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NEW YORK — When thousands of University of Alabama students graduate on Dec. 10, many of them will be making good on promises to their friends and family members — and perhaps themselves — that they would earn their degree. But one of those graduates will also be making good on a 37-year-old promise to the late, great Paul “Bear” Bryant.
Marty Lyons was an All-America defensive lineman at Alabama in the late 1970s and a leader on Coach Bryant’s fourth national championship squad in 1978. He went on to become a first round pick of the New York Jets and played 11 seasons in the NFL before becoming a radio analyst for the team in 2002.
When Lyons was preparing to leave Tuscaloosa almost four decades ago, he was 22 years old and 24 credits short of graduating, according to the New York Daily News.
“Promise me one day you go back and get your degree,” Bryant told him as they shook hands.
“I promise,” Lyons replied.
As the years went by, work and family commitments made it difficult for Mr. Lyons to return to class, but in 2014, University of Alabama academic counselors helped him come up with a plan to finish his degree online.
“It was time consuming,” he told the Daily News. “I had to carve out the time. Once I got the first three credits, I was able to see some light at the end of the tunnel. All these different professors, they were there to hold my hand, telling me, ‘Don’t forget you need to hand in this assignment by next week. If you don’t, I have no choice. I can’t pass you.’ They held me accountable.”
Even though it was difficult, Mr. Lyons said it will all be worth it when he walks across the stage in Coleman Coliseum — not only because he will be a college graduate, but also because he will be making good on a promise he made to one of his greatest mentors.
“I made him a promise, and if you want to be a man of integrity, you do what you said,” Lyons said, and he hopes his experience will inspire others as well.
“Don’t ever feel like you can’t accomplish the goal you have in mind, even if it’s the steepest hill you have to climb. It’s taken me 41 years. To be honest with you, I don’t know if I would have appreciated it back then as I do now.”
“They say college is the best four years of your life,” he laughed. “I did it 10 times over. I had fun the whole way.”
(h/t New York Daily News)
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BUFFALO, N.Y. — Former Alabama Crimson Tide standout offensive tackle Cyrus Kouandjio is now an official U.S. citizen. Born in Cameroon, Kouandjio and his family moved the United States 19 years ago in hopes of finding a better life. He then followed in his brother Arie’s footsteps and completed the citizenship process in Buffalo, where he currently plays for the NFL’s Bills franchise.
“This is such a great day,” Kouandjio said to WKBW-TV in New York. “I’ll never forget this courtroom. I’ll never forget this city. I love Buffalo. It’s my home. I came from a really low status in a different world and to be here today standing before you guys, I just thank God every day. Go Bills and Roll Tide!”
During his time with the Crimson Tide, Kouandjio racked up an extensive resume that included two BCS National Championships (2011, 2012), one SEC Championship (2012), a consensus first-team spot on the All-American team (2013), and a unanimous spot on the All-SEC team (2013). He has played in the NFL since the 2014 season, and he was selected by the Buffalo Bulls with the forty-fourth overall pick in the draft.
Cyrus’ brother and Tide teammate Arie became an American citizen in September. He currently plays guard for the Washington Redskins.
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Consider this our weekly public service.
For a printable PDF version, click here. Pro tip: Save the image below to your phone for quick and easy access all day.
(Note: All times are Central)
Consider this our weekly public service.
For a printable PDF version, click here. Pro tip: Save the image below to your phone for quick and easy access all day.
(Note: All times are Central)
Consider this our weekly public service.
For a printable PDF version, click here. Pro tip: Save the image below to your phone for quick and easy access all day.
(Note: All times are Central)
Consider this our weekly public service.
For a printable PDF version, click here. Pro tip: Save the image below to your phone for quick and easy access all day.
(Note: All times are Central)
Consider this our weekly public service.
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Eighty-one-year-old former University of Alabama football coach Gene Stallings stopped by the Birmingham, Alabama-based, nationally syndicated Rick and Bubba Show this week, opening up an opportunity for the hosts to ask him whether certain “legendary stories” about his time in Tuscaloosa are actually true. Stallings did not disappoint.
