Thursday Lunch Links

1. Plaxico Burress Sentenced to 2 Years: LINK
LJ: The US legal system baffles me. Plaxico Buress gets 2 years for possession of an unregistered fire arm and shooting himself in public. Michael Vick gets 2 years for financially backing an illegal dog fighting ring. AND...Donte Stallworth spends less than 30 days in jail for drunkenly running someone over. Do not get me wrong; all of these men are moral idiots. But how do these sentences relate to the crimes at hand.
PT:Plax’s biggest problem was his thinking he was above the law. If I remember correctly, he was offered a plea deal that would have allowed him to serve less time. But because he thought he was above the law he now has a two year sentence. Not too many GM's look for a 34 year old wide receiver who has not played in two seasons. 'Been nice knowing you Plax.

2. Memphis Pending NCAA Sanctions: LINK
LJ: Memphis will be forced to forfeit many of the wins Calipari compiled over the past few years. It amazes me how coaches can skip town without any consequence when the punishment lands on their former programs. (See Kelvin Sampson.) But...it's not like UK is above reproach when it comes to cheating. It should be any interesting next few years with Calipari at the helm in Lexington, KY.
PT:Shocker of all shockers. Calipari was cheating at Memphis. Even though my program is down in the dumps and made a run at this guy 4 years ago, we might be lucky not to have gotten him. Both of his Final Four teams do not exist. It is only a matter of time before Kentucky has the same fate. But for some reason, all his ‘scholar athletes’ want to follow this guy like he is the Pide Piper.

3. ESPN Focuses on ACC Football:
a. Will the ACC make the BCS leap? LINK
b. Third-year coaches expecting more: LINK
c. Five things to watch in the ACC: LINK
LJ: These are basic breakdowns with nothing too ground-breaking. Basically, after the ridiculous amount of parity in the final standing last year, everyone is waiting to see who can separate themselves. I'm not sure how Dinich fails to mention UNC when breaking down the lack of experienced receivers in the ACC...
PT:It is an absolute crap shoot as to who is the program to rise up. Honestly, everyone but Duke and UVA could have a shot this year. How fitting is it that they both are in the same weaker division. That should be 2 gimmies for VA Tech, Miami, GA Tech, and UNC, but we all remember UNC has not won in Charlottesville since Jimmy Carter was screwing up the economy.