This puts a damper on things.
University of Georgia football student-athlete A.J. Green must miss four
games as a condition of becoming eligible to play again, according to a
decision today by the NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff.The university declared the student-athlete ineligible for violations of
NCAA agent benefits rules. According to the facts of the case submitted by
Georgia, the student-athlete sold his Independence Bowl game jersey to an
individual who meets the NCAA definition of an agent. Green has repaid the
$1,000 value of benefits to charity.
The agent part of this is interesting. Did A.J. know who he was dealing with? (And that’s a person who ought to think carefully about, say, changing planes in Atlanta, once his/her name gets out. Which it will, eventually.)
The school is appealing, but the upshot is that he’s definitely out this week. Worst case scenario is that they won’t have Green back until the Colorado game.
I’ll wait to hear what his motivation was, but seeing as he’s at the school that was the source for the NCAA rule in the first place, this wasn’t a smart move, at least on its face. (And, yes, there’s something crappy about a player prohibited from capitalizing on his name, while the school plows ahead and does so. But that’s a subject for another post.)
Get The Picture 
I understand him being punished. But seems a tab inconsistent.
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Agreed, though I’d love to know how Marcel Darius (sp?) got 2 games for $2k and AJ got 4 games for $1k. Maybe I don’t have my facts straight?
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Yes, there must be something missing here.
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Dareus originally got a four game suspension, but it was reduced to two on appeal. A.J.’s appeal process with the NCAA just started.
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Actually that wasn’t the case. He was going to get a 4-game suspension but the NCAA said “mitigating circumstances” (ie: don’t mess with the Saban) carved it down to 2. Bama never appealed:
http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/13347/alabama-to-appeal-dareus-suspension
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Yeah, Darius took two separate trips to Miami. So, even though he went back for seconds and had almost double the financial benefit, he gets 1/2 the suspension. Also, he got his ruling a week earlier.
The thing you have to respect the most about the NCAA is the logic and consistency by which they reach decisions and apply punishments. Nothing arbitrary about these cats, nothing…nope….nothing.
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Fair point, although it’s semantics to some extent. ‘Bama reported the Dareus situation to the NCAA and you can be sure it worked the compliance staff to get the term reduced. Georgia will have to work the review committee instead, per procedure.
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It would appear Michael Adams’ “lawyers” are about as useful to helping UGA as Adams himself…
(as in, not very useful at all.)
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They run it through the lawyers so that it’s not subject to the Open Records Act.
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Will there ever be any kind of full (or even partial) disclosure from any party about the actual facts leading to the ruling, or will it forever be left to conjecture? I don’t mind the suspension if there is actual reasoning behind it, but I’d like to see that reasoning. Although, there’s always this possibility: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yB7J7DYi6M
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So, Bama, out of nowhere decided to ring up the NCAA and self-report this? That is the first I have read or hear that. Not disputing it, but I just had not heard that part of the story. My understanding is that he was tied up in the Marvin Austin UNC party entourage and got implicated or was due to be implicated. Turning yourself in after being implicated is different than calling up the NCAA and confessing in a vacuum. If it was a cold-call confession to the NCAA then I can understand the leniency, but if it was a turn yourself in because he was “caught on camera” deal, then I stand on my origional conclusion that this is an utterly random and inconsistent as compared to AJ.
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I didn’t say it was out of nowhere. They obviously got the story from Dareus and decided to get out in front of it to limit the damage. It worked.
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I am not disputing the 2 games for Darius (good for him), I am disputing the 2 games for Darius in light of 4 games for AJ. Bama knew it was a matter of time and managed the situation, but they did not do anything noble here, like cold-calling and saying we messed up. AJ got busted, it would seem anyway, because the NCAA came calling and uncovered something un-related to the party. Also, it would seem that Darius having taken 2 trips would undermine any pleas of remorse or it being a one-time accidental deal as Saban tried to make it out be by saying “he was sorta Shanghaied into this”. Shanghaied twice Nick? Really?
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The mitigating circumstances was Marcell’s mother’s death fyi.
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Senator, I was just about to ask about that. UGA and A.J. need to appeal ASAP.
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This. Bullshit.
I don’t understand the difference between Dareus and AJ’s crimes. Dareus got benefits for free. AJ sold his personal belongings. Yet, AJ gets twice the punishment? That makes no sense.
I don’t blame him for selling his Independence Bowl jersey. Who would want that anyway?
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In a meat market, everyone wins but the meat.
