Here’s this morning’s sampler of sleaze:
- Can a bowl get the death penalty? Matt Hinton and Berry Tramel make good cases for it.
- Ah, I love the smell of back stage maneuvering in the morning.
- Paul Westerdawg makes the case for Auburn’s “money movement infrastructure”.
- The SEC and Auburn want you to know they’re on the mother.
- A former Texas A&M coach claims Patrick Peterson’s services were put out for bids.
- RichRod on the NCAA: “And I also think it may be a little misguided. I think sometimes, instead of going after the bank robbers, we’re going after the parking violators.”
- Meanwhile, Mark Emmert makes another about face and says he’ll champion getting student athletes mo’ money. The guy is giving me whiplash.
And I was honestly worried it was going to be a boring offseason. Silly me.
Get The Picture 
Let’s say the Fiesta Bowl gets the axe…the Peach Bowl has got to be the front runner to replace it as a BCS bowl, correct?
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why not the Cotton Bowl — wasn’t it one of the originals, back in the day?
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The Cotton would seem to make the most sense, and I’m sure they won’t mind spending the money necessary to secure BCS status.
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Cotton Bowl is the second oldest bowl out there, I believe. For years it was one of the four majors (Rose, Cotton, Sugar, Orange). Then the Fiesta bought a seat at the table and the Cotton got left out. I’d vote the Cotton Bowl back in.
The Peach Bowl could do it, too, but I’m an old guy and like tradition. To me, that’s the Cotton Bowl.
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I would think the Cotton Bowl would be first in line after the Fiesta. Atl, Jax and Orlando would run 2nd behind Jerry’s Dallas palace.
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I’d be happy with either the Cotton or the Peach. Either one has more heritage than the Fiesta Bowl, which was basically started in the early ’70s so that the WAC champion (basically Arizona State) could go to a bowl. The downfall of the Southwest Conference and the attendant decline of the Cotton Bowl helped pave the way for the Fiesta to gain BCS status, but I’d be perfectly happy seeing them get pounded back to Liberty level.
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I’m sure the Fiesta Bowl’s rise to the BCS had much more to do with the Arizona weather more than the history. At the Super Bowl this year Jones’ palatial stadium looked a little frosty as well.
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Everybody’s talking about the Auburn revelations, but what about Gumbel’s constant barrage and sanctimonius ‘But shouldn’t the players be getting the money’ mentality. I found the reporting, and the implications made from it, shoddy and inconsistent. RichRod touched on the problems, but couldn’t quite get everyone from A to B. I’m for giving these guys some walking around money, but not big paydays while they’re in college. I would have liked to heard the average value of the scholarship, living arrangements and all that kind of stuff, the extra academic help they get (tutors) and just everything that they get for playing ball. The only adjunct thought I have relates to compensation related to the use of their likeness. Giving them residuals AFTER they graduate might be ok, but I probably need to think about that before I commit to that thought. In thinking about Prothro and his dilemma, I recall hearing that AJ Green was insured from injury if it ended his ability to go pro. How is that done? Was it that AJ’s family could afford the policy? Can an institution not be involved in insuring players (I’m assuming it’s outright prohibited, but why not allow that as a condition of playing?) Bryant Gumbel acts as if tragedy has only fallen on talented college football players. I feel bad for Prothro, for sure and admire that he’s working hard and doing what he can.
Just a big Pandora’s box, and I thought Gumbel’s pretty good at opening the box, but that’s about it.
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I agree with your post. I think part of the problem with the HBO show last night was that the reporters probably know significantly less about the history, attitudes, and culture of college football than the readers of this blog. The way they tried to portray the athletes as victims was silly. We know better, because we have (generally) attended SEC schools and seen how well the players are treated.
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I believe the NCAA has an insurance program (wasn’t there an issue the past few years with Decory Bryant suing UGA because the coaches forgot to file his insurance claim right before he had a career ending injury), but I’m guessing that the private insurers offer more and better coverage, and the families can possibly get a loan to pay the premiums.