After winning the 1992 National Championship, Coach Stallings and the Crimson Tide went to Washington, D.C., to meet the President of the United States, as is the annual tradition. Bill Clinton was occupying the White House, but when the time came for the team to meet the president, he was nowhere to be found.
“He was late for everything,” Stallings quipped. “So a Secret Service man came over to me and said, ‘Now, the president is awfully busy. He’s meeting some ambassador or something. I said, ‘Well, you tell the president he’s got ten minutes to come out here and if he’s not out here in ten minutes, I’m taking this football team back to Alabama.’ He said, ‘Are your serious?’ I said, ‘Well, I am, but now you’ve just got nine minutes.’ We had a plane to catch and couldn’t wait on him all day; we’d waited for him out there about thirty minutes. And in about five minutes, here he came. He was very gracious.”
On another occasion, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell visited Tuscaloosa and wanted to meet the Alabama football team with the press in tow.
“They told me, ‘The General wants the news media to cover it.,'” Stallings recalled. “I said, ‘No, there’s not going to be any news media. I want him to talk to the players. Now, he’s in charge when he’s in that helicopter and gets out. But he gets in this building and I’m in charge. I’ll tell him where to sit and what to do.’ And so anyway, we had a good relationship and he visited with the players and signed every autograph for these players, so he was very gracious.”
Check out the video above for more legendary Gene Stallings stories.
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While San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick continued his protest of the American flag by kneeling during the National Anthem on Monday night, his teammate and former University of Alabama star Quinton Dial stood shoulder to shoulder with members of the armed forces and helped to hold a giant American flag while the Anthem played.
Dial is a native of Andalusia, Alabama and played his high school ball for Clay-Chalkville in Pinson. His first two years in college he played at East Mississippi Community College, now the subject of the popular Netflix series “Last Chance U,” before playing his final two years at the University of Alabama.
Dial finished his career at UA with 46 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and two National Championships. His most famous moment in Crimson came when Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray threw an interception and then forget the sage advice passed down from generation to generation of football players: keep your head on a swivel.
Dial was selected by the 49ers in the 2013 NFL draft, and earlier this year signed a three-year contract extension. On Monday night, members of the national media quickly took note of Dial’s decision to help hold the flag prior to the 49ers game against the Los Angeles Rams.
“While Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid take a knee,” tweeted NFL network reporter Andrew Siciliano, “Quinton Dial does his part and helps hold the flag.”
“49ers defensive lineman Quinton Dial joined military members holding the flag for the anthem,” added Lindsey Thiry of the L.A. Times.
Both tweets quickly spread online.
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By Michael Tomberlin
UAB unveiled a new video today, kicking off a campaign for the 2016-17 season a year before football returns to the school.
The “Together We Are Greater Birmingham” video and promotion taps into the revived interest in football and other sports at the school after the football program was eliminated in December 2014. The return was announced six months later after a public outcry.
Burton Advertising produced the inaugural video for the campaign, which can be viewed below.
The green and gold colors of the school are sprinkled throughout the video along with images of Magic City icons like Vulcan, Railroad Park, Legion Field, Alabama Theatre and the UAB campus itself.
“The entire Birmingham community has rallied around UAB and this campaign is a way to show our appreciation for what the city has worked so hard to accomplish,” UAB Athletics Director Mark Ingram said. “UAB is a world-class institution located in a world-class city, and together we can achieve unprecedented levels of success. We are living proof of that.”
UAB just broke ground on a new football complex with practice fields and offices, the result of a major fundraising effort led by some of Birmingham’s largest corporations and business leaders.
“The support has been unwavering,” football coach Bill Clark said. “We have put shovels in the ground for our new Football Operations Center and it wouldn’t have been possible without Birmingham believing in UAB and our vision of becoming a championship caliber program.”
