Report: Roethlisberger Suspended 4-6 Games, With Conditions

The controversy surrounding Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's alleged bathroom behavior in Georgia a while back has come to a head.

The star will be suspended four to six games by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, according to a report by ESPN's Chris Mortensen.

Roethlisberger's behavior has been the source of much talk in NFL circles in recent weeks. FOX analyst Terry Bradshaw, a decorated and popular former Pittsburgh quarterback, called "Big Ben" out for, well, basically being a hard-headed jackass.

While it was initially unclear if the league would take action, it began to come into focus after a meeting between Roethlisberger and Goodell last week. The commish acknowledged publicly that Roethlisberger -- in his view -- had violated the NFL's personal conduct policy. He came to this finding despite the fact that Roethlisberger wasn't charged in this incident, and nothing has come of allegations of a sexual assault in Nevada, either.

The finding of Goodell -- for better or worse -- was that Roethlisberger's behavior put him in bad situations, and he was responsible for the fact he was in a position to have these accusations placed against him.

This adds more teeth to the NFL's personal conduct policy, something colleague Clay Travis wrote on last week.

Effectively the league would be punishing a player for the violation of an amorphous and arbitrary morals element to the personal conduct policy. And while you or I can agree or disagree on whether the allegations against Roethlisberger -- given that he was never arrested or charged -- are serious enough to merit a suspension, hardly anyone would be able to determine where the league draws the line on what is moral under the personal conduct policy and what isn't.

Clay went on to point out that this policy might not even be legal.

The policy also hasn't been challenged because, from an individual player perspective, taking the punishment without running to court probably makes sense.

Why?

Because the legal system might well take longer to render a verdict in your favor than it will take to simply serve your suspension. If you run to court there's an appearance that you're avoiding taking responsibility for your own actions. So you aren't incentivized to challenge the system and anger the man, Goodell, and the league, the NFL, who controls your ability to reenter gainful employment.

But, trust me, the legality of the personal conduct policy is tenuous at best. Especially because the NFL unilaterally adopted the personal conduct policy without the NFLPA's approval and outside the protective sphere of the collective bargaining agreement.

That makes the NFLPA's failure to attack the personal conduct policy a complete failure of the league's union and a reflection of the fear the player's union feels in allying itself with the weakest, and most easily condemned, members of its union.

Mortensen tweeted that he doesn't expect Roethlisberger to initiate an appeal of his suspension from the player's union. He added that Big Ben didn't invite the union to his hearing with Goodell last week.

If the player doesn't initiate the appeal, the union can do nothing but allow the player to serve his punishment.

It sounds like Roethlisberger is taking this like a man, which he should be (sort of) applauded for. He could have protested and made this a very painful process. Instead, for whatever reason, he is going to try to move on and -- hopefully -- grow up.

For those protesting, remember that there is a lot of uncertainty. We don't know the facts of the case. We don't know what the commissioner found out from Roethlisberger during their meeting. We don't know what all the circumstances of the decision not to charge him with a crime.

The commissioner likely knows more than we do, and he knows more than he will ever lay out publicly.

Reality is that the policy will be questioned, but it's got more punch to it now than it ever did before.

CCHA Spurns Huntsville

Barring a miracle, the ranks of NCAA Division I hockey will shrink in 2009-2010. It is then that the league known as College Hockey America, which never really got off the ground, will officially disband.

Of the four teams remaining in that conference, three have found new homes. Bemidji State will move to the WCHA starting in 2010, while Robert Morris and Niagara go to Atlantic Hockey.

Because Bemidji is bringing Nebraska-Omaha to the WCHA with them, conventional wisdom had it that the CCHA, Omaha's old league, would be looking to expand back to 12 teams. An 11-team conference creates some scheduling issues, and the tournament bracket (six teams play in first-round matchups, while five get first-round byes) can be cumbersome to explain to the casual fan.

A marriage between Alabama-Huntsville and the CCHA seemed like a possibility. While it would create some geographic nightmares, they couldn't possibly be worse than seven CCHA teams heading to Fairbanks every year, right?

Wrong.

Seems that the CCHA would rather have 11 teams than take Huntsville as a new member.

"The league completed its due diligence of the application for membership submitted by the University of Alabama in Huntsville with careful consideration and discussion of various issues," stated CCHA Commissioner Tom Anastos.

"At this time we have chosen to maintain our membership at its current level." "The CCHA will remain focused on maintaining and strengthening our existing members to ensure the conference's continued success and long-term viability," Anastos added.

In other words, UAH isn't good enough for a league that should be actively seeking another team.

