One of basketballs prevailing properties has been its ability to adapt. At moments in its history when the game began to grow stale, from the shot clock to the. NCAA perpetrates its latest scam right out in the open. August Madness. It may as well have appeared in the classified section under Situations Wanted Itinerant high school basketball superstar seeks college scholarship for one season, no more than two. Time will tell if the TV delivered and sustained myth that Duke basketball is a high integrity, uncompromising program that produces championships and legitimate student athletes will persist this season. Swansea City are reportedly hoping to edge ahead of Chelsea in the race to sign PSV Eindhoven and Colombia rightback Santiago Arias this summer. ESPNs Heather Dinich has an entertaining story in which college football coaches share the strangest autograph requests theyve ever received. Autograph 3.3 Full Version' title='Autograph 3.3 Full Version' />In the flooded cesspool that drives college basketball and NCAA TV contracts, Duke, weve so often been told, succeeds where Don Quixote and Pollyanna failed. Duke, last week, landed the nations top recruit, 6 foot 1. Marvin Bagley III, the kind of does it all player for whom coaches and colleges sell their souls to even briefly call theirs. Bagley already is regarded as a Top 3 NBA draft pick next year Technically a high school senior, hes hoping the NCAA will grant him re classification status so he can play this season at Duke then enter the draft. And hell arrive at Duke having played for three high schools in two states, Arizona and California. While such a transient high school career may strike the normal instincts as abnormal, its the new normal for many promising basketball children. Dubious academies and prep schools now exist in large part to serve as work on their games, fill out their frames warehouses inventoried by big time college coaches. Bagley and his loved ones must forgive my cynicism, but I wasnt born cynical big time college sports are simply not be trusted. Still, given that its Duke, were supposed to regard Bagley as a legitimate, Duke qualified full scholarship student athlete who meets with coach Mike Krzyzewskis heralded high standards at least as heard on TV, especially CBS and ESPN. Marvin Bagley IIIAPImagine what those desensitized, TV celebrated Cameron Crazies would do to Bagley if he played at Duke for UNC, North Carolina St. Kentucky. Theyd mob trash him as a one and done rent a star. Then theres the decades long rationalization that If we didnt recruit him someone else would. Southern Cal finished a deeply disappointed as in crushed second to Duke for Bagley. And by now you know the other rationalization Its a business. Its a business that escapes examination and courtroom adjudication. If an ostensibly clean business serves as a false front for a criminal enterprise, its called racketeering accused offenders can be imprisoned for long stretches if convicted. That our colleges many of them taxpayer funded and growing prohibitively expensive serve as fronts for expensive basketball and football teams that only provide full scholarship recruits with legitimate college educations by accident, also fits that my definition of racketeering. And with college coaches by far the highest salaried employees of colleges and state governments, those most richly rewarded serve nothing more or better than further serving the schools as fronts. What a racket. Let them eat cake, Mike. Mike Francesa. Getty Images for Sirius. XMEnjoy him while you can there may never again be as big, as consistent and as transparent a sports radio jerk as Mike Francesa. Friday he opened his show by reminding listeners that theyre peons, that hes extra special. The night before, he reported, he attended the Yanks Mets game, but left out of boredom the game was beneath him. First, however, I went upstairs to see the owner, before, he added, being driven home by his driver, Julio. Such Emperors New Clothes boasts effortlessly flow, as if he leaves audiences in awe of his grandeur, privilege and magnificence. His incurable megalomania disallows him from even considering that he sounds like a self marinated clown. Our TV and radio football play by players and analysts are wrapping up another offseason during which they can finally explain the significance or just qualifications of Red Zone stats. Does fourth and 8 from an opponents 1. Red Zone possession Why shouldnt itThus, fourth and 8 from the 1. Makes perfect senseSpeaking of brainless stats, Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes, Friday against the Yanks, earned a hold. In two thirds of an inning he allowed four hits and two earned runs. One day, the season leader in holds will be given his outright release. Its easier to chase a story than to get out in front of it. Sunday on SNY, after 1. Yoenis Cespedes dropped another easy catch by again trying to casually one hand it, Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez knocked him for his indifference, for not securing the ball with his bare hand. OK, but thats going after the self evident. To get on Cespedes to issue a warning based on his past one handed drops after he successfully makes a one handed catch, is how to avoid chasing the inevitable. Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. Getty Images. No relief from relievers. Friday night Red Sox manager John Farrell and Yankees manager Joe Girardi did it again. They made a short story long four hours, nine minutes by playing duck, duck, goose with their bullpens. Among the 1. 0 1. So what makes both career baseball men think that, starting in the sixth or seventh inning, they can summon three or four one inning each relievers and all three or four will be effective And with closer Aroldis Chapman unreliable, only now will Girardi, or at least on Sunday, use his bullpen based on in game circumstances as opposed to pre designated innings. Radical Again, this past Saturday, only one 1 2. Chicago time, MLB game was scheduled Jays Cubs. The rest were either late afternoon starts for FOX regionals or night games. While once impossible to even consider especially as a matter of how so many of us first became then remained baseball fans MLB now schedules as many 8 1. Sunday night starts as Saturday 1 p. Cant shame the shameless. Aroldis Chapman. Bill Kostroun. Good foresight from YES truck, Saturday. After Dellin Betances closed out the win against Boston, we soon saw a recording of Aroldis Chapman in the dugout during the final out. Chapman rose and slapped his hands in approval. Lotr Battle For Middle Earth 2 Map Pack Download. If all the kids who arrived early in the lower deck at Citi Field didnt walk away with Curtis Grandersons autograph, it wasnt because Granderson turned them down. Talk about things that dont show up in box scores, theres no abbreviation or designation for mensch. A challenge to ESPN tough talk guy Dan Le Batard Show the video of the Twins Byron Buxtons inside the park home run, Saturday, his second of the season. Buxton, who is black, ran hard the entire way, thus Le Batard can mock him for playing the white way. Yankees radio now includes commercial sponsorship of games announced attendance. Now to find someone to sponsor the comma.