It’s funny how much the “NCAA gets serious about agents” story has heated up in the wake of the Maurkice Pouncey rumors. Here’s some of the latest scuttlebutt and speculation making the rounds on the Intertubes:
- A couple of months ago, the hot new kid on the college football bloggerdom block was Oversigning.com. Now, it’s The Bylaw Blog. You can find a good, cautious summary of the Florida situation here.
- Expect the Pouncey family to issue a statement today denying that Maurkice received any illegal benefits.
- Another blog getting timely attention is SportsAgentBlog.com. Here’s his take on what’s going on with Pouncey and Florida. Obviously, if there’s more than one kid who’s received illegal benefits, that’s likely to change the outlook on Florida’s fate, but we’re a long way from there now. He also asks the question that I have about the athlete-agent contact criminal statutes everyone wants enforced: “Who would be the victim in this case? The school? The player?”
- Stewart Mandel has a good summary. Two observations: (1) how much of the current high profile this area is enjoying is due to an increased focus by the NCAA and how much to disgruntled coaches and agents who perceive that their complaints are more likely to be heard and acted upon? (2) you’ve got to be a complete idiot to boast about your exploits on Facebook or Twitter – “… the advent of social media — and the inevitable penchant of some young athletes to post incriminating messages or pictures to their Facebook or Twitter accounts — has been a boon to investigators.”
There doesn’t have to be a victim for a criminal act to take place. Most traffic violations do not have a clearly identifiable victim… it’s seen more as a protection for the well-being of society… like drug laws, the drinking age, etc.
I don’t personally believe in victimless crimes, but that’s not the reality. People like to meddle.
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Oh, I know that… just curious as to who gets painted as the victim.
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The laugher of all laughers: amateurism.
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The State of Florida themselves as the agents are not paying licensing fees.
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“Who would be the victim in this case? The school? The player?”
If amateur athletics is a worthy societal goal, then we are all victims. We have generally assumed that it is a worthy goal in spite of people who argue that amateur athletics is a plantation-like form of involuntary servitude. Personally, I believe amateur athletics is a worthy goal, but if you don’t enforce laws to pursue the end, it may be that society is not sure that it is a worthy goal.
Traffic laws, on the other hand, are pretty clearly a worthy goal, and as a bonus, the enforcement of traffic laws raises funds for government…
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In regards to the Florida Story does any one else see the common denominator with the dates that the alledged allegation happened. Between the SEC Championship and the Bowl game Pouncey took money. Also between those two dates it just happened to be when Myer abruptly resigned and then came back. Coincidence….I dont think so. I would like to see some stories on this.
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Stories? As in when my mother would ask if I was telling a story? Or actual reporting of facts? I can the former. 🙂
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Any possibility he was paid to throw the game?
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They won by 27 points, so… doubtful.
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