Reaching Out To Sources

I recently tried contacting the commissioner of the PGA Tour Tim Finchem and Tiger Woods a former major champion. Neither of them got back to me but here's what I wanted to know. I wanted to know what they thought about the process of getting on tour and if they thought it was totally fair. Tigers road to the PGA was different than most because he is one of the few to earn a tour card through sponsor exemptions. I was also hoping for maybe a story of their own that they may have heard through being involved with the tour.

The Road To The PGA Tour

Getting to the Big Leagues in golf is a task that can be approached in many different ways. For some they start out playing professional golf in assorted mini tours throughout the country. Mini tours are essentially smaller proffessional golf leagues that don't yield nearly as much money as the PGA tour. Players are making just enough money on these minor tours to make it to the next tournament. If they don't play well in these mini tours then they might run out of money and that could be the sudden end to a dream that thousands of young golfers have. Making it to the big leagues in golf is a unique journey because there is no "draft" or team to join. The player success solely relies on him or herself. I'll be focusing on a few players stories of how they struggled to make it to where they are today. Including Kevin Streelman, Tommy "two gloves" Gainey, Anirban Lahiri, and many others.

Derrick Rose's Freshman Year

The Memphis Tigers 2008 basketball team lost to Kansas in overtime at the National Championship. Not long after they were stripped of 38 wins along with all the revenue they collected on their way to the Championship. Why? Because their star point guard Derrick Rose had been ruled ineligible to play because of a fraudulent SAT score. Rose had knowingly allowed someone else to take his SAT for him making him academically ineligible. Memphis was also charged with providing Rose's brother with $2,000 in travel expenses.

UCLA Softball Violations

Football isn't the only college sport that violates NCAA rules. In 1995 UCLA Softball was as corrupt as any other major rules violator. UCLA's star pitcher who was a girl from Australia named Tanya Harding went 17-1 and pitched all 4 womens college world series victories was only at UCLA from midseason to postseason without even completing one quarter of school work. They were also found in scholarship violations. UCLA gave soccer scholarships to girls on the softball team which exceeded their scholarship limit.

NCAA Accuses Louisiana-Lafayette Of Major Recruiting Violations

The NCAA believe that the "Raging Cajuns" have committed major violations based on the NCAA recruiting policy. The accusations are centered around the football teams former assistant coach David Saunders. He is accused of directing certain recruits towards a certain ACT test center where he had an ACT supervisor either complete the test for the recruit or better their answers. Saunders is also accused of paying for a recruits living expenses for two years while he attended junior college. Not only is cheating on an ACT test illegal but it also violates the NCAA's policies. The Raging Cajuns head coach claims he was unaware of the exam fraud and the illegal financial assistance. Coach Saunders has since resigned from his position and no criminal charges have been filed against him.