The Texas Helmet Project

Sports Morning Headlines-Monday, 6/6/11

Mario Chalmers, and the buzzer beater that shouldn’t have counted - The Dallas Mavericks and their fans can point to quite a few reasons for the team's two-point, 88-86 loss to the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The team missed five free throws, shot 40 percent, turned the ball over 18 times, and clanged a series of solid three-point looks down the stretch. But Miami guard Mario Chalmers'(notes) buzzer-beating three to end the first quarter, one that should have been disallowed as Chalmers' foot was technically in the back court as he caught the ball, will sting the hardest.  The half court stripe is considered part of the back court, and the referees missed the fact that Chalmers had his heel on the line when he took the pass from Udonis Haslem(notes) in the front court. The rule is that you must be considered fully in the front court before you can receive a pass from the front court, and Chalmers' foot was still in the back court when he caught the ball. That's a lot of "courts" to consider, but all Mavs fans will look at is that two-point deficit on the scoreboard as the final buzzer sounded, while ruing the three-points that shouldn't have counted.   READ MORE Nowitzki's miss alters storyline of series - The arena had tensed with the hope of the moment, a sea of blue believing as it held its breath and the ball left Dirk Nowitzki's hand.  In Miami, where a sea breeze surely blew across homes of nervous fans and even South Beach's bars could be believed to have gone silent, the overwhelming feeling would have been dread: of a ball through a net, of a tie score with time expiring, of overtime serving as a prelude to more heartache.  The ball arced toward all of this, toward another chance to pound the Miami Heat into submission, toward another Dallas Mavericks comeback in these playoffs after being down 14 points, toward more proof that the Heat are frail and fraudulent once they've been rattled or knocked down.  The ball arced toward the inevitable.  And then the inevitable failed to materialize.   READ MORE Mavs put Dirk on an island in Game 3 loss - Dirk Nowitzki has established himself as one of the best finishers in the NBA, but he could use a little help at some point.

Yahoo! Sports Street Agent Reset: Where Texas Stands | Recruitocosm

So folks on the interwebs and on Twitter are all atwitter about a looming Yahoo Sports story that’s supposed to out the Texas Longhorns as some sort of outlaw program. You can thank some ham-handed tweets by a Houston Sports Radio personality for the consternation, but be that as it may and if you’ve been paying attention to the ‘Cosm for your Street Agent news, you’d know there’s nothing to worry about if you’re a fan of The University. As we outlined two months ago…

Here’s the skinny. Remember this article back in April?

Here’s a quick update from the Big Cigar on a our favorite pet project: street agents in college football. If you recall, we broached the subject in my last update with El Cohiba:

Big Cigar: The Street Agent exposé and the follow up story by Yahoo! Sports is being viewed by the staff as a HUGE win for the program. We have something tangible to point to when talking to the student athlete and the parents when the subject pops up. More importantly, high school coaches and the prospects themselves are now distancing themselves from the street agent which helps us immensely. It’s better when the media is doing the heavy lifting with this aspect of the recruiting game. Right now these agents are getting barred from high school campuses and the parents are armed with information to keep them away when school is out. It’ll get even better for us when the schools and student athletes that affiliate themselves with these folks are sanctioned by the NCAA. It will even the playing field and we don’t usually lose out on kids once the recruiting is on the level. We have too much to offer especially with some of the things we can do with the Longhorn Network. It’s really an exciting time on the 40.”

I didn’t sense it at the time, but my friend seemed to be hinting at something going on behind the scenes with respect to Texas’ attack on the street agent game. Remember that Texas has a strategic interest in seeing that these SEC tricks don’t gain permanent traction in Big 12 country, and evidently we’re using every arrow in our sizeable quiver to affect change.

A prime example of Texas taking a proactive stance on the matter is with Longhorn DB Marcus Davis. According to Big Cigar, earlier this year the compliance folks within the Texas athletic department were contacted by the NCAA to get a statement on Texas’ affiliation with Davis and the circumstances of his recruitment. The reason for the inquiry, as it was explained to our AD, was that Davis was from Texas and he decided to transfer to Oregon. They were looking into a possible street agent connection and if the Texas program had any information. Don’t be shocked that the NCAA is actually starting to show some teeth.

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