Cam Newton, Terrelle Pryor rulings are completely different
Nobody asked me but:
The Cameron Newton and Terrelle Pryor rulings are completely different: Since Ohio State’s Pryor has already played (and won) the Sugar Bowl and Auburn’s Newton will (probably) play in his last college football game Monday night, I’m going to make this point one last time and call it a day.
I had more than a few people from Big Ten country write and tell me that Pryor should get to play inthe Sugar Bowl because Newton got to play in the SEC championship game and beyond. It’s the same NCAA and fair is fair.
First of all, I thought Pryor played great Tuesday night. There is no question that he still has some maturity issues to work through but he is a marvelous athlete playing the quarterback position.
But, in a nutshell, here is the difference in the two rulings:
Pryor: There was a finding of FACT that he and four other Ohio State players exchanged stuff that was given to him by the school for something of value (like money and tattoos). Money did change hands. There is a clear penalty for that in the rule book: four game suspension. The NCAA tacked on another game because it happened a year ago and the players did not report it. You may think it is a stupid rule (a lot of people do) but the rule is clear. The goofy part is that the penalty starts next season, but that’s a completely different argument.
Newton: There was a finding of fact that the father, Cecil Newton, had a conversation with a former Mississippi State player (Kenny Rogers) not affiliated with the school, about the POSSIBILITY of getting paid. There was no finding that money ever changed hands. There was no finding that those kinds of discussions took place with anybody connected to Auburn.
And here is the key component. Unlike the Ohio State case, there was NOT a specific rule in the NCAA manual to deal with the Newton case. There was a lot of speculation in the conventional media and the social media that SOMETHING was going on here. But when it came time to make the decision, the only facts the NCAA had were that Cecil Newton had a conversation with Kenny Rogers and that no such conversations had taken place with anybody connected to Auburn.
Bottom line: If the NCAA could have proven that Cecil Newton had a similar conversation with somebody who had Auburn ties, the son would not be playing today. If the NCAA could have proven that Cecil Newton had taken money from somebody with Mississippi State ties, the son would not be playing Monday night. There was a helluva lot of speculation that SOMETHING took place. And I have heard from people who believe that it simply defies logic that there wasn’t more to this story.
I understand and sympathize with that point of view. But what you BELIEVE and what you can PROVE are different things. It’s a tough case.
And here’s another point. A lot of people have written that the reason Cam Newton was not punished was that he did not know what his father was up to. In retrospect the NCAA should have not included that factor because it only clouds its ruling. The fact that Cam Newton did not know was a MITIGATING factor but not a DECIDING factor in the ruling. There is a big difference.
The NCAA could not sit Cameron Newton because it did not have a specific rule to address this specific case. That’s it. I feel confident in saying that there will be such a rule in the future.
I hope that settles it but I have a feeling this case will never be settled.
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581 comments Add your comment
Good grief
January 6th, 2011
2:57 pm
Best players on UGA’s teams over the years have all been from Georgia. Tarkenton, Walker, Belue, Scott, Hearst, Ward, Edwards brothers, Bailey brothers, Thomas Davis, Greg Blue, Stinchcomb brothers, our long string of kickers, etc.
So try again please
monkey says
January 6th, 2011
2:58 pm
Comments Below: 0
CANTON, Ga. (AP) – Cherokee County authorities say a University
of Georgia football player is among those charged in an assault
against two teenagers near Lake Allatoona.
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office issued a release today
saying that the U-G-A player — 20-year-old Paul Taylor — is
charged with simple assault and is expected to turn himself in
today.
Charged with aggravated battery and battery is 19-year-old Shane
McCleskey, who plays football at Murray State University in
Kentucky. McCleskey is free on 28-thousand dollars bond after his
arrest on Saturday.
Both players are from Woodstock.
The attack occurred May 25th. Authorities say a 16-year-old
sustained an injury to the eye; a 17-year-old sustained
BAMA dude
January 6th, 2011
2:59 pm
Paul in RDU
January 6th, 2011
2:53 pm
BAMA Dude
I think that the key issues in the OSU case aer going to be when did the school know about the players violations – and when did the players “fess up”.
