The ASSOCIATED PRESS reports this afternoon that “LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux was kicked off the defending national championship team Friday after a college career marked by legal and disciplinary problems.”

EVERY DAY SHOULD BE SATURDAY reports that sources indicate Perrilloux, who has been in trouble with the law numerous times, failed a drug test (marijuana). The AP notes that Division I-AA schools are already lining up for the QB’s services (and presumably alerting the local police at the same time).

We think the whole thing is a complete charade, based on a paragraph slipped into the AP story. Read more…

• YARDBARKER is styling with Greg Oden, as the injured NBA rookie gabs with Jim Rome about his new ‘do:

• YOU BEEN BLINDED can’t wait to play “Grand Theft Auto: John Madden“.

• LAIST takes Tony Kornheiser to task for being such a bitch about bloggers.

Read more…

A hat tip to EDSBS originally, and expanded on further by the BATON ROUGE ADVOCATE: Louisiana State’s projected starting QB Ryan Perrilloux is taking another unexpected sabbatical from the Tigers for the third time in nine months.

Head coach and hat filler Les Miles is citing “a failure to follow team rules” as the reason for the QB’s indefinite suspension (usually translating to ditching classes or other things of that nature), but let’s just say there’s precedent for this not lasting too long.

Read more…

LSUSports.net reports on the BCS Championship celebration at Baton Rouge’s Tiger Stadium for the LSU Tigers today. The headline for the story is “Thousands Brave Cold to Attend Championship Celebration“.

(Nothing to do with post - couldn’t resist)

By cold, they meant “temperatures hovering in the 30s“(somewhere in Green Bay a Packer Backer is laughing while stocking up on Pocket Shots for the game Sunday).

The only reason we’re really posting about the celebration was this quote from Governor Bobby Jindal, who currently presides over possibly the most corrupt state in the history of the union: “They showed the nation that Louisiana is No. 1 in the entire country. We will be No. 1 not only in sports. We will be No. 1 in jobs, ethics, roads and schools as well.”

No. 1 in ethics? Well it is true that the Nick Saban has officially left the state.

MILES’ LONG ROAD DETOURS BACK TO LSU WITH NEW DEAL: Tense Tigers & worried Wolverines don’t have to wait any longer. Les Miles is officially staying at LSU:

The NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE reports that the coach had signed an agreement on Thursday to stay in Baton Rouge, with the school’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approving the new contract.

The new deal keeps Miles with the Bayou Bengals until 2012, if not longer. If the Tigers win the BCS title over Ohio State on January 7, Les is assured he’ll be among the highest-paid college coaches in the land - which can help line Les’ pockets to the tune of over $3 million per year.

With the LSU deal now done, Michigan AD Bill Martin can now come out of hiding.

AT LEAST HERBSTREIT DIDN’T LET LES MESS BOTHER HIM: By now we all know about Kirk Herbstreit incorrectly reporting that Les Miles was going to take the Michigan job - and Miles publicly flogging him about the misguided reportage last Saturday.

Missing on a story happens to the best of them, but apparently Herbstreit is now hanging up his reporter’s hat, but not before throwing ESPN executives under the bus.CONSTRUDA has this from Herbstreit while guesting on WDFN-AM this week in Detroit: “I would much rather talk about what teams are doing on the field. One thing I can assure you, you will never see me gathering news and reporting information ever again.”

“Honestly, the best way to describe it is by the time Friday came around I had some information that trust me on this it was very accurate base on not a source but someone that was going to be involved in the situation.

“I made the mistake, I guess telling the ESPN bosses it and in doing that they are journalists and they said you’ve got an obligation to talk about that and go with it. You guys know, I as a former player really pride myself on my relationships with coaches and players and just not real comfortable in breaking stories, leave that up to Pat Forde and the others to do that stuff.“When they talked about that and really thought it over and over because it was going to happen they didn’t want to get beat on the story and they suggested that I go with it.”

We agree with Herbstreit on two fronts: ESPN executives deserve all the blame for the debacle - as do they for the weather in Bristol in February, the hiring of Jemele Hill, and the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage industry.And we also concur when it comes to him reporting news. Why risk providing provocative information that might make people want to tune in when you can make the same amount of money changing out Lee Corso’s bib five-times-a-GameDay?

MICHIGAN AD SAILING MILES AWAY FROM COACHING HIRE: Last weekend, when LSU coach Les Miles was thinking of jumping ship for Michigan, where was the athletic director?

Apparently out to sea:

Michael Rosenberg of the DETROIT FREE PRESS reels in the news that while Miles was awaiting word from Ann Arbor, no one in the athletic department could find AD Bill Martin.One source said that Martin had set sail for Florida last weekend, enjoying a boat show at a Key Largo yacht club. But efforts to contact the UM AD netted nothing.

So, was it absent-mindedness on Martin’s part for fleeing the scene when Les came a-looking? Or did Bill bolt on purpose, believing that Miles wasn’t the right match?

Jim Carty of the ANN ARBOR NEWS notes that Miles’ agent George Bass tried to contact Martin on his cell phone twice, and never got a call back.And when the media tried to get a hold of Martin on Tuesday, they got the same response - nothing. A school spokesman said the AD was in New York for a football awards dinner.

Maybe his phone batteries are low. Or maybe he needs a new network.

Luckily (or not) for the Maize & Blue, there’s still time to talk, as the Tigers won’t give Miles a new contract until after the BCS title game.

If Les is no more, there’s always Plan B with