Stop whining: NCAA got it right on Cam Newton, Auburn
Cam Newton can go ahead of celebrate. The NCAA ruled that he and Auburn are in the clear.
Let me start this by declaring that I’m as cynical as the next person — OK, perhaps a little more — and I’m absolutely convinced there was a second gunman in the grassy knoll and there’s something about Area 51 that the government is not telling us.
But listen up: The NCAA got it right.
It could not suspend Cam Newton based on he whispered/he whispered.
It could not place Auburn on probation based on the fact the father of its star player admitted that he solicited money from ANOTHER school.
It could not significantly punish any athlete or institution based on what we all THINK must have happened simply because that’s what our suspicious mind tells us.
This whole saga has been one of the strangest NCAA investigations I can remember, in part because the athlete’s current school (Auburn) never was even connected to the allegations.
I know. Our head tells us: It’s Auburn. It’s the SEC. It’s big-time college football with big-time shenanigans. We’ve been exposed to so much of it in the past that we’ve come to believe that every player, coach, administrator and booster have been have been tainted. This story is even better than most because it involved a father allegedly pimping his kid . . . and he’s a minister!
At some point, you expected a Kardashian to show up on Toomers Corner.
But take a breath and, just for a moment, follow me through the levels of this thing. Then I’ll address why I don’t believe this can be compared to other recent cases, including the one at USC and A.J. Green’s suspension:
♦ Question: Did Cecil Newton, Cam’s father, solicit money from Mississippi State for his son’s services? Answer: Yes. INFRACTION.
♦ Question: Did Cam Newton know his father solicited an offer? Answer: Based on a lack of evidence, no. (If you want to assume otherwise, fine. But let’s just say I’m aware of situations where children did not know of things their parents did. Whether you consider that a longshot or not, the bottom line is that it can’t be proven.)
♦ Question: Did Cecil Newton receive money? Answer: Based on a lack of evidence, no.
♦ Question: Did Cam Newton receive money? Answer: Based on a lack of evidence, no.
♦ Question: Did Cam or Cecil Newton solicit an offer from Auburn? Answer: Based on a lack of evidence, no.
♦ Question: Did Cam or Cecil Newton receive money from Auburn. Answer: Based on a lack of evidence, no.
That’s it. There’s nothing else.
Now, should the NCAA continue to investigate this thing and discover that somebody in the Auburn athletic department or a big-bucks booster slipped a fat envelope under Cam’s door or paid for new floors and sheetrock in Cecil’s new church, then all bets are off.
But that’s not where we are right now.
Now, as for comparing Newton to other cases, I’ve been hearing from USC and Georgia fans all day and night and reading comments on line from various stunned officials, including USC athletic director Pat Haden. But this case is so not those cases. Consider:
♦ Newton vs. USC: Really? Fact: Reggie Bush’s parents received thousands of dollars in benefits from an agent. They lived in a home rent-free for one year. A USC assistant coach, Todd McNair, was tied directly to the case when the NCAA ruled he had knowledge of Bush’s dealings with agents. For whiny Trojan fans to be comparing their case to the Cam Newton case is completely nonsensical.
♦ Newton vs. A.J. Green: Really? Fact: Green sold his Independence Bowl jersey for $1,000. That’s a violation, even if he sold it to you. The fact that he sold to a person that the NCAA classified as an agent increased the suspension to four games. (Best estimate: It would’ve been two games otherwise.) It has not been found that Cam and Cecil Newton received anything (or sold his Blinn Community College jersey).
♦ Newton vs. Damon Stoudamire: This is a very similar case, as laid out by SportsByBrooks, in which the father of the former Arizona basketball star was accused by the NCAA of accepting a plane ticket from an agent in 1995. Stoudamire denied knowing about his father’s alleged transaction. The father denied taking the ticket. The NCAA suspended the player for a game, then reinstated him just before the NCAA tournament. But here’s where the cases go in different directions. The agent in question, Steve Feldman, ultimately admitted he gave airplane tickets to Stoudamire’s father. The father had to reiumburse him. The NCAA believed to other penalty was warranted. Coversely, there is no paper trail or evidence of any kind in the Newton case.
