State had an offense like the old Pat Kennedy days they'd be advancing?

9. Wouldn't Shaka Smart be wise to stay at VCU?

10. Isn't it good to see N.C. State on the national stage?

11. Who is impressed with how Royce White played this season?

12. When will there be another great American heavyweight?

13. Is this the year everyone stops knocking LeBron?

14. What will it take for Pacquiao and Mayweather to step into the ring?

15. Does Michigan really have a chance against Alabama in college football's opener?

16. Why do women's basketball produce so many blowouts?

17. Is Perry Jones III really a lottery pick?

18. Will the Phillies dominate the NL East again?

19. Wouldn't it be nice to see UNLV return to their renegade winning ways?

20. Will Tiger Woods ever win another major?  

UNC's Kendall Marshall breaks his wrist

Just when North Carolina got John Henson back from a wrist injury, another Tar Heel goes down with a wrist injury. This one might be the most important.

Point guard Kendall Marshall fractured his wrist late in a third round win over Creighton. Now an already thin guard corps gets even thinner with the seldom used Stillman White as the only healthy ballhandler on the team. This could be a big blow to North Carolina's national championship hopes.

Marshall was probably the best point guard in the nation, as he knew how to set up his talented teammates and put them in prime position to score. He also started to find his scoring rhythm as the season went on. Even though the Tar Heels boast four future pros on the team Marshall was the conductor on the Carolina freight train.

The Heels will still be dangerous, but whether they'll be championship good without Marshall remains to be seen.    

Stay in school alert: Texas guard J'Covan Brown

With the first weekend of the NCAA tournament coming to a close. There will be plenty of speculation of who will be staying in school and who will take the option of entering the NBA Draft.

One such player is Texas guard J'Covan Brown. Brown was the leading scorer on this year's Longhorns squad, which featured six freshman in the playing rotation. That made him the team's unquestioned leader. On previous more talent laden Longhorns teams Brown was overlooked during his freshman and sophomore years. This year Brown stepped it up more out of necessity since the Longhorns had to have someone take the big shot or generate any offense.

Brown now has his eyes on the NBA. He does have the skills to run the point but with Myck Kabongo starting alongside him, Brown had to play off the ball a lot more this year. He won't do that in the NBA. At 6-1 he would be overmatched by bigger 2 guards. He can play point but he never had to do it on a full time basis. If you look at his stats, he needs to work on his shot.

After the tournament loss to Cincinnati, Brown didn't give a straight answer as to whether he'd come back or not.

"At the end of the day, I have family to take care of " Brown said. He does have a 1 year old daughter and I can see why he might be tempted by future earnings. But I think he may be going overseas to make a living. I'm no scout so I could be wrong but I know there are some that might agree with me.