74polSKA

August 17th, 2011 at 8:02 AM ^

I thought Al Golden was just hired at the U.  That would be a pretty ironic defense.  I think the best part of the story is that he was paying for all this stuff with illegally obtained ponzi money. 

I think the only way this will ever end is to turn college football and basketball programs into minor league affiliates of the school or a pro team.  Drop the "student athlete" title and just pay the guys a salary.  Or IF they want an education they could still take a scholarship as payment.  You generally don't see these kind of problems in college baseball or hockey because guys don't have to go to college to get to the pros.  I'm not saying this is what I want, but I think there's too much money and power being thrown around for these sports to remain "amateur" athletics.

BlockM

August 16th, 2011 at 6:10 PM ^

Does it make me a bad Michigan fan if the first thing I thought when I read this was: "Holy crap, this makes OSU's violations look like impermissible stretching?"

Sopwith

August 16th, 2011 at 9:28 PM ^

Remember Gary Condit?  The CA congressman who had been having an affair with an intern who turned up murdered in DC?  His scandal was the biggest headline in the nation ... on September 10, 2001.  You never heard about him after that.

Tonight, the state of Ohio collectively exhales, and quotes the former congressman: "Whew."

Noahdb

August 16th, 2011 at 6:11 PM ^

I've never seen the word "douche" appear so many times in an article without actually being spelled out.

Or perhaps I just saw the picture of Douche Shapiro with Winslow and that's all I could think about.

elaydin

August 16th, 2011 at 6:13 PM ^

EDIT:  cut and paste fail

I was trying to paste in the list of players involved.

A who's who of Miami football, and a ton of current players.

 

wlubd

August 16th, 2011 at 6:33 PM ^

For those clamoring for the death penalty in OSU's case; it was never feasible. Why? Because there would be nothing left to punish Miami with...

Robinson:

We have corroborating sources, either human, document or photographic, on at least 72 Miami players or former recruits receiving benefits.

Some of it is just ridiculous. Example:

Abortion: In one instance, Shapiro described taking a player to the Pink Pony strip club and paying for a dancer to engage in sex with the athlete. In the ensuing weeks, Shapiro said the dancer called one of his security providers and informed him that the player had gotten her pregnant during the incident. Shapiro said he gave the dancer $500 to have an abortion performed, without notifying the player of the incident. “I was doing him a favor,” the booster said. “That idiot might have wanted to keep [the baby].”

Elmer

August 16th, 2011 at 6:30 PM ^

Wow!  Dont mess with Yahoo! Sports and Chucky Robinson.   I guess the Dolphins aren't the only pro team in Miami.  Heck, Dolphin players are going to start complaining that they're under-compensated.

Bluemandew

August 16th, 2011 at 6:26 PM ^

I think they have to get hammered. But I doubt they will get the death penalty. The NCAA has said they will never do it again. It will be a massive bowl ban and scholly reduction that will make the usc sanctions look like a love tap.

Mr Miggle

August 16th, 2011 at 7:48 PM ^

Ding dong Miami's dead.

I know people in the NCAA have said they wouldn't give out the death penalty again. Miami's case is going to test them. USC's violations were very similar, but less widespread, with far less complicity from the school and for a much shorter period of time. Miami was also guilty of similar widespread violations in the past. Their case is going to demand a significantly stiffer penalty than USC got. I don't know that there's much room between that and the death penalty, maybe eliminate scholarships in FB and MBB for a few years.