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With college football yet to heat up, Saban, Fisher trade insults

By Paul Newberry The Associated Press Why did they wait so long to allow college athletes to make a few bucks on the side? Think of all the wildly entertaining shenanigans we’ve missed out on over the years. Let’s play the feud! Jimbo Fisher is downright livid at former boss Nick Saban for saying the Texas A&M coach bought himself the best recruiting class in the country after a free-for-all broke out in college athletics going by the deceptively boring acronym of NIL — Name, Image and Likeness. During a hastily assembled news conference that checked in at just under 10 ...

‘Chub’ Dillen was Bellwood legend

By Lynn Grove Albert “Chub” Dillen died earlier this year at the age of 85. A service to remember him will be held at the Logan Valley Baptist Church on Saturday, May 28 at 11:00 a.m. For Bellwood-Antis football fans who are up in years, there is a lot to remember. Dillen carried the ball on the very first play against rival Tyrone in 1951 — as a freshman — and earned a letter playing mostly on defense. As a sophomore in 1952, he scored two rushing touchdowns and threw for another in a win over Tyrone. He ended the season with 110 points — 18 touchdowns and two ...

PGA could use a major dose of transparency

By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press Even if Lanto Griffin was thinking only about the next shot, his 32 over the final nine holes of the Wells Fargo Championship made him the last man to qualify for the PGA Championship. Maybe. It’s hard to tell with the PGA of America, which lacks the transparency of the other majors but makes amends by delivering the strongest field every year. When the final field was announced Monday — one of the 156 spots is set aside for the winner of the AT&T Byron Nelson if he’s not already eligible — the PGA Championship was assured of having ...

NIL an open invite to boosters

By Ralph D.Russo The Associated Press By trying to limit how much schools can help college athletes cashing in on their fame, the NCAA seems to have inadvertently opened the door for boosters to get a foothold in a burgeoning market. Now, as the NCAA and its highest-profile Division I member schools try to rein in booster-fueled organizations known as collectives, part of the solution could be taking down the firewalls between athletic departments and athletes when it comes to name, image and likeness compensation. “The school is who helps the athlete when they have an injury? ...

Cashing in: Addison move not surprising

By Bill Contz For the Mirror Much to the chagrin of college football purists who still have their heads buried in the sand, 2021 Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison has entered the transfer portal to explore existing opportunities including a supposedly very lucrative NIL deal from USC. While this blatant insurrection understandably irritates Pitt fans, it’s a move that, given the chance, every single one of us would do the same. Try putting yourself in Addison’s shoes for a minute. Hmm, decisions, decisions. Do I take advantage of that free lease offer from Bowser ...

Riley steered Rivers into coaching

By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press MIAMI — Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers would probably need hours to explain everything that he’s learned from Miami President Pat Riley over the last three decades. Or he could sum it up in three words. “Gosh, everything really,” Rivers said. Some elements of this Philadelphia-Miami Eastern Conference semifinal series — the Heat lead 2-1 after losing Game 3 on Friday night — go back further than this season, or this past summer, or anytime recently. They go back to 1992, when Riley was coaching the New York Knicks and they swung a ...