CR509

August 28th, 2013 at 3:49 PM ^

If I was A&M I'd appeal. If they have zero evidence and admit he didn't take money why is he suspended at all? The penalty is a joke in itself

jsquigg

August 28th, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^

How long before a number of schools decide to band together and seperate themselves from the NCAA?  Their decisions are laughable at best and completey ass backwards at worst.  That goes along with the straight hypocrisy that they hide behind.

MgoBlueprint

August 28th, 2013 at 3:52 PM ^

I'm sure that oil money coupled with an already weak NCAA made for a quick "investigation". I wouldn't be surprised if Manziels lawyers put the NCAA in a corner using likeness as leverage.

swalburn

August 28th, 2013 at 3:55 PM ^

I think I read it somewhere on Mgoblog yesterday, but the real question is how many autographs did Manziel sign for the NCAA during their 6 hour meeting with him.  What a joke the NCAA is.

teamangel

August 28th, 2013 at 3:56 PM ^

The NCAA is a joke... and needs to grow a pair!  They even acknowledge he did nothing wrong but then still suspend him for a half a game?  Stupid. 

Kingslayer

August 28th, 2013 at 3:57 PM ^

This isn't an NCAA enforcement action.

The school suspended him, not the NCAA.  In theory to punish him for bad judgment in who he interacted with and to discourage others from doing the same.  Doesn't mean the NCAA isn't hypocritical or inconsistent, but it's not a direct comparison to discipline the NCAA has issued in other circumstances.

Kingslayer

August 28th, 2013 at 4:34 PM ^

Actually that's not my logic at all.  What happened here it appears is that the NCAA decided that there was not a sufficient basis (or maybe any basis) to continue an enforcement action to the point where they would impose any sanctions.  That decision may have been based on A&M deciding to suspend him for a half, or it may have been the same decision even if A&M had decided to take no disciplinary action.  I strongly suspect that A&M decided for its own purposes that some kind of suspension was warranted, but since those purposes were self-interested, they made it a meaningless suspension.

Schools may submit proposed punishment or they may just impose punishment, either way hoping that it suffices or at a minimum convinces the NCAA that the school takes the issue seriously (versus USC who basically gave the NCAA the finger and therefore got banged for it).

HelloHeisman91

August 28th, 2013 at 4:00 PM ^

The NCAA is an organization that the member institutions voluntarily participate in and even created. When are the member institutions going to say, "We have had enough of the problem we helped create."? It's time to overhaul the system to operate in the times it is trying to govern. The whole approach is simply outdated.

Generic MGoBlogger

August 28th, 2013 at 4:01 PM ^

The NCAA did their job in this case... No need to criticize if they allegedly couldn't find anything. For those who are wondering why he is still suspended, he is in fact suspended for not stopping the sale of autographs under bylaw 12.5.2.2... So I feel as if this punishment is more of a nothing to see here although ESPN will analyze the heck out of it.

Generic MGoBlogger

August 28th, 2013 at 4:31 PM ^

I don't know... Ask the NCAA for clarification, but this goes back to name relevancy and likelihood... Here is NBCSports' interpretation of it:

"While on its face the rule creates a potentially unreasonable burden for a kid who may not have the resources or the ability to send out cease-and-desist letters or file lawsuits, Manziel knew or should have known when repeatedly signing his name for one person that the one person for whom Manziel was signing simply didn’t want to have the world’s biggest personal collection of Johnny Football memorabilia.

And so while 12.5.2.2 is more than a little vague and broad when applied generally, it could be the thing that allows the NCAA to specifically nail Manziel."

ErikDPT

August 28th, 2013 at 4:03 PM ^

NCAA:  Hello, Johnny.  Good to see you.  Please have a seat.  

Manziel:  [Takes seat in a chair placed in front of a panel of committe members]

NCAA:  So it has come to our attention that you signed several thousand items over the past year including during your Heisman-winning season.  Congratulations on that. accomplishement by the way.

