Sunday’s OTL, Radio’s Sporting Life & ESPN.com: ‘Jeremy Tyler's Journey’ and ‘Texting Trouble’

Outside the Lines (9 a.m. Sunday, ESPN)
The Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap (additional discussion 10 p.m. Friday, ESPN Radio)
ESPN.com (Willie Weinbaum reports on “ Tyler’s Journey;” Paula Lavigne reports on “Texting”)

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Jeremy Tyler's Journey

When he was in high school, Jeremy Tyler drew national attention for his exploits. Now his struggles as a professional in a foreign country are the focus of widespread reporting and speculation. Tyler is a 6-foot-11, 260-pound center whose game evokes comparisons to Amare Stoudemire and Hakeem Olajuwon. He averaged 28.7 points per game as a high school junior and then chose an unprecedented path, skipping his senior year to play pro basketball abroad while he awaits eligibility for the 2011 NBA Draft. Tyler, 18, withdrew an oral commitment to play at Louisville and signed a one-year, $140,000 contract with Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Basketball Super League, more than 7,500 miles from his home in San Diego. Outside the Lines visited Tyler in Israel and examines the routine and rigors of his life as a rookie, far removed from his pedestal as a high school prodigy.

“It's kind of like an experiment, but I wouldn't call myself a guinea pig. It's just, I'm testing myself to see what my talent level is. In San Diego, the basketball's not that good. Every year I was there I dominated a lot, not learning anything, and just developing bad habits. It just wasn't good for me.” -- Jeremy Tyler, who as a junior at San Diego High last season averaged nearly 29 points a game

“First of all, I think he's a very brave young player. Leave your house to go to a foreign country when you're 18 years old and stay by yourself in an old man's territory, it's not an easy thing to do.” -- Ido Kozikaro, Tyler's teammate and captain

"It's like tough love. We want the best for him, so we're just being tough on him, not tough on him where we're getting him down, but tough on him, and give him a pat, let him know, ‘OK, don't worry about it, you're going to make mistakes, we all make mistakes.’ But at the same time, you've got to be tough on him." -- Davon Jefferson, former USC forward and Tyler's Maccabi Haifa teammate and longtime friend, on the team's mentoring of the 18-year-old rookie
 

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Texting Trouble

Auburn is enlisting the use of fans’ text messaging to enhance security at home football games, and OTL goes behind the scenes to see how it worked during a particularly chaotic game Sept. 19 against West Virginia. Last season, Auburn officials ejected 249 fans through seven home games at Jordan-Hare Stadium, while other universities report kicking out hundreds of unruly fans per game. This season, at least three dozen colleges, including Michigan, Florida, Oklahoma, and Auburn have begun to offer text messaging as a way to report crowd problems before they get out of hand. Paula Lavigne reports.

“His friend would yell, 'Yo! Joey!,' reach over us, spill his drink on us, while the other one was vomiting over the railing. That, that was probably the apex right there.” -- Alex Richards, Auburn season-ticket holder, on arriving at his row to find a group of intoxicated men standing in his seats

“There was just a lot of traffic and a lot of fights breaking out, and just a lot of uncomfortable situations that were occurring and not a lot of security guards around. I think it's better than having to get up from where you're sitting, or from the situation, and go find a cop.” --Meghan Kaple, Auburn junior who text messaged security amid growing tension within the sweltering, crowded concourse during the game

“I'm sitting in a section, I'm two rows down, and I see inappropriate behavior. I could text it and then have the appropriate officials respond and address the problem and never have to be involved in it.” -- Jeff Steele, associate athletic director of facilities and operations, who brought text messaging to Auburn security

ESPN.com “Texting Video”
Auburn texting
Auburn security
Ohio State riots

 

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Dickinson State Softball Players Drowning Tragedy

ESPN.com
Elizabeth Merrill reports on the three Dickinson State softball players who drowned when their SUV went into a pond late one night on a rancher’s property in a rural area near Dickinson, N.D. This piece features exclusive interviews with Dickinson State softball players who received frantic calls from their teammates trapped in the SUV, as well as an interview with the head coach about the events of the Nov. 1 accident.
 

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Cedric Benson

NFL Countdown (11 a.m. Sunday, ESPN)
He was the fourth overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft. He was supposed to be the next great Bears running back. Instead, Cedric Benson was a bust – released after three seasons by Chicago, where he had problems on and off the field – and out of a job when the 2008 season started. Four weeks into the season, the Bengals - in desperate need of a running back - signed Benson, and his second chance began. Benson has delivered on the promise he once showed. He’s second in the NFL in rushing and a key member of the 6-2 Bengals. Tom Jackson details Benson’s road to resurrection.
 

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Tenure and Tone

College GameDay (10 a.m. Saturday, ESPN)
No coach's career can be contained in a simple press conference, but it is a forum where key moments can be measured. In Charlie Weis' career at Notre Dame, from his shining first season to the challenges that have followed, the scrutiny has only increased over the last five years. This week, as Weis faces questions about his future, Tom Rinaldi looks at the tone of Weis' tenure through the prism of some memorable press conference moments, from the beginning to the "hear" and now.

"It's not a game for us. This is our life. It's not just the wins and losses, it's everything that goes with it, positively and negatively. So you do the math on how that's going." -- Charlie Weis, from Tuesday’s press conference this week
 

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