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
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:21 pm
“Even the guys on PTI”
Those guys have about as much credibility as Jesse Jackson.
Ruff Emup
December 1st, 2010
9:21 pm
The problem here is that the right questions are not being asked. Daddy auctioned his son off, whether Cam knew about it or not is not the question. Miss. St. was solicited by a representative of Cam, his father. That in itself should be cause to make Cam ineligible. If Daddy didn’t get $180K or more from Miss. St., then some boosters at Auburn bought Cam via Daddy. The money won’t be tracked to Auburn but there will be a Newton or associate on the receiving end from some entity linked to Auburn. I just hope the FBI, NCAA, SEC and state authorities get this right before the Heisman presentation and the NC game. This whole fiasco makes college ball stink.
Atlanta Gator
December 1st, 2010
9:21 pm
Thanks to a couple of other bloggers, I have just been able to read the pertinent NCAA and SEC bylaws in Cam Newton’s case, and now I agree with the NCAA and SEC’s decision. Reading the bylaws like a lawyer, I put the emphasis on the word “agree.” To a lawyer like Slive, and the herd of NCAA compliance lawyers who reviewed this case, the word “agree” implies an agreement, a contract, a contract, a deal between two people. What Cecil Newton did was make an offer; his offer was not accepted by Mississippi State, and there is no evidence that Cecil made such an offer to Auburn, nor that Auburn accepted any such offer. It takes to parties to “agree”; only Cecil made a proposal or offer. There is no evidence that either school accepted the offered deal, therefore there was no agreement. Legalistic. Sylogistic. Logical. You don’t have to like it, but I certainly understand it.
WalterEgo
December 1st, 2010
9:21 pm
Question? Did Schultz ask pertinent questions or read the NCAA bylaws? Answer: No.
Bodda Getta
December 1st, 2010
9:21 pm
Loophole,
The NCAA does not care about precedent. This is not a “slippery slope”.
This case is about Cecil Newton only.
He shopped his son and the penalty for this was assessed and served, but they did not find evidence he accepted cash from anyone associated with Auburn University.
This case is closed.
Future cases will be determined based their own evidence. If the NCAA finds evidence that boosters paid an “agent” (or parent) for a player’s letter of intent, then severe penalties are in play.
Nothing has changed.
Now let’s get back to playing football.
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:21 pm
Hey dawg fans,
What bowl will the 6-6ers go to this year?
Concrete Pete
December 1st, 2010
9:22 pm
Looks like the deep, championship hungry pockets of Lowder and Co. can buy even the NCAA. ABSOLUTE JOKE!
WDE
December 1st, 2010
9:22 pm
Mark it Down..?? Who the heck are you, Karnak? Instead of using DAWG NOW as your moniker, do us all a favor and make that DOG GONE. Over 20 team violations by your humble team this season alone and you have the audacity to imply that another team is corrupt. Don’t you have some winders to replace in your double-wide..?? A cold front’s coming in tonight and that visqueen and duct-tape won’t geterdone!
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:22 pm
“Now let’s get back to playing football.”
UGA and Bama will not be playing football for a while. LOL
Brad
December 1st, 2010
9:22 pm
Katie- There was no “supposedly” shopping by Cecil. That part is fact
Sorry your friend got punched, unless they started it.
If I stopped pulling for teams with a few idiot fans, then I couldn’t pull for any team (especially SEC)
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:23 pm
“Looks like the deep, championship hungry pockets of Lowder and Co. can buy even the NCAA.”
Translation: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I WANT MY MOMMY!!!!!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Reality 4
December 1st, 2010
9:23 pm
Cam Newton should have remained ineligible. However, since Auburn didn’t play him while he was ineligible, all wins so far count and they can still go to the SEC title game. If they win, without an ineligible player, they go to the national championship game. If they lose, well, they can go to a different bowl game.
ALMA
December 1st, 2010
9:23 pm
Doesn’t anyone wonder how Cecil talked Cam out of going to MSU? I mean, one minute he is all packed for Mississippi, but the next one his dad tells him it will be Auburn. What exactly transpired in that short amount of time to make him change his mind like he did? No payment from MS, but one from AU is what I’m thinking.
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Chris
December 1st, 2010
9:23 pm
Jeff… the point is that this is 1 month old… it took them well over that in all other cases this year. This case is much LARGER… wouldn’t you agree? Why make a decision at all?
