College Athletics taking a turn and the Gold Cup beckoning

College Athletics: It’s not an amateur game anymore.

During the last year, we have seen a dangerous practice that has been occurring in college athletics for numerous years come to the national fore front. Last Monday, Jim Tressel relieved himself of his position as the head football coach of The Ohio State University. He was accused of lying to the NCAA about allegations of star football players pawning off their collegiate memorabilia in exchange for free tattoos. As I viewed various sports stations through the week, I saw various sports analysts, anchors, and journalist give Jim Tressel a short of pass in his inexcusable behavior. I can bet my entire yearly pay check that if these athletes were third string caliber players, the compliance committee would have been notified of the rumors and allegations by coach Tressel within seconds.

     This is another case of the deadly trend that has been transcending big time college athletics. Big time college sports has transformed into professional sports because the only two areas that are imperative in college sports are money and wins and losses. In 2010, when Bruce Pearl was accused of lying to the NCAA, he was able to hold his position as head coach until The University of Tennessee was eliminated from The NCAA Tournament. The only reason why coach Pearl was able to obtain his position was due to the fact that he was the main contributor to the turnaround in the basketball program. If you believe that college athletics is about morals and instilling values, you are not living on the planet we call earth. The words honesty and integrity have been eradicated from the college game, and I’m not sure if these words will ever raise up form the dead.

Until next week, keep climbing up the lord’s ladder.

The Gold Cup beckons... 

The CONCACAF Gold Cup commences this week with nations all around the Caribbean and Central and North America vying for Continental glory. Two years ago the favored teams met in the final which ended in a 5-0 demolition of the home team, USA by southern neighbors Mexico in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Two years later both teams are still considered favorites however Costa Rica are looking to put an end to the double nation dominance. Mexico won five Gold Cups opposed to the United States’ four. Mexico’s group contains Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Cuba while the USA’s group consists of Canada, Panama, and Guadeloupe. Arguably the toughest opponent for Mexico is Costa Rica and for the USA is their Northern neighbors Canada.

In 2009, USA’s squad consisted mainly of reserve players due to the Confederations Cup that was played prior to the Gold Cup. USA made the final in that competition as well only to see their 2-0 halftime lead disappear against Brazil towards the end of the game in a 3-2 loss. The stars and stripes were impressive in the Gold Cup but even though the half time score was 0-0 against Mexico in the final, the Aztecas second half dominance proved too strong for them.

This year USA has most of the big stars in Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey, Steve Cherundulo, Carlos Bocanegra, and Tim Howard. These are the veteran members of our national team and all know how to play their part almost perfectly. The tournament will be very exciting so Soccer fans enjoy the treat that is at your disposal. Enjoy the beautiful game. Until next week, keep climbing up the lord’s ladder.

NateReySports will be taking off this Summer.

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