Manziel:  Uhh...th...thank you.

NCAA:  There are rumors that you accepted money for said autographed items, an action which would strictly violate our policy for student athletes.  If you did accept money during this time, you would be retroactively declared ineligible to play football and your Heisman trophy will likely be stripped from you along with any other awards for the 2012 football season.  

Manziel:  [Nervously gulps]

NCAA:  SO...Did you accept ANY money for autographed items?

Manziel:  Nope.

NCAA:  ...Okay good enough for us.  Wanna play some NCAA 14 on our XBOX?  

 

gopoohgo

August 28th, 2013 at 4:11 PM ^

At this point, there may as well be a draft where schools offer contracts.

SEC, and some ACC schools (ahem, Miami, UNC) give money anyways and sh*t doesn't happen.  May as well let schools with gigantic endowments starts putting some of that money to use.

cheef16

August 28th, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^

I can't help but think that suspensions from offseason infractions like this -- or even suspensions for a few games generated from offseason actitivies -- provide additional motivation for big programs to continue to schedule weak competition in the non-conference schedule.

alanmfrench

August 28th, 2013 at 4:17 PM ^

me get this straight. Using your fame to profit for yourself gets you the hammer. Using your fame for someone else to profit gets you a finger wag and you have to stand in the corner for 30 minutes. Sounds about right for the NCAA.

MichiganAggie

August 28th, 2013 at 4:26 PM ^

but I don't understand the outrage.

 

Where was the evidence??

All you had was an ESPN reporter (Darrell Rovell) on a personal crusade against A&M who said he's talked to dealers. These dealers won't go on record and some have a criminal past. This is not the first time Rovell has been duped in his investigations.

If there was solid evidence, I'd be all for suspending Manziel. But without anything credible, he's innocent and should play (in fact, sitting him for the 1st half is stupid)

a2_electricboogaloo

August 28th, 2013 at 4:34 PM ^

There is very good reason that they won't go on the record for it.  If a dealer does and Johnny Football misses time, then the dealer is financially liable for Text A&Ms lost profits (which would be a lot of money. I went more in depth/sourced it above.  I'm not saying that he definitely did or did not do it, but it seems like the (possibly) unintentional "snitches get stiches" law would prevent any sort of hard evidence from coming out.

Erik_in_Dayton

August 28th, 2013 at 4:57 PM ^

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/broker-claims-paid-johnny-manziel-7-500-sign-202358867.html 

This link describes a recording - heard by ESPN - in which Manziel tells a broker that he'll end their dealings if the broker tells anyone of a given signing session and in which Maziel also describes the cover story that he'll use to explain how it is that so many of his autographs are on the market. 

Erik_in_Dayton

August 28th, 2013 at 5:20 PM ^

A lot of journalism departments (if you want give ESPN credit for having one) have policies against buying recordings and the like.  That's one of the things that makes Deadspin different - they will buy those things, for good or for bad...Also, I usually think ESPN pumps up the SEC more than is warranted simply by the play of SEC teams, so I have a hard time imagining them doing something underhanded to hit an SEC squad. 

tsbilly

August 28th, 2013 at 4:52 PM ^

anything that causes the NCAA to come crashing down is good news to me. Great job, NCAA. Keep on hastening your demise. Wha

t is the difference between Terrel and Manziel? Could it be the color of skin?

tsbilly

August 29th, 2013 at 12:01 AM ^

Sometimes projectile pamphlets cause papercuts. I hope Johnny can still throw the ball against NorthWest Technical School  in the second half. (Sorry, I forgot who they were playing week one so I took a guess.) Band-Aids can really mess up the rotation of a football. I'm taking NTS and the points this week.

cbs650

August 28th, 2013 at 5:11 PM ^

Just heard on College Football live that if A&M hadnt agreed to the half game suspension, the NCAA would have continued the investigation into the season and Manziel would have had to sit out while the investigation was ongoing. So basically, this deal was done to save the BAMA/TAMU marquee game on September 14th