Sports fodder for a Friday morning . . . Head football coach Chris Ault and the Nevada Wolf Pack athletic department have done nothing wrong in relation to the shooting incident involving wide receiver Brandon Wimberly early last Saturday morning near Reno Aces Ballpark. Not yet, at least. The list of ugly incidents involving Pack football players over the last dozen years or so would give Reno 911! enough material to stay on the air longer than 60 Minutes. Ault and the Wolf Pack athletic department need to demonstrate to the community and this football team that the inmates are not running the asylum. Unless it can be proven that the group of Pack players involved in the events leading up to the shooting were sitting at the Freight House District restaurant at 2:30 in the morning, wearing coats and ties, sipping a refreshing lemonade and discussing how to attack the Boise State defense this fall, serious suspensions have to be handed out. Soon.
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Gun incidents. Shoplifting arrests. Traffic violations. DUIs. Fights among teammates and members of other athletic teams on campus. The Wolf Pack football team off the field the last decade or so is making even the Oakland Raiders of the 1970s shake their heads in amazement. (Yes, somewhere Chris Tormey is smiling). Incidents like what happened last Saturday embarrass the Wolf Pack football program. They embarrass the entire university. They embarrass the northern Nevada community, Ault and his coaching staff. This latest mess even embarrasses the Reno Aces, who are trying their best to promote a wholesome, family atmosphere surrounding their ballpark. The Wolf Pack has to understand that it is an incident like this -- and the countless others over the past decade or so -- that contributes mightily to just 10,000 people showing up for a game against New Mexico State in the greatest season in the program's history.
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The Wolf Pack hasn't exactly kept the momentum from a 13-1 dream season rolling this off-season. From all reports, Wimberly's career is likely over. Defensive end/outside linebacker Kaelin Burnett broke his pelvis in the spring. The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl wants an Army vs. Pac-12 matchup this bowl season. Assistant coach Jim Mastro, one of the masterminds of the Pistol offense and one of the most respected and liked assistant coaches in Pack history, left for UCLA. Three of the greatest players in the program's history (Colin Kaepernick, Vai Taua, Dontay Moch) saw their eligibility expire. We also learned that the Pack won't play a home game until Oct. 1. But don't worry, Pack fans. Just go watch that DVD of the Boise game last November and everything will be all sunshine and lollipops once again.
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Does anybody really believe that Jimmer Fredette is going to be an impact player in the NBA? Then again, maybe it's time to stop picking on Fredette. This year's draft eligible group had to be the worst crop of talent to enter the NBA possibly in the history of the league. Is there a future NBA All-Star in the bunch? Wolf Pack players Luke Babbitt and Armon Johnson both would have been first-round picks Thursday night if they had stayed in the school just one more year. It's never a mistake to accept a job that pays you six or seven figures a year but both Babbitt and Johnson would be better basketball players this morning (and just as rich) if they had stayed at Nevada one more year.
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The Chicago Cubs are about to conduct a garage sale of some of their most interesting slightly worn items. The San Francisco Giants need to be first in line. Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano and Kosuke Fukudome, among others, can be had for a couple of Rookie League prospects and a bag of popcorn. The biggest mistake the Giants can make this year is to believe the roster is good enough to win another World Series.
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Mark Cuban, it seems, is sniffing around the Los Angeles Dodgers. Would Bud Selig and the current group of boring, no-name, no-personality major league owners have the guts to allow Cuban into their little club? Of course not. But Cuban would be great for the game. He's a loud mouth, look-at-me type of guy but he's harmless and he'd spend the money necessary to make the Dodgers winners (or at least interesting) again.