Although the returning football program is a point of emphasis, the new campaign will connect to all 18 Blazer sports programs. Fans are being asked to use the #TogetherWeAre hashtag on social media this season.
(Video above: Silver Wings Parachute Team descends into Jordan-Hare Stadium)
Prior to Auburn’s game against Clemson on Saturday, the Silver Wings Parachute Team took to the skies above Jordan-Hare Stadium for an impressive display of aerial accuracy.
The team is based at Ft. Benning’s U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence.
“Formed in 1965 by the director of the Airborne Department, the team can trace its origins back to 1958 and members of the Airborne-Ar Mobility Command,” says SilverWingsDemoTeam.com. “The mission of the Silver Wings is to represent the Maneuver of Excellence Center (MCoE), 1/507 PIR Airborne School, the US Army, while demonstrating the freefall and canopy accuracy capabilities of today’s airborne forces.”
Every member of the four-man team landed on the 50-yard-line just before the game began, including the team leader who did it with a giant American flag in tow and a GoPro camera strapped to his body, providing the first-person view seen in the video above.
(h/t WarBlogle)
By Wayne Hester
Verne Lundquist will be four days shy of 53 years in broadcasting on Sept. 3 when CBS televises the UCLA at Texas A&M game.
“Verne is a legend in this business,” said his partner Gary Danielson. “I am thankful to have had the opportunity to sit next to him calling SEC games.”
CBS has had the highest ratings for college football for the past 10 years, and Lundquist plans to make his last year all about the game.
“Verne has never wanted to be the story of any broadcast,” said CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus. “He has always wanted the game, the players and the coaches to be the story.”
Lundquist, Danielson, McManus and studio host Rick Neuheisel were on a conference call with the media Thursday as CBS approaches its 16th year of covering the SEC.
Lundquist remembered the year 2000, when coach Mike Dubose’s Alabama team finished 3-8.
“We’re light years removed from that Alabama team,” Lundquist said.
“When they got Nick Saban, the world changed.”
McManus let the media in on a change coming to CBS broadcasts this season. He said viewers should be prepared for graphics having a “slick new modern look.”
And Garth Brooks “is going to customize a song for us,” McManus added.
Danielson was asked about Lundquist, and he answered with high praise.
“I think he has been as important to the SEC as Bear Bryant,” Danielson said.
“Verne always finds the goodness in the game with the players and coaches he interviews.”
Other takeaways from the conference call:
• Lundquist on preparing for a game: “You can’t shortcut it. If you do, you’ll be found out.”
• Danielson: “I’ve had what I consider four, five, six dear friends in my life. People come up in the booth and hug Verne and call him their dear friend – hundreds of them.”
• Verne on his successor, Brad Nessler: “I’ve known Brad for more than 30 years and have always admired his work ethic and his on-air presence. He shares the same passion for college football that I do.”
• Neuheisel’s four picks for the College Football Playoff: Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Clemson.
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By Karim Shamsi-Basha
As football season approaches, the battle cry of the defending national champions, the Alabama Crimson Tide, is rising up from Tuscaloosa to Dallas to New York to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem?
The last thing one might expect to find on the ancient streets of Jerusalem is anything having to do with American football – especially Alabama football.
Along David Street, leading from Jaffa Gate to the Wailing Wall, there is the aroma of jasmine, rosewater and saffron. Vendors offer engraved leather and Mosaic boxes, Middle Eastern jewelry, spices, handmade soap, Jewish menorahs, Christian olivewood crosses and Muslim prayer rugs.
The place beckons to a time when all three monotheistic religions shared similar stories and familiar heroes.
This is where the Old and New Testaments were born. It is where the Quran played an important role. It is where the Torah was penned. It is also where a storeowner named Hani Imam says “Roll Tide!” several times a day.
Imam fell in love with Alabama football when he studied at the university. Upon returning home to Jerusalem, he decided to continue the Alabama tradition by opening a store dedicated to the state.
