Fall-Americans: Why Wasn't Barnes an ESPN Expert Similar to Dancin' Ray?

Prior to penalizing deflating balls twice as much as flogging a female against elevator walls, remember this admonition from Commish Good-For-Nothing (as boxing judge): "Ignorance isn't an excuse." Well, does the Big Ten Conference have buyer's remorse adding this suspect new member? What do they put into the Rice and Famous at Rutgers? It most certainly isn't proper instruction about anti-bullying. Only a couple of years ago, basketball coach Mike Rice Jr. made a fool of himself abusing players (including one with learning disabilities who eventually settled a suit with the school for $300,000). And now we're back into a Rice paddy wagon in football because video changes everything.

Prior to a disturbing TMZ-secured tape showing a Mike Tyson-like TKO followed by a couple of love-bird (raven) callous kicks while she's down and out, don't buy for a second that ESPN and numerous other establishment media outlets in bed with the NFL didn't have a "smidgeon" of an idea what transpired in a casino elevator between punk running back Ray Rice and his then-fiancee he treated like Rocky did a frozen side of beef before maneuvering limp sack of "sugar" with an abundance of care. Did all of the enterprising journalists and NFL executives apparently more concerned with RG3's Jesus T-shirt think she passed out from a passionate kiss or take a bite from a wicked witch's Scarlet (Knights) apple?

Since clubby hubby lost job for which the he-man "worked his (Cro-Magnon) ass off" before kicking her butt figuratively and literally (only Neanderthal trimmings missing were club and hair pulling), Rice's spittin' mad now-wife probably could add to "horrible nightmare" by joining any class-action lawsuit stemming from concussion caused by associating with the NFL. The Rice-a-Phony insanity spread like wildfire including politics as CNN's Wolf Blitzer refused to ask National Security Adviser Susan Rice about Benghazi on the anniversary of the terrorist attack. On the heels of analyst Screamin A. Stiff's stupid pre-complete video "provoke-wrong-actions" remark regarding the blatant beating, the bullet-proof Extra Sensitive Pious Network had the gall to give Rice role model Ray "Dancing On Their Graves" Lewis a violence/cover-up forum to assess Rice's demise albeit without Lewis' old knife-wielding "Cobalt" entourage. The self-absorbed network, after giving atheism a forum but not allowing analyst Curt Schilling to pitch opinions about Muslims, must be contemplating a new reality-show channel, ESPR, to dwell on big items such as Kim K's derriere and Bruce's Olympian effort to be deemed pretty after assisting rehab efforts for Rice with an ESPY courage award-winning website meal-ticket column featuring punching bag/enabler wife Janay's byline.

Meanwhile, much like O.J. Simpson kept looking for his ex-wife's killer on golf courses, Lewis must be using studious-looking glasses trying to find his blood-stained cream suit in Atlanta on weekday scavenger hunts while serving as the enthusiastic NFL poster boy for fathering children out of wedlock. Amid the latest Warren Commission-like investigation, perhaps the NFL can consult him for a similar "protect-the-shield" hiding place regarding the complete elevate-her video a law enforcement official said he confirmed shipping to the league office. What a colossal pile of crap when an ESPN host asked Lewis - the network's top mind(backer) after Hugh Douglas departed just before rough-sex episode - about how a player should conduct himself off the playing field! Thus we're not really blindsided when ESPN's journalistic integrity took "hits" as NFL pressure apparently led the network to refuse "to go all the way" in a concussion investigation project with Frontline and Miami columnist Dan LeBatard, a typical sanctimonious ESPN host, "gave" his baseball Hall of Fame vote to readers of Deadspin's snarky sports blog.

If "no comparison" Lewis is deemed worthy of a commentator's role, Janay the Journalist Jewel gets editorial control and Britt "Just Another Petty Face" McHenry gets to strut her self-absorbed stuff, then why wasn't former Providence All-American Marvin Barnes hired to a similar motivational speaker role alongside college basketball soothsayers Jay Bilas, Jalen Rose and Dick Vitale? Barnes, beset by demons, died at age 62 on the same day Lewis lectured dupes about Rice. Barnes boasted the most overall skill of any ABA player in the mid-1970s including Julius Erving, George Gervin, Artis Gilmore, Moses Malone, Maurice Lucas, George McGinnis and David Thompson. But Barnes, donning a wide-brimmed pimp-style hat, was a deviant who would show up at a game with his uniform on under his full-length fur coat and go straight to the on-court bench proclaiming he was ready to go after gettin' down at only heaven knows where.

