Friday, November 19, 2010

Auburn Football Headed For SMU Like Purgatory

The following are excerpts from a long, and exhaustive compilation of facts, rumors, timelines, and speculation about what will happen in the Cam Newton recruiting scandal.

You may choose to believe as much as you like, you may scoff at the reliability of something posted on a message board of a rival SEC team, such as this is from LSU.

You may also scream "let's let all the facts come out first!"

Which is really just code for "stop giving opinions or presenting information!"

Which is stupid. It's the equivalent of stuffing your fingers in your ears and saying "nahnahnah... I can't hear yoouuuuuuu!"

Of course, we have no choice to "let" the facts come out first, because "we" - as in the fans, and media - are not in a position to suspend Cam Newton, or to put Auburn on probation.

I'm not jumping to a conclusion, I am throwing more intel and facts onto the pile. Make of it what you want, but you can't just ignore it.

My sense here, is that Auburn football is like the band of bank robbers who are desperately stuffing $100's into their pants as they run to a getaway car, being closed in on by the cops. And they are shooting everyone and everything in sight, in a desperate attempt to just somehow make it to the edge of the city limits.

At which time, the bank robbers will "figure everything out" - if they even make it.

Like dropping their gun and the money now, suspending Cam Newton reduces your chances of
"getting away with it" from 1% to ZERO, so Auburn is going to take that 1%, thank you very much.

The real question, and the real drama, will be for later, when the full scope of the scandal becomes known. How hard will the NCAA come down on Auburn? How pissed will the SEC be at a member institution for delivering a stain on their reputation that will likely, never, ever ever be fully wiped away?

Those are tomorrow questions. For today, you can read this and get up to speed a little bit on what's really going down. Then when the rest of the mainstream, Northeast pro-sports-oriented media starts to report it, you can sit back and say: "I knew all that already."

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IF YOU WANT THE FULL THREAD OF SMOKE AND FLAMES FROM THE CAM NEWTON RECRUITING SCANDAL, CLICK HERE!

Here's some relevant things I have excerpted for your convenience....

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Adding fuel to the fire are the ties between former Colonial Bank Chairman Bobby Lowder (Bank of $25Billion failed earlier this year), Milton McGregor (Dog Track, Bingo, and Casino Owner), and Pat Dye (former AU Football Coach).

These were the three largest shareholders of the now defunct Colonial BancGroup, a mortgage brokerage, commercial banking, and mortgage warehousing firm based in Montgomery, Al. McGregor was indicted about the same time as Geddie. Wire-taps were the backbone behind the indictments, but it has been speculated by most the FBI overheard conversations between McGergor, Rane, Dye, and coaches talking about the PFP (pay-for-play) schemes that are speculated at Auburn. What most are saying is that the FBI just stumbled into the PFP planning while gathering the voter fraud and political corruption evidence.

Notice how the 1st person the FBI supposedly questioned regarding Cam and his Father was John Bond. Next, they’re going to Kenny Rodgers (this Tuesday). Speculation is the Feds are gathering the bits and pieces from the MSU side which can be proven or substantiated with the wire tap tapes they have between all of these AU Boosters, and then are going to the AU side corner those suspects either in perjured testimony, or extortion charges relating to this unintended evidence. Once they are able to turn the smaller players, the FBI will turn the pleas against the real targets, in very much the same fashion as the Edwin Edwards and William Jefferson Cases.

Think about it for a minute. The FBI could care less about college football unless it involves organized gambling or extortion. They are after evidence of Voter Influence, mis-appropriation of Bank Funds, extortion, embezzlement, the ultimate goal being to gain as many assets as possible to offset the FDIC losses incurred from the Colonial failure, while punishing those behind the schemes.

Remember TMZ’s report and why the FBI was involved in the 1st place. They implied that the FBI is more interested in efforts to shop players around, not just a single player (extortion). This was again confirmed Friday, November 12th when John Bond stated the reason for the FBI’s questioning was that "They don't want people selling kids to colleges." This ties into the AgentGate BS all of the governing bodies came unglued about earlier this summer. One editorial out of Mobile included this little gem the other day - With Milton McGregor involved in this as an Auburn booster watch out. The FBI has listened to every phone conversation from his office in the past year. He is the dirtiest multi-millionaire in Alabama.

