Fearless Weekend Predictions is a weekly column running on Friday afternoons where our resident soothsayer (or whoever we can get) locks down what will transpire in the coming 72 hours. It’s better to get these out before the 7-year is open.  The crystal ball gets cloudy.

Usain Bolt is the fastest man on the planet and there is no arguing it. This week, he set the world record in the 100 and 200 meters at the world championships. He is 6'5", long, lean and athletic; is running fast the ceiling for him? One of the debates around LeBron James has been whether he could play football in the NFL. What about Bolt? Is there no room for the fastest guy in the world on a 53 man NFL roster? Is there a corner in the league that could stay with him? He would be unbelievable in Arena Football (R.I.P.), seeing as those WRs can start running towards the line of scrimmage before the ball is hiked. Heck, give the guy a shot on a baseball team. He could start out as a pinch-runner, guaranteeing two free bases, and he could be taught how to hit and catch fly balls. You could play Manny and Alfonso Soriano at the corner outfield spots and just let Usain go catch every ball. He would probably succeed most at soccer. Soccer is easy to learn how to play anyway (kick a little ball into a really big goal) and he would, obviously, be the fastest guy on the pitch. The guy needs to do something, there can't be a ton of money in running track.

Can you tell it's the slow part of the year for sports? Me too. Let's get this weekend going right.

• Plaxico Burress will enjoy his last days as a free, dumb man. I know everyone wants to compare Plax and Donte Stallworth, but they sound really stupid when they do. They're each going to serve less than the maximum prison sentence for their respective crime. No one cares un-famous people drive drunk and kill people or take guns into clubs. Why is it a big deal when famous people do? I still haven't figured that out. Let's all agree on one thing, neither Stallworth nor Burress would fare very well on Jeopardy!
• Memphis/UK/John Calipari will continue to spin things in their favor. I wouldn't expect anyone to just come out and say what they actually want to, but it would be refreshing. Memphis could say, "John Calipari is a guy known for bending, but not breaking, the rules. We knew that when we hired him and that was a reason we hired him. He put us on the map. If you think this is bad, think about the things that haven't come out yet." UK officials would say, "Look, he's not Billy Gillispie. Donovan turned us down twice, and Cal was the next best thing. Hell, we have one of the best recruiting classes ever, oh well!" And, Coach Cal would just have his website go down and tweet about it. Oh, wait, that actually happened.
• College football will make you miss it. I feel so teased. I want so desperately to be able to wake up to the sound of Chris Fowler's voice and the intro music to Gameday. I want to ignore the noon Big Ten games (unless Michigan is playing) until the 12:30PM SEC game comes on. I miss 12-team parlays that never hit. I miss fall weather. I miss all these things that mean college football. It's only two weeks away.
• Inglorious Basterds will be the movie everyone wants to talk about. Quentin Tarantino has to be the most overrated person in Hollywood. Pulp Fiction was good (from the parts I've seen), but the rest of his movies look uninteresting. Kill Bill and Grindhouse looked awful. Plus, Tarantino just looks like the guy who thinks his diarrhea doesn't stink. If you want to talk to people about the movie, just talk about the sexy Diane Kruger. This German was also in National Treasure and is super hot. She will probably be the best part of the move that my dad is calling, "...the worse WWII movie ever."
• The Little League World Series will dominate your television. That is, if you are anything like me. I'm not sure if it's because I like to romanticize my Little League days or what, but I can't turn the games off whenever they are on. To be honest, I'm watching a game right now. There's even a team from Kentucky playing this year. I don't give them a great shot to play well, but when you're 12 and playing baseball on national TV, anything can happen.

It's a summer weekend, go have a blast while you can. Once football starts, your weekends will be full.

Houdini and his great escapes have nothing on John Calipari.

Like many people, I was hardly shocked by yesterday's news that John Calipari's 2008 Memphis team would have to vacate their 38 wins and Final Four appearance for having an ineligible player. Calipari has always walked a fine line with regards to NCAA rules, and he has long been suspected of crossing that line on a few occassions, although he always manages to get safely back on the right side before the NCAA comes looking.

No, what surprises me - to an extent anyway- is the energy with which Big Blue Nation has been defending him, grabbing for any excuse they can come up with to ensure that nothing gets in the way of their excitement over the upcoming season. If a coach at another program had two Final Fours vacated because of NCAA violations, the fans would be tripping over themselves to let the world know how dirty that program was. Yet somehow, despite Calipari's reputation and the fact that he has now had Final Fours vacated at two separate schools, Cats' fans are all of a sudden a little more understanding.

