Guilty Before Proven Innocent

On March 30th Alabama University dismissed defensive linemen Johnathan Taylor who was arrested for a domestic violence incident. This is the second time that Taylor had been arrested for this matter, he also was arrested in Georgia and the University of Georgia dismissed him from school and the football team. Once the news broke the Head Coach of the Alabama Football, team, Nick Saban,  issued a statement saying that he was sorry for how things turned out for Johnathan but he was not sorry for giving the young man a second chance. On  April 1st the accuser of Johnathan Taylor was arrested for filing a false police report. The false police report dealt with the domestic violence incident that was said to have occurred between Taylor and herself. In light of this new evidence the charges against Taylor were dropped. Unfortunately for Taylor he is still not allowed to not only play football but he is prohibited from attending the University of Alabama. This to me makes zero sense because he was cleared and found innocent of all things he was accused of so why can he not rejoin the team and university. I understand he has a checkered past but this is the land of second chances and it seems that just because he was accused the decision was immediately made to cut bait with him before letting the whole process play out.
Which brings me to my point in writing this article, which is I feel that when it comes to certain issues people are to quick to judge before all of the facts are laid out for them. An example of this is the Johnathan Martin and Richie Incognito case in 2014 many people assumed that  Incognito was bullying Martin. When in fact they would talk to each other in the vulgar manner and it also showed how quickly public opinion can control a situation. That is what I think happened here with the Johnathan Taylor incident;in light of the Ray Rice incident this past NFL season it seems to me that the accusation of domestic violence is just as damaging if not more than the actual committing of the crime. I say this because if you are accused of something and it is not true you spend so much time trying to clear your name and prove your innocence and even if you do still doesn't mean people will treat as if you didn't commit the crime. An example of this is the Syracuse basketball situation with Jim Boeheim and the basketball teams falsified grades and players getting payed by agents. The NCAA assumed that he knew about what was going in his program and he says he had no clue about it. There are some people that say that there is no way he didn't know, so in there minds he will be guilty even if he truly is guilty. I just think before we decisions that will effect someone's entire life lets just have the whole process play out before coming to a conclusion.   

Dominance: Good or Bad

Dominance in sports is something that if it happens in a sport fans are amazed and eager to watch these dominate teams. This is either to cheer them on or to cheer against them. No one says it does not make for great tv but one has to wonder after a while does it begin to hurt the sport. I ask this question with two prime examples in the UConn women's basketball team and with female UFC fighter Ronda Rousey. This is because these two examples destroy there competition so often and by so much the it leaves the questions is it fun to watch. When it comes to being fun to watch I think that Ronda Rousey doesn't have to worry just because people love to watch violence so I think the wow factor isn't in jepordy. However for the UConn women's basketball team it can get kinda anti climatic because you just assume that they are going to win and by a lot. I just think that if the UFC doesn't find a female that can challenge Ronda Rousey I can see the pay per view numbers going down just because you just assume that she's going to win and no one would want to spend $60 for a 15 second fight. In my opinion dominance in a sport is both a blessing and curse because for a couple of games it's nice but if there is not even  remotely a matchup that fans say that can be a difficult game or fight it will begin to deter fans from watching that particular group or individual just because of their shear dominance at what they do.

Anthony Davis MVP

There has been lots of talk about who is this years MVP in the NBA race most people say it is between the Golden State Wartiors Point Guard Stephen Curry and Houston Rockets Shooting Guard James Harden. I am going to give a dark horse that could win if his can find a way into the playoffs that player is Anthony Davis. The New Orleans Pelicans big man has been a work horse for this team and put up great numbers. He shoots 83% from the free throw line which is great for a big man he averages 24.3 pts which is second in the league among fowards second to only Lebron James and 4th overall in scoring also averages 10.3 rebounds. So this young man who just turned 22 this week is the only player of the MVP candidates who averages a double double that speaks volumes to me. In addition to that, he leads the league in blocks with 2.8 per game. To further support my point he is in the top 10 in blocks, rebounds, points, and field goal percentage which shows he does as much as possible for his team. The Pelicans are currently in the 8th spot so that means if the playoffs started today they would be in it and would be in large part because of Anthony Davis. Even when you look at Davis from the analytical stats he's very impressive he is second in defensive impact at 48.4% this means when players drive to the rim against him they make less than 50% of there shots. He is fifth in the league in shot efficiency. His overall player efficiency this year is the second best all time at 31.52 only the great Wilt Chamberlin has a better at 31.82. Whether the Pelicans make the playoffs or not he is hands down the MVP if we really think about what MVP means that's without a doubt Anthony Davis. If you take Stephen Curry off the Warriors they are still a playoff team. If you took James Harden off the Rockets there's a good chance they would be a 7th or 8th seed. If you take Anthony Davis off the Pelicans they would be fighting for the number one overall pick in this years draft.

Murray State

This past weekend the Murray State Racers lost in the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference to the Belmont Bruins. Which means that the Belmont Bruins get the automatic bid for NCAA Tournament for Ohio Valley Conference. Unfortunately the Murray State Racers probably will not make the tournament despite being ranked as the 25th best team in the country prior to the game. By the time you guys finish reading this article I will convince that the logic behind keeping them out makes zero sense. One of the reasons to start as to why they should be in the tournament is the fact that they won 25 straight which was the second longest active winning streak in DI Men's  basketball only the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats have a longer streak. Also the obvious how do you go from being ranked in the top 25 to the committee according several bracketologist, people who specialize in predicting which teams will get in the field and which ones will not, leaving the Racers out completely. They also went undefeated in their regular season conference play. Which means they lose one game in the conference the entire year and suddenly they are not tournament material. There is no way that you can go from being in the top 25 one week and then someone coming to the conclusion that the team is no longer among the top 68 teams in DI basketball. The one thing that the Committee looks at is Basket Power Index (BPI) which is similar to a team's strength of schedule. Murray State's BPI is not that high because it does not make any sense for any top program to play them. This is because chances are the game would be a lot closer than many would like and if they were to lose to Murray State it would be seen as a bad lose just because of the other competition that Murray State plays in their conference. It is similar to when Boise State was really good in football and no one wanted to play them because they were afraid of losing. If Murray State was in the tournament they could very well get two or three wins especially with play from their stellar guard Cameron Payne. Also this team is 10th in the nation in scoring and 16th in field goal percentage. But it is expected that one of the worst shooting teams in the county in Temple will make the field. That makes total sense. I believe if Temple gets in they will be one and done where if you gave Murray State a shot they would win multiple games. Winning your conference in the regular season has to mean something for these mid majors because it seems that every year a lesser tier team gets hot in the post season tournament and wins it and takes away a deserving bid from the most dominant team that season in the conference and then that teams goes out and gets demolished in the tournament. Which to me  says there has to be change in this system because the mid majors are not always represented in the tournament by its best team.