Louisiana Tech: Bark of a New Generation

Derek Dooley, the son of former Georgia coach Vince Dooley, was hired in December to replace Jack Bicknell at Louisiana Tech. He's a former attorney turned coach who spent the past seven years as an assistant to Nick Saban. Dooley scored points Monday during the Western Athletic Conference media day in San Jose with several entertaining quotes. Among them:

On Louisiana Tech's difficult travel schedule in the WAC: "I think it's an excuse. 'It's not fair we had to travel.' ... That's ludicrous. These guys are 18 years old, 20 years old, they stay out until 3 in the morning anyway. These guys don't even know what morning and night is. And you're telling me they're tired? I don't buy it."

On Louisiana Tech's need to play "money" games against big-time opponents: "Nick [Saban] always told me it's not about the money. It's about the amount."

Poster schedules: Florida State, Wyoming, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, Arkansas, Kent State, Navy, Duke, Purdue, Missouri, South Carolina, Wake Forest, Middle Tennessee, Brigham Young, Syracuse, South Florida, Colorado, Southern Mississippi, Washington State, Kentucky, Houston, Toledo, Iowa State, North Texas, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Clemson, North Carolina State, West Virginia, East Carolina, Nevada, Georgia Tech, Florida, Oklahoma, UCLA, Kansas State, Utah, Stanford, Auburn, Northwestern, Iowa, Texas El Paso, Penn State, Ohio, USC.

Booty Is the Man to Beat in Heisman Chase

USC quarterback John David Booty, left, is the frontrunner to win the Heisman, according to odds listed on the Internet.

Three of the past five Heismans have gone to players from USC, including quarterbacks Carson Palmer in 2002 and Matt Leinart in 2004. Reggie Bush won the award in 2005.

Chris Huston, who runs the site Heisman Pundit, outlined several reasons why Booty was considered the frontrunner when he was a guest on the radio show last weekend. You can listen to that interview by clicking here.

Huston also mentioned several darkhorse candidates, including Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller, who was not singled out on Bodog's list. Keller falls under field (all other players) and his chances are 7-1.

Unlike Booty, Keller's campaign is unique. His chances are not as strongly tied to Nebraska's record, much like Booty's are to USC, and he will have the opportunity to put up monster games against some questionable secondaries in the Big 12.

The Los Angeles Times, using odds from Vegas Insider, listed Booty (5-1) as the favorite along with West Virginia's Steve Slaton (5-1) and ahead of Arkansas' Darren McFadden (6-1), Louisville's Brian Brohm (6.5-1) and Hawaii's Colt Brennan (8-1) Below are Heisman odds according to Bodog:
7-2
Brian Brohm, Louisville
4-1
John David Booty, USC
9-2
Steve Slaton, West Virginia
5-1
Darren McFadden, Arkansas
7-1
Colt Brennan, Hawaii; Ray Rice, Rutgers
8-1
Mike Hart, Michigan
10-1
Tim Tebow, Florida
14-1
Pat White, West Virginia
15-1
Chad Henne, Michigan; C.J. Spiller, Clemson
18-1
Colt McCoy, Texas
20-1
Chase Daniel, Missouri; Percy Harvin, Florida
22-1
C.J. Gable, USC
25-1
Jonathan Stewart, Oregon
40-1
Anthony Morelli, Penn State
50-1
Matthew Stafford, Georgia

Money Talks, B.S. Walks

Do sports justify eminent domain? Yes, they do. At least in Stillwater, where a judge ended a year of court battles between residents and Oklahoma State, which is bankrolled these days by T. Boone Pickens (click the cartoon above).

It started when Oklahoma State expressed a desire to build a $316 athletic village just north of campus. It needed 331 properties for the project, funded in large part by a $165 million donation by Pickens. Most of the properties were residential homes.

At the center of the fight was whether Oklahoma State could use eminent domain, or the taking of private land for public use, to build an athletic complex for use only by university athletes. Construction has already begun.

Residents fought with all their might, including turning to the Internet. First the site Boone State was started, followed by OK State Expansion.

But the last hurdle for Oklahoma State was cleared Monday when District Judge Donald Worthington ruled that the university had the right to take a small ranch house and land owned by brothers Kevin and Joel McCloskey. The property is 3,000 square feet and sits where plans call for an indoor pitchers' bullpen in the village.

The brothers plan to appeal to the state Supreme Court, a process that could take several years. If the McCloskeys win (a longshot to say the least), they could get control of the property back, despite university construction on it.

