So Riley, Hill and Ball (there's that name again -- his daddy has already made a colossal fool out of himself, big brother is a bust for the Lakers, and another one's still in the pipeline somewhere -- good luck with that), got popped for stealing in China.
This ranks them right up there with the likes of Larry, Moe, and Curly on the bonehead scale. The difference being Misters Fine, Howard, and Howard did it for the amusement of others, not real, while the UCLA trio of tramps evidently thought they were either entitled to it, or could get away with it because they play for a high profile school in the good old U S of A. Wrong on both counts.
In a predictable, if comical sideline to the story, President Trump couldn't wait to tweet out (look at me) how he had come to their rescue. Then he all but demanded thanks. The ever-illustrious, if often severely misguided Donald went on to add yon Bruins would have been facing 10 years in prison had he not intervened.
Um, probably not. A reporter on the ground in China said his sources claimed the hoopsters were more likely facing a couple weeks max in jail for what amounted to a minor theft. Plus the ususal-- cha-ching -- fine, of course. It's always about the money.
Back stateside the ever-lovable talking heads were in a frenzy demanding the stooges get tarred and feathered, or at least suspended for a long period of time, perhaps the rest of the year. Given this turned into an "international incident", such punishment (the suspension -- sans the tar and feathers) seemed reasonable enough.
So UCLA had to do something. In a move politicians would be proud of, always giving themselves an out, they have indeed suspended Hill, Riley and Ball "indefinitely". But that last word is the catch. "Indefinite" can mean anything. A game or two, a couple weeks, months, the season, nobody knows.
It might just be that when the furor dies down and those pesky reporters turn to another big deal story, the brass at UCLA could ease them back on to the team, hoping it doesn't draw too much attention. Time will tell.
But another theory has been floated as well. In the interim, the movers and shakers inside UCLA are reportedly in disagreement among themselves as to how long -- harsh -- "indefinite" should be. Again, a few games, half the season, all of it, and should they be bounced out of the school entirely? They continue to deliberate.
Yet the theory goes that if the players are out for the entire season, or longer, they might look to transfer elsewhere to get back on a basketball team/court somewhere.
And if THAT is allowed to happen, then the whole theory of holding them responsible goes up in smoke. Becomes a joke, as it were.
Though yours truly is seldom a proponent of Big Brother and his nefarious oppressive ways, this would be a case where the all-powerful NCAA should step in and take charge. The honchos there could hand down a mandate whereby these petty crooks won't be allowed to play for any of their membership institutions until at least the start of the 2018 season. If UCLA won't hand out sufficient punishment to their own, then THEY will.
That would take care of any possible transfer nonsense to escape the justice they have coming.
Yeah, I get it. Boys will be boys and sometimes they do dumb things. This shouldn't ruin them for life. But if nobody at UCLA had the common sense to warn them and their teammates to stay squeaky clean while visiting a country such as China, then they just might get banged accordingly if they did something stupid -- which they did.
[Idle thought. How quick do you think the Donald would have been to step in if the three perpetrators had been registered Democrats, or horrors, the sons of a Dem congressperson?. Good grief, might he have encouraged the Chinese to throw them into a dungeon for years?. Hmmm.]
At any rate, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next few months.
Stay tuned.....
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