3 Stories: Celebration Penalties, Louisville's 'Escort Scandal,' Amateur Dopers

The NCAA charged Louisville head coach Rick Pitino with rules violations this week after an investigation into allegations that the men's basketball program used an escort service as a recruiting tool. Is the Louisville men's basketball head coach at fault for the actions of one of his former employees? That and more on this week's edition of "3 Stories You Should Know."

ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. and the Boston Globe's Shira Springer joined Bill Littlefield.

1. A Spike In NFL Excessive Celebration Penalties

The penalty flags are flying in the NFL. After four weeks of play this year, unsportsmanlike conduct calls — the majority of which were thrown for excessive celebrations — were up 56 percent. Some argue that the league is going too far. The NFL states that the players' actions are in clear violation of the rules. Don Van Natta wonders, what's wrong with a little fun?

Now, some of these unsportsmanlike calls are reasonable, of course, but many just feel petty and stupidly punitive. And it just seems really ridiculous that the penalty for helmet-to-helmet contact is exactly the same for the penalty for using a football as a pillow.

2. Rick Pitino And The NCAA 

This week, the NCAA charged the Louisville men’s basketball program with four “major” violations in connection with what’s become known as the “escort scandal.” Though head coach Rick Pitino denies any knowledge of a former assistant hiring women to entertain athletes, the NCAA claims Pitino failed to monitor all that was happening under his watch. Bill Littlefield thinks there's a bigger issue at play in the scandal.

Let's assume that Pitino should be held responsible for this. But can we look down the line at some point where student-athletes are really student-athletes, and therefore it's not some outside organization — in this case, the NCAA — that comes in and makes all the rules and says, 'Here's how it's gonna work?' Where students are treated as students?

3. Drug Testing In Amateur Road Racing

Performance enhancing drug use is not limited to the world of professional sports. That's why the New York Road Runners have decided to expand drug testing to their local races. Shira Springer applauds this action.

I like the message that the New York Road Runners is sending. Basically, they're saying, "We're watching you. We're going to try to keep, at least, all levels of our sport clean. And we take this very seriously, and we want you to take this seriously, too. Unfortunately, I think that's where we are now in the sports world, where we've got to police doping at all levels."

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