And let me ask you this… does this not open a large loophole in recruiting?
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:23 pm
“If I stopped pulling for teams with a few idiot fans, then I couldn’t pull for any team”
No one cares, Brad.
AUMan
December 1st, 2010
9:23 pm
You guys and ladies can complain all you want, but he is eligible and will be eligible to play for Auburn. THIS IS A MISS STATE PROBLEM!
The Flat Earth Society
December 1st, 2010
9:24 pm
“Looks like the deep, championship hungry pockets of Lowder and Co. can buy even the NCAA. ABSOLUTE JOKE!”
If the NCAA is such a joke, then go out and test them. You think AJ Greene thinks NCAA compliance is a joke? Did UGA fans think it was a joke the first four games of the season?
Why is it a joke now? Because you’re so stupid you’ve let fandom blind you to the facts?
Russ the abandoned Crime Dog
December 1st, 2010
9:24 pm
Very good article. The whipped pups should now go back to whining about Nick Fairley, all the way to Memphis.
Bug Zapper
December 1st, 2010
9:24 pm
Ok Jeff, based on what u printed there’s nothing to the story……fair enough……But do you really believe in your heart, after “the fact” that it has been proven that money was spoken of, that Cam knew nothing of what his father was trying to pull off?…..No!, I would’nt believe in such for a split second……..Cam is too close to his father during this whole journey to just absollutelly no nothing at all…..Not saying even that Auburn did but still something smells of fish here and I would presume as smart as u are that you feel the same way……..This stuff does’nt come up for no reason..,…….Uhhhhhhhh, we all presume and in our hearts know that O.J was guilty too even though the jury found him otherwise……..due to unfound evidence……..For some reason I do’nt think this is the end of this story……..Not a hgater of Cam here…..He’s the best player in the US and has deserved everything he’s earned on the field but I’m still not convinced he’s totally innocent…..jus sayin……
Chris
December 1st, 2010
9:24 pm
Apparently Jeff doesn’t think its likely to request money from other schools if he did from one? And apparently a month is plenty of time to investigate this…. even though it took years in the Bush case.
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:25 pm
“Doesn’t anyone wonder how Cecil talked Cam out of going to MSU?”
One word: Starkville
ALMA
December 1st, 2010
9:25 pm
Is anything at all going to happen to Cecil??? This will just be the start of something big in recruiting if there is no punishment.
In politics it is called influence peddling
December 1st, 2010
9:26 pm
In the nasty world of power politics, it is called influence peddling. You are given some money and then, possibly at a much later date, you the politician are asked to do something or to make an important speech that could sway folks or ………….. change events. Same with a football player that might be worth investing in. See?
No, it is not the traditional NCAA violation of “you gave the kid a baseball cap with your school’s logo on it, therefore you lose three scholarships for two years”. Oh no……………..with the FBI in it, it is so huge. When a guy that owns a race track is hanging around a college kid or that kid’s family …………….look out.
This shady figure is already indicted on bribery charges. For AU ………………….it is gonna get bad.
Where there are cheap suits, there is trouble.
You cant be that Stupid
December 1st, 2010
9:26 pm
Seriously…..
You are paid by this company to write articles and you are not smart enough to understand what plain english explains……
Remember: the NCAA has stated clearly that “[t]he solicitation of cash or benefits by a prospective student-athlete or another individual on his or her behalf is not allowed under NCAA rules.”
You can read that correct? What does that mean? You stated in your first paragraph that this happened…..
So what does it say… IT IS NOT ALLOWED.
So he is ineligible, point blank and period. There is no wiggle room, there is no interpretation, it is cut and dry.
Now the NCAA is going to be on the hook as well as Auburn with the investigation goes to Congress, because that is where it will end up. Just another feather in the NCAA’s cap to show they are a complete and utter joke, kinda like your article actually.
Cam Eligible
December 1st, 2010
9:26 pm
My god, you Dawg and Bama fans are the most stupid, pathetic people on the planet. Have fun wallowing in your misery.
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:26 pm
“but still something smells ”
It’s called UGA football.
AUMan
December 1st, 2010
9:27 pm
Lowder’s pockets are not too deep these days. His Colonial Bank Corp. was taken over and sold by the FDIC in May 09 and he file bankruptcy. Try another theory.
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:27 pm
“My god, you Dawg and Bama fans are the most stupid, pathetic people on the planet.”
