From Wikipedia:

John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles (three at Wimbledon and four at the US Open), nine Grand Slam men’s doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. McEnroe also won a record eight season ending championships, comprising five WCT Finals titles and three Masters Grand Prix titles from twelve final appearances at these two events, a record he shares with Ivan Lendl. He posted the best single season win-loss record in the Open Era in 1984 at 96.47% (82/3). In addition he won 19 Championship Series top tier events of the Grand Prix Tour that were the precursors to the current Masters 1000.

He is best remembered for his shot-making artistry and superb volleying; for his famous rivalries with Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl; for his confrontational on-court behavior which frequently landed him in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities; and for the catchphrase “You cannot be serious!” directed toward an umpire during a match at Wimbledon in 1981. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999, and is regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.^[2]

McEnroe is the older brother of Patrick McEnroe, who is also a former professional tennis player and the former Captain of the United States Davis Cup team, a position in which John served previously. They also both are now often commentators for Grand Slam tennis television coverage in the United States, and John McEnroe is also a commentator on Wimbledon for the BBC.

McEnroe was born in Wiesbaden, West Germany, to Kay (née Tresham) and John Patrick McEnroe, Sr.^[3] His father, who is of Irish descent, was at the time stationed with the United States Air Force.^[3] In 1960, the family moved to the New York City area, where McEnroe’s father worked daytime as an advertising agent while attending Fordham Law School^[4] by night. He has two younger brothers: Mark (born 1964), and former professional tennis player Patrick (born 1966).

McEnroe grew up in Douglaston, Queens. He started playing tennis when he was eight years old at the nearby Douglaston Club with his brothers. When he was nine, his parents enrolled him in the Eastern Lawn Tennis Association, and he soon started playing regional tournaments. He then began competing in national juniors tournaments, and at twelve—when he was ranked seven in his age group—he joined the Port Washington Tennis Academy, Long Island, New York.^[5] McEnroe attended Trinity School and graduated in 1977.

I have noticed that Arkansas never seems to have great recruiting years like Tennessee and Florida and Alabama do. However, the 2008 class that will graduate in 2012 for Arkansas included some great players like Joe Adams and has been re-ranked as the 5th best performing class. That class led Arkansas to a final ranking of #5.

Constrast the 2009 class at UT when Kiffin brought in the #10 class of the year with 23 players. Now only 9 players are left in the program and only one player has started over 10 times. THE LESSON IS CLEAR. SIGN BOTH FOR TALENT AND CHARACTER!!! Read on:

Former Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin looks on during a 2009 game against Western Kentucky in Knoxville, Tenn.

Photo by Associated Press /Chattanooga Times Free Press.

 

 

On Feb. 4, 2009, Lane Kiffin stepped to the podium and addressed what would be his only signing class as University of Tennessee football coach.

“Understand that this class is far below the standards that we have here and what we’ll need here in the future,” Kiffin said.

Who knew then just how precise he would be?

Kiffin and his staff of relentless recruiters had two months to scramble and assemble a class, and they were praised for compiling a crop that was strengthened with the late additions of safety Janzen Jackson, all-purpose back David Oku and tailback Bryce Brown, the nation’s No. 1 prospect. Rivals.com ranked Tennessee’s 23 signees 10th in the country, but only eight from that class are still with the program following a string of arrests and academic shortcomings.

Last summer, Rivals.com ranked Tennessee’s ’09 class as the most disappointing nationally in the past decade.

“I don’t care who you are or where you are, you cannot have a class like that,” longtime recruiting analyst Jamie Newberg said. “You can’t have a bunch of kids to where a year or two later most are gone. Your roster is going to be depleted, and that’s exactly one of the big reasons why Tennessee is in this situation right now.”

The Volunteers are 18-20 the past three years and went 5-7 this past season, losing seven league games for the first time in program history and finishing last in the SEC East for the first time as well.

Ed Orgeron, Lance Thompson and Eddie Gran were the heralded recruiters three years ago who helped Kiffin land five players in Rivals.com’s top 100 — Brown, Jackson (No. 17), receiver Nu’Keese Richardson (No. 68), linebacker Jerod Askew (No. 79) and Oku (No. 97). None of those five lasted more than two years with the Vols, with Brown transferring to Kansas State before his sophomore season and Jackson to McNeese State before his junior season.

Brown left Kansas State’s program last October after rushing three times for 16 yards and hasn’t spoken to the media since August. He and Jackson are bypassing the rest of their collegiate eligibility and have declared for April’s NFL draft.

There were 11 players remaining at UT from the ’09 class at the start of this month, but Vols third-year coach Derek Dooley recently announced the dismissals of defensive tackle Arthur Jeffery and linebacker Robert Nelson. Dooley also said guard JerQuari Schofield is not on the team for academic reasons but is still in school.

The only active member of Tennessee’s ’09 signing class with more than 10 career starts is cornerback Marsalis Teague, who has 16.

TEMPORARY ROLL

Before Tennessee’s additions of Jackson, Oku and Brown in ’09, the Vols were reveling in the signings of Richardson and Teague.

Those two had been committed to Florida, and snatching players from the Gators meant taking from the very best. Less than a month before that signing day, Florida won its second BCS title in three seasons under coach Urban Meyer.

“You can already see where we’re going to be very powerful in the state of Florida recruiting,” Orgeron boasted on signing day. “In order to beat the national champs on the field, you have to beat the national champs in recruiting, and we beat them twice.”