There is no doubt Barnes had the talent to eventually go to the Basketball Hall of Fame but he averaged a modest 9.2 ppg and 5.5 rpg with four different NBA teams in as many seasons from 1976-77 through 1979-80. Falling short of his enormous ability, Barnes most certainly didn't measure up off the court in his post-playing days like the vast majority of All-Americans.

"Movin'' Marvin's rap sheet always seemed to be moving on up. Two and one-half years ago, the three-time Providence All-American was arraigned in Rhode Island on a charge of soliciting a 17-year-old minor for sex after they met through his Rebound Foundation for at-risk youths. Barnes' previous indiscretions are too numerous to mention but are summarized among more than 50 former All-Americans included in CollegeHoopmedia.com's Hall of Shame list of several hundred "Bad Boys of Basketball."

The formation of the Big East Conference wouldn't occur for another seven years after Barnes powered the Friars to the 1973 Final Four. But with someone such as Lewis as a headliner, it leaves an impression that ESPN wouldn't have thought much about Barnes' tire-iron activity with the Friars if the Big East was intact earlier in Barnes' Time Machine and the network had a contractual relationship with the alliance. After all, the "Toughness" talent level needs to reach a certain GameDay "elevator" level for Bilas, Rose and Vitale to arrive on campus and frequently refer to "cash." Naturally, that cozy synergy could have changed swiftly if the Big East had the audacity to depart, for say, a better monetary deal with a fledgling Fox Sports network.

As for the big picture, there are ample reasons why the majority of Americans fail to have confidence in a biased mass media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. Any doubt CNN is getting out of the news business ended when arrogant anchor Carol Costello reveled in abuse of Sarah Palin's daughter while not being quite so gleeful about the banishment of the real VP's cokehead son. According to a Gallup poll, fewer than 1/4 of American adults have "a great deal" of confidence in newspapers and television news. Whether they admit it or not, the recent sales of the Boston Globe and Washington Compost plus pending peddling or dumping of numerous other lame-stream media ventures are additional signs of the apocalypse for the print media. It's the inevitable outcome for folks who generally believe, feel and think instead of specifically knowing items. The pariah press resembles aging intern Kneepads Lewinsky failing to tell a complete story by glossing over the culpability of both of the Clintons for her overt humiliation. Fawning over Sick Willie although he probably deserved a stint in the Clinton Correctional Facility in update New York, Lewinsky resembles Big Mama Mitchell's multi-dimensional support of escaped convicts.

A problem persists that the overwhelming majority of slanted reporters chronicling events big and small write through a liberal prism insulting our common sense and intelligence while probably supporting censuring of sermons by intolerant lesbian Houston mayor. The sports sandbox of the fourth-rate estate is cut largely from the same cloth complicit in the dumbing down of America as they're frequently more concerned with the War on Christmas and War on Redskins than the War on Terrorism. For instance, Seth Davis of SI and CBS, while not exhibiting as much liberal lunacy as ESPN senior writer LZ Granderson on CNN or gender-obsessed Nebraska school district seeking to label kids as purple penguins, admitted in a tweet he "hasn't missed one of (leftist) E.J. Dionne's columns since I learned to read." Davis' dad - Shrillary leg humper attorney Lanny Davis (if in fact he can get an appendage around one of her beer kegs) - is a staunch supporter of the corrupt Clintons and probably shouldn't have missed arranging for jello-loving phony Bill Cosby to get his Presidential Medal of Freedom from Sick Willie; rather than George Dubya. Meanwhile, almost in unison with a "no cops" reference as Rice emerged from his UFC rectangle, the snitches-get-stitches lookalike media might as well have been chanting "no effort (to uncover whole truth)."

Actually, it only takes a few minutes assessing Twitter incest and the flock of fake followers to reveal much of the follow-the-pack press simply kissing each other's butt like a pack of puppies in a municipality without a dog catcher. Compare the content of the majority of the most popular college basketball websites and it's easy to discern they all virtually read the same. Where are the irascible and irreverent reporters bucking the system by circumventing all of the spin or will they resemble Snoop Dog reality-show like ESPN and simply seek to know showering habits, drive social engineering issues down our throats plus overemphasize gambling lines, point spreads and over/unders of collegiate games?