Some believe the NCAA has opened a giant loophole with this ruling — the thinking being that now every dad can go out and pimp his kid to universities, then just claim the kid knew nothing about it. The only problem with that theory is — again — Cecil Newton was not found to have taken anything.
If a father puts his son up for bidding and actually accepts a payment, effectively closing the deal, it really doesn’t matter whether the son knew or not. The athlete is ineligible. It’s like saying you want to rob a bank without ever doing it.
So enough with the NCAA bashing. They got it right. You can’t convict on conjecture.
♦
Recent episodes . . .
♦ Gruden to Miami would be manna for starving ACC
♦ Falcons are winning because they’re following Mike Smith
♦ Surprise! Spurrier proves South Carolina can be a player in SEC
♦ Alabama staffer fired for mocking Cam Newton with songs
♦
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1,356 comments Add your comment
qatar,,,really?
December 2nd, 2010
11:31 am
fifa is a joke. yeah people are going to go to the middle of saudia arabia to watch soccer. that country is the size of 285! in the middle of the desert. in muslim nations where terrorism is rampant!
unbelievable. what a bunch of morons. soccer is run by idiots.
i wonder why julian doesn’t report anything from the russia and chinese gov’ts. oh that’s right, he’s be executed if he did.
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:32 am
StatesBurr
No, not really. You stated that there is something wrong with people having radios.
Bear Bryant
December 2nd, 2010
11:32 am
Anybody seen my Jack Daniels bottle?
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:32 am
“I still get the paper. Not this one though.”
That’s because you can’t read.
Bear Bryant
December 2nd, 2010
11:32 am
I’m missing my Chesterfields too. And these damned worms are driving me crazy!
Headley Lamar
December 2nd, 2010
11:32 am
The reinstatement decision seems to open a loophole for parents or other representatives who would seek payment for their influence over an athlete’s college choice without his or her knowledge.
Said Buckner, “I think that if that’s the NCAA’s position on this reinstatement matter, then the reinstatement-basis rationale is a little inconsistent with the committee on infractions.”
Du hu ya think
Jim
December 2nd, 2010
11:33 am
WRONG WRONG WRONG. PARENT AND CHILD ARE ONE IN THE SAME. IF HE WAS SHOPPED BY HIS DAD AND WAS TOLD WHERE TO GO TO SCHOOL EVEN THOUGH HE WANTED TO GO TO ANOTHER IT IS A VIOLATION. DADS ARE MAKING PLANS FOR THEIR KIDS THIS RECRUITING SEASON, IF CAM CAN THEY CAN!!!!!
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:33 am
“You can’t fix stupid.”
No, and if we could we’d never have UGA fans or Democrats.
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:34 am
Headley Lamar
What’s UGA’s football record this year?
Just Sayin'
December 2nd, 2010
11:34 am
Hey AU Fan your mommy pulled you off the teet way too early. Why don’t you go back to your room and color in your coloring book?
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:34 am
“PARENT AND CHILD ARE ONE IN THE SAME.”
That only works with God and Jesus.
Nova Roars
December 2nd, 2010
11:34 am
“You must have majored in astrology. Was Dionne Warwick your professor?”
Miss Cleo would be more to his intellect.
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:35 am
Just Sayin’
OH NO!!!!! Not a mom joke!!!!!!!!
Bottom line: Insult fail.
jarvis
December 2nd, 2010
11:35 am
Qtar is crazy. They beat people there for getting drunk. Hooligans are going to have a rough month.
chillahill43
December 2nd, 2010
11:35 am
Actually the FBI is investigating UGA – for FRAUD
The coaches for Grand Larceny and Misrepresenting themselves as something thay arent- Coaches
The Team for impersonating an SEC football team when they are actually a mid level program-
FBI you UGA fanatics are killing me …. HAHAHAHA… UGA IS A FOOTBALL TEAM? Yea and Dane Cook is a comedian… Yea like either of those are facts….
jarvis
December 2nd, 2010
11:35 am
Weekly World News
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:35 am
“Miss Cleo would be more to his intellect.”
What intellect?
Fleas Have My Dawg
December 2nd, 2010
11:36 am
Feliz Navi Da.
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:36 am
“Qtar is crazy.”
It’s QATAR, Forrest.
jarvis
December 2nd, 2010
11:36 am
Your momma’s so ugly when she goes to the zoo, she has to buy two tickets. One to get in and one to get out.
