Kurt's Thoughts

Uh oh.  Looks like there’s blood in the waters around USC Athletics and the media sharks are beginning to circle their next meal.  Anyone else get the feeling that someone’s about to get a long overdue visit from the oversight committee of the NCAA?

• CBS SPORTS:  Double trouble lands USC atop era’s cheat sheet
  “…This is the most scandalous athletic program of this era … and that’s saying something.”
  http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/11746214

  CBS SPORTS:  Basketball troubles could pour over to USC’s gridiron
  ”The loss of 15 scholarships over three years, a postseason ban, forfeits including a Pac-10 title and… ripping that 2004 national championship.”
  http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/11746785

• SEATTLE TIMES:  Building a case to take down Tony Soprano, I mean USC
  “…all signs indicate they’ll be punished to the brink of irrelevance for quite a while.”
  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jerrybrewer/2009217849_brewer14.html
• YAHOO SPORTS:  USC probe centers on control
  “Yahoo! Sports has identified 17 individuals who have been interviewed at least once – and some multiple times – by the NCAA. However, that number is believed to only be a small portion of those who have met with NCAA investigators in connection with the USC probe…
  Two sources also have confirmed the NCAA has spoken with the FBI…”
  http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news;_ylt=AnGwZEVGNR5Cxn.2YRfN9m_EnZF4?slug=ys-uscprobe051209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
• FOX SPORTS:  NCAA needs to throw the book at USC
  ”If you can’t put the University of Southern California in jail, you might as well close up shop. Declare amateur athletics dead. And get rid of your most beloved rules, which wouldn’t mean anything anyway.”
  http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/9569020/NCAA-needs-to-throw-the-book-at-USC
• ESPN:  Mayo investigations going strong
  ”Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo has communicated with the U.S. Attorney’s office amid allegations that federal laws may have been violated when Mayo’s former adviser gave him money and gifts during his high school and college career, according to a source with knowledge of the case.”
  http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4165378
• BLEACHER REPORT:  O.J. Mayo Took Money While at USC—Can’t Say I’m Surprised
  ”The Trojans are obviously delving into shady tactics with their recruiting efforts in all their athletic programs.  What will it take for the NCAA to actually step in and say something, or are they too scared to touch the golden boy that is USC?”
  http://bleacherreport.com/articles/174209-oj-mayo-took-money-while-at-usc-cant-say-im-surprised
• LOS ANGELES TIMES:  Did USC’s Tim Floyd pay for O.J. Mayo?
  ”Attorney Salerno said of Floyd: "It will be interesting to see if USC now backs him or throws him under the bus. . . . They can say, ‘Maybe we were negligent with Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo getting money, TVs and all that, but in no way can we condone what has happened here.’"

“The NCAA investigation alone may have already caused USC to lose another top basketball recruit, 6-10 power forward Renardo Sidney of Los Angeles Fairfax High. Sidney, who is ranked among the nation’s top senior big men, had announced his intention to accept a scholarship from USC, but the school later stopped recruiting him.
The Times reported that school sources, speaking anonymously because of the sensitive nature of the situation, said questions about the Sidney family’s finances had prompted school administrators to instruct Floyd to withdraw a scholarship offer.”
http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/basketball/la-sp-usc-mayo13-2009may13,0,5808708.story

You know what I think is particularly sad?  The number of fans like this guy who constantly drag out the ridiculous argument that “all teams do it” and “there’s no way to control student behavior"… without even realizing that they’re admitting that even they believe their beloved USC is corruption-laden and about to find its head on the NCAA chopping block.  To these folks, apparently, since “everyone does it”, that makes USC just like everyone else.

And last I checked, “everyone else” didn’t have a rap sheet that looked like this:

• USC Athletics Program’s Long Road to an Aggregated, Unified NCAA Investigation
  http://kurtsthoughts.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!97895BBB8AD10F37!1465.entry

Cesar Millan’s special episode of

The Dog Whisperer:
Inside Puppy Mills 
Friday, May 8 @ 9:00 pm ET/PT

…on the National Geographic channel

Every year, more than one million purebred and "designer" dogs are born and bred into puppy mills – often packed in tiny wire cages, neglected, dehydrated, dirty and chronically sick with little or no human interaction or affection- and then sold legally to pet stores throughout the country. 

In a powerful new Dog Whisperer episode, Cesar Millan goes undercover with Last Chance for Animals’ Special Investigation Unit to witness the horrors of puppy mills firsthand and works to rehabilitate these dogs who have never known the world outside their overcrowded cages or learned how to interact with humans.  Watch Cesar teach the LCA team how to rehabilitate the traumatized dogs from the moment they are rescued out of their cages.

"We are from two different points of rescuing," Cesar says of LCA, "They do the physical rescue, I do the psychological rescue.  So together it’s a team, it’s a good pack.  When you bring a dog into your life, please do your homework and don’t buy a dog from a puppy mill.  Visit a local shelter or rescue group instead."

Check out the premiere episode Friday, May 8th at 9pm ET/PT!
(Also airs Sunday, May 10th at 6am & Friday, May 15th at 2pm)

Meet our beloved dog, Sheepa.  We adopted him about 4 years ago a little after my wife and I got married.  Back then he was about 10 years old and he was very much "alone”.  His appearance was very poor, his fur a tattered mess, and next to the newborn puppies and prettier dogs up for adoption at the local shelter, he didn’t stand a chance.

So of course we adopted him.  And today, he looks ‘fabulous’.

Today, Sheepa, my wife and I went to the Century City shopping mall to run some errands and as we were walking along to the Papyrus store to buy some Mother’s Day cards and Thank You cards, I took some pictures of Sheepa and my wife “on their day out”. 

We ended up passing by the “Paris Hilton” store.

And as we’re walking along the outskirts of the store, Sheepa stopped and… well… the photos should be self-explanatory:

One word:  PWNED.  We love our adopted dog!  Go Sheepa go!