Imam said he is ready for the kickoff this weekend, jumping into the conversation like he still lives in Tuscaloosa.
“Alabama did a great job recruiting this year. Let’s see, the two Alabama boys, Ben Davis and Lyndell Wilson, they’re two of the top players,” he said. “We should do very good. I see another national championship season on the way – Roll Tide! Yes sir, Roll Tide!”
Imam offers long-distance words of encouragement for coach Nick Saban.
“Coach Saban, you are a great man, and it’s a blessing to have you as our head coach. Thanks for all you’ve done for the great state of Alabama,” Imam said, quickly adding, “One more thing. Roll Tide, Coach Saban! Roll Tide!”
Imam’s crimson pride is evident from the sign that sticks out among the other storefronts in Jerusalem. “Alabama – The Heart of Dixie” is nestled between a store that sells Middle Eastern spices such as cumin, sumac and cardamom, and one that sells leather goods with engraved Jerusalem scenes.
Imam sells T-shirts with the University of Alabama logo along with the state’s name in Arabic and Hebrew. UA logos are printed on mugs, plates, hats, car tags and many other items. An Alabama-red wooden sign with a “Welcome to Bama Country” greets customers at the door. Inside, a picture of Saban hangs on the door with a Sharpie-written note: “To Hani, Roll Tide, Nick Saban.”
The Palestinian-born Imam studied engineering at the University of Alabama and lived in Tuscaloosa from 1984 until 1994.
“I went to school in Alabama, and I am a big Alabama fan. My family and I love Alabama football and are very proud of Coach Saban and the program,” Imam said. “No one expects an Alabama store here, but everyone loves it.”
Alabama and Auburn fans walk into his store every day.
“In the summer, I say ‘Roll Tide!’ around 50 times a day. They love it here They walk in all happy and shocked,” Imam said. “Auburn fans also visit, but they can’t give me a hard time. They also love the store, even though it’s everything Alabama.”
Some people might think you’re on Easy Street the year after your football team finishes as the runner-up to the national champion in the Football Championship Subdivision.
Don’t count Jacksonville State coach John Grass among that number.
“You’ve got to work harder now than what you were working,” said Grass, whose team lost 37-10 to North Dakota State in the 2015 FCS title game. “You’ve got to try to stay there. That’s the past.”
Grass acknowledged that getting to the championship game wasn’t the goal. He and his Gamecocks want to win it. “We weren’t that team last year,” he said. “Hopefully, this year we’ll make another run at it.”
Alabama NewsCenter is posing five questions to state college coaches as the 2016 football season draws near. Next up are Grass and his Gamecocks, who open their season at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1, hosting longtime rival North Alabama.
NC: What is the outlook for this season?
JG: Same as it’s always been. There’s a process that goes to it. We’re just looking to be the team we can be on a daily basis, just get better as the year goes and make the playoffs, and get a chance in the playoffs to win a national championship. Our team’s very dedicated to doing that. I’ve seen a lot of good things in the offseason and fall camp in how they work and how they approach the game. We’ve got a good platform, foundation built here. Our guys know what to expect, they know how to get the job done and they know what it requires of them.
NC: What is your team’s strength?
JG: Our depth is pretty good across the field. We’ve got some newcomers but we’ve got a lot of guys back who played a lot of snaps last year. I think that team speed and our overall athleticism is good and I think our depth is good.
NC: Who are your standouts this season?
JG: That’s a good question. I don’t know how to predict that. We don’t pay a lot of attention to preseason this, preseason that. You have to not talk about it; you have to actually go out there and do it. We have some returning players on both sides of the ball who have a chance to have some great years. Of course, offensively you start with (quarterback) Eli Jenkins, (wide receiver) Josh Barge and guys up front like Casey Dunn and Nick Johnson and Justin Lea and Dylan Cline. Defensively, you’ve got guys like (defensive end) Darius Jackson and (defensive back) Jaylen Hill. It’s hard to predict who’s going to have a great year.
