Every Moral Has a Story, Every Story Has an End

Congratulations to Mr. Andrew Tuegel for correctly naming "Wake Up" by the Arcade Fire as the Thursday Song of the Day.

Speaking of Mr. Tuegel, Andrew also passed along to me earlier today the following headline regarding our alma mater:

"NCAA Hits ACU for Track & Field, Football Violations"

When you go to a Division II school, the best you can really hope for in the athletics department is:

1. To constantly annoy people when the one guy from your school in the NFL (Danieal Manning of the Chicago Bears) does anything remotely noteworthy; and
2. Try to avoid scandals and NCAA violations, because as Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson taught us in Wedding Crashers, "You want to draw attention to yourself but in a good way."

You can read the full article here, but the following portion of the article absolutely blew my mind:

The NCAA cited the program with numerous violations, including ACU men’s and women’s track coaches and athletic boosters providing illegal benefits to student-athletes during the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 academic years.

During the Christmas holidays in 2006 and 2007, Hillcrest Church of Christ held parties for some of the international students at the home of an ACU assistant track coach. During those parties, 15 ACU track athletes were given gifts, including small appliances, DVDs, CDs, food items, personal items and cash donated by the church.

Before those parties, another assistant had asked the head track coach for a list of international athletes who would be in Abilene during the holidays. Also, the NCAA said the head coach attended the parties and was aware of the gifts received by the athletes.

The NCAA did not name the head coach, but Hood has been in the position since Aug. 24, 2005.

According to the NCAA, Hood said “he did not realize the gifts would be considered extra benefits,” and he went on to add that the church members who provided the items “were acting out of a desire to assist people who were far away from their homes and families for the holidays, not to assist the athletic program.”

Thanks, NCAA.

You've really outdone yourself this time.

I'm not so sure that international students being forced to spend the holidays away from their loved ones in a foreign country and receiving gifts from members of a local church is quite the same thing as former Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar getting a cushy job at a Norman car dealership, but then again, what do I know?