That is absolutely correct. If the school had knowledge and played them anyway then, as Keith Jackson would say, Whoa, Nellie! But for now tOSU hasn’t been accused of a thing as far as I know. And ARDawg, UGA the institution was not punished.
Good grief
January 6th, 2011
2:59 pm
Bama dude,
So you in other words you wouldn’t agree to his terms? I would.
The Karl Childers
January 6th, 2011
2:59 pm
Barnhart stated on the radio that NCAA suspends jersey (etc.) sellers for 30% of the season according to their bylaws. If that’s their formula and, essentially, the 2010 season is 100% over then they would be compelled to hand down the suspensions during a full season would they not?
monkey says
January 6th, 2011
2:59 pm
In recent years….dummy…..you are going old school and anyone could pull that rabbit…
BAMA dude
January 6th, 2011
3:01 pm
Good grief
January 6th, 2011
2:57 pm
Best players on UGA’s teams over the years have all been from Georgia. Tarkenton, Walker, Belue, Scott, Hearst, Ward, Edwards brothers, Bailey brothers, Thomas Davis, Greg Blue, Stinchcomb brothers, our long string of kickers, etc.
So try again please
Let’s talk in terms of the BCS era since, y’know, that TV money changed college football at its very core. And am I missing something? Do UGA fans take pride in where their recruits played high school ball? I never cared one way or the other.
Cam
January 6th, 2011
3:02 pm
Ain’t nothin fallin on me, cause I’ll be in the NFL in just a few more weeks.
Suckers!
monkey says
January 6th, 2011
3:02 pm
UGA has no recent BCS history without Stafford, Moreno and Green
Cam
January 6th, 2011
3:08 pm
I would have stayed in Georgia, but Daddy said the money was just too much.
Cam
January 6th, 2011
3:10 pm
Auburn’s more like West Georgia than Alabama anyway.
Good grief
January 6th, 2011
3:12 pm
Ok, BCS era would be Musa Smith, T. Edwards, B. Bailey, Fred Gibson, John Stinchcomb and oh yeah, that David Green fella and his buddy David Pollack. Just to name a few.
Still waiting for your answer Bama Dude……
DC
January 6th, 2011
3:13 pm
Sorry “Cam” your jokes are flat…should have tried those jokes 2 months ago…would have been “funnier”…
McDawg
January 6th, 2011
3:13 pm
what about the part that says Auburn is running a criminal enterprise out of the Athletics Department-at least that is what the Bama blogs say
Good grief
January 6th, 2011
3:13 pm
monkey,
The BCS is only 12 years old. It’s all pretty recent relatively speaking.
Seriously
January 6th, 2011
3:15 pm
All of these UGA fans have their panties (red) in a wad. They’re pathetic, sore losers.
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Nance
January 6th, 2011
3:19 pm
Bama dude is dancing all around your question. Of course he wouldn’t agree to that because he knows good and well his school’s home state doesn’t produce sh*t compared to Georgia!!!!
Nance
January 6th, 2011
3:24 pm
@ Buckeye,
If we only had to play essentially one real game a year too we’d probably be in a BCS game annually as well. But unfortunately we play in a real conference that isn’t propped up by a biased media and myths.
monkey says
January 6th, 2011
3:24 pm
Good Grief…it is 2011,,get in the BCS era.
jordan
January 6th, 2011
3:26 pm
the only comparisons that really matter are the two SEC players that had the book thrown at them immediately for doing far less than what the OSU guys did. Even UNC’s players were hammered immediately. The double-standard here is beyond obvious.
Got Crack Bama? Monkey Says Edition
January 6th, 2011
3:29 pm
Hey monkey do all your recent arrests count towards next year’s Fulmer Cup, since you already had this year’s locked up?
Got Crack Bama? Monkey Says Edition
January 6th, 2011
3:30 pm
Hey smirking chimp when was the last time thUGA went undefeated? That’s what I thought… move along scrub!!
Cam
January 6th, 2011
3:32 pm
Nance,
You got a valid point. Georgia does produce a lot of sh*t. You ever smell that stank down around College Park?
