Demonization of Longar continues
The demonization of OU’s Longar Longar continues. The NCAA, in a self-admitted unprecedented move, granted an extra half year of eligibility to Texas Tech basketball center Esmir Rizvic, whose eye socket was fractured by a Longar elbow last January.
Rizvic gets the extra half year in the 2008-09 season. Longar is a senior this coming season, so even after Longar is gone from Soonerland, his legacy will stay in the news.
Longar was not so much as even called for a foul in the game at Lubbock, but Tech coach Bobby Knight campaigned for sanctions against Longar, and then-Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg capitulated. The NCAA committee hearing Tech’s appeal has indicted Longar all over again.
Good for Rizvic, who was an innocent bystander on both Longar’s elbow and Knight’s politicking. Those who say the NCAA never thinks of athletes are wrong. The NCAA has a solid track record of looking out for athletes, and this is a good example. But it sure seems like a can of worms. What’s next? An extra half season for a linebacker who gets clipped and tears up a knee? An extra half season for a hitter who gets beaned?
This we know. The NCAA has assured Longar Longar of going through the rest of his career with a crimson E (for elbow) tattooed to his resume’.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
I live in West Texas and know alot about Tech fans. They think Knight is a God and that Longar acted with criminal intent. They believe that OU intentionally stole the Basketball game in Norman ( HollisPriceGate). They believe ALL the calls in the OU-Tech football game were correct in Lubbock when OU was hosed by the Refs on more than one critical call. In other words, they are always righteous and victimized whereas OU is wrong and wicked. This is what they believe.
While the NCAA’s action is kind of goofy (when did they start dealing in one-half of one year’s eligibility) I don’t think that it is a reflection on Longar. Medical hardship rulings are granted pretty regularly.