Over the next six months, this sort of thing would be a serious medical problem for Bellamy. Yes, football is out of the question.
Not good news of the extra large variety from Tallahassee, as FSU guard Evan Bellamy has been put down for the season after doctors found a blood clot in his right leg. Fortunately, Bellamy's life is in no danger--he was released from the hospital today after being admitted last week--but football's a long way away.
Treatment will probably last for six months, for the duration of which Bellamy is essentially a hemophiliac. As football is a bleedin' sport and Iron Man suits are still illegal (bastard), the redshirt sophomore has no choice but to sit idly on the sidelines and watch.
Strolling the internets today I've already found twostories of college football championship rings being up for sale on eBay. Florida State and Auburn fans, you must be proud!
I realize hard times regularly happen to even the best of us, and good athletes sometimes get coddled and lose touch with reality and how to do the little things like manage their money. But this stinks.
Given the imperfection of college football's championship system, and the alignment of stars needed to even come close to a title even at a big time national power, it's almost absurd someone would want to part with an actual piece of evidence that they won a title. These aren't exactly like the "place" medals you get for competing in a basketball or football rec league as a kid, you know?
Especially damning is this happening to Auburn, where they didn't, in fact, win a championship in 2003/2004. But dammit if they didn't put it on t-shirts and a ring. Maybe I should be laughing, instead.
Via Bruce Feldman($) we come to this quote from Miami safety recruit CJ Holton, who decommitted from Florida State just before signing day to sign with the 'Canes:
Well, a bunch of people were kind of shocked. I got it from a lot of people. I got a bunch of hate mail, just people talking crazy stuff. One dude told me before I leave that I better make sure to get a (bulletproof) vest. That was the craziest thing I heard.
Miami's violent crime rate does happen to be the highest in the country (although Sperling's Best Places cheerfully notes the murder rate is "relatively low"), but more likely that is one supermean guy making impolite reference to the murders of Brian Pata and Sean Taylor.
Which... dude. That's like a whole new universe in negative recruiting, not that it had any impact on Miami's universally-lauded 2008 recruiting class.
Bobby Bowden is close to last on the list of people to know what's going on with his football team.
The last: his staff. Which obviously includes "Head Coach In Waiting" Jimbo Fisher.
And that doesn't particularly bother him.
As long as he doesn't know about it, and didn't have anything to do with it, the actions of his players are apparently of no concern to him.
Sound incredible? If you find it hard to believe that a head coach of a national football power could say such a thing, you're not alone. But you can easily imagine Bowden's familiar southern drawl as he speaks on FSU's academic cheating scandal:
Q: There was an academic cheating scandal at Florida State that involved a significant number of football players. As the head coach how did that affect you and did you feel responsible?
A: It didn't bother me because I knew there was no involvement by me or my staff. But I didn't know about it until the president told me. My staff didn't know about it until I told them. I know some people will say 'you're the head coach' but there are a number of things like this that the head coach does not know.
Welcome news for beleaguered Florida State fans who have seen their team decimated by academic scandal and other off-field issues:
The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office on Monday formally charged Parker with a felony for carrying a concealed firearm and a misdemeanor for marijuana possession. But a resolution is in the works that could reduce the felony charge.
"That probably is what we are looking at most strongly," Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson said. "We will have an offer out there. A perfectly appropriate resolution to this case would be a reduction in charges."
If Parker's charge gets dropped to a misdemeanor, he'll be free to rejoin the team. Bobby Bowden said he would be suspended for "a few" games at the beginning of the year, like a dozen other players implicated in an academic scandal.
Books may be Florida State's most formidable 2008 opponent.
Potential starting linebacker Marcus Ball announced plans to transfer a couple days ago, bringing the carnage wrought by the Florida State academic scandal to seven players. Make that eight:
An already-thinned Florida State offensive line will be without starting tackle Daron Rose this season.
"He will just have to dig down and get refocused on his grades," his mother, Ann Miller, told the Tampa Tribune on Monday evening. "He'll be back at Florida State (the next year)."
