Success with Hyperlinking is Doing The Telescope

Updated Rule Book The NCAA has moved forward to approve several new football rules that were proposed in February. Most seem to make sense, but this one raises a huge red flag:

The new rule in football means that discipline for those players flagged for violations will mirror the penalty for fighting. If the foul occurs in the first half of a game, the player is ejected for the remainder of the game. If the foul occurs in the second half or overtime of a game, the player is ejected for the remainder of the game and the first half of the next contest.

In an effort to address concerns when one of these plays is erroneously called on the field, the ejection portion of the penalty will be reviewable through video replay. The replay official must have conclusive evidence that a player should not be ejected to overturn the call on the field.

A major concern is that these hits happen so quickly, it's often nearly impossible for an official to clearly determine if illegal contact had occurred. It seems that it's come to the point where ANY vicious hit will draw a flag, regardless if it's clean or not. The booth review will be helpful, but how many times will a player unnecessarily lose playing time because of a lack of refutable evidence? I have a feeling this rule will be revisited following the season.

Wrestling is the New Lacrosse Pennlive had an interesting article on incoming run-on Adam Geiger and why he choose to continue with football and end a long and promising wrestling career. Between Geiger and Glenn Carson, fully expect to hear about this EVERY SINGLE GAME from the announcers if he finds a way to hit the field next season.

BREAKING NEWS: Football Player Goes to Football Practice You know what college football players do fairly often? They go to football practice. So one of the best players in the nation showing up to practice qualifies as a non-story, correct? Not according to ESPN, who thought South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney's appearance at a spring practice was front page material. This was all brought on when the talking heads at ESPN began speculating that Clowney would just quit the team prior to his junior year to rest up and prepare for the NFL draft. Because in ESPN's world, NFL general managers don't frown upon a football player quitting on his team and missing a year of football. Of course, this is the same organization who probably believe the entire universe would be sucked into a black hole if its talking heads ran out vacuous debates.

Iowa Zack 10 Bucks Kirk Ferentz hired Tyler Barnes to join the Iowa's football program as an administrative assistant prior to last season without conducting a search. Even more troubling is that Barnes just so happens to be Ferentz's future son-in-law. Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta will be looking into the matter to determine if any nepotism occurred. My guess is that Barnes may want to dust off his resume.

Do the Telescope Either this has been a thing that I just didn't know about, or this Villanova player created a spectacular new celebration just in time for March Madness.

Around the Big Ten Sports illustrated's Stewart Mandel takes a look around the Big Ten and discusses the biggest question marks for each program heading into the spring. While settling on a replacement at quarterback is the first thing that pops into the head for most Nittany Lion fans, Mandel brings up a valid point and ponders if Penn State can continue with the amazing chemistry the team displayed in 2012. An organization's culture begins at the top, which is a great thing for Penn State as long as Bill O'Brien is around.

I Love the '90s Speaking of chemistry, ever wonder what Breaking Bad would be like if it had premiered about 12 years earlier? This brilliant video shows what the intros for Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead would likely resemble had they been created in the 1995. These are probably the two grittiest programs on television today, but would certainly been more cheerful had they been filmed at a time when everyone had jobs, individuality was more celebrated and Alan Greenspan was handing out fistfuls of cash to anyone who asked nicely.