It seems that everyone has heard now that John Calipari's 2008 Memphis team will be vacating all of its wins from that season, including their Final Four run. The news doesn't exactly make Calipari look like the cleanest coach in the country. He already had a Final Four at UMass taken away, but wasn't named in the NCAA report. The same should be said this time (except that he was the coach), but it isn't the greatest news ever for UK fans, although I'm sure most will defend him until they are blue... more blue. I don't really care about the loss of 37 of the 38 games Memphis was a part of that year, but one of them irks me. That win also leads to a bigger question.

Allow me to set the scene for you: It's about 4:30PM on Saturday, April, 5, 2008. I am walking out of Keeneland with my friend, Will. Will and I had both taken it on the chin that day at the track and decided to get out while we still had money for refreshments to enjoy during the Final Four games that were starting soon. Our unintelligible conversation turned from our losses to the games. I firmly believed that UCLA was going to absolutely destroy Memphis that evening. The Tigers stood no chance against the mighty UCLA, at least in my mind. Seeing as Will and I had lost quite a bit of cash at the track, we both decided to make all our money back with one bet. We bet $200 on the Memphis/UCLA game. I took the Bruins, he took Coach Cal and Memphis. Within the next eight hours (time was very much irrelevant at that point), Will was calling wanting his cash. I was stunned, but more importantly, I was out $200.

Sixteen months later, Memphis is vacating all their wins from the 2007-08 season. They didn't actually win that game against UCLA! Shouldn't I be entitled to my money? At the very least, shouldn't Will and I call it even? What does that mean for the betting world? I'm sure Vegas and all the gambling websites have some sort of policy about this, but there must be people who lost much more on that game than I did. If Derrick Rose doesn't play in that game... well, there's no point in playing the what-if game. It would be very interesting to see a guy sue to recoup his losses. If you had lost thousands on the game, wouldn't you at least try? I won't be suing anyone, but you better believe I've already texted Will asking about getting my $200 back.

The Washington Nationals are finally fun to watch!!!

Okay- that's not entirely true. But they did finally come to terms with top overall pick Stephen Strasburg, the hard-throwing righty out of San Diego State. Strasburg, who went 13-1 with a 1.35 ERA last year, was signed to a 4-year, $15.1 million deal just minutes before the midnight deadline yesterday.

So what does this mean for the beloved Nationals, who are currently 32 games under .500 and a mere 24.5 games behind the first-place Phillies? Well, I'm sorry to say this Nationals fans (if you do exist), but ...this actually means very little.

Strasburg is obviously talented- his numbers reflect that. He's got some serious heat on his fastball, great movement on his slider and a vicious changeup that causes batters to buckle at the knees. He's also got a fiery temperment and a second-to-none work ethic that seem to point to him justifying the hype and reaching his full potential someday.

Today's football preview is a big one folks.  That's right it's time to let our readership in on the independents!  All three of them. 

That's right, there are only three remaining NCAA division 1 (piss on that IA nonsense) schools not affiliated with a conference.  In this installment of football previews we'll be lining them up with the service academies of the Armed Forces, the Naval Academy, and the pope's academy of Notre Dame (they are Catholic right?).  Hit the jump to read on about young men who'll one day fight for freedom and maybe a few who will sit around uncomfortably long on draft day.

The Big 10 has gotten an awful reputation nationally over the past couple years. Poor performances in bowls, Ohio State getting worked by two SEC teams in the BCS Championship Game and Michigan's downward spiral have all played a large role in the conference looking bad to the country.

Last year was especially rough for the conference in bowl games. They were an abominable 1-6 in the postseason, but most teams were underdogs in their bowls and were playing teams that were superior to them. Penn State stood no chance against USC and Ohio State was playing a Texas team that was pissed off because they weren't playing in the National Title game. Iowa, the lone bowl winner, actually beat an SEC team, but few noticed their Outback Bowl victory.

Ohio State has dominated the conference the last three years, compiling a record of 22-2 in conference. The Buckeyes have played in two BCS Championship games and the Fiesta bowl in the last three years, but have lost in all three of their bowl games. Troy Smith even won the Heisman in 2006 for OSU. Does any of this matter to the national media? Obviously not, as the Bucks are constantly crucified for losing to better teams in their three past bowl appearances.

Things are looking up for the conference, though. Ohio State (#6) and Penn State (#8) are ranked in the top ten of the coaches' poll and Iowa checks in at #21. Other teams could very well play their way into the top 25 within the first few weeks of the season. Big Ten fans will be hoping the conference can rebound from its awful bowl performances last year and vie to once again be the second best conference in the country.

More after the jump.

There has been plenty of speculation, verbal jabbing, and -- well -- silence (in the case of Urban Meyer, anyway) regarding Lane Kiffins first 7 months at the helm of the Big Orange.   I was reading an AP story dissecting these phenomena and realized 2 things.

One, Kiffin has yet to really mention Phil Fulmer or the 2008 season in any detail.