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…meanwhile, Jeremiah Masooli is playing at Ole Miss, never missing a single NCAA football game.
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That may be punishment enough, this year.
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heh heh
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Ooh, goodie goodie! (rubs stomach)
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Marc! Shut the f#ck up! I told you we can’t have attention focused on us! Sooner or later they’ll get wise and we’ll all be serving time in a Federal country club!
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No point in getting pissed at the SEC. Save your anger for the hypocrites at the NCAA who see no problem with a school profiting off of a player’s name while punishing the player who does so. That’s grotesque.
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Agreed. Much of what the NCAA does is stupid.
That said, when in Rome, you have to do what Romans do. AJ Green knew what he was doing. Nobody disputes that he violated rules. Very obvious rules, btw. Most here are just arguing about stupidity of the rule and complaining about the severity of the punishment.
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Damn.
Why couldn’t he have just beat an off-duty cop unconscious?
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+ 1 .
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The NCAA: It [expletive deleted] just like an Oreck.
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Sorry to hear about this, guys. Doesn’t seem fair to me at all. I would expect he’ll only have to serve two after his appeal, though.
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Problem is how late it took to get word. Why did this take SO long, which prevented any realistic appeal?
I’ll never understand the NCAA.
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Some of that is due to ‘Bama self-reporting. The NCAA came to Georgia and dug this stuff up on Green.
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Well, actually the NCAA came looking for stuff about the infamous Miami party and A.J. came up clean on that. They probably asked a general question and he gave them a truthful answer (probably not thinking he had done anything wrong) which led them to this BS. I really would like to hear what happened as I think this was a witch hunt.
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Once word got out they were at Georgia, they had to find something. And then they dropped the hammer.
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Laughable. The whole mother f*cking thing is just laughable.
Honestly, you just have to laugh from crying. We get the prodigy, arguably the greatest high school receiver ever, the kid who was a legend by the 8th grade. And yet, he has had 3 different QB’s, an offensive coordinator who has been learning on the job and now his final season will be a total wash due to some epic dumbassery by himself and by the NCAA.
I hope everyone enjoyed the “Glory Days” that were the CMR’s first 6 years, because we have reached Goff/Donnan territory once again. The kind of snakebite shit that happened every single year from 1983 to 2002 is back in full-force. Sucks dick.
Oh well, at least we have the Braves….
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Might as well close down the program now.
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Nope, just remember that 8-4 ain’t all that bad. At least the tickets will remain cheap.
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Dude, get a grip.
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Not possible.
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Decaf, dude.
They beat Tech last year without him. Life will go on.
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whoop tee doo.
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Calvin Johnson had Reggie ball.
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This pretty much clinches AJ going pro after this season (barring a big NFL labor dispute) though doesn’t it?
Can’t blame him for not wanting to deal with the NCAA anymore.
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The NCAA can eat a dick. That is all.
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A bag of dicks, in fact.
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“We get the prodigy, arguably the greatest high school receiver ever, the kid who was a legend by the 8th grade. And yet, he has had 3 different QB’s, an offensive coordinator who has been learning on the job and now his final season will be a total wash due to some epic dumbassery by himself and by the NCAA. ”
—————————-
I find it really hard to have the same reaction. Our timing is just brutal. We can’t get the right players at the right time to click. Ugh.
😦
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Now I am fully in favor of a NFL lockout so that we can, maybe, possibly, get to see AJ for a full season.
On the other side of things, how does this affect his draft status? I would think winning the Belitnikoff (sp?) and top 5 in Heisman would help….so not contending for either would hurt, right?
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I think this is the final nail in the coffin as far as AJ leaving early. Who would want to stay behind and live by these stupid fucking rules?
Let’s face it, I know there’s a rule about it, and AJ should have known better. Again, AJ should have known better. But, in the end, it’s a gift from the University. And it is HIS PROPERTY. This organization gets to hold me hostage because I decide to sell a piece of my own property? Fuck that. If I was in college and had a chance to get a grr just by selling a shirt i owned, you bet your sweet ass that I’m selling it. EDSBS had a great line, that the UGA marketing department’s heart broke because he sold a jersey and they didn’t get a cut.
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NCAA rules keep a player broke, too, so there is tremendous incentive to try to make at least some money somehow just to buy stuff any normal college kid would want. The system stinks as it is at present.
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+1.
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He made a dumb mistake and will pay for it. Like it or not we know the rules and pay the price when we break them. Part of me wants to call him an idiot for not knowing better, but part of me recalls that I often touch the plate even when the waiter tells me it’s very hot.
