Andre Smith's meltdown, Charles Barkley, SEC Basketball, and other stuff

How many people would walk away from a job interview without telling anyone? You can add Andre Smith to that list. I can't understand what is going through this kid's mind. I'm not sure if he couldn't handle the questions being asked by scouts or that he wasn't in shape. If he wasn't in shape, then what the hell was he doing since early December? The NFL is a business and the top 10 draft picks are a huge investment of money by owners of those 10 NFL teams. They're looking for the next Peyton Manning or Mario Williams, not Ryan Leaf or Lawerence Phillips. CNBC reports that Smith may have cost himself 28.3 million dollars. After this stunt, I'm surprised it's not more. What NFL GM would want to take a risk on a guy who bails during the combine. I understand that there are pro days in a couple of weeks. If he's out of shape, how can he get in shape in two weeks? That's a red flag.

Chuckles pleads guilty to DUI charges stemming from New Years in Arizona. I like Charles Barkley. He was the only reason I watched basketball on TNT. However, being a public figure, he can't put himself in these situations. Allegedly he was getting active with a lady and driving drunk. I'm not going to crucify him for it like everyone else is, even when I think it's wrong. My problem is that he was stupid enough to get himself in this situation and have blow up into a national headline. It's called a designated driver Chuck, then you can do whatever the hell you want with the ladies in the comfort of the backseat in the limo without having a cop pull you over.

We're heading down to the final stretch of college basketball's regular season and only one team in the SEC is ranked in the Top 25. LSU jumps to 18 in the polls and I'm still not convinced (even after the win over Tennessee) that they will be a threat for the NCAA tournament. Their 11-1 record in the SEC is thei lock. I argued on The Griff Show that "Would LSU be 11-1 if they played SEC East teams more than once?" Face it. The SEC West is not that strong. As for UT, Unless there is a complete meltdown and Tennessee loses five games, they're in the tournament with their strength of schedule. Wins over Georgetown and Marquette can help your case. Florida has a quality win over Washington, who leads the Pac-10. A Florida win over LSU should lock their at-large bid for the tournament. South Carolina is the only team I question. They're 21-6 but Florida and The Citadel are their only quality wins. Kentucky is in. Wins over West Virginia, Florida, South Carolina should be enough to get them in the dance. The rest of the teams will have to win the SEC Tournament to get their bid to the dance. Auburn, Mississippi St, and Ole Miss have the best chance to be the Georgia of 2009. Mississippi St. saw their tournament hopes put on life support by losing to Alabama. Overtime losses to Alabama, San Diego, and another loss to under .500 Texas Tech will raise the eyebrows of the tournament committee, but not in a good way. I did say that three teams will get into the tournament. I can be more optimistic and say four. The only scenario that could kill some SEC tournament bids is if Butler loses the Horizon League tournament and a lower tier team from the Big East, Big Ten, or Big XII shock the nation and get their automatic bids.

Lie to me once again....and tell me everything will be all right.

"Nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. You're scared of the truth. I'm tired of the lies. Cause who I am is where you want to be." -Lie to me by 12 Stones-

Lyrics from a song fitting for the recent A-Rod revelation.

A-Rod once again aired the dirty laundry, but this time with the New York media yesterday. Adding salt to MLB's wound, Bud Selig doesn't want to take blame for all of the steroid mess that has been a dark cloud over baseball since Barry Bonds raked 71 bombs in 2001. What was telling to me about A-Rod yesterday was not only the cousin getting him the juice, but he said he did not know what he was taking. We've heard it from Bonds and others. It's obvious the B.S. radar is roaring like a siren. What I don't understand is that Americans, evolving into a health concious culture, would probably ask many questions before they ever injected, ingested, etc, anything in their body. Most people would want to know the risks, benefits, side effects, the danger. Most people would be just one notch above a junkie to take such a risk with their bodies. Besides, if you're taking something you got off a crate in Costa Rica, you'd like to know what the hell it is before just diving in head first with everyone else. I believe the media and society will be less harsh on A-Rod than they would be with Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, only for the fact he finally came clean. It's a big story only because A-Rod has the richest contract in baseball and he's one of the faces of the game. Now only if they had a P.E.D that would help him in clutch situations.