NC: What game do your fans have circled on your schedule?
JG: I’d say any home game. Our fans – just like our players and staff – they love playing at home. They like playing on Burgess-Snow Field, the gameday experience. It’s a pretty special deal that we have. They look forward to having a good time.
NC: What is your lingering question?
JG: Can we win the last one? You’ve got to play and play well enough so that you have a chance to win the last one. Then, of course, you’ve got to win the last one to be a national champion.
Also in this series: Read Alabama NewsCenter’s interviews with head coaches Reginald Ruffin of Miles College, Bobby Wallace of the University of North Alabama, Brett Gilliland of the University of West Alabama, Eddie Garfinkle of Birmingham-Southern College, Willie Slater of Tuskegee University, Chris Hatcher of Samford University, Joey Jones of the University of South Alabama and James Spady of Alabama A&M University.
I’m not mad at you Colin Kaepernick, I’m just disappointed.
You have the right to freedom of speech, because my colleagues, friends & loved ones fought and died protecting that right.
You have the right to speak up about what you deem as oppressive, even though you make millions of dollars and, to my knowledge, have not spent any of that money to counteract the oppression you speak of.
You have the right to sit during the National Anthem, even though you can’t seem to realize that to the majority of Americans, it represents only the good, not evil, which exists in our country.
You see, Colin, to some that flag does represent oppression. But it does so just as much as it represents freedom, and the overcoming of said oppression.
That flag represents failure, as well as success, injustice as well as justice, war as well as peace, death as well as life.
That flag represents hundreds of years in what our young country has gone through.
It represents intolerance as much as tolerance, segregation as well as desegregation, division as well as unification, hate as well as love.
That flag represents people of all cultures, races, creeds, and religions, together in one nation as citizens of the United States of America. The majority of us citizens choose to recognize the greatness and potential in which it represents, not the failures in which we’re still fighting to overcome.
I’m okay with you sitting, Colin, but while you sit, I’m going to continue to serve in the military. I’m going to continue to volunteer in underprivileged communities. I’m going to continue being a mentor and big brother to a child from a broken home. I’m going to continue to run a nonprofit for deployed service members. I’m going to continue my legal education so I can one day provide legal services to those “oppressed” and in need of representation. I’m going to continue to make a difference in my community because I recognize that even though our country does in fact have its shortcomings; it would be ignorant and short-sighted to think we could change that simply by sitting.
I’m not saying you have to stand, Colin; you have the right to sit. But with your talent and opportunity to play at the professional level, you’ll probably make a much bigger difference by standing on your feet than by sitting on your ass.
Mr. Thompson is an Army Officer, Law Student, and Founder of Teams For Troops 501(c)3. Views expressed are his own and not that of the Department of Defense. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/Jmthompson2017.
RELATED:
1. Army officer from Alabama nails it: ‘I’m offended that everyone is offended by something!’
2. As Kaepernick sits during the Nat’l Anthem, this former Bama, 49ers star is serving his country
Nick Saban will turn 65 this year, just days before Alabama travels to Baton Rouge to take on SEC West rival LSU in Death Valley. The Crimson Tide will be eight games into the season by then, and either on their way to once again meeting the perennial high expectations that come with being the most successful college football program in modern history, or out of the title hunt after suffering an early upset defeat.
Regardless of the Tide’s record at that point in the season, Alabama fans can rest assured that Saban will be laser-focused on the task at hand. That’s what his famed “process” is all about, after all. But it hasn’t always been that way. As a young head coach at Michigan State in the mid-1990s, Saban was far more affected by, well, everything — especially outside expectations.
“The last couple of years at Michigan State I had a philosophical change in my approach,” an introspective Saban recalls in a lengthy sit down with ESPN. “I was all about winning. There was pressure on me. I felt like I had to win, like I had to prove myself all the time. And sometimes I felt like I affected the team and made them feel that way. When I went to LSU, I adopted the philosophy that we’re going to play one play at a time, like it has a history and a life of its own, and we’re going to dominate the competition. It was more fun for me, more fun for the players and we got better results.”
