Year-End Disclaimer Time
Remember this: The lawyers always win
I'm reading more and more stories about the NCAA cracking down on blogs. So, I think it would be best for everyone if I again clarified the purpose of this blog and my status as a quasi-employee at Columbia University:
1) "Roar Lions Roar," (yes, the author IS aware that the fight song title is "Roar Lion Roar," the title of this blog is a deliberate variation on that title), is meant as a site where Columbia football fans and other interested parties can get news about the program, learn the recent and long-term history of the team, and generally talk amongst ourselves.
2) As the creator and sole administrator of this blog, I endeavor to keep certain information as guarded as possible. News about player injuries, potential recruits, etc. is NEVER cited by me unless it has already been published in print elsewhere. Tips and other bits of unconfirmed news found in the "comments" sections are not immediately under my control, but I reserve the right to delete, (on very rare occasions), comments that may be in violation of NCAA rules or are otherwise inappropriate.
*For the record, I can only think of one or two non-spam comments I have deleted in the two and a half year history of this blog
3) Just to reiterate: As I understand it, EVERYTHING you see on this blog is in accordance with NCAA rules even though it is NOT officially endorsed by Columbia University or its Athletic Department. I am a contracted seasonal employee of the University as a color commentator for the football games, but I am not in any way compensated or aided by the school in this Internet endeavor. I do, however, accept advice about this site's NCAA rules compliance from experts both connected and not connected with Columbia, mostly because I generally do not understand those rules.
4) I am not an Internet wizard by any stretch. For example, I still can't figure out how to make this disclaimer a permanent part of the homepage for this site. And I also will miss some things here and there because I am human, a father of a 4-year-old, and working about 12 hours a day at my real job. Anything anyone finds to be annoying or just plain wrong on this site will be corrected as soon as possible and probably was simply the result of my lack of computer ability.
5) Yes, I also write a fair amount of mostly topical humor on OTHER sites and newspapers across the country. I like to inject a sprinkling of humor here once in a while, but this site is not a joke.
6) As my grandfather would say: "Don't be a nudnick!" That's Yiddish for someone who complains about the quality of a free meal or posts annoying comments about some minutiae in a post that really has nothing to do with anything. I think you all know what I'm talking about.
posted by Jake @ 6:32:00 PM
30 comments
30 Comments:
Why is it OK for certain types of "sensitive information" (injuries,recruiting, etc.) to appear in print material first before they can be cited here?In the eyes of the NCAA is there a difference between cyberprint and real ink? Are there watchdogs?
Some of that is NCAA rules, (especially injuries, because 99% of the players are minors and there are privacy issues in play), and some of it is my desire not to anger the coaches who have a tough enough time as it is. Mostly it comes from my desire not to do anything to harm the team. But rest assured, I'm usually "sittingon" any hot info for very long.
It has something to do with the evolving laws regarding the constitutional rights to freedom of the press and freedom of speech. In today's world, only journalists and politicians have the right to say whatever they want whenever they wish. That protection has not yet been fully extended to bloggers and probably never will be. The NCAA is not in a position to prevent newspapers from publishing whatever recruting information, or other information they please, but it can threaten bloggers, even though in my opinion there should be no distinction.
To be fair - as an alumnus and the color commentator, Jake can be viewed as a person of athletic interest for Columbia... it's all about potential recruiting violations. We don't want or need that.
Are you kidding me? Harvard is accepting basketball transfers from Marshalltown Community College In Iowa, and gives their athletes full grants, i.e. athletic scholarships, Penn's undergraduate newspaper regularly calls ups recruits to ask them whether they're coming to Penn, and then publishes lengthy stories quoting the kids and their parents, Cornell sticks their stars athletes (including numerous community college transfers) in the aggie and hotel schools where they take wine-tasting courses. And we're worrying about our beloved Jake doing something improper. Give me a break.
Ok-so the rule of thumb should be, dont publish anything that would potentially hurt the player or the program. I fully respect and support that, but I also feel that this blog, by publishing recruiting news, does positively impact on Columbia Football, by creating and enhancing alumni interest. Ah, tis a fine line you walk Jake....
No one ever said it was going to be easy, but it has been tremendously rewarding.
Maybe someone should be looking to report Penn's student paper to the NCAA for recruiting violations... any advantage is a good one.
For any one interested, here are the NCAA By-Laws on
Eligibility and Recruiting. Jake keek up the great work.
http://tinyurl.com/2fdvyv
I'm going to read through these by-laws until I understand each and every one of them. See you guys in about 15 years!
Jake, you are doing an incredible service. As for Penn and Cornell, they belong in the Big Ten, or whatever it's now called. Harvard should know better. Keep up the great work.
kudos Jake. you are a tremendous asset to the CU football community. Speaking of by-laws that are absurd, is there any hope that the Ivy champion will be participating in the IAA(or whatever it's called now) playoffs in the near future?? I think it would be great exposure for the league on many levels and I am certain the Ivy champion would hold it's own against many of these playoff teams. I think Harvard(at the end of the season) would have beaten Fordham this year and certainly given Umass a run for their money.
I know people think I'm crazy, but I do think we will see some movement on the FCS playoffs in the next 5 years or so.
hope it happens sooner then that. I think that would be a huge recruiting tool vs patriot league schools that clearly use that against the Ivies when going after kids. Most Ivy venues are big enough to host a playoff game too.
I really disagree about the value of play-offs for Ivy football. I don't think we need to compete against the Patriot League. We are a better academic league, and we should stay that way. I didn't get much of a lift out of watching the D1AA play-offs. Maybe others will disagree, but football is a very hard and grueling sport. the season is long enough. Take a secret poll of the players, and see if they really want to play into December. If they wanted that sort of football program, they would not have gone Ivy. Basketball is different. And getting back to the Patriot League, any member of that league would accept an invitation to join the Ivies in a nanosecond.
