Homage of the Week
Greg Sankey is not playing!
Another way of conveying an honorable mention is an homage. In this weekly article we will be paying homage to the weirdest or funniest moment in college sports from the weekend, aside from the obviously stupid things sports fans do. Those moments speak for themselves. These are the moments that really stand out as head scratchers.
“As plainly as it can be stated: Stop any and all activity related to faking injuries to create time-outs.”
Wow. Our Homage of the Week has officially been claimed by Greg Sankey, SEC Commissioner. Commissioner Sankey is clearly over it. Somewhere Lane Kiffin just broke out in a cold sweat. The Commissioner is not playing around anymore. He’s had enough, and the fake injuries are officially over.
Sankey sent a memo to every athletic director and head football coach in the SEC putting them on notice. The statement at the beginning of this article is at the top of the page in bold and underlined. Bold. Underlined. He’s not kidding, and this is not optional. To make himself crystal clear he even cited the NCAA rule on timeouts and said it’s “not a complicated or confusing principle.” You have to wonder if Sankey is citing the NCAA rule to put a spotlight on the fact the NCAA has done nothing to address the fake injury issue. As usual, it’s Sankey and the SEC leading the way for the rest of the country.
It's going to be very interesting to see who the first team is who pushes this announcement. Vegas would probably make Ole Miss the odds-on favorite. This memo is very clear. Sankey spelled out in great detail how this will be evaluated. He mentioned engaging the National Coordinator receiving support from the SEC office. That’s a subtle way of letting conference schools know he’s already on the same page with the NCAA so don’t you dare try to appeal over his head.
To make sure everyone understands the consequences of faking an injury, Sankey spells out a three-step punishment process. If a player is deemed to fake an injury:
1. On the first offense the school is fined $50,000, and the head coach will be publicly reprimanded.
2. On the second offense the school is fined $100,000, and the head coach will be publicly reprimanded.
3. On the third offense the head coach receives a one game suspension. The suspension could also apply to any staff member who is seen signaling to a player to fake an injury.
Ole Miss could easily achieve all of that in one game. Sankey also mentioned that additional financial penalties as well as public reprimand of players could be included in the accountability of schools.
The best part of the entire memo is how Sankey finishes. He says that it’s expected that this will be communicated to all constituents immediately. No option for procrastinating is allowed. This must be done asap. To close the memo Sankey says, “Play football and stop the feigned injury nonsense.” Thank you, Commissioner Sankey, for saying exactly what we are all thinking. This message is approved by football fans everywhere…..and the Ole Miss training staff.