In the wake of the Cam Newton mushroom cloud that has exploded over Auburn (and the SEC, for that matter) the perennial question about college football must be asked one more time.
"Does it pay, to cheat?"
For the 100th time (or more), the answer is: "Yes. Of course it does, silly."
See my friend Gary Veatch who submits the following...
TO: Czabe
FROM: Gary V.
RE: College Football Cheating
Czabe, Is it worth it? Just ask OU. (The above chart is dated, but still accurate) This chart was made prior to the probation that OU was forced to vacate its wins from the 2005 season... It shows their 2000 National Championship and the Sooners managed to hide their indiscretions until 2007 when, yep, back on probation. The booster that owned Big Red Sports/Imports (auto dealership) had some Sooners on the payroll for not working. OU Staff: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that cheating is going here!" The Sooners have cheating down to an art form. Who's going to investigate possible infractions? The local Oklahoma media? Not in prior lifetimes, or this lifetime. What can you expect for a program that would accept a recruit that kidnapped a minor (female girlfriend) and held a screwdriver to her throat. (Well he did plead it down. It didn't work out for him at OU and eventually left the school.)
Gary
LAST ADD: That recruit was Justin Chassion, whom I had to Google search since I had not even heard of the story. Pretty outrageous, yes? But the fact that it gets so little national media attention is proof that this kind of "looking the other way" is exactly how business gets done in big time college pigskin.
To insinuate that there is a conscious culture at OU to cheat is not only inaccurate/unfair, it borders on humorous.
ReplyDeleteNobody can defend criminal behavior, but to frame an argument that somehow OU seeks out, approves, and/or condones such behavior is to swim in a pool of naivete and denial.
Didn't 'pure as the driven snow' Vanderbilt have a kid become a victim of the horrific crime of inner city gun play this year? Using Gary's line of 'logic' (a seemingly dangerous venture), then Justin Chassion's family raised him in an effort to become a violent criminal. I mean...if they fed him, and gave him a roof over his head, then they MUST have condoned such behavior!
Second, having worked with many high school athletes of various backgrounds, to not understand the twisted values many kids learn in the sad situations they are BORN INTO (its not their fault mom's a crack whore and doesn't know who the father is) is to live in a sheltered, uninformed life.
Go spend some time with Athletic Director/Head Football coach John Jensen of Putnam City West High School in Oklahoma City. When you visit his training room, you'll notice a cupboard full of canned food, peanut butter, loaves of bread, powdered milk, etc...
Why is that there? Because these kids don't have food at 'home' (home: where they can find an empty bed somewhere in their neighborhood), and this is the only chance they have to get a meal.
Guys like Gary take the intellectually easy way out, and look at it in a black and white sense. Those of us that have the futures of these kids in our hands see that we are their last chance.
It is not a case of 'looking the other way', fellas. It is a chance to allow children to make mistakes and learn from them, rather than them being 'fatal'.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello ? The very nature of the name *Sooner* indicates they cheat.
ReplyDelete"Sooners" were the land run cheaters who went out the night "before" the actual land rush started and posted their markers prior to everyone else beginning the rush.
So, they don't hide it ... it's right in their nickname.
Spence - I won't pick on the Sooners, but I will say this - every single successful college football program, except perhaps Northwestern, cheats in some fashion whether it be booster money, 'roids, free perks such as shoes, etc. etc. To say anything else puts you firmly in the lost in space camp.
ReplyDeleteSo is it fair to say that coaches who don't win games are bad cheaters/not cheating? Did Dan Hawkins formerly of Colorado mistakenly think the approach to recruiting at Boise State would work at a "major" university?
ReplyDeleteDan,
ReplyDeleteNowhere did I reference the absence of rule breaking. My point is to say (and agree with you) that many/most schools break rules, but it is not overt. Oklahoma doesn't have meetings on 'how can we break some rules today'. To say Bob Stoops (or any head coach) is solely responsible for 80+ teenagers, 15 asst coaches, and thousands of jock sniffing boosters is to be in the 'lost in space' camp, my friend.
What bitter Texas fan wrote this drivel? Managed to hide their indiscretions until 2006? Yes, Oklahoma had to pay for the 2000 national championship, because Josh Heupel was a 2-star JUCO quarterback, and without the promise of a sack full of pennies, he would have signed with Utah State.
ReplyDeletePlease.
The Bomar incident at Big Red Sports and Imports was regrettable. However, immediately after discerning that he had been paid without working, he and the other violator were kicked off the team within the week. Was that not enough of a sacrifice? To kick the starting quarterback off the team THE WEEK BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED?
Most other schools in a similar situation have merely forced players to re-pay the money, and serve a suspension. We wound up with a wide-receiver playing quarterback. I guess all that cheating couldn't net us anything better.
Look, I get that the minor perks are a part of big-time college football...but to intimate that Oklahoma has a culture of non-compliance is absurd. For one, they self-reported the Big Red Sports violations.
And still more bitter is the concept that they hired out a 2000 national championship team that was made of 25-year old flameouts (Torrence Marshall), unrecruited wide-outs (Savage and Fagan both had zero offers other than OU), and generally a bunch of talentless football players (3 guys out of the 85-man had any NFL career). They discovered that Rhett Bomar took a total of $7,406...and that means Oklahoma cheated for all their success. Again...obviously a bitter fan of some would-be rival.
I'd tell them to look to their own house before pointing fingers.
the article is using oklahoma as an example, so if people can't get past the name of the school i guess the point of the article is lost. yes they site a specific incident with a player's checkered past ( please don't spout your liberal crap that because he had a bad upbringing its okay to kidnap someone and hold a screwdriver to their throat.... please). I think it points to the fact that schools and organizations are going outside the NCAA rules with recruiting and perks for their players, and the risks definitely seem to be worth the rewards. Especially if the players/coaches can pick up and go pro after they get busted. please email me with any disagreements : suckit@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteDale, I agree that people can't get past the name of the school. Not just in this example but in darn near every argument or discussion that you get into regarding college sports, especially football. You almost have to use variables to get your point across (X recruited a known felon) or you get "Well Notre Dame is SO over-rated" or "The U is thug central." Funny stuff!
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the team, i would think that a university would immediately report an incident where a player's representative proposed a pay-for-play deal.unless this is an accepted practice and every school is accustomed to it - and does it.
ReplyDelete