Ohio State, Boise State and Oklahoma are often associated with their powerhouse football teams that field superstar athletes. The schools recruit, train and coach at a high level, and they consistently earn a top spot in the BCS rankings.

Ohio State's head coach, Jim Tressel, should be embarrassed about the school's disappointing graduation success rate.

But when it comes to graduation rates, these universities are considered among the worst.

Only 65 percent of student-athletes on teams that participated in the 2009-2010 bowl games got their degrees. For African-American students the rate was an even more staggering 58 percent.

The University of Arizona had the worst graduation success rate among bowl contenders with an abysmal 41 percent. Oklahoma, Boise State and Ohio State had a 45, 58 and 62 percent success rate, respectively.

Student-athletes face strenuous workouts, long-distance travel and attention from the media, but it is also the coach’s responsibility to help young adults mature and ultimately leave the university with a degree. Only one percent of college athletes go on to play at the professional level, and student-athletes will be unprepared to pursue professional careers beyond sports without proper guidance and education.

But football is not the only college sport that suffers from low graduation rates.

In fact, men’s basketball is even worse. According to the Institute of Diversity and Ethics in Sport, one out of every five men’s team’s in this year’s NCAA tournament has graduated less than 40 percent of their players in recent years.

U.S. secretary of education, Arne Duncan, has called on the NCAA to ban any basketball team from future postseason play if their graduation success rate is below 40 percent; however, it is unlikely his proposal will be implemented any time soon, if at all.

Postseason competition has evolved into a very lucrative enterprise, and any change to the tournament system (whether it is the BCS or March Madness) would jeopardize millions of dollars for investors and schools.

And money seems to be the bottom line nowadays.

Who cares if athletes are not graduating and fans are begging for the BCS system to disappear? The bowl games are projected to generate more than $2.1 billion over the next decade, so why should the NCAA worry about changing the current structure?

To all appearances, Ohio State’s head coach, Jim Tressel, does not care a mouse’s fart if his athletes graduate. And he should be embarrassed and ashamed.

Tressel recruits high school students, steps into their homes, and tells a kid in front of their entire family how much he and the university would welcome their attendance. Yet, nearly 40 percent of his athletes are shipped off without a diploma in hand.

Perhaps the school is concerned.

Actually, Ohio State University was so disturbed they extended Tressel’s contract through the 2014 season for over $3.7 million per year. On top of that, the school offered him the associate athletic director position with a salary of $150,000 upon his retirement.

In other news, schools across the country are firing teachers and cutting programs amidst an education budget crisis.

While it is not one man or woman’s responsibility to make sure students meet academic requirements, schools do need to address the issue and restructure the scholastic guidelines for athletes.

Students are leaving campus empty-handed, and universities are undermining their most fundamental purpose. College should be the springboard that launches educated young adults into careers that contribute to society.

Instead, student-athletes are sailing through a six-year physical education course, but failing to live up to academic standards.

Before playing in the KHL, Vitaly Kolesnik spent time with the Colorado Avalanche.

The KHL, Russia’s professional hockey league, began postseason play on March 10, and it appears Charles Oakley already needs to travel overseas to control the unruly fans.

On Monday, (brace yourself, Americans, the team names you are about to read could result in a permanent speech impediment) Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg was hosting Salavat Yulaev Ufa for the opening round of the playoffs.

Through the first three periods backup goalie Vitaly Kolesnik witnessed plenty of body checks and slap shots from the bench, but he had no idea he was about to take the worst hit of the night.

In the final period, an enraged Avtomobilist fan jumped over the protective glass boards, grabbed Kolesnik’s stick and struck him multiple times. Kolesnik was rushed to the hospital and suffered a deep gash on the side of his head, but escaped without any serious injuries.

According to the physicians, Kolesnik is fortunate to walk away alive.

“I guess I was lucky,” he said. “Doctors who treated me said if the hit was just a centimeter or two to the side, I could have been dead or left paralyzed.”

The Salavat team left the ice following the unscrupulous outburst, but later resumed play, only to suffer a 4-3 defeat.

Understandably, Kolesnik’s coach, Igor Zakharkin, was more shaken by the atrocity that took place on his team’s bench than the outcome of the game, “It looked like that mad guy kept hitting our player with a baseball bat. The blood was all over the place. We’re still in shock. Most of our players didn’t feel like playing after what had happened and our foreign players were literally scared, but we were told the game must go on. The game didn’t seem important any more. No wonder we lost.”

Zakharkin and his players seemed utterly traumatized by the gruesome and appalling scene, but were relieved that Kolesnik only suffered a concussion.

Although instances of fans physically attacking players are rare, athletes have grown increasingly more concerned over the years as fans become more shameless and bold.

The most infamous assault occurred in 1993 when a fanatical fan stabbed Monica Seles in the back during a match in Germany.

Sports provide fans with truly unpredictable entertainment. At any given moment the momentum can change sides, the confidence can be seized, the margin for error minimized. One half step too late or too early, one second too slow or too fast and the game, series or season may be lost.

Other surprise endings, such as the unforeseeable outburst of a fanatical Avtomobilist fan, remind athletes and followers that life, like sports, can be determined by a few centimeters.

Watch the attack here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itAwX1XR4x

Congratulations, Carl Edwards, you are the first victim of Charles Oakley’s wrath.

Brad Keselowski gave the fans a scare as his car flew towards the grandstand at the Kobalt Tools 500.

On Sunday March 7, Edwards intentionally drove his 3,500-pound metal vehicle at 190 miles per hour into Brad Keselowski, sending his car soaring through the air and crashing upside-down into the pavement.

Edwards ended Keselowski’s chance at winning the Kobalt Tools 500 auto race and risked seriously injuring, if not killing, Keselowski and the fans in the grandstand.

Earlier in the race Keselowski bumped into Edwards, sending him to the pits and preventing him from competing in the race. Keselowski’s aggressive driving habits are well known and Edwards obviously felt the need to send a message.

Edwards, frustrated by the earlier incident and from previous races with Keselowski, was 153 laps off the lead when he re-entered the race, and three laps later crashed into Keselowski, who was five laps from the finish line.

Is this the first time a NASCAR driver intentionally crashed into a fellow competitor? Of course not, and it probably will not be the last incident, but that does not justify his actions.

Whether or not Keselowski is a “dirty” driver, Edwards had a chance to demonstrate his higher sense of morality and be the bigger man.

Edwards could have accepted the fact that his day at the racetrack was over and his opportunity to win the Kobalt Tools 500 ended the second he spun out of control. Instead, Edwards retaliated by intentionally crashing into Keselowski, sending his car soaring through the air and putting his life at risk

NASCAR slapped Edwards with a three-week suspension, but also promotes the daredevil stunts the drivers perform on a weekly basis. Crashes draw interest, and the more attention NASCAR garners the more revenue they generate.

While there may not be an easy solution regarding drivers deliberately wrecking other vehicles, there is one certainty: Oakley is coming for you Edwards. Pray to baby Jesus, Carl. Pray to eight pound, six ounce baby Jesus—doesn’t even know his colors yet—that you can evade his mighty backhand.

Rest assured, not even Carl’s Ford can elude Oakley’s mach-speed slap.

Watch the crash here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_-_y7f_wnE