OGS Notebook: Dr. Gee, Cam Newton & LeBron

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

It's been more than 48 hours since I last posted here. You can thank the open Captain Morgan bar at Slainte Tuesday night, celebrating FreeDarko's book release.

Anyway, let's get caught up:

+ Good for Dr. Gordon Gee to issue an apology for his arrogant and straight-up inaccurate comments last week. The Ohio State president said Boise State and TCU and teams from their conferences don't play the heavyweight type of schedules that his Buckeyes and other teams from BCS leagues play. Turns out Boise's strength of schedule is ranked ahead of Ohio State's and Wisconsin's, and TCU's isn't too far behind. "What I should do is go over to the surgical suites and get my foot extricated from my mouth," Gee told ESPN.com.

+ Cam Newton's eligibility reinstatement might open the nastiest can of worms in the history of college sports. There was plenty written about the NCAA's ruling on the Auburn star Wednesday, and the point was pretty much unanimous: Going forward, any parent can shop his kid without fear of future penalties so long as the player tells investigators he didn't know about it.

+ LeBron James returns to Cleveland tonight. I'm sure today won't be the last time I weigh in on this polarizing figure, but I think at least one thing is becoming more clear: The kid is little more than a great basketball talent. For most folks that's enough, but for an internationally recognized superstar with aspirations to cultivate a global brand, could he be more clueless? His bumbling assistant, Maverick Carter, takes a lot of heat, as he should. But at some point maybe there could be some parental influence? Can mom maybe just shake the shit out of him and tell him to quit with the never-ending soap opera? In case you're just awaking from a six-month coma, here's LeBron in a nutshell: Choke in the NBA playoffs, organize a nationally televised announcement about your future, suggest you'll lead your new team to no fewer than seven NBA championships, allege that race played a factor in the backlash after your Decision, put out a sympathy-seeking Nike ad, struggle to stay above .500 with your new team and orchestrate a chain of events that will surely lead to the firing of your new coach.

+ Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas will be a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2011.