Swiftly Falls The Sword of Justice!

Upon the California Institute of Technology, as the NCAA has given the school a three-year probation for its "lack of institutional control" in its athletic program. The school imposed its own sanctions as well, forgoing postseason play for the next three years, vacating wins with ineligible players and banning off-campus recruiting visits during the 2012-2013 years. Forfeiting the wins will hurt the most, as the Division III school recently won its first conference game in men's basketball in 26 years.

So what was Caltech's sin? Well, it seems the big problem comes because school has this policy whereby students sort of sample courses during the first few weeks of the semester and then officially enroll in them. That meant that Caltech student athletes were playing before they were enrolled students, or as the NCAA puts it, "students in good academic standing."

I imagine that, emboldened by their swift and decisive shutdown of the jock factory of Caltech, well-known as one of those schools that just won't quit valuing athletics over academics, the NCAA will quickly deal with the "lack of institutional control" that's been in the news lately at University Park, Pennsylvania.

I'd advise continued regular respiration while you're waiting on that to happen, though. Instances of spontaneous generation of gonads in life forms which have heretofore shown zero evidence of their presence are exceedingly rare.