NATIONAL LAMPOON”S VACATION

February 22, 2018 Filler

NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION

By The Fillerbuster

The Cast 022218

SIDE NOTE:

My old school random numbered thought style about sports and non sports is still around. Go onto my site, click on the This And That drop down, and you are there. I work full time, so this is always more of a lightly researched brain dump rather than a edited background full “piece.” If only I had more time. I might never stop typing. I have to get this out before my house packing/prep for moving weekend.

TRIGGER:

Louisville and Notre Dame, all within the last month, lost titles from 2013 and a runner-up finish from 2012. I think that is dumb.

VACATION:

Notre Dame has to vacate their wins of 2012. Louisville has to vacate its 2013 title. This is getting ridiculous and these are my two cents on the subject.

Don’t do this, NCAA. The obvious argument is that the offenses are variable but the other team still had to play against players who may or may not have been there if the offenses hadn’t occurred. I get that. The crime is real, but the punishment is unjust. Why?

Pulling down the banner does not fix things nor penalize the correct people. The strippers might have dragged in FUTURE recruits (doubtful), and the academic offenses at ND just made their passing of classes EASIER, but the crime should not be against THAT team. The fault is the university. Not seeing the banner is notable, but not just.
Just put a fancy asterisk on it. That is it as far as the ACCCOMPLISHMENT. The athletes would have found their way on the court or field one way or the other. The games were still played. One team won. The contest occurred and athletes did memorable things to WIN. We use asterisks for individual cheaters, so why not apply the same logic with teams?
College athletes already have it rough already. They have to travel for games, study on buses, not get paid, and meanwhile make LOADS of money for the school. Ed O’Bannon is dead on, people.
Are we going to vacating all wins by any team with any offense? Did we take away seasons from UNC sports? Does it do any good to take away the RUNNER-UP finish of a football school like Notre Dame?
The penalty should be on the school. Once a crime is found out, take away scholarships, FINE the school, fine the school MORE, fire athletic directors, but don’t take away from the straight line athletes ALSO on that same team. The adults put the kids in the bad position. Bad decisions or not, the kids are still…kids.
Luke Hancock was the MVP of that Louisville title team. I am pretty sure we all agree that HE wasn’t lured by strippers. The guy is a freaking consultant these days in Kentucky.
Players aren’t going to schools for strippers or academic help. They are going there to play for HOF coaches, and live the dream of playing for a CULTURE that has existed for decades and decades.
On a trivial level, you are messing up statisticians and THEIR talent. You are messing with our heads, NCAA.
I still personally will go to my grave knowing that Calipari and UMASS were in the damn Final Four in the 90’s, OK?

Listen. What Louisville and Notre Dame was WRONG. VERY wrong. But, let the penalty be placed on the right people and protect the clean kids who WON on the court and field. I know the different levels of offenses might get to a point in a case where the team was better because of cheating, but most of the cases will NOT be to this level. You are right for investigating. You are right for penalizing. You are wrong in the WAY you are doing it.

Vacating wins makes National Lampoon’s Vacation a drama because it is THAT silly.

MY OLYMPICS TAKEAWAYS ON THE FLY TAKEAWAYS THUS FAR:

I know I know nothing about figure skating when a guy busts out SIX quads and doesn’t even medal. Perhaps figure skating needs to do the snowboard approach and take the BEST score.
Slopestyle skiing is my new favorite thing. Different tricks, imaginative runs, individually designed lines, and the ability to create your own unique destiny.
Ice dancing is just plain stupid.
Maybe we are spoiled in the USA, but we stink at the winter games lately overall. Evidently, we need more mountains and snow in the USA.
Shaun White is older, wiser, still cooler, and still better.
The amount of athletes who either switch sports between games or take up a sport months before they compete taint the Games and make the field seem like if you would have chosen to take that odd sport up, you might have represented your country.
The OAR curler who doped made dopers, Russia, and curling all that more dumb looking.
The BAND, OAR, is still very cool though.
Not having NHL players in the Games made it more fun to root for the USA, but less fun to watch hockey overall, and the NHL needs all the ratings help it can get.
The most obvious best moment of the Games was the USA women’s hockey team winning, and the less obvious best moment was the USA finally getting gold in cross country skiing.
I find the short track skating relay and individual events stupid, and I still think it is impossible to pass and it is more of who starts the fastest. AND the fact that this year the consolation heat yielded both a medal due to lack of eligible contenders AND the new world record means that process needs to be refined.
The super imposed skier thing where they show where the leader was is the coolest technology in the Games in my opinion.
It was very hard in seeing Lindsey Vonn lose and maybe she is not with Tiger anymore because she is so damn likable and he is…well, not.

WHO IS THE WOODEN AWARD WINNER?:

This is literally the most intriguing Wooden Award race like…ever. No one has made the decision EASY. No one has stepped up. The flashiest guy in the country is suddenly losing and making bad decisions. So…

If you want flashy stats, you have gunner but still phenom Trae Young on a team perhaps about to NOT make the tourney. If you want the #1 pick in the draft but an unrefined game, you have Ayton. If you want the guy who is the obvious best player to the masses AND experts, you have Bagley. If you want the best stats from a surprise team, you have Bates-Diop. If you want the only semi-exciting player with underwhelming stats from the team that is like watching paint dry, you have Kyle Guy (MY favorite player in the game right now). If you want someone who came back when he could be making millions right now, you have Miles Bridges. If you want a boring player putting up good stats in a tough conference and the darling of last year, you have Luke Maye. If you want the small school guys with big numbers, you have Howard, Nunn, Clemons, and Wright-Foreman. But, if you want the most complete college player on the best all around team with decent stats who most households don’t even know, you have what I consider your Wooden Award winner, Jalen Brunson (the robot basketball player).