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Chris Cook of the Vikings Arrested for Brandishing a
Gun During a Fight Minnesota Vikings: Cornerback Chris Cook, the team's 2nd
round pick in the 2010 draft, was arrested in Lynchburg, Virginia Saturday for
whipping out a gun during a fight. Cook was born in Lynchburg and played nearby
at the University of Virginia. Cook is the second Vikings' 2010 draft pick to
get arrested this offseason – defensive end Everson Griffen was cuffed in
January near the USC campus for allegedly assaulting an officer during a traffic
stop. [WSET via Mac's Football Blog] The Oregon Recruiting Payments Look Shady,
But Probably Were Not NCAA Violations. The phrase Charles Robinson on line one
makes a college football nike mercurial vapor coachs blood run cold. Yahoos
hammer came down, this time on the University of Oregon. Hes reporting the Ducks
made two NCAA-approved payments totalling more than $28,000 to scouting services
conducted by Will Lyles and Brian Flenory. Both men are rumored to be
Texas-based street agents. Here are the charges.Will Lyles: Oregon paid $25,000
to

Lyles through Complete Scouting Services. According
to ESPN, Oregon had paid the company $16,500 the previous two seasons. Typical
charges for cheap
soccer shoes services are around $5,000. Lyles was a mentor for Lache
Seastrunk, a 2010 5-star running back, who ended up at Oregon. He also had a
relationship with LaMichael James. He has rumored links with other high-profile
recruits who ended up at schools such as LSU, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M,
Alabama, Baylor and USC.Brian Flenory: Oregon paid $3,745 to Brian Flenorys New
Level Athletics. Flenory played for Chip Kelly at the University of New
Hampshire. His company compiled one scouting report for Oregon. Hes more famous
for running Badger Sports Elite 7 on 7 camps, essentially AAU style football
camps. Four players who attended his camps, including DeAnthony Thomas, ended up
at Oregon. He was a personal trainer for another Oregon signee, Anthony
Wallace.These revelations arent damning for Oregon. Scouting service payments
are legal. They were listed on Oregons books. Oregon denies any wrongdoing.
Theres the appearance of impropriety, but the NCAA would

have to prove that Lyles and Flenory were recruiting
to Oregon. Its shady but its more likely Oregon exploited a loophole than broke
a rule.The loophole is the salient concern. The NCAA doesnt want football to
become like basketball where street agents use camps to ingratiate themselves
with recruits, weasel their way in as informal advisors and accept payment for
steering the recruit to certain schools. They certainly dont want schools using
the scouting service payments as a sanctioned way for money to exchange
hands.Given the billions of dollars in television money at stake, the NCAAs
investigation should be figuring out what is going on and how to prevent future
malfeasance rather than retroactively nailing schools, unless the media forces
their hand.[Photo via Getty] Getting to the RoseCity Without a doubt, one of the
greatest things about the Portland-Seattle rivalry -- and probably its key
component -- is the teams' proximity.Of course, that only makes a real
difference if fans travel.As close as Portland may be in a relative sense, three
hours of

one-way Adidas F50i TUNiT driving is hardly something most
people want to do on a Wednesday. Unless you plan on making that six hours, with
the final half coming relatively late at night, chances are you'll also be in
need of a hotel. Especially in these times, I can't blame anyone for feeling
like that's too big of a commitment.But that's where having such an awesome
network of supporters groups comes in handy. Gorilla FC has already announced
that they'll bechartering a bus to the game($40 with game-ticket included) and
ECS is basicallydoing the same thing($50 for members; $55 for non-members).
Basically, either option allows you to go to the game without having to spend
much more than you'd have spent to watch a regular-season home game and still
not have to worry about driving or finding a bed for the night.Also of note, the
winner of this game will play the winner of L.A. Galaxy-AC St. Louis. If it's
the Sounders, they'll host the game at Starfire on July 6 (St. Louis) or July 7

(LAG).