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:36 am
jarvis
Are you drunk?
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:37 am
“Your momma’s so ugly when she goes to the zoo, she has to buy two tickets. One to get in and one to get out.”
jarvis is drunk.
Just Sayin'
December 2nd, 2010
11:37 am
Wasn’t meant as an insult. I just noticed your mommy’s teet looked really good last night when we were at the Dew Drop Inn.
Pat Dye
December 2nd, 2010
11:37 am
AU, How is that 2.2 GPA treating you? Porbably couldn’t get in UGA, that’s why the bitterness keeps flowing!
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:37 am
“I just noticed your mommy’s teet looked really good ”
No, that teet was from the UGA mascot.
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:38 am
“How is that 2.2 GPA treating you? ”
That’s the average UGA incoming students GPA. UGA leads the nation in remedial classes for dumb kids.
Nova Roars
December 2nd, 2010
11:39 am
“Porbably couldn’t get in UGA”
1. embarrassment
2. Ceceil
3. tough
4. probably
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:40 am
Nova Roars
jarvis didn’t get passed the fifth grade. UGA was never an option.
UGA grad here II
December 2nd, 2010
11:40 am
The FBI would not chat with the SEC or the NCAA and compare notes. They would keep it all very confidential. This story has legs ……………………by mid winter, the Bureau just might make an announcement.
AU folks say that ” it is MSU’s problem”. Maybe, if the NCAA ONLY were involved. The FBI is more concerned about gambling bribes and such. They would not compare notes with Commissioner Slive for obvious reasons. The FBI has jurisdiction all over this land. They are not concerned if you gave some all world player a baseball hat or bought him a tank of gasoline. They are concerned with the underworld and gambling.
For now? AU and Scam are in the Dome and one will play possibly for the NC. Then, it could get very ugly for the AU family. Scam? Oh, by then, he will be gone.
You reap what you sew. AU has a history of this kind of stuff. UGA? We have a history of kids that get drunk, and drive w.o. a license and stealing helmets and side swiping parked cars. When they shove gals around like one no gone DE or one now gone QB, they get gone.
GT still has their DE Hall on campus ………….. and one that was charged with R. # 37
Race track onwers talking to our kids? Not yet.
StatesBurr
December 2nd, 2010
11:40 am
AU Fan: Did you know that the toothbrush was invented in Auburn? Guess what Chill, anywhere else it would have been called a teethbrush.
You can,t overcome Auburns reputation, so stop digging the hole your in….
Pat Dye
December 2nd, 2010
11:40 am
Yeah, I can see it AU Fan is another UGA reject!!
BreakingNews
December 2nd, 2010
11:41 am
this sums up everything nicely….AU Fan, you’re just a homer, bottom line. If Cam was at any other SEC, you’d be just as pissed.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=5872192&sportCat=ncf
Sing With Me
December 2nd, 2010
11:41 am
Oh, the weather outside was whitening
Til the dog did something frightening
Hes got no other place to go
Yellow snow, yellow snow, yellow snow
And he doesnt’t't’t show signs of stopping
As he sniffs around his dropping
You see him everywhere you go
In the snow, yellow snow, yellow snow
When he finally goes outside
Hell be frolicking round in the storm
Hell be marking our yard with pride
You can tell by the steam that it’s warm
When the snow begins it’s thawing
It reveals those puppy drawings
Hes a frisky little pooch van Gogh
Yellow snow, yellow snow, yellow snow
Come here, Yeller. Come on boy. Good doggie.
Oh, not on Frosty.
Hell be marking our yard with pride
You can tell by the steam that it’s warm
Well, he’s happy and his tail starts waggin
But the snowmans left side is saggin
There’s a little puddle right below
Yellow snow, yellow snow, yellow snow
Yellow snow, yellow snow
Yellow snow
Little patches of yellow snow
Yellow snow
Little patches of where Fido goes
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:41 am
“Yeah, I can see it AU Fan is another UGA reject!!”
You must have majored in astrology as well, jarvis.
chillahill43
December 2nd, 2010
11:41 am
UGA Hope Yall enjoy the Henakee Meinekee Boo Hoo Bowl- Good thing Y’all aren;t going to a bowl in Colorado… We know how good y’all play in the Rockies, Huh?
jarvis
December 2nd, 2010
11:42 am
Your momma’s so fat when she broke her leg, gravy spilled out.
