And nothing will come of this.
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OT - Sun rises in east, Auburn pays players, alters grades
The NCAA will blow hundreds of thousands of dollars making a fool of itself with a massive investigation that reveals the Auburn staff are wards of Satan, but can't prosecute it because that one investigator used the report cover sheet as a napkin and the grease like, totally ruined it.
You call that nothing?
Water is wet
Wake me when Auburn DOESN'T break the rules.
Let's not contemplate death.
If only Auburn produced a graduate with the writing skills necessary to do an investigative piece on the rest of the SEC they could have their revenge.
According to Wikipedia, Selena Roberts, who wrote the piece under discussion, graduated from Auburn.
Apparently she wasn't part of 'the family.'
hide the trees
...shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.
Is that a from/a-reference-to something? The first time today when I saw this response, I thought "meh, I kind of get it". Now I'm lauging my ass off for some odd reason after seeing this...
Former players have came forward and admitted to getting paid already. Nothing happened.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/30/four-ex-auburn-football-players-paid_n_842726.html
As long as Emmert is at the helm, this won't matter at all. That man is one of the most digusting figures in the history of sports.
Is Auburn's president also a BFF of Emmert? (see: Gee, Gordon)
I think Auburn is dirty, but consider the source. It is Selena Roberts, she of Duke lacrosee fame.
She also broke the A-Rod on roids story.
There is a reason she is no longer working for the SI and is posting this stuff on some odd named website. She has zero credibility after the hatchet job she did on the Duke lacrosse players. She never even apologized for all the garbage she wrote.
I am not saying she didn't put out a hatchet job. I am just pointing out that she has broken a major story that held up and I think she will get the benefit fo the doubt in this case considering her subject.
She shouldn't. If yahoo or SI or really anyone had put there name beind it (and not just posted it on there webstie as a report) it would look a lot better.
Didn't a bunch of Auburn players accuse the school of wrongdoing a couple of years ago an interview and then nothing happened (shocking!) ? I remember something like that happening, but can't remember who did the interview.
HBO Sports and Bryant Gumbel did a stroy on it a few years ago. I linked to a story about it above.
Does SI running a story really make you feel like this story would carry more credibility? This is the same SI that employs Michael Rosenberg.
It was like the MRA Superbowl. They still cite it as proof that their hate group is a good thing.
Scam Newton!
The NCAA has done nothing about the Miami scandal. There's no reason to think that it'll do anything about this, either. This really just begs to question a larger, and quite monumental issue: is the NCAA a viable long-term option for properly maintaining the integrity of college sports? If not, what are the alternatives?
Is a little public pressure. Then they're on top of things. See Penn State.
Is "properly maintaining the integrity of college sports" really the objective of the universities that have banded together to form the NCAA?
The more journalists who keep digging, the better. I obviously want the cheaters brought to justice, but for those who want the entire NCAA amateur status reevaluated this helps too.
The worse part of this story is how the kid got screwed and is now on trail for something he likely didnt do. Plus draft stock killed and millions lost for him individually
something tells me they will be a bottom feeder for awhile......
Tennessee in the SEC!
And Kentucky football
because the NCAA hasn't done anything against anyone except for the Penn State sanctions. There were big rumors about Oregon football, Miami football, OSU football, Syracuse basketball, etc and nothing has happened. The NCAA has no teeth and I think schools are figuring it out now because they're all pushing back
USC?
Holy-freaking-hell. They are actually going to officially accuse Auburn. Now we will see how truly gutless the NCAA has gotten. It only took a post-good Auburn period for all of this to officially come to light.
I love watching big time college sports. But after a while it's the same crazy stuff, year after year, and it's getting harder to swallow.
And it's not just about the Miamis, the SEC or "football factories" like OSU or PSU; there were problems at institutions like Michigan with the basketball program in the early 90s that we all know about, point shaving scandals at Northwestern around the same time, repeat problems at USC, etc. On other words, this stuff happens at schools that have good academic reputations, too.
There's too much pressure on the coaching staffs for them not to be tempted to break the rules, too much money at stake for the institutions to want to really look under the rock, etc. So everything is glossed over if possible and left at the doorstep of the NCAA to worry about.
College athletics is fairly rotten, and we all know it and make excuses for it.
I don't know if 110,000 people would turn out to watch students in Michigan uniforms who were not on athletic scholarship play in something like the Ivy League, or not. Probably not.
All of the big time conference schools have put themselves in a position where they have to feed the monster of their athletic budgets, and sustain their building programs, and can't face the reality that these are professional teams, and the "student athlete" moniker is just window dressing.