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Not wanting to get into the rightness or wrongness issue here but the damn rules are too counter-intuitive to make sense. He didn’t steal anything. He sold property that belonged to him to someone. I do not think that is a violation . The problem is , apparently, that the buyer was an agent. The logic must be that this rule prevents funneling money under a pretext. But who knew that? I sure didn’t. A bunch of thugs in KnoxVegas beat up a guy, kicking him while he was down, then damn near killed an off duty cop who tried to intervene–and they are all playing this Saturday. Where’s the fairness here?
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No argument here on how asinine the rule is. I’m also beside myself wondering how these kids who beat on a cop aren’t in jail,much less playing a football game.
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This is were you have to read the NCAA thing real clearly. The guy he sold it to was not per se an agent in the the same sense as the agent that paid for the ALA and UNC players trip. He was a sports memorabilia guy but the NCAA rule says you can’t deal with some one that will promote you. It was a stretch but the NCAA is a bunch of aholes. If he had sold it to Joe Blow it would have been no problem but he sold it to the dealer. Now the question arises did he know the guy was a dealer when he sold it to him??? This is AJ getting caught in a dam legal bunch of crap.
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In other words the interpretation of the rule is not clear. This is stinking more by the minute.
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Didn’t we play some games the last 2 years without our best player, A.J.?
Also, going back to last year & our last 6 games: Granted we should have been 6 & 0 & not 5 & 1 but look at the points we put up:38,31,27,30,44,& 55.
Now It Is on our Defense. The Offense will not have to shoulder all of the blame if we lose.
I believe that the loser on saturday will not be out of the SECe race & both teams will be in contention all season long. Finally, I still think the Dawgs will pull off the upset.
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Totally agree with your comment, but FWIW, the AP poll has the Dawgs ranked 22nd and the Cocks 24th. Coaches rank us 19th & them 25th. Although neither poll took AJ out of the equation, I still think that them beating us would be the upset. Go Dawgs!
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NCAA is the Master, All Collegiate Athletes are Slaves.
It’s a great business model. No cost, all profit.
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Why do we even need the NCAA, anyway? As I see it the NCAA adds nothing whatsoever. What happened to the CFA? Let’s get all the major football schools together and tell the NCAA to take a flying leap and do our own thing without those bastards.
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Time for us to start thinking about a little SECession, eh?
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The schools formed the NCAA and agreed to play by the NCAA’s rules to keep things “fair” (or to keep labor costs down, if you’re a cynic). If there were no authority to mete out punishment for breaking the rules, everyone would cross the boundary.
Think of the prisoner’s dilemma. The rational (dominant) choice would be to pay your athletes, because you maximize your payoff regardless of if other teams are paying players. The illogical decision would be to not pay and hope your foes did the same. Therefore, the schools created the NCAA to make the “irrational” choice, which also happens to be easier on the wallet, more appealing.
That said, your governing body needs to do a good job at extending punishments, or else you get the backlash we’re seeing today.
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In case it’s not clear, the payoff is “winning”, not necessarily profits.
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If I were AJ Green, I’d give a huge middle finger to the NCAA, go play CFL for a year, and then enter the NFL draft.
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Couldn’t blame him if he did but I sure hope he doesn’t.
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AJ hasn’t finished his degree yet.
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Funniest thing I’ve read all day.
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Well, unlike many, he seems generally like a good guy whose parents are counting on him to get a degree. I have no idea if he’ll do it before being drafted, but he’ll come back and finish it, no question.
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AJ made a mistake and some punishment is warranted, but unless he put out a call to a guy he knew was an agent and asked if he could get $1000 for a used uniform, this “sentence” is shocking, sickening and utterly disproportionate. Especially, as others have pointed out, in comparison to the light touch punishment administered in K’ville and re: Masoli. It’d make more sense to sit Ogletree or Ealey for 4 games for their transgressions than to sit AJ for 2. The college football world is pretty screwed up when punishment is worse for a foolish NCAA violation by a naive kid than it is for actually breaking the damn law. The poor guy has had an unfortunate college experience, from that stupid faux-“celebration” penalty to injuries to this. I sure hope it doesn’t hurt us in recruiting, but it probably will–it must look to recruits as if the Georgia program gets no benefit of any doubt whatsoever.
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I think someone at the NCAA hates Mike Adams for him daring to become the head guy there. Saban’s player should be out 4-6 games but no you don’t want to hurt the UA.