Does the establishment media, boasting a veracity comparable to Pinnochio, really care about the integrity of college hoops? Frankly, it's a privilege, not a right, to compete as a college athlete. If more players were genuine students, they would comprehend the value of an education and analysts wouldn't be so obsessed with providing them additional "goodies." Thus it's distressing to see most of the media wear blinders amid the abysmal graduation ratios and vacuous coverage coddling so many suspect players and coaches.

You couldn't tell it from the genuine rodeo clowns in the press but something is wrong with the frequency of college basketball players running afoul of the law. Where are the provoking stories and commentary assessing how enforcing more rigorous academic standards could virtually eliminate this blight? What is being done to reduce the seemingly incessant number of "tough guys" tossing women around like rag dolls? They can't even take the time to review a tape, give us a two-minute warning and rule whether or not there was a beat-down.

Held hostage by an Ariel Castro-like media as manipulative as Jodi Arias, the general public suffers from gullible glorification syndrome. When the lame-stream sports media is as incompetent as the general newsroom and editorial department, they foist other athletic heroes upon the general public such as Lance Armstrong, Ryan Braun, Aaron Hernandez, DeSean Jackson, Johnny "I Can Sign My Name" Manziel, Adrian Peterson, Bobby Petrino, Oscar Pistorius, A-Roid, Josh Shaw, Manti Te'o, Michael Vick, Jameis Winston and Tiger Woods. The media, allowing Peterson to play the blame game via using the disciplinary methods passed down by his father, don't, at the bare minimum, inform the masses his dad was Idaho State's leading basketball scorer and an All-Big Sky Conference first-team selection in 1984-85 before spending eight years in prison following an arrest for money laundering in connection with a crack-cocaine ring.

By any measure, the puff-piece enemies of illumination such as ESPN executives hiding under their desks are in complete denial about their failure to tell the entire story. The gutless wonders in the media, exemplified by ESPN suspending Bill Simmons for pithy-yet-filthy rant against stonewalling NFL commish and Bob Ryan for calling colleague Mark Jackson a Bible-pounding phony, generally aren't combative enough to explore significant issues much beyond being slobbering stenographer sots for lawless schools. Who really believes Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino went directly from normal extracurricular activity for a leader of men to extraordinary bumping and grinding in a public venue? And yet Pitino is so immune from criticism he has no reservation calling a Big Ten school president "a pompous ass" for having the gall to question scholastic shortcomings of Louisville's scholars.

Getting rid of evidence (abortion) isn't confined to morally-bankrupt coaches. In an era of sexual gratification, how did Duke All-American J.J. Redick become so savvy he had an abortion contract with his flame as an NBA rookie? Do we need to wait for TMZ before a sports reporter evaluates how many abortions have been sanctioned by college basketball coaches so female players could remain on the court and male players wouldn't be hampered by becoming deadbeat dads?

The myopic media, responding like the NSA in the "least untruthful manner," caters to a susceptible low-information public. A colossal collection of condescending clowns fail to comprehend the culture they've helped create is completely contemptible such as underwriting professional student Sandra Flukey's birth control into her 30s because she is too lazy to make normal arrangements to secure modestly-priced protection herself. As for college sports, the predictably pathetic press has allowed universities of lower learning to become little more than halfway houses for wayward youth.

The online media, shackled by an amateurish historical perspective, should be detached from the subjects they cover but almost never challenge them with any sort of confrontational style. Regrettably, that is the extent of how thin-skinned coaches such as North Carolina's Roy Williams has no qualms announcing he's "tired of answering questions" about a troubled returning starter or academic fraud tarnishing "The Carolina Way."

The familiar family-atmosphere refrain from father-figure coaches and administrators about "doing all they could to mentor and guide him" is nauseating. Is that distorted definition of "everything" all that gullible fans and a "skeptical" media ask of them? Were the recruits genuine student-athletes in the first place? Wouldn't you love to see the laughable transcripts of the majority of the troublemakers? How many Ray Rice-like pummelings occurred across the country on college campuses involving so-called student-athletes except there wasn't video assaulting our sensibilities?