Hodin Takes Stand, Defends Decisions

They continue to grind away at Crewcut Charlie Weis' malpractice lawsuit against Massachusetts General Hospital doctors Charles Ferguson and Richard Hodin, with the case expected to go to the jury this week.

Hodin, right, was on the stand Monday. He was entrusted with Weis' post-operative care after the gastric bypass surgery by Ferguson.

Hodin's decisions were criticized earlier by San Diego surgeon Alan Wittgrove, who said Hodin should not have administered the blood-thinning drug Heparin while Weis was hemorrhaging. Hodin eventually performed a second surgery to stop the bleeding.

The trail continues to draw interest outside of college football. David Frank of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly used Weis' retrial to examine who might have the upper hand the second time around and why many attorneys dislike a second trial.

"It's a worse-case scenario to have to do it again because, from a trial lawyer's point of view, it's really hard to bring the same amount of mojo to a second trial as it is to a first," said Thomas Peisch of Boston, a member of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association. "Whether people admit it or not, it's hard to get as pumped up and ready to go for the second trial."

Previous coverage:
Preview: A legal perspective
Day 1: Battle lines drawn
Day 2: Weis' hired hand returns
Day 3: Weis takes the stand
Day 4: Team Weis scores a victory
Day 5: Weis' story is questioned
The mistrial: A look back at our coverage of the first trial.

Let's Check In on Life at the Bottom

Who, in their wildest imagination, would sign up for this? Losses in 72 of the past 81 games. A national-best (worst?) 20-game losing streak. A 23-game losing streak that was stopped in 2002. A coach with a 5-34 record. Seven wins in the past five seasons.

Yes, we're talking Duke football.

"Last year was bad for us," Miami offensive lineman Derrick Morse told Wendell Barnhouse of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "We only won seven games and I almost feel embarrassed. If I didn't care about winning, I would have went to Duke."

But Blue Devil players are talking like they might be preparing for something this season, even if it's not big.

"You have to be on the inside of the program to know that things are going in the right direction," safety Chris Davis said. "It's hard to explain that to people, to get everybody to understand because it all comes down to wins. We just have to win to prove to everybody we can."

It doesn't help that Duke and coach Ted Roof, pictured above, are facing one of the nation's toughest schedules. The Blue Devils play only five home games and among the road games are trips to Miami, Florida State and Notre Dame.

Syracuse Tries to Make a Sudden Impact

It doesn't get any easier for Greg Robinson in his third year as Syracuse coach. The Orange open at home against Washington, travel to Iowa, then play host to Illinois. Road games at Louisville and Miami (Ohio) follow, then West Virginia and then Rutgers come to the Carrier Dome.

Poster schedules: Florida State, Wyoming, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, Arkansas, Kent State, Navy, Duke, Purdue, Missouri, South Carolina, Wake Forest, Middle Tennessee, Brigham Young, Louisiana Tech, South Florida, Colorado, Southern Mississippi, Washington State, Kentucky, Houston, Toledo, Iowa State, North Texas, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Clemson, North Carolina State, West Virginia, East Carolina, Nevada, Georgia Tech, Florida, Oklahoma, UCLA, Kansas State, Utah, Stanford, Auburn, Northwestern, Iowa, Texas El Paso, Penn State, Ohio, USC.

And the Best Part? You Don't Pay Taxes!

No, Iowa senator Charles Grassley isn't asking for a measurement before deciding if he should go for it on fourth down. Something tells us he's not much of a football fan. Grassley is making the rounds again, asking the NCAA to justify its tax-exempt status.

Not much headway has been made by Grassley since we first told you about this in March, but he raises good questions, especially when NCAA honcho Myles Brand, one of our favorite targets, is pulling down $895,000 in salary.

All this to run tax-exempt, amateur athletics. Nothing like exploiting the workers/athletes.

Nicholas Johnson, a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, suggests that Grassley is going down the right path.

Johnson, who now resides in Iowa City, points to the hometown university as an example.

"Iowa spent $90 million refurbishing the Kinnick Stadium — and for what? Six games will be played there this year. Most games run about 3-1/2 hours [and include, I'm told, a total of about 7 to 12 minutes of actual action, with multiples of that time devoted to commercials].

"At 24 hours a day, and 365 days a year, counting 3-1/2 hours a game, that's 21 hours of use out of 8760 hours a year — 99.76% of the time sitting empty; 24/100ths of 1% of the time being used. ... Grassley's just asking — not declaring, just asking — what does this multi-billion-dollar industry have to do with charitable, tax deductible contributions for 'educational purposes'? Good question."