Roll Bama Roll was on top of the NFL draft this weekend with a complete run down of the first round and information on the three Alabama players taken on the second day: Le’Ron McClain to Baltimore, Ken Darby to Tampa and Ramzee Robinson to Detroit.
As always, best wishes as these guys move to the next level. I’m going to be pulling hard for Darby. He had a rough year personally, and a rough year on the field. Some of the on the field issues were no doubt created by the personal loss he experienced; however, much of his problems were caused by a poorly coached offensive line and very poor conditioning and technique. Now is the chance to get back into the grove from his junior year.
Roll Bama Roll was also kind enough to inform its readers that Robinson was the last player selected in this year’s draft. I wonder if 20 years from now Robinson will be telling anyone who will listen the story about his being the last player selected.
NASCAR
I normally don’t write about NASCAR, because I do not like racing. I like it even less when fans throw debris on the track. It is a very poor reflection on the state and its fans. It is uncalled for in any situation. I can’t fathom why NASCAR fans around these parts do not like Jeff Gordon. Please, could someone give me a reason? I’d appreciate it. For the last three or four years I’ve asked that question and never received an answer.
COLLEGE CORRUPTION
More damning news last week in the Alabama college corruption scandal. While this isn’t football, it relates very closely to higher education in this state (as it involves the two-year college system, which is an important educational and economic development tool.) The Birmingham News reported how the state school board gave a contract to Renee Culverhouse despite serious questions about Culverhouse’s ethics.
The News detailed how Culverhouse: “has four relatives employed by the system. At Gadsden State, she hired more legislators than any other college. She also gave questionable contracts to the well-connected, including contracts paying $42,000 a year each to the son of a friend of former Chancellor Roy Johnson and the son of the ousted director of the Alabama Fire College.
In her former job as a lawyer for the two-year system, Culverhouse played a role in allowing two Fire College employees to buy a state-owned house for less than half its value – a transaction that has led to criminal convictions.
Now, as the leader of the two-year colleges, she clearly doesn’t feel she has to respond to questions from the media, and she has urged employees throughout the system not to cooperate or provide information to reporters, either.
And who was at fault for giving this person a contract? These members of the state school board: Birmingham’s David Byers, Birmingham’s Ethel Hall, Mary Jane Caylor, Ella Bell and Sandra Ray.
Any reasonable person can see Culverhouse is an impediment to reform. So, the public should ask just what type of benefit these school board members get by preventing or delaying reform.