Kiffin wrongly accused Meyer of cheating during the recruitment of Richardson and was quickly reprimanded by SEC commissioner Mike Slive, but that hardly put a dent in Tennessee’s new momentum. The Vols had rebounded from their subpar 2008 class in Phillip Fulmer’s final year, a group that was headed by E.J. Abrams-Ward and the late Aaron Douglas and was rated 35th — unheard of by Tennessee standards — by Rivals.com.

Snagging Jackson gave the Vols another superstar safety alongside Eric Berry, and then there was the biggest catch of all, even to his fellow signees.

“I show up to a spring practice, and there is Bryce Brown, the No. 1 recruit in the country,” said Kevin Revis, the former Rhea County lineman who signed with the Vols in ’09 and transferred last year to UT-Chattanooga. “It was just a crazy time. You didn’t know who they were going to bring in.”

Kiffin’s one autumn in Knoxville yielded a 7-6 record, and there were notable moments compiled by the ’09 signees.

Brown rushed for 104 yards in the opening rout of Western Kentucky and finished with 460 yards as Montario Hardesty’s backup. Teague had two touchdown receptions and Richardson one, while Oku set the program’s single-season mark for kickoff returns (33) and kickoff-return yardage (863). Jackson amassed 37 tackles and an interception, and Greg King had 24 tackles and a pick.

But there would be far more lows than highs.

THE UNRAVELING

Tennessee’s ’09 class suffered its first setback when James Green, a promising receiver from Tallahassee, couldn’t get through the NCAA clearinghouse.

Then came the early morning hours of Nov. 12, when Jackson, Richardson and Mike Edwards were charged with attempted armed robbery at a Pilot convenience store on Cumberland Avenue. Richardson approached the driver’s side of a parked car wearing a hooded sweatshirt and holding an air-powered pellet pistol, and he instructed the people inside to “Give me everything you have.”

Edwards, approaching from the passenger side wearing a hooded sweatshirt, said, “Do what he says.”

Richardson and Edwards were dismissed from the program, and Jackson was suspended for two games. Charges against Jackson eventually were dismissed, but Richardson pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery and Edwards pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of reckless endangerment.

Kiffin bolted to Southern Cal three weeks before signing day in 2010, and the exodus of ’09 signees continued. Dooley announced on the first day of the 2010 spring practice that Brown had left the program for personal reasons, and safety Darren Myles was dismissed that July after being arrested on charges of assaulting a police officer and resisting and evading arrest following a Knoxville bar fight.

It was the second arrest for Myles in a three-month span.

“That’s why it really pays to rank these classes three, four or five years down the road,” Newberg said. “At the time Tennessee’s class looked awesome, especially the way they got some of those kids late in the game.”

Tennessee’s ’09 crop was not without concerns even before the defections. The Vols did not sign a quarterback that year, and Revis, Schofield and Daniel Hood were the only offensive linemen.

That left Tennessee inexperienced in each area during Dooley’s first season, when the Vols went 6-7.

Revis considers himself among the fortunate after transferring to the Mocs and starting 10 games this past season at right guard. He admits his one year with Kiffin, who has the Trojans poised to make a run at the 2012 BCS title, was entertaining but much prefers the stability of coach Russ Huesman’s program.

As for being a part of the most disappointing signing class of the past decade? Well, that’s just something he and 22 others will have to live with.

“No matter where you go, there is going to be some attrition, and I guess they had to get that class together so quickly,” Revis said. “I roomed with Naz Oliver and Arthur Jeffery and JerQuari Schofield, and I still talk to them all the time. People went their separate ways, but I still keep in touch with a lot of the guys.”

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Another great article from Hillsdale College. Today we look at the Dept of Education. This is a three part series from Charles Murray. Here is part one:

January 2012

Charles Murray
American Enterprise Institute

Do We Need the Department of Education?

Charles Murray is the W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He received his B.A. in history at Harvard University and his Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has written for numerous newspapers and journals, including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, and National Review. His books include Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950-1980, What It Means to Be a Libertarian, and Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality. His new book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, will be published at the end of January.

The following is adapted from a speech delivered in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 28, 2011, at a conference on “Markets, Government, and the Common Good,” sponsored by Hillsdale College’s Center for the Study of Monetary Systems and Free Enterprise.

THE CASE FOR the Department of Education could rest on one or more of three legs: its constitutional appropriateness, the existence of serious problems in education that could be solved only at the federal level, and/or its track record since it came into being. Let us consider these in order.

(1) Is the Department of Education constitutional?

At the time the Constitution was written, education was not even considered a function of local government, let alone the federal government. But the shakiness of the Department of Education’s constitutionality goes beyond that. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution enumerates the things over which Congress has the power to legislate. Not only does the list not include education, there is no plausible rationale for squeezing education in under the commerce clause. I’m sure the Supreme Court found a rationale, but it cannot have been plausible.

On a more philosophical level, the framers of America’s limited government had a broad allegiance to what Catholics call the principle of subsidiarity. In the secular world, the principle of subsidiarity means that local government should do only those things that individuals cannot do for themselves, state government should do only those things that local governments cannot do, and the federal government should do only those things that the individual states cannot do. Education is something that individuals acting alone and cooperatively can do, let alone something local or state governments can do.

I should be explicit about my own animus in this regard. I don’t think the Department of Education is constitutionally legitimate, let alone appropriate. I would favor abolishing it even if, on a pragmatic level, it had improved American education. But I am in a small minority on that point, so let’s move on to the pragmatic questions.