Ray Ray's sad postscript
posted by LW, Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Spoke with Ray Ray McElrathbey for the first time in a long time a few weeks ago.
He was en route to Easley, where he was to speak at Gaines Adams' funeral. I asked him how things were going at Howard, and he informed me he didn't play in the 2009 season.
"Um ... what?"
He said Howard told him he didn't meet the school's 3.0 GPA standard for graduate students and was not allowed to play. He was done with college football, and he was going to give pro football a (long) shot by attending Pro Day at Clemson.
The problems at Howard sounded like a big can of worms, and David Steele of Fanhouse opened it with this piece, in which McElrathbey alleges Howard left him out in the cold.
What he does not have is a senior year of football. Nor does he have terribly fond opinions of the school to which he transferred after graduating from Clemson with two years of eligibility left -- and which, for reasons he still cannot get a full explanation, kept him from playing a single snap in the 2009 season and appears unwilling to help him regain that lost season.
Instead, McElrathbey, at age 23, has this sentiment about his journey after leaving Clemson, expressed two months ago: "I'm getting screwed.''
I don't know the details of what went on at Howard. I do know that, for the second time in less than two years, Ray Ray is leaving an institution on bad terms while the institution is essentially keeping its lips sealed.
The writer does a fine job of representing Ray Ray's side of the story, but we aren't hearing the other side -- in large part because the folks at Howard aren't electing to publicize the other side.
It's similar to two years ago, when Tommy Bowden remained silent as he was roundly criticized for allegedly kicking Ray Ray to the curb to free up a scholarship.
Regardless of the untold stories that might lurk beneath the surface, you have to still feel bad for the kid. He's now not only responsible for 14-year-old brother Fahmarr, but 19-year-old brother Cornelius and 16-year-old sister Brittany.
And, apparently, his mother is still having problems with her lengthy drug addiction.
Best of luck to Ray Ray, who's been through more in 23 years than what most folks experience over entire lifetimes.
Moving right along...
Looks like Virginia's basketball team is returning to Earth. Two days after a narrow loss at Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers were smacked around at Maryland last night.
Terps shot a staggering 70 percent in the first half and led by as many as 29.
Great lead from Doug Doughty, Cavs beat writer for the Roanoke Times:
Virginia's Cavaliers put on a President's Day exhibition Monday that might have caused Thomas Jefferson to disown them.
And it doesn't get any easier after last night's make-up game. The Cavs play host to Florida State on Wednesday, then travel to Clemson on Saturday.
Four games in seven days. Not good for a team in desperate need of a third scoring option.
Big Ten commish Jim Delaney says all this expansion talk is grossly premature.
"We haven't had any formal or informal interface with any institution," Delany said to WSCR, a Chicago sports talk radio station. "We hope that by spring or summer we will have an idea of what we'd like to do, if anything."
Useless, highbrow term of the week: Interface.
Why not just say "talks?"
Guessing the day after the Super Bowl was not a good day for the sports desk of the Virginian-Pilot newspaper.
Blaring on the front page of that day's paper: Colts 31, Saints 17.
In The State (of the Gamecocks), Ron Morris says expanding the NCAA Tournament is a losing bet.
To squeeze an additional 16 games into the mix would mean playing the first two rounds on Monday and Tuesday. That never would wash with university presidents, who complain about the tournament causing players to miss far too many days of class.
Under the current format, if a team plays on Thursday and Saturday in the first two rounds, it misses classes from Wednesday through Friday. By playing earlier in the week, players could miss an entire week of school.
This is not the time for college basketball to propose more missed class time, not when its athletes annually record among the lowest GPAs - and poorest graduation rates - of any sport.
One of the reasons college presidents reject any thought of a college football playoff system is the probability of increased time away from campus for athletes. There is no way presidents will buy the same exchange for college basketball.
In his weekly ACC notes, The Post and Courier's Travis Sawchik says Georgia Tech is firmly on the NCAA bubble. Mark Bradley of the AJC thinks they're in good shape.
In the Charlotte Observer, Brian Zoubek gives hope to tall, non-athletic guys with his 17-rebound, 16-point day against Maryland.
His highlight was a two-handed, second-half tip dunk that gave him an offensive rebound and two points in the same motion. Zoubek has never been a high-flyer, and his failure to dunk despite being 7-foot-1 has always been a source of some amusement.
“I’ve gotten some extra running in and my legs are a little stronger,” Zoubek said. “In the past I could get up [to the rim], I was just too tired once I ran down the court. Being in better shape really helps that. It’s just being consistent in terms of not taking a day off in my conditioning and just being a senior about it and making sure I don’t fall out of shape.”
I'm really pulling for a Clemson-Duke rematch in the ACC Tournament. Zoubek vs. BoBo II would be quite the spectacle.
In the ACC Sports Journal, Part 2 of an in-depth interview with John Clougherty.
And a prized recruit at N.C. State speaks up for coach Sidney Lowe in the face of message-board criticism of the coach.
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Spoke with Ray Ray McElrathbey for the first time in a long time a few weeks ago.
He was en route to Easley, where he was to speak at Gaines Adams' funeral. I asked him how things were going at Howard, and he informed me he didn't play in the 2009 season.