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:43 am
BreakingNews
That story broke yesterday.
“AU Fan, you’re just a homer, bottom line. If Cam was at any other SEC, you’d be just as pissed.”
You too must have majored in astrology.
Nova Roars
December 2nd, 2010
11:43 am
“You reap what you sew.”
I don’t sew, but I can sow. Can you please tell us how to get a copy of that thUGA spelling dictionary.
chillahill43
December 2nd, 2010
11:43 am
Breaking News– Now that is the Truth for every fan in the Nation…. not just AU FANS!
WDE and a little bit of RTR….
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:43 am
UGA fans, do you all realize that UGA football hasn’t been relevant since 1980?
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:44 am
Nova Roars
LOLOLOL!!!!!!!!
Irony: UGA fans making fun of Auburn WHILE misspelling/misusing words!
PRICELESS!!!!!
Vince Dooley
December 2nd, 2010
11:45 am
You’re right AU Fan. Let’s talk about that season. It was the greatest season in college football history.
Wolverine
December 2nd, 2010
11:46 am
When the curtain comes down, regardless of the outcome, we will have created another entitled professional athelete (Newton) that truly believes the rules do not apply to him.
chillahill43
December 2nd, 2010
11:46 am
Vince you realize you went to Auburn , Right?
Nova Roars
December 2nd, 2010
11:46 am
Sing With Me
Great song. Now the puppies have something to do while they sit outside the dome this weekend, looking in.
Andrew
December 2nd, 2010
11:46 am
Here’s a FACT….NO NCAA player has ever been suspended where $$$ did not change hands. Thus, no $$$$ trail in the Newton case, NO suspension..That’s all everyone needs to know.
**********************
Really? Antonio Langham would disagree. He signed his name on a napkin.
I don’t think Cam should be suspended at this time, but this does not mean he or the school are in the clear.
StatesBurr
December 2nd, 2010
11:47 am
“UGA Hope Yall enjoy the Henakee Meinekee Boo Hoo Bowl- Good thing Y’all aren;t going to a bowl in Colorado… We know how good y’all play in the Rockies, Huh?”
Huh?? AU Fan/Nova: Please assist your fellow War Eagle “Chill” out….for us fellow bloggers sake. I am losing brain cells by the second.
AU Fan
December 2nd, 2010
11:47 am
From Chris Low at ESPN
Auburn 38, South Carolina 28: The cloud has lifted for Auburn and Cam Newton, and there won’t be any more uncertainty regarding his eligibility heading into Saturday’s game. Of course, like it’s really mattered the past couple of games. He’s been lights out since everything broke, accounting for eight touchdowns in the Tigers’ past two games. The Gamecocks will no doubt play Newton differently than they did the first time when he ran for 176 yards and three scores. For starters, they will play him more to run and won’t be dropping as many defenders into coverage. South Carolina is playing its best football right now and has the offensive playmakers (Marcus Lattimore and Alshon Jeffery) to give Auburn fits. Jeffery, in particular, had a big day in the first game. What nobody has been able to do all season is keep the Tigers’ offense off the field. They’re so explosive that they put pressure on you to score every time you have the ball, and the defense is uncanny in its ability to come up with clutch stops and turnovers when it has to in the second half. The Head Ball Coach will have his team ready, but this is an Auburn team that doesn’t flinch regardless of how many points it falls behind. It’s also an Auburn team that has Newton at quarterback. That combination has been good enough for 12 wins in a row. Why not 13 in a row?
King's Queen
December 2nd, 2010
11:48 am
The NCAA should be looked into by the Federal Government for letting this go on. You have proof from Missy State and Cam’s father that Cam’s father solicited money for Cam to play at Missy State. This is a fact. But Cam decides to go to Auburn instead for free as the SEC and NCAA suggests ? Baloney. Simply check the bank accounts and finances of Cam’s father,relatives,etc. and any deposits or big purchases (homes,expensive auto’s,etc). will prove guilt or innocence.
Andrew
December 2nd, 2010
11:48 am
“Your momma’s so fat when she broke her leg, gravy spilled out.”
*******
I think I just saw her.