And I’ve been in the middle of a season in which a football program has had some jailhouse blues.

Last year, beginning in the summer months prior to the season, the Texas football team had more encounters with the law than I can count on one hand, including a couple of felonies. Like Penn State’s issues, there was an apartment assault involved. There was also one crazy dude who tried twice in one night to break into some cars.

I must admit that I drank the anti-burnt orange kool-aid during the entire season when it came to character issues with the team, which I was covering then. I was on high alert for arrests and accusations and kept my eye on the local blotters. I got a little too deep into it toward the very end, and I learned a lot of lessons from that season when it comes to what people find appropriate when covering athletes and crime.

But I cannot imagine being a reporter in State College.

And recalling my own experiences after watching the ESPN peice, which I enjoyed, I realize now how well UT handled everything.

Like the fact that, after a certain point, the arrests stopped. This means that the team, coaches and administration got a hold of the situation. They talked to the players and send a resounding message that seemed to work.

Get your shit together, or we will do that for you and throw it and you out of this university.

Penn State, on the other hand, had no such luck. From beer-bottle brawls to threats at knifepoint, the trouble just won’t stop for the program. It’s gone beyond bad press to a legitimate problem within the program.

It seemed last season that Texas was heading in the same direction.

But the reason Texas seemed to get stuff under control, in my opinion, stems from coach Mack Brown. I’m no Brown apologist. But when I saw him at the impromptu press conference put on to adress the team’s legal issues, I believed him when he said he’d been unable to sleep for a week.

It was obvious he cares about the integrity of the team, and that he recognized just how bad things were getting.

Penn State’s coach, Joe Paterno, took a very different approach. Though he forced his kids to clean up the stadium, which was very old school and sounded like a good idea, it was more show than solution.

And when approached by OTL, JoPa called it a “witch hunt.”

Stephen A. Smith called for Paterno’s job. I don’t agree with that, mostly because I have no right to think someone should have their ability to work taken way, but it seems to me that Paterno didn’t do his job with the OTL interview.

Blaming the media for pointing out a blatant problem like this is like being mad at a doctor for telling you smoking is dangerous to your health. OTL did a bad job in trying to say that Penn State started recruiting bad seeds, even if it’s true. I feel it was in Texas’ case, but trying to present that as fact in reporting is irresponsible.

But JoPa was out of line calling this a witch hunt. If he doesn’t start redirecting those emotions toward his wayward players, people will continue to call for his resignation.

And worst of all, his players might keep clogging up the State College blotters.

But I think my pal Ryan said it pretty well in his post about The Dark Knight, the movie which prompted this post.

Like you all did, I saw the trailer for the new Terminator movie, Salvation. My first reaction to learning there would be a new movie in the series was an audible groan.

When I was a kid, I absolutely loved Terminator and Terminator 2. I had my family buy me sunglasses so I could look just like the Governator Terminator. I tried my best to say lines like, “I’ll be back” in that accent. But when I saw the third movie, Rise of the Machines, I was so disappointed.

Maybe it’s because I’d grown up and my taste in movies had changed. I don’t know, but I was thoroughly unimpressed.

But after I saw that Christian Bale would be playing John Connor in the newest installment (coming out next summer), I got excited again. After what he did with Bruce Wayne, I now have hope that he can salvage the brand with Salvation (see what I did there).

I understand that Christopher Nolan is probably mostly responsible for making the last two Batman movies supremely better than any that came before. And I’m a little worried that Salvation may also disappoint me since McG is directing the movie. He’s done TV show classics like “The OC” and the search for the next Pussycat Doll (obvious sarcasm).

But I love Christian Bale as an actor, and I have faith that he can take the John Connor character and make a kick ass film.

Related: Bale is also going to be in the movie Killing Pablo. Stay tuned for a post about that.

For those of you who may not know, I am a big Vince Young fan. I went to Texas during the 2005 season, watched him kick ass in both Rose Bowls and have spoken to him a couple of times.

In fact, one of those times was a 10-minute, one-on-one interview before Texas lost last year’s Kansas State game. I will forever consider that interview the most important one of my college writing career (that distinction used to belong to Roger Clemens, but F him). It resulted in this story, which had gotten me a lot of positive feedback over the past year from readers and fellow writers.

Today I got a great surprise when I saw that my favorite sports blog, The Big Lead, scored an interview with VY. TBL had to do the mandatory questions about his new shoe, which is why Vince was talking to anybody in the first place.