Rose started eleven games last year; redshirt freshman Antwane Greenlee is his projected replacement. At least Greenlee was a highly touted recruit. Seminole fans are predictably overwrought, but at least they can compare themselves to the Marines or... uh... colon cleansing.
It'll be interesting to see what the mass outflux does to Florida State's APR, currently comfortably above sanctions at 954. FSU's unlikely to see a drop big enough to cause problems next year, but further bad luck/poor performance could cause problems once next year's score is an anchor two or three years back.
Florida State announced on Monday that linebacker Marcus Ball has asked for a release from his football scholarship and that request has been granted.
Ball had 24 tackles last year and was projected to start this fall once he served a three-game suspension for being part of the online cheating scandal that gutted the Seminoles late last year. No word on where he's going to transfer to.
With the questionable status of gun-charge bearing Preston Parker, Florida State now finds its vaunted linebacking corps whittled down significantly.
"Old School" is the College Football FanHouse's irregular look back at the rich history of college football, usually through the medium of embeddable flash video. Check out the Old School archive for more famous plays and infamous hair.
Step back in time with me, college football fans, to an earlier era. Here we have the Seminoles of Florida State taking on the Florida Gators in 1973.
This is pre-Ben Hill Griffin stadium stuff, so that's just Florida Field. Note that the Swamp is highly recognizable. Back then the stadium was painted blue rather than orange but "This is... Gator Country!" is still scribed on those trademark vertical walls rising out of the east and west stands. The press box was a tad smaller back then, too, as you might notice.
Florida's mascot was in a woeful state in those days. "Albert E. Gator" looked like an inflatable green jalapeno with teeth and a tail.
As for the game itself? Florida routed the Seminoles 49-0. For the rivalry, it was an era which favored the Gators, who won 9 straight from 1968-1976. Today, Florida leads the overall series, 30-19-2, but FSU is 17-15-1 against the Gators under Bobby Bowden.
"Old School" is the College Football FanHouse's irregular look back at the rich history of college football, usually through the medium of embeddable flash video. Check out the Old School archive for more famous plays and infamous hair.
The 1994 Orange Bowl was a classic between Florida State and Nebraska -- and yes, envisioning those schools as long-ago national powers does make me feel old, thank you for asking -- that came down to the final second, twice. Nebraska took a 16-15 lead on a 27-yard field goal with 1:16 left; Florida State made it 18-16 just 55 seconds later.
A 15-yard celebration penalty ensued. Florida State is kicking off from the 20 with 21 seconds left in the game. Those 21 seconds take nearly ten minutes, with the final second occupying the vast bulk of those minutes as the referees accidentally let the final second tick off and the teams flood the field, thinking the game over. It is not:
...all that, and he missed. Favorite moment is ABC cutting to a sideline camera just in time for that camera to get told to get off the damn field.
"Preston Parker" is the sort of name that conjures up images of ascots and yachts and golf clubs and maybe the sort of fraternity you get in because your grandfather's grandfather's grandfather was a member of the Continental Congress.
Florida State star Preston Parker was arrested late Monday and charged with carrying a concealed .45-caliber pistol and a small amount of marijuana.
The 21-year-old receiver was released Tuesday from the Palm Beach County Jail, Palm Beach Gardens Police spokeswoman Ellen Lovejoy said. The gun charge is a felony.
Personally I would have bet on an heirloom blunderbuss and Macallan 20, but life is weird sometimes.
Those who didn't watch much of a mediocre ACC team last year might also be surprised that Preston Parker is a pretty excellent wide receiver. Last year he led the team with 62 catches and over 1500 total yards. He's now suspended until the gun charge is cleared up.
Over the next six months, this sort of thing would be a serious medical problem for Bellamy. Yes, football is out of the question.
This is heartbreaking.
Via 
Bobby Bowden is close to last on the list of people to know what's going on with his football team.
Books may be Florida State's most formidable 2008 opponent.
Dadgummit.
Not pictured... but he totally could be that guy. 
