OT: Rife To Plead Guilty Today
Nothing profound to be honest, except we can now see where Eddie lived with a quick Google Street View lookup of his home address which is listed in the story itself. Any other Columbus Wolverines wanna go play some "Ding Dong Ditch?"
'Cause if he does, and the judge is a college football fan, we might get some insights on the record.
Has there been a plea deal? Is he going to offer any testimony that would be interesting and helpful? Or is he falling on the sword so that there will not be further investigation and trial that would cause problems for tOSU?
have nothing to do with his case. His involvement with the players was not illegal, just against NCAA rules, unless they were involved in his drug operation that is. If that's the case, there isn't enough popcorn in the world!
I agree that the criminal matter and the NCAA investigation are substantively separate. However, the NCAA has limited ability to investigate -- it can't subpoena (as I understand it) -- while the feds obviously can. Facts that are uncovered in a criminal investigation and that are presented in a criminal trial might be relevant (for different reasons) to the NCAA. It is why the threat by Pryor to sue was hilarious -- it would have created the opportunity for document production, depositions, and supoenas of third-parties -- clearly not what OSU would like to see.
It probably means nothing to the NCAA investigation, but I am curious what impact this development will have on it and whether there is an effort to wrap up the other legal wrangling so that there is less opportunity to find more evidence and facts.
This is how the Ed Martin details saw the light of day.
UM asked the feebs to include the details on $ to basketball players as part of Ed Martin's plea deal & allocution.
back fired when Ed Martin died right before he was to testify about what really was going on. This basically screwed Michigan because all other infomation and testimonies were sealed by the grand jury. This is what Webber always falls back on when he is asked about it.
A crook. A crook who evaded taxes and was otherwise a general minor nuisance in the world of vice.
Never went to the school being investigated. Wasn't a player, or a coach, or a student or a faculty member.
Ed Martin (scumbag that he was) in fact got closer, officially, to Michigan basketball, than Rife did to OSU football. Martin was put on ticket lists by Freider(?) Perry Watson(?) and, certainly, Steve Fisher. Martin may have had a hand (not ncessarily an illegal hand) in recruiting, whereas there is no such allegation re: Rife.
Anyway, they are both sorry cases. Both cases would rightfully anger the fair-minded supporters of both schools. I'll bet the OSU Board of Trustees and Archie Griffin's OSU Alumni Association are as pissed off at Pryor and Rife, as people like us are pissed off at Chris Webber and Ed Martin.
Martin got very close with a small handful of players, becoming their main man. Rife knew a ton of players that he got kinda close with. Everything Rife did you could say he was probably just fufilling a fan dream by being around athletes or trying to make some cash on the side, not become this huge player in their lives. It's not that similar.
I think Dennis Talbott and (despite what the Ohio BMV wants) Aaron Kniffin might turn out to be a bigger deals than Rife when it's all said and done.
For reasons that only a compliance officer or an NCAA attorney could understand, Ed Martin was declared to be a "Michigan booster." Giving rise to a thousand and one articles in which the phrase "University of Michigan booster Ed Martin..." became standard. Instead of "numbers racketeer and assembly-line worker Ed Martin..." Not that Michigan did itself any favors in that regard.
Anwhow, there are massive vicarious-liability-type consequences for the wrongdoing of "boosters." OSU will be fortunate indeed if none of these guys -- Sarniak, Rife, Kniffin, Talbott -- get categorized as "boosters." I think it will be one of the critical features of any sanctions determination.
Throwing Sarniak in there at this point is a bit irresponsible, no?
I have no idea what is going to happen with any of these guys. I'm not alleging anything. To the contrary; I've been saying all along to everybody, wait for the investigation.
From afar, Sarniak appears to be Ed Martin, minus the criminality. (Same influence, same quasi-involvement in recruiting, etc.) And Rife appears to be Ed Martin, minus the sweetheart payments. (Rife was strictly a trader of services for goods. He wasn't givin' it away. Refreshments, however, may have been included.)
But anyway, my point about "booster" definitions was just an academic kind of question for NCAA technophiles. I don't know who might be a booster, and I don't know what the final outcome might be. I wouldn't even hazard a guess.
btw: Rife gets to keep his pile of OSU swag, since the feds couldn't prove that it was purchased with narcotics money. (Probably a lot of it wasn't; it was traded for tattoos.) Rife will be the best-dressed guy in the Elkton Federal Corrections Institution:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2011-06-28-ohio-state-tattoo-parlor-owner-guilty_n.htm
Yes. You are more or less saying that Sarniak doesn't pass the smell test. I agree he doesn't, but that's all anybody knows at the moment.
Whether you're a journalist or ferocious message board poster, it does seem a little hypocritical for you to jump the gun on that given how sensitive you are to assumptions and fact-spins (at least when it pertained to Rich Rodriguez).
Let's see if he drags some O S U players down with him.I am willing to bet a lot of the (already busted before POT HEADS) these guys were getting dope from him.