Paper: OU Reported Excess Pasta Servings to NCAA

UNIVERSITIES self-report all kinds of violations to the NCAA, the Big Brother of collegiate athletics.

But the University of Oklahoma recently took things to extremes.

The Oklahoman yesterday reported that the Sooners' compliance office reported that three athletes ate an excessive amount of pasta at a school function last year.

No, this not an early April Fools' joke. Here's the entry, dated May 10, 2013:

Violation: Three current student-athletes received food in excess of NCAA regulation at a graduation banquet. The three had graduated from the school but returned for an additional season of competition. The players were provided pasta in excess of the permissible amount allowed. Resolution: The three were required to donate $3.83 each (the cost of the pasta serving) to a charity of their choice in order to be reinstated. The department provided rules education to applicable athletics department staff members.

Cue up Tom McGinnis for one of his famous "Are-you-kidding-me" lines.

The athletes were not identified, but offensive linemen Gabe Ikard and Austin Woods admitted on Twitter that they were among the culprits.

Ikard shared this tweet:

"We were served an extra pasta buffet at our student-athlete graduation banquet in May. So, we donated $5 to charity to be eligible to play."

Call him $am

Michael Sam, the defensive end from Missouri who outed himself just months before the NFL draft, has signed autograph deals with five trading-card companies, according to an ESPN.com report.

"We normally focus on defensive players that are most likely to get drafted in the first two rounds, so Michael was originally one of our alternates," Nick Matijevich, vice president of operations for Press Pass told the website. "But the news made his inclusion a no-brainer."