For some reason, a lot of the commenters were pissed about hearing about the shoe. Unfortunately, in the sports world we live in, the athletes and their handlers determine when and why they talk to the media. For the interview which resulted in that story I linked to a moment ago, I had to write this story about TicketReserve, the company Vince was plugging at the time.

It’s all playing the game, and until the rules change, there’s no reason to get mad at TBL for following them. Highlights of the interview after the jump.

Q: Busy offseason for you – the shoe, going back to Texas to take classes … what’d you take?

YOUNG: Oh, it was busy. I definitely want to get my degree and send that message out to kids. I’m only one credit away and I’l be walking across that stage next May. I don’t understand how more people don’t want to go back – how can you sit in college all those years, make the grade, and not want to get a degree? It’s like you wasted your time if you don’t. I’m an education major, and I took lit classes and child development classes.

Q: How’d you find time to work the shoe into the week?

YOUNG: I told Reebok I had classes on Monday and Tuesday, and then Tuesday night I’d fly back to Nashville and work out with [offensive] coach Heimerdinger, and I’d fly back to Austin on Friday for class. I spent a lot of time in Austin working out with the Longhorns, and helping those young guys get it together. A lot of guys down there were getting in trouble doing negative stuff. They weren’t representing the school right and getting in fights and getting DWIs … I’ve built a foundation and me and a few other guys [Rod Wright, Tim Crowder and Selvin Young] really spoke to the players and told them they need to start representing the school the right way.

Q: That’s wild – you’re attempting to be a role model by getting an education and talking to college football players, and yet and the massive story about you this summer centers around a shirtless photo at the club.

YOUNG: That irked me a whole lot. I’m trying to build an image and be a role model that God wants me to be. I don’t understand what’s wrong with having fun with a lot of guys I haven’t seen in a long time. We had a couple drinks, but nobody drove home. Somebody must have wanted to make money, and they put the pictures out there. That comes with being an NFL QB, I guess. There were other football players there, but you won’t hear their names mentioned. But it was bad because I didn’t want kids and parents to see that stuff and say, ‘he’s not the right role model.’ That’s why I apologized. But I’m going to continue to have fun.

That being said, I can’t help but notice how Austin has been grossly left off the final ballot.

It’s pretty obvious that college towns are the main focus of the “contest,” given both the opening animations (marching band) and by the number of cities which are big-time college towns (eight of 20). And given the name of the contest, it seems logical to assume that colleges with gaudy amounts of titles would have to be on the list.

Austin, which is of course home to the Texas Longhorns, fits this criteria to a T.

It seems that ESPN wasn’t totally lost on this concept. They put Palo Alto, Calif., (home to the Stanford Cardinal) on the list of 20 finalists, which was absolutely the correct move. And Palo Alto’s nomination is exactly why Austin needs to be right beside it.

The California town’s main claim to Titletown rests with Stanford’s position as the school with the most overall National Championships. This year it once again won the Director’s Cup for just that reason. Texas was fifth this year and is perennially a contender. In fact there was a Sports Illustrated cover a few years ago devoted to the question of which athletic program was better (see above picture).

Michigan, UCLA and Arizona were the three teams sandwiched between Stanford and Texas. Ann Arbor, Mich., and Los Angeles are both on the ballot, though I’ll admit LA should probably be on there without UCLA.

So Austin’s absence just doesn’t make any sense to me. I went to UT, yes. But my bias aside, it seems like the argument for Austin is solid.

So why no love?

I could argue an ESPN bias against UT. Remember the 2005 Rose Bowl, when the WWL had a reporter embedded with USC and almost never ran anything from/about the Longhorns? (By the way, Texas has a more recent football championship than any of the colleges I’ve mentioned in this piece. Just food for thought.) Of course, UT does get a lot of hoops coverage from ESPN, so I’m not completely sold on that theory.

The only thing I can think of, other than ESPN ignorance, is that Austin wasn’t nominated by the people.

If that’s the case, consider this post a call out of all Austinites and Longhorns fans. I hate the whole Titletown USA concept, so that’s why I didn’t push for Ausin.

But there’s no way every Orange Blood feels the same.

But, everything is in here now, so I am finally able to relax a little. And my new 42″ HDTV is bad ass. I’m watching the Angels hit back-to-back jacks off of Tim Wakefield.

Anyway, I have internet, obviously, so I can get back to doing this self-publishing thing we call blogging.

Trump, known for his very savvy business decisions, is a part owner of Affliction Entertainment, and he recently got involved in promoting the company’s July 19 event “Affliction: Banned” in Anaheim, Calif. Though Trump has been a mostly silent partner with Affliction, he’s now putting in his two cents as only The Donald can.

