Hoffner Wrongfully Terminated, Will Return To MN-Mankato

((HT: MyFoxTwinCities))

In August of 2012, Todd Hoffner was escorted off the practice field at Minnesota-Mankato and placed under arrest for having child pornography images on his school-issued cell phone.

Three months later, a judge dismissed the charges saying the videos were nothing more than images of his children playing in their house after a bath.

That didn't change Mankato's mind. The school suspended Hoffner for 20 days and then reassigned him to a desk job before firing him in May of 2013. He had been hired as the coach at Minot State, but after an arbitration, he will return to Mankato to coach his old school and old team.

Minot understands Hoffner's decision:

Here's the latest on Hoffner returning to Mankato
KMSP-TV

Mankato, obviously, didn't say a lot with the arbitor's decision, but they did put out a statement:

"We extend our apologies to Mr. Hoffner and deeply regret the difficulties he and his family have experienced.
"It is our sincere hope that all concerned can now find ways to move forward."

Moving forward may include a civil response by Hoffner, but that isn't know at present...

DEVELOPING: A-Rod Suspended For All Of 2014

So, after all the arguing, posturing, and threatening in the remainder of the 2013 Major League Baseball season has trimmed Alex Rodriguez's suspension from 211 games down to the 162 of the regular season...

Not a surprise...

And also not a surprise that A-Rod says he's still going to fight the arbitor's ruling...

Here's some of the statement from his camp:

"The number of games sadly comes as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one," Rodriguez said in the statement. "This is one man's decision, that was not put before a fair and impartial jury, does not involve me having failed a single drug test, is at odds with the facts and is inconsistent with the terms of the Joint Drug Agreement and the Basic Agreement, and relies on testimony and documents that would never have been allowed in any court in the United States because they are false and wholly unreliable.

"This injustice is MLB's first step toward abolishing guaranteed contracts in the 2016 bargaining round, instituting lifetime bans for single violations of drug policy, and further insulating its corrupt investigative program from any variety defense by accused players, or any variety of objective review."

He can still attend spring training since it has nothing to do with the regular season itself...

Andrew Marchand discusses...
((HT: ESPN))


Rodriguez also maintains he'll take his battle to federal court since he maintains that he has never taken performance enhancing drugs...

This is the HQ holding its breath on that one...

How'd You Like To Be Relegated Over $24...???

((HT: Pro Soccer Talk))

Well, if you were Thurrock FC in what amounts to the fifth level of professional football in England (Isthmian Division One North), you're now Isthmian Division One South (6th level) over a fine that wasn't paid by a player who wasn't supposed to play until the fine was paid to his old club..

Kinda like an overdue library book...

And the illegal player meant a three-point penalty and relegation instead of being a point clear...

Joel Barnett played for a team that folded- and therefore couldn't pay anything to anyone much less cover a fine from a player... and then he played for Thurrock. The FA is saying that Thurrock should have done their due diligence in knowing that Barnett was owing a league money, but the team isn't going down without a fight...

Joe Prince-Wright over at PST has the money quote from the Thurrock front office:

It’s a disgrace. It all happened 11 months ago and what the FA and Ryman League have told us is that we should have checked this website and that, but we followed procedure by checking with our own county FA. It’s a real mess because he got sent off playing elsewhere before he came here and got a three-match ban but nothing was flagged up.

And the club is going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland for some kind of conclusion...
How binding it is...???

Who knows...???

Here's highlights of the 1-1 draw Thurrock had last season against Concord Rangers- for those of you who follow those sorts of things...