Of all the cases of wasted talent in football—and there are many—Phillips may have had the most talent to waste. I vividly remember the night It All Changed for him back in 1995, because earlier that day I had watched Phillips torch Michigan State in the home opener in East Lansing. He looked like the best football player on Earth that day, and he might have been, but later that evening he was arrested after throwing his girlfriend down a flight of stairs. Tom Osbourne did not kick him off the team, the Cornhuskers still won the National Championship, and Phillips was a top 10 NFL Draft pick, but that was just the start of the slippery slide of legal trouble that would follow him the rest of his life.

Rams coach Dick Vermeil called him the best running back he ever had—as he was kicking Phillips off his team after multiple arrests. He had numerous assault charges. He played for seven teams in four different leagues. He ran over three kids with a car in 2005. (Earning him the 10-year sentence.) Everywhere he went, he showed flashes of the amazing once-in-a-lifetime running back everyone knew he could be—he won a Grey Cup!—but everywhere he went he got in trouble, burned bridges and was sent packing. On two occasions in 2005, he choked his girlfriend leading to this latest conviction. He is beyond "three strikes" now and could easily get the full 25 years in prison at his sentencing next month.

The good news is that the latest choking victim says they're still dating. Also this, which is priceless. Theisman vs. Kiper on character issues. The whole thing would be funny if it wasn't so depressing.

Ex-NFL Player Phillips Convicted Of Choking Girlfriend [KGTV San Diego]
Related: Lawrence Phillips Hits Bottom, Is Sure He Can Go Lower

Wake up, shitheads! Time for you to get up, swallow 15 Advil, put your pants back on, and stagger home like the dirty, filthy people you are. Here are the bowl games you’ll need to nurse that hangover…

11AM Outback Bowl: South Carolina vs. Iowa (ESPN)
This is the one you’ll watch because nothing else is on and you just want the pain to subside.

1PM Capital One Bowl: Georgia vs. Michigan State (ABC disguised as ESPN)
Formerly the Citrus Bowl. As Steve Spurrier once said, you can’t spell Capital One Bowl without UGA! Or at least the A.

1PM Gator Bowl: Nebraska vs. Clemson (CBS)

4:30PM Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. USC (ABC disguised as ESPN)
Joe Paterno will be, once again, coaching from the booth. This way, you don’t have to see the colostomy bag.

8:30PM Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Cincinnati (FOX)
Jesus, this is the fucking Orange Bowl? Shouldn’t this be the Papajohns.com Bowl? Miami/Nebraska this ain’t. But hey, it’s New Year’s Day, and you’re one step away from grim death, so any real football will do now, won’t it?

Consider the comment section below your all day Hugh Johnson project. So sit back, mix up a Bloody Mary, find the greasiest breakfast you can, and enjoy the day. Happy 2009, gang.

John Marsh, who operates Fratmentv.com and two related Web sites catering to gay men, said he's spoken with Donahoe and Jordan and that both indicated they want to continue as college wrestlers. He said Donahoe was a "dynamite" wrestler.

"If Nebraska is going to be pigheaded and kick him off unreasonably," Marsh said, "there has to be another wrestling program that's going to want him."

Assuming they transfer to another school, both men would have to sit out a year before they could continue their wrestling careers. Of course there also may be an NCAA investigation into these pictures since NCAA athletes are not allowed to be paid for their images. So there's a real question whether either man will be permitted to wrestle in NCAA-sponsored matches again.

Marsh, for one, thinks Nebraska's response is indicative of a generational divide .

"I'm in my mid-40s, and my generation has a stigma about porn," he said. "The kids, the generation of the student-athletes, don't have that stigma. They really don't care.

"They've come from a Paris Hilton, Tommy Lee-Pamela Anderson sex tape generation, Myspace pages," Marsh said. "The shame and stigma aren't there for them. They're mostly worried about what their parents are going to think, because their parents think it's horrifying."

If that's the case, shudder, we may be in for many more of these scandals in the near future.

Nebraska wrestlers dismissed after posing nude [ESPN]