It's probably curtains for the UAH program very soon. There's little chance of a Division I team being able to sustain itself as the only independent in the land. They'd have to rely on bye weeks to get non-conference dates, and good luck getting anyone willing to play in Huntsville.

The program would be doomed to have no real shot at ever making the NCAA Tournament, and without that carrot to dangle in front of recruits, it would become almost impossible to get Division I-quality athletes to attend there.

This is not a good day for college hockey. There are only 58 programs currently up and running, so the loss of one should never be regarded as insignificant.

Only another league taking UAH, or the Chargers deciding they can make it as an independent, will save this from being a bad moment for the sport.

The other side of this story is that the CCHA has done something strictly for their own good. After years of the WCHA being ripped by select fans for only doing what was in its own best interests, it's nice to think that Bruce McLeod won't be thought of as the bad guy anymore.

It remains to be seen if the CCHA will try to find a 12th team, or if they're truly content to stay at 11.

Mark Buehrle Pitches Perfect Game

I turned on my television and switched to ESPN. The DirecTV on-screen guide said NFL Live was on, so I was expecting Brett Favre chatter.

Instead, I saw history of a different (and much more enjoyable) kind.

White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle was trying to finish off a perfect game in Chicago against the Tampa Bay Rays. Buehrle's no slouch, having compiled an impressive resume over his time in Chicago, and having already thrown one no-hitter in his career.

Tampa's lineup isn't exactly Murderer's Row, but they've got some guys who can hit, so this was not any kind of fluke. Buehrle was obviously throwing the hell out of the ball.

The first batter, Gabe Kapler, took Buehrle deep to left-center, and I thought it was gone. It would have been, were it not for center fielder Dewayne Wise, who made an incredible catch. I know Sox television broadcaster Ken Harrelson is known for his over-the-top statements, but he said it was the greatest catch he'd ever seen in 50 years of baseball, especially given the circumstances of trying to preserve a perfect game.

I couldn't agree more with Hawk, though there's a catch he probably didn't see in person that comes very close.

In 1987, the Brewers' only no-hitter in franchise history (pitched by Juan Nieves) was capped by an amazing catch in center field by Robin Yount, who dove to nab a sinking line drive hit by Eddie Murray.

The kicker is that it was only Yount's second year as a full-time center fielder. He was a shortstop when he joined the organization in 1978, and stayed that way through the 1984 season.

The story today, however, is Mark Buehrle. He only struck out six, but only eight of the other 21 outs were recorded on balls hit in the air in fair territory. Simply an incredible performance by a great left-handed pitcher.

It's the 16th perfect game in "modern" baseball history, and the first since Randy Johnson threw one for Arizona in Atlanta back in 2004.

Bemidji State, Nebraska-Omaha to WCHA

A story that has been festering for a long time finally has a conclusion.

It's been a few years now since a fledgling hockey conference called College Hockey America began to sputter. While the league was able to boast an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, there was little appeal to joining the league, as its large geographic boundaries led to teams running up ridiculous expenses for travel.

As the league of now four teams prepares for its final curtain call in the spring of 2010, it's good to know that three of those four teams have landed in new conferences.

Niagara and Robert Morris had already joined the Atlantic Hockey Association. Bemidji State now has its home.

The Beavers will join an expanded 12-team Western Collegiate Hockey Association beginning in the 2010 season, according to veteran Duluth News Tribune writer Kevin Pates, who has never been known for posting blind speculation, even on his blog.

Pates says it will be announced Friday that Nebraska-Omaha will join Bemidji State in the WCHA.

While there were some hoping Alaska-Fairbanks (or "Alaska", if you will) would get a good look from the WCHA, it appeared that UNO was the target for a long time. The installation of athletic director Trev Alberts, who immediately started talking about the need for UNO to maximize the revenue potential of its men's hockey program, seemed to really get the ball rolling in this direction. Alberts admitted from the start that he was not a hockey guy, but it looked like he had a good understanding of the potential that comes along with WCHA membership.

While this marriage is, above all, a business arrangement, it's also a move that is in the best interest of college hockey. Assuming Alabama-Huntsville gains admission into the CCHA to put that league back to 12 teams (while you can set up a conference schedule for an 11-team league, it's going to be a mess, so the CCHA getting to 12 teams seems like a foregone conclusion), Division I will keep its 58 teams.

The one thing that is damaged severely is the growth potential for Division I hockey. Only having five leagues, and having four of those five leagues at 12 teams each, means that anyone who wants to come in will have to slave away as an independent, probably for a long time. That's not desirable when every other program in the country can dangle their conference's autobid as a carrot to keep kids away from the indies.

