Sports Editor

Boy, talk about scandal.

I’m referring to that mess up in Memphis. $200,000 dollars for a kid that has yet to prove he belongs in an Alabama jersey.

A remarkable tale if false and an ugly blot on collegiate athletics if it is true.

And, if confirmed, poor Albert Means didn’t know a thing about it, which is really the most horrible aspect of this entire story. The coach got paid, (allegedly), and Albert Means didn’t even get

a few sets of clothes, an alarm clock or even school supplies.

If Means had been the one to take the money, we would all be saying, "That’s typical. It’s happened before." But now it’s the coach, who supposedly sold Albert Means down the river to Tuscaloosa, and made off with Two Hundred G’s of somebody’s money, somebody possibly connected with the University of Alabama.

However, what’s really funny about the whole deal is that the situation suddenly blew up right smack dab in the middle of recruiting season.

Funny.

Names have been tossed around like next years auditions for Temptation Island, but nothing’s been proven yet. I’m sure you’ve heard the same ones I have – Ivy Williams (former UA assistant coach), Lynn Lang (the man who supposedly got Paid, with a capital P), Logan Young and Roy Adams (one booster for Alabama and one booster for Tennessee, who have a habit of hating each other).

Like I said, talk about scandal.

And like Forrest Gump said:

"That’s all I have to say about that."

Moving on to…

Basketball. It’s the one sport that, when watching, really makes me feel as if I could still jump out on the court and play. And I could, if the game revolved around just standing on

one spot and waiting to shoot, (bad knees, you know). However, basketball involves jumping, sprinting, squatting and not to mention sweating and shooting. Shooting I can do. Heck, anyone can shoot. The problem I have is getting the ball to drop in the net. Sprinting’s cool, if it doesn’t involve any sudden stops, (such as crashing head on into an opposing player set to take the charge), and jumping, which I could never get much height anyway, got even harder once I blew out both knees.

No wonder basketball has been called one of the most strenuous sports played in America.

And good basketball is fun to watch.

I prefer college and high school. When March rolls around, things get crazy with the NCAA

National Tournament. I especially like watching the bracket develop, seeing which team is going where and which teams have earned themselves a No. 1 seed.

Then there’s the office pools. We had one last year and I missed out by maybe four points of claiming the jackpot. That honor went to Troy State SID Director Tom Strother. He picked Michigan State and I picked Michigan State to win it all, however he had Florida going a lot further in his bracket, then I did in mine. (Thanks Tom, for being the one to ruin my chances for the money.)

As for the NBA…

Forget about it. It’s a league that is made up of either babies (the Shaq-Kobe feud), or old men who don’t know when to quit,(Karl Malone).