:: Running from the Thought Police ::

:: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 ::

University Appeals NCAA Ban...Again

Scant days before the ban takes effect, the Board of Trustees have appealed the NCAA's decision to ban the Chief from postseason events and to prevent the University from hosting such events until such time that the Chief is retired. Old Guy does a decent job of berating the BoT for being idiots, so I'll refer you there for that. Something that he doesn't deal with and that I want to bring up is timing. Both the university and the NCAA like to bury this back-and-forth by doing things on Fridays, usually in the afternoon. This is the first time in a while that I've heard news about the Chief on any other day of the week. (The timing Monday was still apparently good enough that the University kept the Daily Illini from covering the story the next day. Does the BoT have some secret contract with the News-Gazette that they'll time these things to let them have first crack at the story? [/tinfoil_hat]) Also of note is the university's request of a stay to the end of the semester. Since the mantra in the local media is that the ban won't have much of an effect this year, it looks to me like the BoT wants to do the same thing they did last time and wait until the students are off campus before taking action/inaction.

If you can stomach the spin, the University's press release on the appeal is here

UPDATE: I've been informed from a reliable source (you get three guesses as to the identity, and two don't count) that the DI knew full well that the appeal was coming, but got scooped by the News-Gazette cos no one in the administration was willing to go on the record before press time.

:: The Squire 3:46 PM :: email this post :: ::
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