Expect to see a trimmer DeMarcus Cousins at the Olympics.The Sacramento Kings forward is doing yoga in Las Vegas as part of his workouts in preparation for playing on the United States national team at next months Rio de Janeiro Games.I feel great, Cousins told The Sacramento Bee after taking a hot yoga class at Vegas Hot! in a room heated to 105 degrees with 40 percent humidity, according to the facility.Its just that feeling of your body detoxing every workout, so thats one thing. I feel a lot lighter on my feet. Of course Ive slimmed down. Im a lot more flexible, a lot more mobile, so its all coming together for me, the two-time NBA All-Star said.The 6-foot-11 Cousins had tried yoga before, but it was the encouragement of a former teammate that got him to be regular with his workouts.? Rajon Rondo is a big fan of yoga and he would push it to me, push it to me always, he said.Cousins, 25, says he hasnt stepped on a scale recently and doesnt know how much he weighs.? He was listed at 270 pounds in last seasons Kings media guide. ?One level of his yoga routine that Cousins is still trying to master is hot sculpting class, which combines yoga, Pilates and weights.Thats a whole other level, he told the paper. Thats tough. Im still trying to get the hang of that, but I enjoy that as well. Vans Shoes Outlet . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. Vans Old Skool Wholesale . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. http://www.vansshoesclearancesale.com/vans-sk8-hi-clearance.html . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team. Vans Old Skool Black . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Vans Sk8 Hi Leather . Peter Holland and Brad Staubitz were sent to Toronto on Saturday as the Maple Leafs traded defenceman Jesse Blacker and draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks. Lets be clear up front: North Carolinas response to the NCAAs notice of allegations is a little arrogant, a little elitist and, well, a lot right.The school is essentially saying that, yes, the courses in the African-American Studies department were a sham. And yes, a disproportionate number of athletes took those sham courses. But, the school counters, the NCAA shouldnt be able to charge the school with lack of institutional control or failure to monitor for two reasons:Its not the NCAAs businessSitting next to the scores of mens and womens basketball players and football players were everyday students.To the casual reader it is downright laughable. What else does the NCAA have to do other than to maintain academic integrity among its athletes? And since when is the retort, well everyone else was doing it, too a good defense?As ridiculous as the argument sounds, theyve got a point.In what is arguably the biggest case, in both scope and the brand name of the school being investigated, to fall on its enforcement staffs desk in decades, the NCAA may very well have a difficult time landing its two most serious charges. For that, it has no one to blame but itself and a thick rulebook that intentionally glosses over academic integrity.The NCAA membership worked long and hard studying and trying to decide what should and shouldnt be a bylaw, what is and is not within the manual, athletic director Bubba Cunningham said. The quality of the class, we understand and have said for some time didnt meet our normal standards, but that doesnt mean its a violation of a bylaw.There are two issues at play here.First up: What exactly is the NCAAs job? From the organizations own mission statement:Our purpose is to govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount.The key words are to govern competition. Nowhere does it say that the NCAA has a say so in the governance of or determining the merits of an institutions academic courses. In fact, the same organization that somehow has deemed itself worthy to determine if thousands of high schools meet their standards for initial eligibility is purposefully standoffish when it comes to telling colleges and universities what is and is not up to snuff.Once an athlete is enrolled in school, the NCAA monitors whether he or she is making the proper progress toward graduation -- i.e., taking enough, and passing enough, courses; makingg sure that student athletes are graduating at a proper rate.dddddddddddd If not, the NCAA penalizes schools.But it does not -- nor does it want -- to police whether the courses athletes are taking are worth a fig. Its the NCAAs version of a separation of church and state.Weve got sports; you get class.The organization, in fact, hasnt created a by-law regarding academic integrity since 1983.For many, many years we have had presidents on the council and faculty athletic representatives on the council and each and every time when theyve looked at what the role of the NCAA is relative to academics they stay out of it, Cunningham said. They dont want the NCAA in the classroom. ... We work with our accrediting agency for academic issues. The NCAA Is our athletic agency. They each have different jurisdictional responsibilities.The second problem for the NCAA? The number of regular Joes and Janes who took the same courses as the athletes did. The NCAA tried to point to the paper classes as an impermissible benefit, a gift given to athletes to help them along because of their stature as big men and women on campus. Critics naturally and logically argue that if the academic support staff steered athletes to these courses they were, in fact, receiving an extra benefit.But UNC is asking, if everyone on campus was given the same chance to take the courses, no matter how fraudulent they were, how can it be construed as a benefit given only to athletes?The simple answer: It cant.The NCAA knows it cant, which is why in April the organization announced new rules regarding academic misconduct. Schools now must adhere to strict academic integrity policies. A violation of those policies now will equate to an NCAA violation. Heres the kicker from the NCAAs own press release:Additionally the proposal recognizes schools cant predict every type of academic integrity issue that could occur. Therefore, some misconduct committed by staff members or boosters that doesnt violate a schools academic misconduct policies may still violate NCAA rules.In other words, well know it when we see it.Surely under those rules, North Carolina wouldnt have passed the smell test.In adjudicating UNCs case, the rules are too little too late, enacted after the NCAA began its investigation.Instead the school is allowed to make what, by all accounts, is a nervy, illogical and downright laughable defense.And it just might work. ' ' '