He trotted in front of his South Bend squad before which another practice would be held in the friendly confines of the Culver Academies as a handful of Fighting Irish Digital Media employees peered through their camera lenses and over their Twitter devices at the bewildering sight prancing on the synthetic field before them.

The mare cannot be confined. It may be stabled, but some time it must be let out to keep on going. When this animal canters out from the equestrian center, where the whistles of the practice field fill the air, it is time for another practice to begin.

So sound the cannon:

Sheldon Day & Nick Martin got to wake up their teammates in @CulverAcademies tradition this morning…with a cannon! https://t.co/BdRobdoTbQ

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) August 8, 2014

And marvel at the Lone Horseman:

(If you don’t recognize the muse, I pity you)

The Roundup

One advantage to doing the Roundup so late, is being able to include some gigantic news like the NCAA losing the O’Bannon case. Much more to come on this soon at HLS.

And another NCAA topic that we will have much more coverage on is the new “Power 5 Autonomy” structure that the NCAA passed this week.

As people start cheering about the victory over the NCAA exploitation of student athletes, I’m going to think of the story of Patrick Amara at Pitt.

I understand though the student-athlete life isn’t for everyone. After all, sometimes you just gotta chase that rap dream.

I’m so glad we are no longer at the mercy of Adidas. Enjoy being the featured program, Michigan. That’s working out great isn’t it?

Oregon made scratch and sniff tickets. Seriously. The best part of that though was Stanford’s response.

And now your moment of Nix… Alabama fans really want Saban’s autograph. But thanks to the internet, we can splice it with their worst memory from last season:

The Booze

I don’t care how hot it is, this week has been super terrible and I need that sweet, sweet bourbon in my life right now.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Horseman” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

For those that aren’t aware what the case is about, here is the quick version: Former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon has brought an antitrust class action lawsuit against the NCAA saying they are profiting off images and likeness of former student athletes and those athletes have no right to compensation.

As with anything that challenges the NCAA, this has quickly turned into a “death to the NCAA” event. Facts be damned, logical thought about the real issues facing the NCAA be tossed aside, let’s have fun with jokes and call the NCAA a cartel.

Remember when I said the NCAA was making a mess of things though? Here’s exhibit A:

NCAA attorney Greg Curtner after court: by definition NCAA is "a cartel that does good things, as opposed to a cartel that does bad things."

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) June 26, 2014

It’s almost like the NCAA is trying to lose or, more likely, they are beyond blind to their own problems within their own organization and college athletics in general. And make no mistake, as much as I’m against college athletes turning into a pay-for-play enterprise, I realize the NCAA needs some kind of reform.

But, no, the NCAA looks content to walk right into their own execution laughing, dancing, and asking to pull the trigger themselves.

The Chewbacca defense would be more effective than what the NCAA is doing. Trying to paint a picture of the NCAA as a benevolent cartel, even if it’s outside the courtroom, is a level beyond dumb that I can’t even put into words.

Just to recap, this is an antitrust lawsuit the definition of which is:

Of or relating to legislation preventing or controlling trusts or other monopolies, with the intention of promoting competition in business.

And a cartel:

An association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining prices at a high level and restricting competition.

Good job, good effort. That law school education is really paying off.

Please stop being so stupid, NCAA. If you still want to be in existence in the future, you might want to start wising up just a touch.

The Roundup

Speaking of NCAA hilarity, they apparently can’t use a calculator. It looks as if UNLV’s postseason ban will be lifted. The reason? The NCAA recalculated their APR score and they are apparently fine now.

Happy trails to Stewart Mandel. He will be leaving SI, but thankfully not college football reporting.

Looks like I might need to head to a SMU game sometime. Live college football and beer sales? YES!

Liftin’ in da club. This is so Miami.

Light up Grace Hall! Notre Dame has won the men’s Capital One Cup.

And now your moment of Nix… I’m not sure if Chuck is trying to fire some shots or is really this oblivious to what good attendance looks like these days…

https://twitter.com/CoachWeisKansas/status/481868062157590529

The Booze

Recommending Texas beers two weeks in a row has landed the USA into the World Cup knockout round. And since the NCAA legal team would likely agree correlation equates to causation, let’s keep this going.

This week, I’m going with Revolver’s Blood & Honey, a golden ale for our boy’s quest for a golden trophy.

Go Yanks! Beat Waffles!

The post Friday Roundup: The “NCAA, We Need to Talk” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Yes, what a fantastic gesture by these conferences. It’s a move that draws a clear line in the sand that amateurism and student athletes matter.

Except for the minor detail that EA Sports has separate agreements with the schools and they don’t need conference approval anyways.

Even if these dominoes are falling due to the O’Bannon lawsuit and brings us to a world without video game college football, it amazes me that these major conferences felt the need to make such a meaningless gesture.

Why not band together to prevent oversigning? How about pushing for guaranteed scholarships instead of one year agreements? Where is the concern for GSR? You know, things that would actually protect student athletes.

Instead, the primary concern appears to be covering their collective asses from a lawsuit.

I’m all for some changes to the NCAA. I think there is a lot that could and should be done to put the focus back on where amateurism and college athletes should be (although that’s a whole other post I’m putting together).

But meaningless gestures to keep your precious logos out of a video game? Please.

The Roundup

First, a HLS silent auction update. Due to strong initial responses, Biscuit wants to get people locked in and ready to roll. Therefore, the bidding deadline for the ticket packages have been bumped up to Wednesday, August 21. Winners will be announced the following day. Get those bids in! For further details, check out the original post.

Oh hey, look, Johnny Manziel news. Yeah, this story isn’t going anywhere to say the least. Dez Bryant says he’ll be pissed if Manziel isn’t suspended, but then agreeing, much like Adrian Peterson, that he should be able to sell his autographs. Oh and if you happen to be in Aggieland don’t expect anything to get anything signed ever again. And, in a final lovely twist, Texas A&M could sue the pants off the brokers that ratted Johnny out due to an obscure Texas law that I had no clue existed.

I would enjoy reading more completely biased Top 25 rankings. Dead serious on this too. Check out Spencer Hall’s overly biased take on such a list. This method would sure make the coaches’ poll a lot more interesting (and hilarious).

Come hop on the USF bus. There really aren’t sufficient words to describe this. Just watch.

This gives “2 QB System” a whole new meaning. UL Monroe’s offense might just be a stroke of pure mad genius.

Thanks, Obama. This drone thing is really getting out of control.

Want to learn more about how ND runs the damn ball? Stop by the Subway Domer to see Blog Davie’s excellent post on the matter.

On a more serious note, Coach Alfrod. His brother, Aaron Alfrod died from a heart attack at just 39. ND Nation has information on how you can help Aaron’s family in their time of need. Let’s help our extended ND family, y’all.

The Beer

As fall continues to creep ever closer, the time for recommending summer seasonals is soon at an end. This means you will again be hot with one of my favorites, but this time, it’s a newer one for me: St. Arnold Summer Pils.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Empty Gestures” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.