Recruiting is the lifeline of a good athletic program, but how important is keeping bad blood out of the system?
Last
week, former Illinois linebacker Erique Robertson was sentenced to 43
days in jail after unlawfully firing a .32 caliber revolver outside a
Champaign bar. This comes just a few months after several players were
suspended for a game for their alleged involvement in a bar fight and a
year after Jody Ellis and Derrick McPhearson were charged with felony
theft. Both are serving significant jail time.
All this negative
attention for our football team has put the Illini in the running for
their second straight Fulmer Cup. Created in 2006 by
EveryDayShouldBeSaturday.com - a site well known on college football
fans' message boards - the Fulmer Cup has been awarded to the college
whose "exemplary efforts to recruit the most capable football players
results in the most frequent embarrassing and illegal mishaps off or on
the field." Currently, the Fighting Illini are seventh in the
standings, making a strong push to be the first ever repeat champions.
Oskee-wow-wow!
Less Funding for Delinquent Athletes
This editorial for the Daily Illini breaks out some pretty damning numbers to make a case for increased background checks for athletic scholarships. Big state schools like Urbana-Champaign are potentially accepting "millions in booster money" for "national notoreity," raising questions about whether athletic programs constitute a business or an extracurricular activity.