Got Crack Bama? Monkey Says Edition
January 6th, 2011
3:32 pm
Another UGA arrest all but clinches the uncoveted Fulmer Cup
9:30 am August 27, 2010, by Mark Bradley
Many of you are aware of something known as the Fulmer Cup. It was the brainchild of Spencer Hall, the man behind the Gator-friendly site EDSBS. (Stands for “Every Day Should Be Saturday.” And here’s a fun fact: Hall got his start posting under the nom de blog “Orson Swindle.”)
The Fulmer Cup was named, duh, after Phillip Fulmer, whose Tennessee player had a knack for getting arrested over the offseason. (The regrettable K-Town tradition has continued under his successors, it must be noted.) Just the other day, EDSBS posted a little item titled, “The Fulmer Cup: The Big Board Enters the Lightning Round.”
According to that post, dated Aug. 24, Georgia and Minnesota were tied atop the Fulmer Cup standings with 10 days left in the offseason. As of 5:22 a.m. this morning, the Bulldogs forged ahead.
As esteemed colleague Tim Tucker has reported, tailback Washaun Ealey was arrested for hit-and-run regarding a parked vehicle, and also for that Bulldog staple “driving with a suspended license.” This brings the Bulldog total of offseason arrests to eight, not counting Damon Evans. (Although Fulmer Cup standings are flexible enough to accommodate an athletic director.)
Score Check
January 6th, 2011
3:33 pm
The rulings do have one thing in common.
Neither one passes the Smell Test
Cam
January 6th, 2011
3:34 pm
College Park don’t pass it neither!
Tell the truth
January 6th, 2011
3:35 pm
Got Crack Bama? Why didn’t you print this part of the article. Yo really are a piece of scum.
Johns, who moved to defense for his senior year after playing running back and receiver in 2007, was “pretty wide open” selling cocaine to students on and around the University of Alabama campus but tried to hide what he was doing from teammates, police said.
“He didn’t want them to know he was involved in it,” said Capt. Jeff Snyder of the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force.
monkey says
January 6th, 2011
3:36 pm
UGA is no longer relevant, It is obvious by the post on every sports blog here on the AJC. Auburn is so worried about future sanctions that they have resorted to playing the “prove it” card.
UGA cannot even get into the BCS bowl era.
Got Crack Bama? Monkey Says Edition
January 6th, 2011
3:37 pm
Here’s The Recent Police Line-Up:
Ealey also spent time in the Clarke County Jail and was suspended for a game after his Aug. 27 arrest on charges of hit-and-run of a parked vehicle and driving on a suspended license. Another running back, Dontavius Jackson, left the team this summer after he was suspended for DUI and other alcohol-related charges.
Starting receiver Tavarres King was suspended for the opener after his arrest for underage possession of alcohol.
Freshman linebacker Demetre Baker is one of four arrested players who were dismissed from the team. Baker was booted after being charged with DUI on Sept. 26, hours after Georgia’s loss at Mississippi State.
There have been other off-the-field issues.
The NCAA suspended star receiver A.J. Green for four games when he sold his Independence Bowl jersey for $1,000 to someone it classified as an agent.
UGA president Michael Adams addressed the number of arrests when he spoke to Athletic Association employees this month.
“We’ve had too much in the football team, so we expect the coaches and the ADs to provide role models and leadership for their players,” Adams said.
Paul in RDU
January 6th, 2011
3:37 pm
Who cares whether the players on your favorite college team went to school in-state? If you had to only have in-state players, Duke wouldn’t have any sports teams (or 85% of the students for that matter).
Heck, the most successful sports league on the planet (that would be the EPL) has less than 30% native citizens.
BAMA dude
January 6th, 2011
3:38 pm
Nance
January 6th, 2011
3:19 pm
Bama dude is dancing all around your question. Of course he wouldn’t agree to that because he knows good and well his school’s home state doesn’t produce sh*t compared to Georgia!!!!
Actually I grew up in Georgia from the time I was just a little tyke; went to Dacula. I really don’t know much about HS in Alabama. I do have strong familial ties in and around T-town, though. Spent many a summer there as a kid.
