No News is No News

Today's Columbia Spectator reports that no real information is being made public about the real results of the Chad Washington incident and the Twitter backlash that followed.

Key paragraph:

“Terry Martinez, interim dean of student affairs, said that Washington and other football players who posted racist and homophobic tweets were “held accountable for their behaviors,” but declined to discuss specifics.”

All my sources tell me is that Washington is on the team. They also say one player will be suspended for two games because of offensive Tweets.

For a team that still hasn’t updated its player weights on the roster yet or even officially named a starting QB, don’t expect this kind of more sensitive info to come out anytime soon… or ever.

Final Tune Up

This coming Saturday may break the vault on significant info about the team when the Lions hold an intrasquad scrimmage from 10:30 to 12:30 at Wien Stadium. After the game, Head Coach Pete Mangurian will initiate a good new program that will pair football alumni with existing players in something like a “mentor draft.” It’s not a great idea to exclude all alums from this process, (lots of non-players are willing to help and offer pathways to great careers), but it’s a good start.

By the time that event wraps up, I trust we’ll have a lot more information about the team going into the fall. Sometimes, you have to be careful of what you wish for because there are occasions where the info that comes out includes news about significant injuries or other setbacks. Until then, we’re just left guessing.

So spend that time a little more wisely and read and re-read my exhaustive Columbia football season preview here.

Looking Ahead

Is everyone sufficiently scared of Fordham now that the Rams beat Villanova Saturday night? Yes ‘Nova was very sloppy with the ball, but Fordham forced many of those five turnovers and the Ram offense is the real deal. Fordham heads to Temple this Saturday, and if the Rams play well there I will be out of ways to pour any cold water on what is a very hot team.

Week two opponent Monmouth, which doesn’t look scary right now, and week four opponent Lehigh will play each other this Saturday at Monmouth. That’s a rare meeting of two out of conference opponents for the Lions and it should be very illuminating for the coaches. At the very least, it will cut down on the amount of game film they’ll have to go over.

NFL Report

-Josh Martin ‘13 was not one of the active players in Kansas City’s 28-2 thumping of Jacksonville yesterday. Hopefully, he’ll actually get on the field soon. The next game for the Chiefs is their huge home opener against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.