It's a nice easy read... all told it took me two or three days of non-committed reading. "non-committed" b/c I had to focus on getting other things done as well, lol. It's VERY good... you learn so much about football in various parts of the world... the cultural influences behind the local game. Very insightful.
:) I do customer service, too. It means the person who repped you hasn't been around/repped enough people yet for their rep to count. So, it doesn't count towards your point total. Eventually, they'll rep enough to make theirs turn green. Well, their good rep anyway.
You're absolutely right. I only saw the replay once during the game. I was making my judgment after a trusted friend (who thoroughly examined the replay on his DVR) said it was a 100% dive. The slow motion replay posted in another thread revealed what you said. I apologize.
A recent Court case closed the "front organization" aspect of the NLI a bit. The NCAA tried to pretend they were separate entities so you couldn't sue the NCAA over scholarship issues, until a judge noticed the same people on both boards. Now if you go to www.national-letter.org , you will see that it redirects to the official NCAA..org site, and the "about" page says it is managed by the NCAA eligibility center. Frankly, I think the NLI has outlived it's usefulness and will be replaced by another document over time. Being a compliance officer looks like a great career right now if you are good at it. The whole recruitment process is on its ear and ripe for exploitation ( i don't mean illegal) because of recent cases. Have you noticed Compliance Officers are no longer ex-coaches or the token woman senior officer at many schools? Don't get me wrong, they are still hiring women, but they aren't jocks. More and more have legal training.
The whole thing is a hodgepodge. 15.3.3 says you can award for any term. 15.3.3.1.1 grants two exception (c,d) that can be rotated through the squad. If you grant a 1/2 scholarship for 2 semesters, it's financially the same as a full for one semester. 15.3.3.1 mentions the length of the awards(1 academic yr. ) but doesn't specify when that year has to start or if it has to be contiguous over a single academic calendar year. In other places in the manual ( practice hours, for example) they make that distinction. When I read the manual, I have to assume that if it's not expressly prohibited, it's permitted. There's a big over-signing controversy in football right now that shows that. Interestingly enough, it involves not using the letter of intent, but only the GIA document. The system gets worked all the time- by everyone.
you're invited to join in : https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=22124540#post22124540 :)
My 2 cents- People are always gonna hate on Robbie and, because it got so popular, hating on Robbie is going to be the norm even after he does well. Look at President Bush for an example- A lot of people started hating on him. The hate became popular and became a laughing point, so everyone else started hating on him. The new people that were hating really didn't have a reason to hate, but they did because everyone else was doing it. They could give you the half-ass bullshit reasons for hating on Robbie, but they'd never be well thought-out. Yes- Robbie's performances have been disappointing. But we are currently 4 games into a long, long season. He isn't progressing the same as Stuart Holden, but for people to want to trade him at this point of his career- i just don't get it.
I dont think Ive ever seen a player in the history of the Crew that has torn supporters into two distinct camps. Missionary and Pastor are Robbie defenders...he could kill an old woman and they would defend him. They are neighbors of his from California. Im in the I hate Robbie camp, which is where most everybody else is. I think he plays half ass for us anymore and I dont know why. He is nowhere near the 2008 form where he worked his butt off and was much more aggressive. Why? I dont know why. Thats the frustrating part. It could be coaching, it could be injuries we dont know about, it could a variety of things. I do hope he turns it around though...I really really do because he could make this team so much better.