"Um ... what?"
He said Howard told him he didn't meet the school's 3.0 GPA standard for graduate students and was not allowed to play. He was done with college football, and he was going to give pro football a (long) shot by attending Pro Day at Clemson.
The problems at Howard sounded like a big can of worms, and David Steele of Fanhouse opened it with this piece, in which McElrathbey alleges Howard left him out in the cold.
What he does not have is a senior year of football. Nor does he have terribly fond opinions of the school to which he transferred after graduating from Clemson with two years of eligibility left -- and which, for reasons he still cannot get a full explanation, kept him from playing a single snap in the 2009 season and appears unwilling to help him regain that lost season.
Instead, McElrathbey, at age 23, has this sentiment about his journey after leaving Clemson, expressed two months ago: "I'm getting screwed.''
I don't know the details of what went on at Howard. I do know that, for the second time in less than two years, Ray Ray is leaving an institution on bad terms while the institution is essentially keeping its lips sealed.
The writer does a fine job of representing Ray Ray's side of the story, but we aren't hearing the other side -- in large part because the folks at Howard aren't electing to publicize the other side.
It's similar to two years ago, when Tommy Bowden remained silent as he was roundly criticized for allegedly kicking Ray Ray to the curb to free up a scholarship.
Regardless of the untold stories that might lurk beneath the surface, you have to still feel bad for the kid. He's now not only responsible for 14-year-old brother Fahmarr, but 19-year-old brother Cornelius and 16-year-old sister Brittany.
And, apparently, his mother is still having problems with her lengthy drug addiction.
Best of luck to Ray Ray, who's been through more in 23 years than what most folks experience over entire lifetimes.
Moving right along...
Looks like Virginia's basketball team is returning to Earth. Two days after a narrow loss at Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers were smacked around at Maryland last night.
Terps shot a staggering 70 percent in the first half and led by as many as 29.
Great lead from Doug Doughty, Cavs beat writer for the Roanoke Times:
Virginia's Cavaliers put on a President's Day exhibition Monday that might have caused Thomas Jefferson to disown them.
And it doesn't get any easier after last night's make-up game. The Cavs play host to Florida State on Wednesday, then travel to Clemson on Saturday.
Four games in seven days. Not good for a team in desperate need of a third scoring option.
Big Ten commish Jim Delaney says all this expansion talk is grossly premature.
"We haven't had any formal or informal interface with any institution," Delany said to WSCR, a Chicago sports talk radio station. "We hope that by spring or summer we will have an idea of what we'd like to do, if anything."
Useless, highbrow term of the week: Interface.
Why not just say "talks?"
Guessing the day after the Super Bowl was not a good day for the sports desk of the Virginian-Pilot newspaper.
Blaring on the front page of that day's paper: Colts 31, Saints 17.
In The State (of the Gamecocks), Ron Morris says expanding the NCAA Tournament is a losing bet.
To squeeze an additional 16 games into the mix would mean playing the first two rounds on Monday and Tuesday. That never would wash with university presidents, who complain about the tournament causing players to miss far too many days of class.
Under the current format, if a team plays on Thursday and Saturday in the first two rounds, it misses classes from Wednesday through Friday. By playing earlier in the week, players could miss an entire week of school.
This is not the time for college basketball to propose more missed class time, not when its athletes annually record among the lowest GPAs - and poorest graduation rates - of any sport.
One of the reasons college presidents reject any thought of a college football playoff system is the probability of increased time away from campus for athletes. There is no way presidents will buy the same exchange for college basketball.
In his weekly ACC notes, The Post and Courier's Travis Sawchik says Georgia Tech is firmly on the NCAA bubble. Mark Bradley of the AJC thinks they're in good shape.
In the Charlotte Observer, Brian Zoubek gives hope to tall, non-athletic guys with his 17-rebound, 16-point day against Maryland.
His highlight was a two-handed, second-half tip dunk that gave him an offensive rebound and two points in the same motion. Zoubek has never been a high-flyer, and his failure to dunk despite being 7-foot-1 has always been a source of some amusement.
“I’ve gotten some extra running in and my legs are a little stronger,” Zoubek said. “In the past I could get up [to the rim], I was just too tired once I ran down the court. Being in better shape really helps that. It’s just being consistent in terms of not taking a day off in my conditioning and just being a senior about it and making sure I don’t fall out of shape.”
I'm really pulling for a Clemson-Duke rematch in the ACC Tournament. Zoubek vs. BoBo II would be quite the spectacle.
In the ACC Sports Journal, Part 2 of an in-depth interview with John Clougherty.
And a prized recruit at N.C. State speaks up for coach Sidney Lowe in the face of message-board criticism of the coach.
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Donnie Patterson. Donnie Patterson is the founder of Patterson Tax Service, located in Easley, S.C. He has been active in tax preparation since 1970, and offers a full range of tax and bookkeeping services.
Larry Williams. Larry has covered the daily beat at Clemson since 2004. Williams, who worked for the Charleston Post & Courier from 2004-08, joined Tigerillustrated.com in November of 2008. He may be reached by email at ldubya08(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.