Friday linking party returns

With the season now over and less happening on a typical Friday, it seems like the the right time to bring back the links, at least to give you something to read before the weekend.

— Sadly, the biggest story continues to be Cam Newton's eligibility, best summarized here by Dr. Saturday.

What the ruling boils down to, then, is a novel set of circumstances that very conveniently allows the most celebrated player in the country to fall through the cracks, just in time to lead his team to a conference and possibly a national championship, and claim his personal reward in New York City. There's been some might fine lawyerin' on the Plains over the past month to get the Tigers' MVP past the defense, and they succeeded.

I can't say any more about it than has already been said: they celebrated — and thumbed their noses at everyone they could find — in the Auburn camp, and scratched their heads and wailed everywhere else. Honestly, I can't really argue the case, since, in 10-plus years of paying attention to the NCAA (since I'm a Bama guy, and we're the cheatinest cheaters that ever cheated), I still have no idea what is the organization's modus operandi. To quote a text from my cousin Rob, "They don't follow precedents or their own rules just ... who is being investigated and what time of the month it is." Of course, they got it right, according to Mr. College Football, and he's way smarter than I am.
(One other lingering question: Does anyone really believe the student-athlete in question had absolutely no knowledge of what was taking place? Because if you do, you're either admitting that a) Cecil Newton is a surprisingly smart con man, or b) his son is a dunce. I'm not sure I believe either of those things.)
— Here's a report on Mark Barron's torn pectoral muscle. Did you know he was our leading tackler this season? Because that's awful.
(Note: While we're here, let's commend the guys from Tower of Bammer for being able to poke fun at themselves in the wake of last week's Auburn disaster. I'm not quite there, but I'm glad they are.)
— Reporters in Boulder seem pretty assured Colorado is prepared to hire its new coach, and it's not going to be Jim McElwain. Does this make you happy?
— Speaking of coaches, read this story about Rich Rodriguez, Josh Groban and emotion. Now remember that Alabama was ready to hire Rod in 2007, only his wife basically said no. Then high-five yourself.
— Since it's December, let's talk about how terrible the BCS is. Let's keep talking about it until February. Rinse, lather, repeat.