Fast forward to this past Thursday, November 11th. The NCAA meets with Auburn officials supposedly to discuss the previous two weeks news reports. Upon conclusion of that meeting, the “We’ve done absolutely nothing wrong, Cam is Innocent, this is a Witch Hunt” being spewed by both the University and the Athletic Department suddenly changed to “No Comment.” Auburn quickly lawyered up with an experienced NCAA Compliance Firm. They also hired a longtime NCAA investigator which acted as a consultant when Albert Means and Alabama went down in 2001-2002.

Again, this thing now goes way beyond PFP (Pay-For-Play) schemes, and it appears the FED’s goal is to build the ultimate case against Bobby Lowder, who is the CEO of failed Colonial Bank, an Auburn trustee, and considered by many to be the single most powerful booster in all of college football.

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AUBURN’S SLIPPERY SLOPE

• January, 2010 Byrne (MSU)reports to SEC

• SEC responds wanting more information, into allegations

• MSU waits because they are working on eligibility’s issues relating to their Basketball program, currently in season

• SEC contacts NCAA

• NCAA-SEC get with MSU

• During this time, the Church managed by Newton was in financial trouble and facing eviction but suddenly had enough cash to do extensive renovations to meet building codes.

• Newton's father owned a small trucking company with two drivers. After Newton signed they were flushed with so many contracts that a dozen drivers were hired.

• OCTOBER 4TH, 2010. McGregor, Geddie, and others with political ties Lowder and Co. are indicted and arrested, based on taped conversations held during the previous 13 months.

• 10/21/2010 Dan Mullen goes on Rivals radio ASKED... how close were you to getting Cam at MSU ...Dan Mullen: "thats a long long story ...that be in the book."

• Nov 4th, Bond releases statement “During the 2009 football season, I was contacted by a former football teammate, who represented to me that he was speaking for the Newton camp. He told me that Cam Newton wanted to play at Mississippi State, but that a specified payment would have to be made. I reported the conversation to the Mississippi State Athletic Department. I was told by the Athletic Department that Mississippi State would not respond to the overture that was made to me, and that Mississippi State would continue to recruit Cam Newton as it does any other football recruit.”

• MSU: "We are comfortable that representatives of Mississippi State University's interests conducted themselves appropriately and in compliance with all NCAA by-laws. Mississippi State is committed to operating our athletics programs within the rules of the NCAA and Southeastern Conference, and we expect those affiliated with our program to continue to do the same."

• Cecil Newton, the quarterback's father, denied the allegations to ESPN.com. "If Rogers tried to solicit money from Mississippi State, he did it on his own, without our knowledge," he told the website.

• Chizik: "I'm standing up here on a very important week trying to defend something that quite frankly is garbage," Chizik told reporters. "Is there a wizard behind the curtain? I don't know. Is there one, is there two, are there 10? I don't know and I don't care. But what I do care about is coming to the defense of not only a great football player but a great human being who comes from a great family."

• Nov 8th, Foxsports.com reports that Newton was caught cheating three times at Florida.

• Nov 9th, Auburn AD called cheating allegations "sad". "Cam is by all accounts a great kid."

• Nov 9th, ESPN.com’s Joe Schad reported that “two sources who recruit for Mississippi State” said in separate phone conversations that Cam Newton’s decision to commit to a school “would be part of a pay-for-play” plan.

• FBI gets involved in the MSU portion of the investigation, as they are already well trenched in the Auburn/Lowder/McGregor and friends side.

• Nov 10th, Once the NCAA enforcement staff became involved, Mississippi State University cooperated fully with its investigation. MSU is confident the SEC office has managed this process consistent with its established procedures and the university is committed to the conference’s ongoing efforts to ensure compliance with SEC and NCAA rules.

• Nov 11th, “The SEC never received information from MSU about phone calls with the Newtons about pay for play,” SEC spokesman Charles Bloom said in an e-mail Thursday.

• Nov 11th, Bond releases a statement. “My story hasn’t changed. I absolutely talked with Kenny Rogers, and there are phone records that will show that.” Bond said he’s scheduled to meet with the FBI on Tuesday and plans to turn over his phone records and anything else they ask for at that point. He said the FBI reached out to his attorney earlier this week wanting to talk with him about the Newton situation, in particular if kids were being shopped out to colleges. That meeting was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was postponed by the FBI until next Tuesday. “Until I speak with the FBI, I’d prefer not to say much more,”

• Nov 11th Rogers admits, after previously denying, that in fact Cecil Newton had asked for money to recruit his son to play at MSU.