Five National Championships and two National Coach of the Year awards later, Saban is dealing with an entirely different set of problems. He is no longer clawing his way to the top. Instead, he’s trying to beat back the current versions of his younger self, who want nothing more than to knock him off of his lofty pedestal.
Marcus Aurelius, the last of Rome’s so called “Five Good Emperors,” could relate. He overcome the Parthians, Germanic Tribes and countless other enemies on the battlefield, and even squashed a rebellion led by one of his most trusted generals (looking at you, Kirby Smart). Through it all Aurelius earned a reputation for being indifferent to external events, whether good or bad.
“You have power over your mind–not outside events,” Aurelius wrote in “Meditations,” today a classic in Stoic Philosophy. “Realize this, and you will find strength.”
“Even 2,000 years ago, Marcus Aurelius was talking about ‘The Process,'” Saban observes. “If you’re going to have goals and achieve those goals, then you’re going to have to overcome obstacles. Those obstacles don’t impede you. They make you better.”
With that approach, Saban seems to have mastered the well-known duck metaphor: calm on the surface, paddling furiously below the surface.
After winning the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship, Saban took a 90-minute nap on the plane home from Glendale, Arizona, then woke up and immediately went back to work dissecting the game film.
“My dad was a perfectionist,” he says, explaining where he acquired his nearly superhuman work ethic. “He had high expectations for not just how we played football or baseball. He had high expectations for how we treated other people, high expectations for what kind of compassion we had for other people, how we helped other people. When I washed a car and it had streaks on the side, he said, ‘Wash it again.’ So I kind of grew up learning that if you didn’t do it right, there were going to be consequences that you had to deal with. And it was much easier doing it the right way the first time.”
But sometimes Saban’s compassionate streak and his belief that wrong actions should have consequences come in conflict with one another. In those cases, especially with regard to his players, compassion often wins out.
“Guy makes a mistake, where do you want them to be?” Saban asks. “Want them to be in the street, or do you want them to be here graduating?”
In one notable example, Saban points to former Michigan State and NFL wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, a player he coached while in East Lansing. Saban said the media was “killing the guy” because he got into trouble. He suspended Muhammad, rather than kicking him off the team, and Muhammad eventually went on to graduate from Michigan State and play 15 seasons in the NFL. He is now the managing partner at Axum Capital Partners, has seven kids, and his oldest daughter goes to Princeton.
“So my question to you is, where do you want them to be? You want to condemn them to a life sentence, or do you want a guy to have his children going to Princeton?”
As Saban prepares for the 2016-2017 season’s opening game against USC, he’s urging his team to focus on a familiar enemy that often accompanies success: complacency.
“Complacency [is the greatest threat to excellence],” Saban warns, “being satisfied with where you are. Complacency creates a blatant disregard for doing what’s right. You can’t do what you feel like doing. You’ve got to choose to do the things that are going to help you accomplish the goals you have. When you get complacent, you lose respect for winning.”
In an effort to fight off the urge to be content with past successes, Saban has built a culture in his program that develops leaders at all levels.
“We have a high standard for what we want to do with our players,” he explains. “Leadership comes from the power of one. You affect one person by the example you set, being somebody that somebody can emulate, caring about somebody. And then you affect two more guys and then three more guys. Then the next thing you know everybody’s kind of affecting everybody in a positive way.”
But even though Saban says he spends the vast majority of his time “thinking about the next challenge,” rather than dwelling on the last, he does take time away from the game, usually on Georgia’s Lake Burton.
His children have told him to “never sell the lake house,” not only because it has become his solace from the storm, but because of the memories they’ve built together in the coach’s all-too-brief respites from work.