Cam
January 6th, 2011
3:39 pm
monkey says,
You’re right about UGA, but I’ll tell you what. That Mark Richt is sure one nice fellow. He said I’d make a fine wide receiver.
Tell the truth
January 6th, 2011
3:42 pm
You guys can talk the most about nothing of anybody I have ever seen. What an absolute waste of time and space
Got Crack Bama? Monkey Says Edition
January 6th, 2011
3:42 pm
What difference does it make if his teammates knew? Jimmy Johns was “pretty wide open” selling to students, that blurb makes him look better? Your defense is “he was selling crack, but he was doing it on the low?” That will work in a court of law let me tell you…..
Franklin Crittenden
January 6th, 2011
3:44 pm
Talk about splitting hairs???
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/543357-cam-newton-auburn-and-the-new-kinder-gentler-more-compassionate-ncaa
Tell the truth
January 6th, 2011
3:45 pm
What a shallow life you must lead. Your whole life is wasted over the insanity that college football has become. You are wasting your life with your hatefulness. I truly pity you.
Cam
January 6th, 2011
3:45 pm
His Daddy didn’t know he was selling crack.
Besides, you can’t PROVE it! Nobody but HATERS cares what those doofus newspapers write.
Got Crack Bama? Monkey Says Edition
January 6th, 2011
3:45 pm
Alabama has seen it all over the last 20 years. Shady loans. Athletes illicitly accepting cash payments from agents and boosters. Multiple probations. Postseason bans. Scholarship reductions. Lack of institutional control. You name it, the Crimson Tide has done it.
Got Crack's Moms
January 6th, 2011
3:47 pm
You guys need to understand My Boy has been posting on here all day long because he is out of middle school today because he missed the short bus and lost his helmet. He is not all there, he just learned how to cut and paste and he is obsessed with doing it. Google is his second favorite site behind the gay pages he likes looking at.
Cam
January 6th, 2011
3:47 pm
That’s right Crack Bama.
That’s why Daddy wouldn’t let me go to Tuscaloosa. Too dirty.
Got Crack Bama? Monkey Says Edition
January 6th, 2011
3:48 pm
So you are admitting you lost right? Back to your rock scrub, on to the next one……
Got Crack's Moms
January 6th, 2011
3:49 pm
How does someone lose to a goober like you….
Cam
January 6th, 2011
3:49 pm
Crack Bama, you’re my hero.
I’m all in!
Monkey says
January 6th, 2011
3:52 pm
Nice play on my name. Too bad your intelligence level does not live up to your narcasism level.
Monkey says
January 6th, 2011
3:52 pm
Mike P. is that you? Pretty Pathetic if it is?
Steve
January 6th, 2011
3:57 pm
I think many of you continue to miss this point… A person can admit to “having a conversation with…” BUT, this does not say…WHO initiated the conversation. If I walk up to you, ask you to assist me in committing a crime…are you guilty of “conspiring to commit a crime”? No, I am not…but I did “have a conversation about it”. So, if NCAA had no proof of who intiated it, then they simply had a “he said, she said”. Who invited him into the hotel room? Both said no money changed hands, so nothing there. Clearly, NCAA could only factual say that Cecil “was involved” in a conversation…hardly enough to slap Cam and certainly not Auburn.
Gator S
January 6th, 2011
3:58 pm
Tony I typically agree with you on both the radio and here on the AJC. But you are way off on this one! And for whatever reason we are afraid to say Scam or his family did anything wrong! Wow! Can we return to the day when we call you out regardless??
Again… where there is smoke there is fire!!!
Buckeye
January 6th, 2011
4:00 pm
Nance,
You’re probably right. I’d rather be 6-7, unranked, lose to Conf USA in a 3rd tier bowl and be scorned by the top recruits in the state. On the other hand, Tressel has signed 6 of the top 10 recuits in Ohio including the top DB recuit in the country according to Rivals. Can I defect?
Good grief
January 6th, 2011
4:00 pm
Bama dude,
If it’s all the same to you I’ll just accept your non-answer as my answer.
Huh?
January 6th, 2011
4:00 pm
Right Steve.
MSU probably set the whole thing pay-for-play thing up and Cecil simply refused to go along with it.
Yeah! That’s the ticket!