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Kelvin Sampson is a cheater right? Maybe he is but guess what so is just about every NCAA D-I coach in some way shape or form, some don’t even know it. You see, my guess is that if one thoroughly investigated every NCAA D-I program, you’d find violations; some major and some minor. The reason I say this is that there are too many rules that make it just about impossible for even the best programs to follow to the letter of the law.
I have never been fond of the NCAA, it’s a farce. There is more money coming to Universities through big-time NCAA sports than we can fathom. Sure we all know about the pay-outs in the BCS Bowl games ($10 to $13mm per team) but did you ever consider the money made on licensing apparel and other items? You think anyone in Connecticut would be buying an Oklahoma hat if it wasn’t for OU football? Hell, do you think that person in Connecticut would even know or care if Oklahoma was a state in our country if it wasn’t for OU football?
Let’s take a look at how the NCAA has handled the Reggie Bush investigation. Before we go any further, I am and have been a USC sports fan for 30+ years. I wanted to get that out of the way so you can judge the merits of what I am saying knowing that I am partially biased here. Let’s suppose Reggie Bush did take money from this former gangbanger who is accusing him of this. Why would it be reasonable for anyone to suggest that USC, Pete Carroll or his staff actually knew what Bush and his family were doing in their personal lives. Keep in mind, big-time teams have about 100 players on the football team. Thus, even if we keep it at immediate family, the NCAA is suggesting that a coach knows what 1,000 people are doing at any given time. Remember, this includes mom, dad, brothers, sisters, uncles…it’s kind of funny.
USC has never had a major infraction, not in my lifetime at least, thus there isn’t a history here as there is with a school like Oklahoma who was on probation back in the 1970s. Hell, USC is a U.S News and World Report top 30 University in our country for all those self-righteous Notre Dame people reading this piece. The question I have posed is, if Pete Carroll knew what was going on, why would he not stop it? USC really doesn’t need to cheat, look at their record. This year they played games without 3 and 4 offensive lineman, a starting QB, running backs and wide receivers out and they finished 11-2, ranked #3 in the country.
This leads me to the question, what would the NCAA do. Put a University, who didn’t know the extent of what allegedly was going on, on probation and punish the school and 100 innocent youngsters for the actions of one rouge? That doesn’t really seem fair. Maybe the NCAA would strip USC of the 2004 National Title? As Barry Switzer said recently, “I watched a 12-0 USC team defeat a 12-0 Oklahoma team 55-19, am I supposed to pretend that didn’t happen?” You see, the NCAA needs to understand you can’t rewrite history, it doesn’t work that way. They had Michigan take down their Final Four banners from 92-93 because of Chris Webber. However, ESPN classic is still showing the championship game with North Carolina and Michigan and CWeb’s infamous time-out call when he had no time-out to call. There is no way to get around this, the games were played and history was made. The NCAA can ask us to pretend that Michigan wasn’t in the Final Four those years but we know they were.
I believe we need a complete reform of the College Sports landscape. It’s naive to think the big-time football, basketball and baseball is nothing more than a minor league for pro sports where some of the players actually get an education along the way. Michael Beasley, Kansas State freshman, and possibly the best college basketball player in the country will be a top 3 NBA pick next year after 1-year in college. Was anyone under the assumption he was going to KState for 4-years when he signed there? No! I ask then why did the NCAA allow him to attend the University, simple they want the money he’ll generate this year.
Folks, it’s all about the money and the sooner that the NCAA stops insulting our intelligence by pushing this lie that they care about the kids, the quicker we’ll get some meaningful reform of big-time D-I NCAA sports.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Chad // Feb 17, 2008 at 11:19 am
Growing up my parents always told me life isn’t fair. Making the coaching staff and administration at universities responsible for the actions of 95 to 100 players is not always fair but it is the best way to keep things in order. You can’t have coaches claiming ignorance and then the program gets a slap on the wrist. Many coaches will take that ball and run with it. Schools are obligated to set up compliance officials who’s job it is to make sure the impropriates don’t happen. The harshness of the rules motivates coaches to get up off of their rear ends and do something when they hear the rumors of “so and so” getting money, cars, favors, etc. If we let one program claim we didn’t know then the floodgates will open. Perhaps Pete Carroll didn’t know about Reggie Bush’s dealing or perhaps he heard something about and just let it go because he didn’t have the energy to pursue it. If it was the latter, you can bet that ole Pete won’t make that mistake again.
2 Emil // Feb 17, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I understand your comment and I am not as concerned about the fair thing as I am about the overall silliness in the entire NCAA system, period. You can’t rewrite what happens, it doesn’t work that way. George Bush is an idiot, we now are certain of that, Al Gore should have won the 2000 election, let’s go make Al Gore President…can’t do it. Just like I know and you know, the Fab Five lost to Duke and North Carolina in the 1992 and 1993 Title games. The NCAA can tell me to ignore it but I can’t, I watched it and enjoyed every minute of each game.
The NCAA needs to come to grips with the fact that they are not a program for college student-athletes for the most part, they are training ground for professional wanna be athletes. Most kids going to USC, Miami, LSU etc to play football, basketball or baseball are going to major in that sport..period. We can delude ourselves all we want about getting an education, yes a guy like you took advantage of it, but my friend you are in the minority. I watch these kids do interviews, 75% of them cannot speak the English language and are an embarrassment to an institution of higher learning.
My point is more along the lines of, let’s call college sports (D-I big-time sports) for what they are and administer to them accordingly. In the specific case of Reggie Bush, don’t punish the school if it turns out to be true and they had no idea, punish the perp…Reggie Bush. Take away his Heismann and his records, make the “criminal” pay for the crime sort of speak. If the school is proven to have known, well then that’s a different argument all together.
More importantly, for the most part, Reggie Bush is a very good human being..he gave millions (documented) to Katrina victims, he’s a good person. I would think there are better people to take down, who actually deserve it, than Reggie. Just my biased opinion on the matter.
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