You're entitled to your opinion but I think you would be surprised how many players we lose to Holy Cross, Lehigh,Fordham etc. Firstly because of more money they can offer to players via sholarships but secondly that they have a shot at postseason play. I think if you polled the Harvard team, 100pct of them would have wanted to keep playing into the playoffs if they were eligible. I don't get the argument that playing postseaseon somehow takes the luster away from the league academically. Not to long ago they had an allstar Ivy team that played in Japan and that was a huge deal to the players to represent the Ivies--I think this would be similar to show we could compete on a national level and perhaps get some exposure from other areas of the country that think Ivy footbal is rinkydink at best.
On post season play, football is much more demanding than any other sport. I really wonder if playing in the post season for a D1AA title would be all that appealing to our players. Basketball is different; there the post season really does mean a lot more. As for the Patriot League, I would be surprised if we lost players because of money; I had understood that in football the Patriot League doesn't offer athletic scholarships. As for the academics, I just don't see how anybody with a chance to go to an Ivy would choose a Patriot League school. The value of an Ivy school on a resume, from coast to coast, is much greater than a Patriot League school. Likewise graduate and professional school admissions; take the top ten medical and law schools and compare the number of Ivy graduates in each class with the number of Patriot League schools and you'll see my point. Likewise the new hires at Goldman Sachs. While the Patriot League schools market themselves as smaller, friendlier, and more of a "college experience", the lifelong value of an Ivy education and an Ivy degree is just much greater.
Patriot league absolutely offers football scholarships on a need basis and we do lose many players for that reason to those schools. No doubt the Ivy academic reputation is superior to the Patriot league--not questioning that. Just stating facts in that kids who get a full ride at a Patriot League school vs finacial aid at Ivy often choose the patriot league school. Tom Gilmore (head coach at HCross) was our first choice before NW and that is the sole reason he stayed.
Jake, thank you for this wonderful blog and the time, effort and energy that you invest to make it such. Whether I'm half a world away or back in the States, it's something I check at least once a day, if not several times. It's informative, entertaining, amusing and, again, informative--the most important of all features.
To add my two cents to the two NJ all state recruits, although Waller may be a little small for LB, these are two outstanding recruits. Don Bosco ended the season in USA Today's top 25 and in Sports Illustrated top 10. Don Bosco was the end of season no. 1 and Wayne Hills, also unbeaten, was no. 2. To win its class championship and stay unbeaten, Wayne Hills had to beat a very, very good Wayne Valley team that had an all state running back and a very good quarterback, and whose only loss this season was to Wayne Hills. Waller played a key role in shutting Wayne Valley down.
-Dr.V
Does Polytechnic have a football team? that's our type of opponent. On a serious note, good to see Foley back in action--8 assists. We'll need him for Ivy run.
I was at the basketball game today too and our outside shooting was ridiculously good. Fun game to watch and the turnout during a school break wasn't that bad, (the guys from Subway selling food actually ran out of stuff!).
Bob Sanders is the best defensive player in the NFL. He is a safety who plays like a linebacker. He is 5'8" and 202 pounds. Enough on Waller's size; first team all state NJ is pretty impressive.
Looks like another small & scrappy linebacker is going to the NFL
Sam Olajubutu #24 | Linebacker | Arkansas Razorbacks
Class:Senior 4V
Height:5-9 Weight:225
Previous School:LaGrange HS
Hometown:LaGrange, Georgia
The good: An active, fluid defender who combines good speed, quickness and power with fine instincts that allow him to be very productive despite his margin 5-feet-9, 225-pound frame. He moves well when dropping in coverage and pursuing to the sidelines and has functional strength that translates well to the field and allows him to hold up in run support. He has an excellent feel for the weak side position with good initial reads and the quickness to react and use his speed to get to the ball. He’s is powerful and shed well, can slip blocks and is an aggressive sure tackler.
The bad: He can struggle against the run if big tackles get their hands on him early and he can be taken out of the play too often. He needs to develop in pass coverage before he’s ready to challenge for a role as a nickel backer. His lack of height will cause matchup problems with taller receivers.
Outlook: He had a good combine performance in which he ran a 4.77 40-yard dash and bench pressed 24 reps to likely earn a second day selection. He’s similar to Dexter Coakley in size, athletic abilitgy, instincts and versatility. A strong senior season and post season elevated his stock significantly from a late grade to a marginal top 150 prospect. He also projects to be a very good special teams player on coverage units. He looks like a good late pick.
We slaughtered Division III Polytechnic in men's basketball yesterday afternoon, but what I found most interesting was that Division III, Polytechnic, had a big freshman point guard named Arjun Ohri, from New Jersey, who was clearly the best all-around basketball player on the floor. Ohri scored 28 points and handled the point flawlessly. He's a very talented player and I wonder how he ended up at Division III Polytechnic rather than a school like Columbia.
Remember Michael Quarshie--transferred from Div.II and sat out a year. Everybody missed him. PS, why didn't Justin Armstrong play yesterday?
He ends up at Polytechnic because he probably can't get on the Ivy academic grid. Why are we playing d3 schools anyway? Team would be better served playing real competition heading into the Ivy schedule...
We played a team with two D1 players, both of whom could have started for most of the Ivies.
If they were D1 players, they would be playing D1-so better question is should we go after that kid as a transfer?...
I think that we cannot recruit kids to transfer. We can only respond if first approached. And then it's touchy. Remember when Joe Sandberg wanted to get away from Bags and come to Columbia? We would have loved him but couldn't make it happen.
Your blog is quite excellent. I find it very informative and also very entertaining.
Keep up the good work.
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