Schools simply can't go back to Square One and do what the Ivy League did banning athletic scholarships now. Imagine Michigan Stadium with 30,000 people a game instead of 110,000, and all those empty luxury suites. But banning the athletic scholarship is the only way to kill the disease.
Have real students play real students in sports. It might be entertaining. But it won't fill the Big House.
I disagree with the idea that banning the athletic scholarship is the only way to kill the disease of corruption.
I think allowing universities to pay the players would get rid of the corruption, too. It may bring some changes (though personally I don't think the atmosphere of college athletics would change all that much). Whatever changes it brought, it would at least be honest.
Agree it will be incrementally better... but It will likely never be honest or equitable.
I can live with a few cheating scandals a year. Let's not over-romanticize college athletics to something they're not. They're great and are a big part of our culture, but too many people take it too far: upholding tradition above all else, worshiping players and coaches like gods, berating others for their fandom whether they're a rival or a fellow fan who left the game early during a blowout. And let's not forget the cringe-worthiness of posts like "The Blockhams..."
espn reported it it's real now boys.
be for free this time
Two Auburn players claiming they were misquoted:
Man this article is outrageous and isn't true. The media will do anything for a juicy story smh #sad
— Mike Blanc (@MikeBlanc93) April 3, 2013
While I spoke to Selena Roberts about Mike I have just read her article & not only am I misquoted but my words are very out of (1/2)
context. We didn't talk about NCAA violations or recruiting. I'm proud 2 have played at Auburn & the opportunities it gave me (2/2)
— Neiko Thorpe (@Neiko15) April 4, 2013
usually when you are interviewing someone for a big story ( or any story) you record the conversation. So I guess we will see if he is misquoted or whatever.
Man, Thorpe has a nice career in politics ahead. Already got the "my words were taken out of context, though there's no context they sound good in" down.
Even if the NCAA investigates and decides to punish Auburn, it will not be for another couple years and it won't change a thing. Auburn fans won't stop counting 2010 as a MNC year and the school still sold a bunch of stuff with their logo on it. Even any puny punishment the NCAA can dish out will be long after self-imposed bowl bans following meaningless 6-6 seasons. I almost think such egregious violations all deserve the "death penalty" as NCAA fumbling and weak enforcement do not seem to be a deterrent at all.
The point of the story wasn't actually that Auburn cheats, Rather, Roberts is claiming, but not too directly, that McNeil is being framed by the authorities because Auburn wanted to keep him quiet. This is a very serious accussation of criminal conduct by the police, the DA and even the judge. It would be an incredible story if she had actual evidence to support it. The problem is that she doesn't have anything to back her allegations. There isn't even a mention that the guy was going to go public with anything. Maybe Chizik should have at least spoken to his mother. However, its a big leap from that to claiming that Auburn and the local police/DA are in a consipracy to put McNeil in jail for the rest of his life. Roberts even tries to pull the judge into this just because he 1) went to Auburn 2) once worked at the stadium (during college?) and 3) has a sister who is an Auburn professor. She also finds fault with the police not telling McNeil's mother what charges he was facing right after his arrest But she neglects to mention that the police didn't have to tell McNeil's mother anything since he is over 18. If he wanted a lawyer, he could have asked for one. (The Miranda issue can be significant - but only if he confessed to something.)
At the end of the day, all Roberts has to support the accusations and implications at the heart of her story is McNeil's claim that he is innocent and the well known reports that Auburn doesn't follow the rules. Her attempts to link these two things are weak She eventually resorts to the "I'm just asking questions" bit. If she could prove a conspiracy, it would be a bombshell that would rock college sports. Instead, her story is a flat article which smears police, DAs and a judge who seem to be just doing their jobs.
Now, McNeil may very well be innocent. If so, I hope that he is acquited. However, according to Roberts, he was at a known dug house, saw one of the guys he came with go into the house with a "fake gun" (still probably counts as armed robery since it looks like the real deal) and he covered his face with a black t-shirt and went into the house. Again, according to the story, a jury already found that a robbery occurred and convicted another one of the guys who were there. I don't know all of the facts. But, based on the story, it seems like there are reasons to try the case - other than a grand conspiracy to silence a player who wasn't talking to anyone anyway.
I remember staff at Miss State saying that Scam Newton's dad wanted fifty thou for Scam to play there. The said no, so he ends up at AU. Anyone believe he just up and went there for free?
I've been telling Ms. ND Sux ever since that I can't wait to see the Heisman and NC Trophy surrendered.
For some reason I find the Mrs. ND Sux reference to be very funny. It is only a matter of time until all those trophies are going back. This whole program should be hammered, but we will see if it it happens. The NCAA is an organization full of cowards