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They got theirs in 2000. The NCAA clearly has no problem with hammering them, either. AJ’s just getting the shaft now for some reason.
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The problem is the inconsistency and disproportionate punishment.Whether or not it was intended it appears that the NCAA is more severely punishing someone for a less serious infraction raising the specter of favoritism. I favor getting prior approval from the SEC office (if the SEC would give it) and then playing A.J. in the game. What can the NCAA do? Forfeit games he plays? If the SEC says that it will not recognize the forfeiture that means nothing. Why does the NCAA have any authority? Because the member schools consent to it being in charge. If the SEC (for example) collectively said that the SEC would no longer abide by the NCAA’s decisions what could the NCAA do? Nothing. It is a paper tiger.
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No response in this context is adequate.
AJ knows the rules, and he absolutely does not live in a vacuum. The appeal will probably drop it down to two games.
We all profit emotionally from the same sweat we are accusing the NCAA of abusing.
Them’s the rules we got.
I am significantly more worried our offensive line can’t block the Big Chickens, than, frankly whether AJ plays.
Course I have been through Herschel.
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4 games is fucking absurd, though.
That’s a third of the season… in what is presumably his last year.
That’s the issue here.
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I hate it for A.J. that he’s found himself in the middle of this nonsense. I’m curious to know more about the mysterious “agent” who bought the jersey. Could this be a setup? Anyway, every time the Dawgs take the field everybody understands that A.J. or any of the key players could go down with an injury. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! Consider this like an injury and have faith in the rest of the team to hold the fort till A.J. gets back into the action.
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I’m still cautiously optimistic about our chances because our defense and coverage teams actually look mean again, and I don’t think we’re going to have to rely on A.J. single-handedly carrying us on his back like he did at times last year.
Trying to outscore Arky without him could be rough, though.
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Nah, their defense is still pretty bad, and our offense looked decent minus King and Ealey, who will definitely be playing in that game unless hell freezes over and it turns out Jesus went to Tech.
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OK Dawgs…..hunker it down one more time.
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First, let me say that I agree with the Senator that it’s ridiculous he can’t make a little cash on the side off of this. He isn’t compromising his role on the team, he isn’t receiving extra benefits as a result of his affiliation with Georgia, and he isn’t doing anything the NCAA isn’t doing every time we all turn on the TV. Heck, he’s not doing anything I didn’t do completely legally a time or two in college (namely, sell my gear for a little extra cash).
As for why his punishment varies from Dareus, every bit of this is speculation, but the NCAA was pretty vocal in patting Dareus on the head and saying he was thoroughly honest throughout the whole process (in as much as they can know he was, anyway). As for Green, there is some suspicion that he lied to investigators about it. If this is true, I think the example to look at isn’t Dareus, but Dez Bryant, who lost a whole season not because he did anything wrong, but because he lied about not doing anything wrong.
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Where does your suspicion come from?
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I don’t have deep inside sources or anything. A buddy of mine is a Dawgs fan and he said that was what he had heard.
Also, I don’t mean to suggest Dez Bryant in a “stop complaining, it could have been worse” sense. I only suggest him as an example that the NCAA is fickle and inconsistent and assuming that the Dareus case is in any way related is an exercise in futility.
I assure you, if Dareus got off easy, there are a vast number of possible reasons — some understandable, some less so — but one you can go ahead and eliminate altogether is the NCAA just having an affinity for the Tide.
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I just think if AJ had lied he would have been gone for the year. Until I see proof I just find it hard to believe.
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Yea he didn’t lie, he lies he is Dez Bryant and gone for good.
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Lying is inconsistent with what I have heard about him. He is a good kid and a straight arrow. That is what makes this even more sickening.
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“Lying is inconsistent with what I have heard about him. He is a good kid and a straight arrow”
With the exception that he sold a jersey for $1000. Up until a few days ago Dawg fans were convinced AJ wouldn’t so that either.
My point is, no player (20 yr old college kid) is as innocent as you think they are. Not even Tebow.
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Selling a jersey is not illegal. It just doesn’t abide by the rules put in place to keep the money in the pockets of the wealthy.
So, AJ is a revolutionary and a martyr.
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Your “Georgia fan” “buddy” couldn’t be more wrong. There is no indication anywhere that AJ lied to the NCAA. Hell, the NCAA probably only found out about it because AJ told them.
I don’t think Dareus got a two game suspension because the NCAA favored Bama, rather I think the UGA athletic administration has been incompetent in handling this matter, as it has been in numerous other off-field incidents. That’s the reason AJ got four games instead of two.