“If there’s anything I’d like to tell everybody out there, it’s that we’re all so worried about getting ahead, and how many games we’re going to win and all that, but when you get my age and at this station, you look back and think, ‘Well, why didn’t we spend a little more time doing that?’ And ‘why didn’t we film that?’ And ‘how can we capture that?’ Because you can’t relive it. As you get older, you realize some things are more important than when you’re coming up and trying to make it and you didn’t value the memories as much as you do now.”
Saban’s philosophy on coaching has changed and developed over the years, but perhaps not nearly as much as his philosophy on life. In a statement that may illustrate this best, the famously unsatisfied coach offers one piece of advice above all others:
“For everybody out there,” he concludes, “you’ve got to enjoy the moment.”
(h/t ESPN)
Homeschool students in Alabama are for the first time getting their shot to play middle school and high school football, thanks to a newly-implemented rule change by The Alabama High School Athletic Association.
The issue of homeschoolers not being allowed to play first came to the forefront as the so called “Tebow Bill” worked its way through the Alabama legislature. The bill was named after former football star (and aspiring pro baseball player) Tim Tebow, who was homeschooled but was allowed to play at Nease High School near his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida.
The Tebow bill appeared on track to pass, compelling the head of the AHSAA to write a letter to lawmakers committing his organization to developing a plan to allow homeschoolers to play without the need for a new law. The 2016-2017 season is the first one since the new rule went into effect.
Although the homeschool students are obviously not full time students at the schools where they are suiting up for athletics, they are required to adhere to certain guidelines.
For example, students can only play at an AHSAA member school that serves the area in which the student’s parents reside. They must also enroll in at least two electives at the school, with the PE coinciding with the student’s chosen sport being the recommended course of action. And they must meet all of the academic requirements of a traditional public school athlete.
The complete AHSAA rules for homeschool athletes can be found here.
Bobby Williams, a homeschool student from Gulf Shores told WALA that he is excited to finally have the opportunity to play.
“I knew a lot of friends here and I was just disappointed that they weren’t giving me that chance to play on their team,” he said.
His dad, Robert, is pleased with the rule change as well.
“It gives us the opportunity now to be equal to what’s going on in Florida,” he said, “where home-schoolers have been very active and have received athletic scholarships to go into colleges.”
RIO DE JANEIRO — Alabama native DeMarcus Cousins helped lead the USA Men’s Basketball Team to Gold in Rio over the weekend, but as soon as he gets back stateside, he better be ready to take out his checkbook because the IRS will be coming his way.
Unbeknownst to some of the athletes and most fans watching back home, Olympic medal winners are heavily taxed at both the state and federal levels.
In keeping with America’s “progressive” tax system, the better Olympic athletes perform, the more they are taxed.
Won bronze in Rio? You’re going to owe the federal government just under $4,000. Won silver? Just under $6,000. Gold? Get ready to pony up around $10,000.
Cousins averaged 9.1 points and 5.8 rebounds during the Olympics as Team USA went 8-0 overall en route to a blowout victory over Serbia in the gold medal game.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the Mobile native, who was also an All-NBA second team selection this year after averaging 27 points and 11.5 rebounds per game for the Sacramento Kings, is already in the top tax bracket and will fork over just under 40 percent of his earning to the government.
“But Cousins earns $16 million per year, he can afford it,” you say?
Fair enough, but don’t forget that most olympic athletes compete in sports that don’t rake in the big bucks.
“The U.S. has officially ‘earned the gold’ for having one of the most backward and illogical tax codes in the world,” Americans for Tax Reform said in a press release.
But relief may be on the way, according to the Washington Post. The U.S. Congress is expected to consider giving U.S. olympians a tax break when they return from recess at the beginning of September.
Texas Republican congressman Blake Farenthold has been pushing the TEAM Act (“Tax Exemptions for American Medalists”) for years.
“This needless tax illustrates how complicated and burdensome our tax code has become,” he said. “We need a fairer system for all, and eliminating this unnecessary tax burden on our athletes is a good way to start.”
(h/t IJR)