That said, this is a win for the WCHA, and a win for college hockey. Even more than that, it's a win for Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha.

McHALE OUT IN MINNESOTA

Finally, the Timberwolves found a job Kevin McHale could do, since he royally sucked in the front office.

(Insert "Head Janitor" jokes here.)

He can coach.

Just not for the Timberwolves.

Wuh?

New team president David Kahn will announce officially Wednesday that McHale is out of the organization after 15 years. Since Kahn is a sports executive, he's a man of his word, and that means McHale is not hurt by this.

Ever since he was hired, Kahn pledged to handle the decision on McHale's coaching status with professionalism and respect. "Kevin has a long history here and a relationship with the owner that I respect and trust," Kahn said at his introductory press conference. "I will not hurt Kevin McHale. I will not."

There are some obvious questions here.

The most obvious thing we have to find out is where Kahn will go to find a head coach who will be better than the guy he had in place.

After all, McHale may have only coached a 20-43 finish out of the team after he took over, but he had them playing some really good ball before Al Jefferson got hurt, and the team continued to respond to his positive message after Jefferson was lost.

Youngster Kevin Love doesn't seem pleased, at least according to his Twitter feed.

In an update posted early Wednesday, Love tweeted, "Today is a sad day ... Kevin McHale will NOT be back as head coach this season."

Upon seeing the posting, a person in the league was told McHale sent a text message to Love indicating he was not coming back. The person requested anonymity because no official announcement has been made.

... McHale and Love grew very close during the rookie's first season in Minnesota, especially after McHale left his front office position to take over as coach in December.

It took 14 years to find something notable that McHale could do well for this team, and they get rid of him after they figure it out.

Sometimes, things don't make any sense at all.

BLAIS TAKES OMAHA JOB

Well, this makes that whole UNO/WCHA thing a lot more interesting, doesn't it?

Saw first on College Hockey News, by the way. Sounds like it's for real, and it's a huge coup for Nebraska-Omaha. Not that their program had been legit in the past, but it really will be now.

Dean Blais has resigned as head coach of the Fargo Force and is expected to be named head coach of the University of Nebraska-Omaha at a press conference at 2 p.m. today.

Blais, who led UND to national championships in 1997 and 2000, will be returning to the college game after five years away.

He left UND in 2004 to take a position as the associate coach of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets. He later was assigned to a player development role with the organization.

Last season, he coached the startup Fargo Force in the United States Hockey League, leading them to the Clark Cup Finals during their expansion season.

With Blais in the fold, speculation about Omaha heading to the WCHA with Bemidji State is only going to heat up. This is especially true if athletic director Trev Alberts and new right-hand man (and former coach) Mike Kemp do as indicated, and let the new coach have input over UNO's conference future.

I'm not going to call this a wonderful hire, but it's not a slam at Alberts. It is a necessary hire. When a guy like Dean Blais expresses interest in your job, and you have the money to pay him, you hire him with no other questions asked.

MANNY TO STOP BEING MANNY

Huge news out of baseball, as we have our first big-time casualty of the "new" drug policy.

Sure, Rafael Palmeiro got busted a few years back, but Manny Ramirez takes this thing to a whole new level.

It will be announced later Thursday that Ramirez will be suspended 50 games for a violation of baseball's drug policy. There will be no appeal of the suspension.

Obviously, Ramirez (or "Manny", as everyone calls him) has an excuse, since everyone seems to have an excuse.

"Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was okay to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. "I want to apologize to Mr. McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, Mr. Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I'm sorry about this whole situation." – Manny Ramirez

Why is it that no one seems to ever actually be taking PEDs to cheat? It's always a mistake, an oversight, or some malicious act that leads to a positive test.

I said once on the radio that the first athlete to come out and say they knowingly and willingly took a performance-enhancing drug, and did it to gain an advantage on fellow competitors (not to recover from an injury or prevent a future injury) should be automatically inducted into that sport's Hall of Fame.

As for the Dodgers, you have to feel for them. They spent all winter laboring over bringing Manny back, and this is what they get for it. Yeah, they're 13-0 at home, and they're still a really good team. But this puts a damper on what they've accomplished so far, and with Manny out until July 3, it will be very hard for Los Angeles to keep playing at their current pace.

Luckily for them, they already lead their pathetic division by six-and-a-half games, so their magic number is down to like 42. Shouldn't be a problem for them to hold on. Not only that, but they'll have a fresh and motivated Manny for the rest of the season.

It's not all bad.

FAVRE GETS OUT THE KNIFE

And here we go again.

Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress and quarterback Brett Favre plan to meet at an undisclosed location later this week to discuss the possibility of the former Packers and Jets quarterback renouncing his retirement from the NFL to play the 2009 season with the Vikings, according to a source with direct knowledge of discussions between the two parties.

There is a mutual understanding that sometime soon thereafter Favre will decide whether to sign with the Vikings. The team would expect him to participate fully in offseason minicamps and training camps, which he missed last year with the Jets.

Favre has not been working out and declined to have surgery to repair the torn biceps tendon that plagued him the final month of last season.

The never-ending saga will probably never end. Hence calling it "never-ending", I guess.

It's as if this is all been orchestrated from Day One. The Vikings get a quarterback who might be a passable starter, but not anyone capable of exciting more than immediate family or friends. All other free agents are set aside for the sake of keeping enough salary cap room to bring in Judas.

Sadly, the only people this helps are the Packers, Bears, and Lions, all of whom have to be salivating at the prospect of baiting the old man into countless bad interceptions. Could it help the Vikings? Sure, but only if Favre is great again. After the way he closed out 2008, it's doubtful anyone would bet real money on this happening.

(Especially when the above report mentions him declining the surgery. He'd better hope Adrian Peterson carries the ball 40 times a game.)

The only person potentially hurt by this is Favre. If he comes back and it doesn't work out, he's the one who looks like an idiot. Childress simply looks like a guy who did what he could to put together a championship team, while also trying to save his own hide. While making moves with the sole motivation of saving your job is hardly noble, you have to give the guy credit for making an effort.

Meanwhile, Favre looks like a complete jackass. Nothing beats a 40-year-old man holding a grudge like a 14-year-old girl. It's not exactly behavior to be proud of, no matter the end result.

I feel real sorry for Viking fans. They spent 16 years cursing the guy and finding his flaws so they wouldn't have to appreciate him from afar. Now that everyone on the planet can see his flaws, they're going to be stuck with him for a season.

JOHN MADDEN RETIRES

Something tells me this is going to end up different than the Brett Favre debacling.

Legendary NFL coach and broadcaster John Madden is hanging up the microphone. Madden is 73, and he has called some of the biggest games in NFL history, including the most recent classic Super Bowl.

From NBC:

"It’s time. I’m 73 years old. My 50th wedding anniversary is this fall. I have two great sons and their families and my five grandchildren are at an age now when they know when I’m home and, more importantly, when I’m not…

"It’s been such a great ride… the NFL has been my life for more than 40 years, it has been my passion – it still is. I appreciate all of the people who are and were such an important part of the most enjoyable, most fun anyone could have… that great life with the teams, the players, the coaches, the owners, the League… my broadcasting partners Pat and Al… the production people and the fans …is still great… it’s still fun and that’s what it makes it hard and that’s why it took me a few months to make a decision.

"I still love every part of it – the travel, the practices, the game film, the games, seeing old friends and meeting new people… but I know this is the right time."

The network is in good position, having used Cris Collinsworth in Madden's spot for one Sunday Night Football broadcast last year, and having brought in Matt Millen for studio analysis during the playoffs. Though I'd much rather have Millen call games and Collinsworth stay in the studio, doing it the other way around would be just fine.

As for Madden, it's the end (probably) of a 30-year career in broadcasting. It won't be the same without him. Did he often ramble nonsensically and confuse more than he entertained or informed? Probably. But he was the big-game broadcaster of his generation.

Growing up, there was one way of knowing your team was in the game of the week, and that was if you heard Pat Summerall and John Madden calling it.

Now, it's harder to tell what the big game of the week is, because no one in the business carries the kind of respect Madden had. Not only that, but he became a cult hero to millions of younger fans thanks to the video game.

All in all, it's been a great career for Madden, and he's certainly deserving of his Hall of Fame honors, along with any other accolades that come his way upon this announcement.

UMD WOMEN, UWS/CSS MEN MAKE NCAAs

The UMD women's hockey team is in the eight-team NCAA Tournament. They open defense of their 2008 NCAA Championship Saturday at fourth-seed New Hampshire.

The winner advances to the Frozen Four in Boston March 20 and 22.

The full NCAA Division I Women's Championship bracket can be found here.

Meanwhile, UWS and St. Scholastica have both received at-large bids to the NCAA Division III Men's Championship, according to information I have received. The full bracket has not been announced, but it's expected that both teams will be in quarterfinal play Saturday. The best guess I can muster is that UWS will be seeded first in the West and host MIAC champion Gustavus Adolphus, while St. Scholastica will get the third seed and travel to NCHA playoff champion UW-Stout.

The NCAA Division III Men's Frozen Four is March 21 and 22 in Lake Placid, New York.