• Nov 11th Bill Bell says he was contacted and asked for payment by Cecil Newton and he has been interviewed by the NCAA

• Nov 12th Jay Jacobs says "We aren't commenting on it"

• Bond to meet FBI on November 16th, later said "This has nothing to do with Auburn, Absolutely nothing to do with Auburn. The FBI does not want anyone selling the right to players"

• Rodgers to meet with NCAA around November 16th

• Nov 12th, Cecil Newton admits to asking for money from MSU in exchange for Cam to play there.

• Nov 12th, ESPN reports that a source stated that he was contacted by an emotional Cam Newton stating his regret that he would not be playing for MSU, as his father had chosen Auburn because "the money was too much".

• Nov 13th, Despite all of the above evidence, Auburn Still Plays Newton

7 comments:

  1. on your text message spot - my son's last month text messages 10,456, yep. remember, the waking hours include midnight-7 am when the real text messaging begins.

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  2. I have no doubt colleges pay for kids to play. Recuirting kids is a dirty, dirty business.

    20 years ago I was probably what would now be considered a 1-2 star recurit. The biggest school I was talking with was Duke, and that was because I was able to get in. I hurt my back and was told not to play football anymore.

    Duke disappeared, but within 24 hours a lot of 1-AA, D 2 schools suddenly started calling. They weren't worried about my back. One coach at a D-3 school told me if I came there he could find full scholarship money for me, even though they didn't have athletic scholarships. (He didn't know my grades or SAT scores ...)

    I was never offered money, but I wasn't that good either.

    We had one of the top 5 players in the country as our QB. He went on a campus visit and came back with enough t-shirts that everyone on the team got at least 1, if not 2 or 3 shirts. This happened multiple times. Did he get paid? I don't know. Did he get illegal (by NCAA rules) benefits ... well I got a t-shirt.

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  3. if there is any justice in the world THE ENTIRE SEC is going to get the SMU-level NCAA DEATH PENALTY. The whole confrence is corrupt and cheating! Pay-For-Play shennanigans are everywhere... and since they got gaming and failed banks involved those players who took-extra-cash better have paid their taxes on those winnings n withdrawls or there could be a whole lotta federal-tax-evasion-time-due before they can play in the NFL.

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  4. I've been surprised no one has looked at where the (alleged) money went. It just seemed to be an odd amount - why not 1/4 mil or some round number. Someone had to have a debt 25-50k under the amount they were asking.

    It's funny that this is coming to light due to another investigation - wonder if Pileggi is working on a book/screenplay.

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  5. "Auburn will (almost certainly) not receive the Death Penalty. ... There is talk among those in the NCAA office of TV blackouts, scholly reductions in the 50+ (over at least 4 years) range, limits on assistants, and a revocation of almost all recruiting rights. Monstrous fines will be levied as well"

    http://leatherhelmetblog.com/2010-articles/november/death-penalty-for-auburn.html

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  6. You state, "12 Nov: Cecil Newton admits to asking for money..." This is from an UNNAMED SOURCE. I'm not trying to prove guilt or innocence. Let's wait until all the facts come out...unnamed sources are never allowed in court. They seem to be used by the media to stir things up.

    The only speculative proof in the above about Auburn doing anything wrong is the part about Cecil Newton's company now flush with cash. Otherwise, other than playing Newton, what has Auburn done wrong?

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  7. Keep this in mind as the saying goes....follow the money". There will be no way that Auburn gets the death penalty because the SEC is espn's college football CASH COW! ESPN will not allow for Auburn or Miss St to receive a death penalty sentence in football because that would then leave one half of the conference with only five teams, thusly throughing off the ability to have an equal distribution of East and West division games within the SEC and hurt the ability to have an SEC title game. This same reason also would bring in CBS. Follow the money....ESPN and CBS....uuuhhh...NO DEATH PENALTY HERE, nothing to see here, move along ladies and gentlement, just supensions at most.

    ReplyDelete