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Ah, the conspiracy Finebaum listeners…I love how all Bama fans think they have some inside info. What kind of suspicion do you know about that every, single UGA fan and insider is unaware of? Did your Head Mouthbreather throw that out on the radio this afternoon?
BAMA IS ALREADY ON PROBATION. Dareus should have gotten a season because Bama *should* still be under ZERO TOLERANCE. And yet, a booster takes Julio Jones and some other dude out on a trip, swept under rug. Andre Smith took several thousand dollars from an agent during the 2008 season, under the rug. It’s just another example of Nick Saban’s dictatorial rule one-upping the laid back pussicity of Mark Richt and the UGA administration, or lack thereof.
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You’re 100% wrong here. I don’t know where all my Tide friends have gotten this impression, but look at all the articles before this morning regarding AJ’s situation, and they (almost) all discuss how open and forthcoming he’s been with the NCAA through the entire process. That was one of the cited reasons in many articles that popped up yesterday about Green being eligible for this weekend’s game: his truthfulness.
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I would have been a little surprised but not upset at all about a 2 game suspension given what has happened to other players recently. Four games is insane no matter who he sold it to. If it was an agent trying to gain advantage in signing Green when he goes pro wouldn’t he have just given him the money instead of asking for something in return. Even with that look at the value of what Green recieved versus others. As for self reporting now sure how the NCAA would know someone else has his jersey unless he let them in on it so I don’t buy the whole who self reported etc line. If UGA appeals and it goes down to 2 games it will be much more reasonable but it should never have been given as a four game suspension to begin with.
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Did any of the Miami Agent Gate players have to pay back the money that was spent on them? It seems hypocritical to make AJ return his money and not apply the same punishment to the South Beach Party Boys. Also, I think we need to send Grantham and not Ed Tolley to argue our case for the appeal. The NCAA might even refund AJ the money with interest.
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Of the “South Beach Party Boys” I believe Dareus is the only one who has been resolved. He was forced to pay it back (well, pay it to charity).
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Good point. Did A.J.get his Jersey back? He now is out the money AND the jersey.
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Interesting takes on AJ. Love the kid, love the player, love the team, but….
…he knew the rules.
…he knew his Independence Bowl jersey was not worth $1000.
…he likely knows more about the buyer.
…he knows he’s about to make millions thanks to his fully paid marketing campaign…errr…education & scholarship courtesy of the UGA fund.
C’mon man. He hurt himself, and his apology acknowledges it.
Screw the NCAA, but if they don’t jump on this kind of crap, then how do they enforce anything? As for equity / parity with other recent suspensions, I think the Dez Bryant situation is a good example (AJ’s lucky?), and can only lament that UNC, the Gamecocks, Bama, Gators, and others seem to get off lighter with more serious issues.
He’ll be in the NFL…I’m not crying for him.
The Dawgs are talented with a reasonable schedule this year…let’s see what develops before we throw in the towel. Maybe this is the opportunity CMR needed to show he can coach’em up.
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I do not agree that his bowl jersey is not worth $1,000 on the open market. He’s an AA and probably a future Pro-Bowler and NFL Hall of Famer. Resale it is worth a lot more,IMO.
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This all sucks big time but AJ’s gone after next year anyway. We can’t change Saturday when we need him. It’s time for other guys to step up and we have some good ones.
Sometimes a guy can fly under the radar and make a big impact like I hope Marlon Brown or someone else will.
AJ had to know he was doing something wrong so I think he should be held to the same standards as Easley or anyone else. I know one game is not four and we should appeal for some reasonable suspension. The SEC ring sale of a few years ago didn’t bring that much.
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The upside is CMB will be forced to use all his players(m.brown?). The ncaa is past it’s usefulness. btw did they get a % of #8 jersey sales ?
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I agree that loosing AJ is a hit but not a loss. They were going to cover the hell out of him and we would be going to others anyway. We still have a great chance of wipping the chickens ass. We have several receiver that are very much cable of stepping in, a beast of Offensive line, running attack and I believe that our Junk Yard Dawg D is back. Yes AJ is loss and yes I would fill a lot better to have him in the game but I still fill good about Saturday. Go DAWGS!
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All,
I glanced at the Quote of the Day and it got me thinking about the ripple effect of this suspension. Although I’m terrbily disappointed in the whole thing and that we won’t have AJ, but I got chill bumps just thinking about the motivational speech CTG is going to give his guys at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday morning to the effect of picking up the slack. It’s like SB said after the game last week: when was the last time you were excited about the defense coming back on the field?? Let’s keep our chin up and get a win this week. I’ll be there Saturday. I’ll be the guy wearing the red shirt curing his hangover with bourbon and coke!