The UFC, obviously recognizing the clout that Trump brings with Affliction, put together a card with Anderson Silva – easily the best pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC – as the headliner on the same night as “Banned.” To top it off, Silva is moving up a weight class for this fight, moving to the already stacked light heavyweight division after running through every other middleweight.

“I think it’s probably not great for the sport, although a lot of people will be watching, and I have a feeling we’re going to top them (the UFC) because we have the better fighters,” Trump said. “I don’t know if it’s a good business strategy. … I wouldn’t do it. I don’t think I’d go about it that way.”

What’s scary is that Trump isn’t totally delusional. While the UFC is still the unquestioned “major leagues” of MMA, Affliction has Tim Sylvia and will likely get Tito Ortiz. Ortiz is an ass, but he brings in the viewers and the money.

Of course, with Trump’s history with the WWE, he may turn into the next Vince McMahon – too much shtick and not enough fighting. But Trump and Affliction are bound to do far better than CBS and Elite XC. The difference will be the quality of fighting.

So, while I am a loyal fan of the UFC, I’m not going to discount Affliction yet.

I was covering the University of Texas alumni game in 2007, where there are always some recent players and a few of the classic Texas Exes. But Roger Clemens was usually too busy or being too careful to attend.

But that year the Rocket was there.

I’d always liked Roger Clemens, and after coming to his alma mater his status in my book was about as high as it gets. A day before the game, legendary Longhorns coach Augie Garrido said Clemens had been at the annual golf tournament. I was still skeptical, but when the Texas people announced five minutes before game time that he would be throwing out a ceremonial first pitch it finally hit me – I’m going to meet the great Roger Clemens.

My reporting partner, Brad Gray, and I hauled ass down to the field to try and score an impromptu post-pitch interview.

So, after watching him warm up with his youngest son and a very soft first pitch, Brad and I looked at each other and wondered what to do. We were used to working with media relations, who – while they had the power to tell us who we could and couldn’t talk to – would bring players to us.

“Can we just go up there and ask to talk?” Brad asked.

“He’s a pro … so … yeah, I think so,” I replied and hoped he wouldn’t just walk past us.

We approached him, introduced ourselves as reporters for The Daily Texan and asked if he would be kind enough to talk with us.

“Sure, c’mon down here to the dugout,” he said.

Clemens put on his leather jacket and answered our questions, some of which were tough ones about if he would pitch that season and Nolan Ryan’s hospitalization. Though he talked through us just a little, he was courteous and didn’t cut any answers short.

Immediately after the interview, I called my father and told him I’d just talked to THE Roger Clemens. I’m sure I sounded like a 12-year-old and it wasn’t a very manly thing to do, but I didn’t give a shit. My entire season was made.

After that interview, I wrote a story for the Texan. The quotes from that story was picked up by the Associated Press (which put it in most major newspapers) and ended up in Sports Illustrated’s “Clemens Watch” box the next week.

I was absolutely stoked. I saw him a few more times on the Texas sideline during some games last year. By that time the steroids talk had just started, but I still had faith that he was telling the truth.

It’s easier to do when you’ve actually met someone, trust me.

Obviously I don’t believe a word that comes out of this guy’s mouth anymore. The most recent news that there are receipts that show he received HGH in the mail just makes me even more angry that I ever looked up to him.

I obviously don’t look back on that story in the same light anymore. While it was still a big deal in my professional career, meeting Roger Clemens is not a personal highlight anymore.

Now hearing his name just pisses me off.

Therefore, my posting has been slacking lately. In fact, right now I’m on my “lunch break.” For my lack of content, I apologize.

But, no worries. My internet in the new apartment in Fort Worth will be set up on Saturday, so I’ll have access to the internet and hopefully more free time than I’ve ever experienced while having a job. It’s just now hitting me that I won’t be going to class in a month.

I love it.

I also write for Examiner.com and run the Texas Rangers Examiner site, which actually pays me (per page view).

So, go forth and comment.

I actually saw this guy get into a minor scuffle with a home plate umpire at a Fort Worth Cats game last week. The Cats have a tradition of standing and cheering until the hometown pitcher gets his first strike.

Well, in this particular game the pitcher’s first pitch was called a strike, though it was clearly low.

The manager in the video above, Kash Beauchamp, went out and had a word with the umpire after the batter got done expressing his disapproval. Beauchamp wasn’t ejected, though the umpire got pretty pissed.

Therefore, seeing this on CNN this morning didn’t really surprise me.

I also write for Examiner.com and run the Texas Rangers Examiner site. This one pays me, per page view. So visit it if you feel compelled.