At some point, the blatantly dishonest coaches and media, collaborating for a "Duck Dynasty" of sorts ducking the difficult questions and issues, need to look in the mirror about accountability. Petrified of being denied access, the hacks fail to yield more than baffling babbling. In a Barney Fife era where a fence-jumping outsider can stroll through the White House's front door unimpeded, the "rules of engagement" battle cry for JV journalistic jewels is basically let's get back to the game so knuckleheads can show support for perpetrator via a standing ovation and donning his uniform number.

Essentially, what happened to pugnacious competition chasing down a story among media outlets? Rather than chronic adoration, shouldn't they be like an acerbic town crier assuring us Kate's baby doesn't have Grandpa's ears? Instead, there should be a stop-and-frisk policy for the delusional press to see if they have any courage or intellect. It goes without saying that ESPN is virtually immune to widespread criticism because most of the flacks aspire to work for the network alongside Jalen "Uncle Tom" Rose. The media complains that the NFL should have secured the inside-the-elevator videotape "from a credible source" but couldn't they have gotten off their less-than-credible butts and done likewise?

The press should always be uncomfortable, not orgasmic, in its pursuits even if they become a trendsetter. This corner designated North Carolina's Michael Jordan as national player of the year in 1982-83 when every other precinct anointed Virginia's Ralph Sampson. Does that mean UNC and iconic Jordan, especially since he can dunk at 50-plus, deserve deference forevermore if his alma mater sports suspect academic credentials, he spends too much time gambling/womanizing, makes inane executive decisions or if one of his kids acts like a derelict? In an era of dumbfounding domestic violence, the same question applies to icon Larry Bird when his son pleaded guilty to criminal recklessness in connection with facing multiple charges after allegedly attempting to run his ex-girlfriend over with a car.

If you were responsible for generating the first significant national publicity for Auburn's Charles "Round Mound of Rebound" Barkley, are you supposed to resemble most of the idolatry-practicing media and virtually ignore his numerous off-the-court transgressions or college hoops analysis as lame as his golf swing? How many college and professional athletes hailed with hosannas by Barkley, ESPN, SI and major networks have done something "turrible" comparable to Rice's whipping? The misfits don't have a God-given or Barkley-given right to compete at the highest levels of athletics. Career change statistics suggest the average person makes a career change approximately five to seven times during a working life. Rice acted as if he majored in video editing and the Baltimore Ravens' front office pretended they earned advanced degrees in ethics. Instead of simplistic focusing on the trite second-chance routine by such keen observers, can't Rice exhibit "courage" and put his fine Rutgers education to good use in another vocation just a little earlier than expected? On the other hand, you can't trust Rutgers' priorities insofar as the new Big Ten Conference "institution" hired Eddie Jordan as coach without a diploma because the former Vitale recruit had more vital credentials - NBA playing and coaching career after helping the Scarlet Knights reach the 1976 Final Four.

A solution for much of the ugliness is really not all that complicated. It's staring the press and schools such as Rutgers in the face as much as the Rice videos. The simple equation: Reduce the academic anemia and there will be a corresponding decrease in rift raft and coaches' graft. But what are the odds that new ESPN analyst Jim Calhoun, who had more than his share of suspect "student-athletes" at Connecticut (Jeff Adrien, Richie Ashmeade, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, Tate George, Ben Gordon, Mike Hayes, Eric Hayward, Antonio Kellogg, Nate Miles, A.J. Price, Clifford Robinson, Johnnie Selvie, Toraino Walker, Doug Wiggins, Marcus Williams, Enosch Wolf, Doug Wrenn, etc.) coupled with an abysmal graduation ratio, will address this topic in a forthright fashion in a studio role trying to fill the shoes of certifiable liar Bruce Pearl?

A return to sanity won't happen until Americans receive a skeptical honest media, but most don't have the basketballs or footballs for the job and are as confused as Bruce Jenner and Bradley Manning in who they are plus what they should be (see CNN unraveling). When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. But when you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear. As shamelessly one-sided as conservatives have asserted for years, excessive media malpractice finally discarded the pretense of objectivity. Once and for all, the amateur-hour collection of misguided minions have been unmasked as aggressive advocates; not adversarial journalists. "How could (media) do this to us? THIS IS OUR RIGHT (to know entire story)!" The mess media needs to obtain it in bulk and try Lumosity, which we're told improves brain health and performance.