Two, former UT coach and Fulmer-nemesis Johnny Majors has spoken more about UT football in the last half-year than he did in the previous 10.  And yes, after retiring from Pitt in 1996 from coaching, he now lives in Knoxville.

Here's his latest quip, talking about the Kiffin bravado,

“I think the majority of the time when it comes to Saturday and kickoff time it probably doesn’t amount to a hill of beans,” he said. “When the whistle blows it pretty well boils down to ability, preparation and game planning because you’re so involved with playing that there’s no time to think about that sort of thing.”

It should be interesting to see what other nuggets we get from the 3-time SEC and 1976 National Champion (at Pitt) coach in the next 5 months.

[AP]

I did something yesterday that I usually never do: I watched an entire soccer game. I bought into the hype and turned on the USA/Mexico World Cup qualifier. Thankfully, we at the SD.com headquarters have DirecTV and were able to watch it on the free preview of Mun2. The picture quality was equal to or worse than video of Columbus landing in the New World. As bad as the picture was, the play of Team USA was worse. Here are some observations from a guy who last played organized soccer in 1991 and openly despises American soccer:

• Team USA has been outscored 4-0 in the last two second halves they played. Perhaps this is a problem they should try to alleviate before making a run at the World Cup next year.
• While the score of the game was 2-1, I never really thought the US was in the game. Mexico controlled the ball almost the entire game and the only goal Team USA scored was what I would refer to as a fastbreak goal. Mexico dominated the ball and the game.
• I've heard some people saying that Team USA's strategy may have been to play conservative and play for a tie. That's a great strategy... if you don't like winning. Also, in what other relevant sport can a coach go into the game hoping for a tie? Phil Jackson, Joe Torre and Bill Belichick don't have that option. Hell, even hockey doesn't have ties anymore. That's just another reason why soccer has awful rules and hasn't caught on in America.
• Speaking of stupid rules; how about offsides? In what world does it make sense for a team not to be able to take a risk and play aggressively? If I were a soccer coach (Don't get me started on these guys, they make baseball managers look busy), I would want to keep a guy back so I could outlet (basketball term, not sure what soccer nerds would call it) the ball to him. It's like playing fast-paced basketball or the spread offense in football. Soccer rules haven't changed in decades, which is a big problem.
• Stuart Holden was a substitute for Team USA. He looks like every soccer player you hated in high school. The fact he can play at a high level for my country is infuriating. Doesn't this joker look like he should be co-starring in Miley Cyrus' next movie? He is an awful soccer player. Also, he was born in Scotland. Something doesn't add up.
• On the contrary, Mexico had guys who looked like legitimate soccer players. Nery Castillo has the greatest unibrow of all time and that is not up for discussion. Their soccer legend's name is Cuauhtemoc Blanco and our soccer legend's name is Landon Donovan. Who do you think is the better player?
• As for the 'fight' in the second half, what a joke. It started with a Mexican player attempting to help a US player up after he faked an injury. This started what can be described as a girl fight, at best. At one point, a US player got pushed in the neck, waited three seconds, then grabbed his neck as if he were going to choke to death. Soccer fights looker more fake than a traveling wrestling company that performs only in church basements in the South.
• I've said it before and I will keep saying it until someone listens. Until US Soccer reaches into urban areas, our country will be a disgrace at the sport. It's crazy that we are so good at basketball, but get soundly beaten at soccer. Look at the team that played yesterday in Mexico and the team that won gold last summer in China in basketball. There are some differences that aren't hard to figure out.
• Landon Donovan trying to perform a corner kick while getting fifty cups thrown at him was pure comedy. It's no wonder the US is 0-23-1 at that stadium.

Wow, I actually just wrote that about soccer. If I had to endure that whole game, I'm going to make you endure my thoughts on the game. I'm just trying to get a grassroots uprising against US Soccer until they put a better product on the field. Join me, won't you?

I love when traditional media outlets blast blogs for unprofessionalism and lack of focus, then do shit like this.  If you are going to lump us all in together, then you, Buzz Bissinger, are a scroll-bar typist.

In what seems to have become a weekly occurrence, another NCAA athlete has been accused of academic fraud.  Oklahoma State freshman Joe Mitchell has been sent home by the team due to problems with his academic transcript.  In truth, Mitchell is not the one accused of fraud at this point, but three of his high school coaches have been put on administrative leave due to the incident.

Lately this has been a big story in college sports.  The biggest name that has been on the faking grades/test scores list is likely Derrick Rose.  UK fans and new head coach John Calipari caught Hell for a good week over Rose's college entrance exam scores.  Over the past few weeks more and more athletes (or their coaches/handlers) have been accused of improperly reporting their academic prowess.  Mitchell's case isn't any more interesting than many of the others that have come out, but we want to take a more in depth look after the jump.