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I, personally, want to see TK and Durham step up and be open all over the place this weekend. Nothing against USCe on a personal level, but they should bare the brunt of this offense to AJ and the University of Georgia’s honor.
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Not to be the guy that sounds like I’m saying, “Meh, we didn’t really need him anyway,” but …
Kris Durham, Tavarres King, Rantavious Wooten, Marlon Brown, Logan Gray, Orson Charles, and Aron White. Plus a veteran offensive line and a couple of RBs that defenses can’t help but respect.
Seriously, if we can put together a passing attack dangerous enough to get the job done this Saturday, we’ve got much bigger problems than Green’s suspension.
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I suggest one of the other Dawg players wears a #8 jersey a la Q. Banks #31. Hopefully, this will rally the team together. The best payback to the ncaa’s assinine decision is kicking ass on the field.
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Great idea! And the right guy to wear it would be Houston.
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I totally disagree that any of our players should be wearing a number 8 jersey. While the punishment is too severe at 4 games Green is the one who did this so his teammates shouldn’t honor him. However I do agree that at least in the short term teams can rally and by each player reaching a little deeper and performing a little better that a team can make up for the loss of even its best player. The biggest thing this does is make Carolina not afraid to stack the box early in the game to see if Murray can beat them deep. Until he does the Oline is going to have to really man up to create some holes against an 8 man front. A few deep balls to Charles, King, Durham whoever steps up with off set this but until one of them shows the ability to do it on more than one play that is what we can expect all night. Hopefully the D will play lights out and we won’t get into a shoot out with them like last year. Turnovers and great special teams to get Murray as good of field position as possible will be huge. I am forcing myself to get over it, bring on the chickens and GATA.
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+1
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DAWGS 17 – USCe 13 .
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The NCAA press release on Dareus says his suspension was originally supposed to be 4 games, but it was cut to two because of unspecified “mitigating circumstances.” The Senator repeatedly says above that the fact that Bama “self-reported” Dareus to the NCAA was why they cut the four games in half. That seems a little hollow when the supposed self-report must have come after Marvin Austin’s tweet heard round the world, when the wheels were already in motion and the NCAA gestapo was already on the march.
Speaking of mitigating circumstances, I saw somewhere that the reason A.J. sold the jersey was that his dad had lost his job and he was trying to help make ends meet. I haven’t seen an actually credible news organization print that, but if it’s true, that should count for something. If on one hand you got a dude popping Cristal on South Beach with an oiled and bethonged hoochie on each arm, and on the other hand you have a son trying to look out for his family, which one do you think should get the longer suspension?
The NCAA’s press release on A.J. provides some general info about it. The ruling was made by NCAA staffers, no doubt classic pencilpushing bureaucrats straight out of central casting. The appeal, on the other hand, goes to a committee made up of non-NCAA employees from various schools. I’d love to see some transparency about exactly which schools are on the Green appeal panel. Whoever it is, I’m glad that the appellate committee is made up of folks “in the arena” instead of the cold and inflexible nitwits in Indianapolis. Hopefully common sense will win out, and he’ll be back in time for the Hawgs.
And yes, our receiving corps is stout without Green, especially with the return of T. King, but you can’t tell me that Murray’s long pass in the endzone against LaLa falls to earth if it’s #8 reaching for it instead of #6. Sure we have won without him and can win without him again, but A.J. is on another plane.
This suspension, it’s disproportionality with Dareus, and its timing preventing an appeal that might allow him could compete in his home state is just a bag-over-the-head suckerpunch to the gut. Fix it, appeal panel. And fast.
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Sure, Green would’ve caught that TD from Murray. But then, so would Kris Durham.
I certainly wasn’t denying that Green is on another plane. My point is just that we’ve got a better receiving corps, a better offensive line, and twice as many respect-commanding RBs as the Gamecocks. As unparalleled as he is, if A. J. Green turns out to be the difference between winning and losing this game, we should be ashamed.
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I recall chris rainey saying he got money and swag for “signing sh*t” . “I gave it to gandmama with other money i got” (no punishment). A.J. got 4 games , amazing.
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That’s only because Chris distracted them by saying that he likes a whiter shade of pale.
http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2007/08/25/chris-rainey-likes-white-chicks/
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