This past Monday 1/10/11, I watched the BCS national championship game with my roomates here in Austin. As allegations swirled abound Cam Newton, he managed to go for 262 yards in the air, passed for two touchdowns and ran for about 65 yards. He also gave up a fumble and an interception. While his performance may not have been as showstopping as those earlier this season, it was still stellar for a national championship contest and he was still a whole lot of fun to watch.
Football aside, we all know how much scandal has encompassed this cat's persona since he strapped on an Auburn Tigers #2 Jersey. The Cliffs notes basically come out something like this: his dad tried to get Mississippi State to bascically "buy" him, he also stole a laptop while a freshman at the University of Florida. (he was charged and later sentenced to an inclusion program.)
People are talking. Newspapers are selling. Sportscenter has it's highest ratings EVER. Scandal in NCAA division I athletics is something people can sink their teeth into, and for good reason. It's easy to point fingers, "THEY BROKE THE RULES, BOO!!" But people, lets be realistic. We would all like to think that incredibly talented athletes, and those who surround them, (i.e. friends, family) are people that piss integrity and have larger than life morals, not to mention believe in doing the right thing all the time. I mean, they should, shouldn't they?
Honestly, yes, doesn't mean they're not human. If I'm Cecil Newton, and I have a bartering chip of a son who's a five star juco transfer QB, I play those chips. Especially if I need the money. Who are we kidding here kids? This kind of crap happens EVERY DAY with D1 recruiting. Hell, when I was at UD I remember overhearing a rumor of a basketball recruit's family getting their mortgage paid off in exchange for their son playing the high post for the Flyers. If you think every blue chip athlete and their families are squeaky clean church-goers, then you're just as naive and gullible as the major media makes you out to be. (sorry, ESPN. We're not idiots. remember the baseball steroid scandal? Barry Bonds' jaw was as big as the titanic. The cat was out of the bag.)
So the NCAA tries to police these high faluten programs to make sure behavior like this isn't going on. The truth is, they know it's going on and can't do anything to stop it, so they make an example out of a couple of programs every year and move on. Vacate some regular season/bowl wins. put teams on probation and make them ineligible for bowl games for a few years. After that's over, those clean hands are just gonna get dirty again. If you break it down, D1 football programs basically make deals to play other teams outside their conferences, with certain major broadcasters involved. Both schools AND ABC/ESPN/NBC whoever gets a piece of that action. Smaller schools get more exposure on a national stage. Conference championships are pretty much handled by said conference, with even MORE $$ going to the broadcasters. the bowl games, OH MY GOD, don't get me started, are ALL SPONSORED BY MAJOR CORPORATIONS that basically try to wield humungoid ad campaigns during said bowl game!!
Bottom line: all of this private money is involved in what these kids do. The NCAA doesn't have DICK to do with division 1 college football. Yet, for some reason, they try to sanction it, in a feeble attempt to cover their ass and look like some kind of upstanding governing body. I've got news for you people; the Reggie Bushes of the world are still going to get escalades. the palms are still going to be greased. The system won't ever change and the NCAA is going to keep looking like a bunch of old farts with their heads up their asses. It's a flawed system. and it's not getting any better.
Cam Newton is, as I write this, sitting on a la-z-boy. Probably listening to the new Kanye West record. He's also looking at his heisman trophy, and waiting for the BCS national championship trophy to finish its' tour of the wal-marts of Alabama for the second straight year in a row so he can figuratively put that in his trophy case too. He'll go high in this April's NFL draft, make millions of dollars, and no one will ever talk about his brush with controversy again. Until it surfaces that Gene Chizik personally took him to the strip club and bought him a few lap dances and a t-bone steak, before giving him the keys to a brand new lexus, a'la Shaquille O'neal's character in Blue Chips.
Hey Coach, ....how'd you like my mobility in the pocket?
-Marty.
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