Cam Newton - Rush to judgement?
Before we kick Cam Newton out of college football and give both Auburn and maybe Florida the death penalty for their involvement in the Cam Newton affair might I remind my fellow board members that the media had an absolute field day at our expense following practice-gate. Here are some of the more lurid headlines one can find with a simple Google search:
"Why practice when you can cheat? - Bleacher Report
"Michigan football - the collapse of a storied program" - Opposing Views.com
"Time may not be on Michigan's side" -New York Times
"Massive cheating allegations against University of Michigan football" -Syndicate Times
"Three reasons why the Michigan cheating scandal is serious" - Bleacher Report
"Michigan football players confirm widespread cheating allegations against program" - ESPN
FWIW....all of these were published within 30 days of the initial Freep report as everyone jumped on the Michigan is cheating bandwagon. We were absolutely hammered nationally as a renegade program with complete disregard for the student-athletes on the team. The truth, however, turned out to be not quite as juicy as those that wanted to bring the program down had hoped.
To be clear here - I am not defending Cam Newton nor either program alleged to have involvement in his recruitment or class schedule. I simply asking for restraint in coming to a presumption of guilt based upon stories published on the Internet.
EDIT - I have no idea how those damn bleacher report banner ads got stuck against the bottom of my post. I blast them for God's sake so there is no way I want to give them any ad space on my time. If anyone knows how to get rid of them please let me or the mods know.
EDIT - Thank you whoever got those down.
November 9th, 2010 at 4:17 PM ^
One of my colleagues played football at UF in the 90s and has remained close to the program. He's convinced the leaks are coming out of Gainesville and, have at a minimum, a grain of truth. He said that the reason they're coming out now is that folks in Gainesville need to explain why UF has a gaping hole at quarterback and one of their recruits is going great guns at another SEC school.
November 9th, 2010 at 4:33 PM ^
Before we kick Cam Newton out of college football and give both Auburn and maybe Florida the death penalty for their involvement in the Cam Newton affair might I remind my fellow board members that the media had an absolute field day at our expense following practice-gate.
Did the board condemn Newton? I must have missed it.
November 9th, 2010 at 6:27 PM ^
I appreciate your perspective. I've been hating on Cam Newton because he's Denard's competition for chief of staff in Space Emperor's Spread QB department, but it isn't fair to do so until anything is proven. We were pissed about all the negative attention we got from practicegate and it's time we learn from that.
November 9th, 2010 at 8:13 PM ^
True everyone is innocent until proven guilty but practicegate was MAJORLY overhyped and surronded by a lot of question marks..Based on what I have heard/read about Newton these accusations are backed by preety hard evidence. I think when it comes down to it, his past is simply creeping back up to him. Until the money situation arose, I like much other people probably did, had no idea about the laptops or cheating.
To be honest, even if he is found innocent his reputation will be tarnished, much like the UM's has been.