They’re almost as bad as democrats on November 2.
Truth
December 1st, 2010
9:28 pm
“Miss. St. was solicited by a representative of Cam, his father.”
Unless there is evidence of a written or verbal agency contract, this is categorically false.
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:28 pm
“You are paid by this company to write articles and you are not smart enough to understand what plain english explains……”
Says the guy who can’t put a coherent sentence together.
Chris
December 1st, 2010
9:28 pm
AUFan… you have pathetically ignorant posts…
Seriously Jeff . . . .
December 1st, 2010
9:29 pm
Is it coincidence that the “ineligibility” wasn’t announced and only one day later Scam Newton of Thug U was suddenly “eligible” again . . . sounds like the NCAA and the SEC don’t want the Horned Frogs in the title game. As much as I hate to say it, GOOOOO COCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all you AU Eagles or Tigers or whatever you are enjoy an SMU type punishment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chris
December 1st, 2010
9:29 pm
Truth… how is it false, when it was shown as fact today?
Edawg71
December 1st, 2010
9:29 pm
AUFan, hiring a former NCAA compliance investigator was a smarter purchase than Cam. Gotta hand it to Auburn on that one. That’s like hiring a former hacker to run your company’s network security. That argument of yours holds no water.
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:29 pm
December 1, 2010
This date marks the day in which dawg and bama fans simultaneously exploded.
GeorgiaFan
December 1st, 2010
9:30 pm
This article shows how bias you are in your writing. When compared with what you write about GA and CMR, I don’t understand why you don’t move to Alabama. Why are you so down on GA and CMR. Do those in authority at the AJC not see you and Mark in your constant degrading UGA and CMR and then taking the high ground when others are involved.
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:30 pm
“AUFan… you have pathetically ignorant posts…”
I’d suggest taking a remedial English class at UGA.
Truth
December 1st, 2010
9:31 pm
“Truth… how is it false, when it was shown as fact today?”
Wrong.
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:31 pm
“That argument of yours holds no water.”
Which argument. Please be specific.
AUMan
December 1st, 2010
9:31 pm
You cant be that Stupid
December 1st, 2010
9:26 pm
Seriously…..
You are paid by this company to write articles and you are not smart enough to understand what plain english explains……
Remember: the NCAA has stated clearly that “[t]he solicitation of cash or benefits by a prospective student-athlete or another individual on his or her behalf is not allowed under NCAA rules.”
Once again, see the Albert Means case with Bama and Memphis. Money actually changed hands with Bama when Bama got hammered by the NCAA, and he was allowed to transfer and play for Memphis.
No money changed hands at all and has not been traced, and it has nothing to do with AU anyway, so he is eligible to play at Auburn, just like Means was allowed to play for Memphis.
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:31 pm
“Why are you so down on GA and CMR.”
Translation: WHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I WANT MY MOMMY!!!!!!
Brad
December 1st, 2010
9:31 pm
“AUFan… you have pathetically ignorant posts…”
I’d suggest taking a remedial English class at UGA.
That’s like advanced placement at AU
Ralph is lurking
December 1st, 2010
9:32 pm
AU fan – ALL classes at thUGA are remedial. They are 3rd grade school remedial classes for athletes.
AUMan
December 1st, 2010
9:32 pm
Edawg71
AUMan
December 1st, 2010
9:32 pm
Edawg71
Delbert D.
December 1st, 2010
9:32 pm
How about a big-time problem:
“Scientists said Wednesday that the number of stars in the universe had been seriously undercounted, and they estimated that there could be three times as many stars out there as had been thought.
“It’s very problematic,” said Pieter van Dokkum, a professor of astronomy at Yale who reported the findings in the journal Nature with Charlie Conroy of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.”
I’m really all worked up about this one. Who knows what this could mean? They’ve apparently been there all this time, too.
Quotes from the Knew Yawk Tymes web site. (I you spell it right, the AJC censorbot will getcha)
AUFan
December 1st, 2010
9:33 pm
“That’s like advanced placement at AU”
Brad, you have the IQ of a carrot.
Edawg71
December 1st, 2010
9:33 pm
AUFan, the fact that Auburn hired a former NCAA investigator as compliance advisor. Come on man, that just proves he knows ways around trouble.
Chris
December 1st, 2010
9:33 pm
Truth… so the NCAA’s statement is false then?