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or forgot to file Bryant’s insurance “paperwork”
as it were
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Yeah, and was it insurance to handle his long term care or insurance related to missed opportunity for professional compensation. I just have no idea how that works. If that information is relatively easy to find, it might make for a good blog entry Senator!
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You know, between the HBO mention and this separate article on Peterson, it certainly appears that storm clouds are at least blowing towards LSU, too.
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Yeah, and you have to wonder how long before Alabama or Ole Miss shows up on their radar. I’m not saying the East is filled with choir boys, but in comparison to the Western teams it sure seems like it.
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I wonder if Trooper Taylor has a safety deposit box full of passports, foreign currency, and colored contact lenses like in The Bourne Identity. He may have to go off the grid when Auburn’s skullduggery fully comes to light.
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TT could never be smooth like Bourne was, he will always look and act like he has a big AH blazoned on him in neon letters. Couldn’t get out of the country without being obvious, and certainly couldn’t blend in anywhere without drawing attention to himself for 15 minutes. It is no accident that he has landed at both UT and AU in the past 5 years, perfect places for a bagman.
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The real significance of the Real Sports special was that all the same things that were being done to pay players at Auburn in 1992, as shown by the 60 Minutes piece, are still going on. This is like a cancer in college sports. The longer the NCAA purposely ignores it (which is exactly what has been going on) the worse it will get and the more it will spread. Auburn=SMU. Auburn should get the “death penalty” ASAP. Anything short of that will encourage this type of behavior to continue. If you can cheat, win a BCSNC, then get caught and get nothing but a slap on the wrist (and losing a few scholarships for a couple of years is just that) that would encourage every team to do exactly the same thing.
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Mayor, that death penalty for SMU killed the Southwest Conference. We don’t want that. I can hate on the Barn as well as the next Dawg, but I want them around so I can keep on hate’n. Haterz gotta hate! Now, do I want to see that program cleaned up? Hell yeah, and it may take the threat of the death penalty to clean it up. But let’s not think AU is in this alone. This kind of crap is happening all over and if the NCAA doesn’t get on the stick it could wreck CFB.
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Some of it happens everywhere, the money handshakes in particular. At Auburn it’s systemic. It will take the death penalty to get them to stop, in my opinion. I’m pretty sure the SEC would weather the storm. There’s too much money tied up in the league for it not too.
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Arkansas bailing on the SWC is what really killed that conference. Was Arkansas influenced to leave by what happened to SMU? Probably. But the SWC was on shaky ground before SMU got the DP. That is why Arkansas wanted out and when they got the chance to jump to the SEC they took it. Is there anyone out there in blogland who doesn’t think that if the SEC offered FSU the chance to join, FSU wouldn’t say” Sayonara Baby” to the AAC? I would venture to say that every team in the ACC would, too (except maybe Duke).
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The NCAA and the SEC are squirming like rats in a trap. They absolutely do not want to get into the Auburn situation because of the way they handled the Scam suspension issue. It’s the same with OSU, they (The NCAA) thought that this little embarrassment was over after the bowl game and the fact that OSU’s players were going to come back and face the 5 game suspension. Wow talk about getting blindsided, Tressel has now become the poster boy for the rogue coach. By not fully disclosing the facts in a timely manner he has escalated this thing beyond anyone’s ability to save face. The NCAA either hammers OSU and Tressel or they might as well change the By-Laws about self reporting anything ever again.
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Why self report at all? What has self reporting ever done for UGA? I don’t recomend driving even after only a few beers, but if you do and you are pulled, don’t blow. Boling was stopped and refused to blow and got his charge reduced to reckless driving. Had he blown he would have been DUI no matter what he blew because he was under age. So he probably avoided two charges. Untill the NCAA actually starts investigating programs that don’t just fall into their lap I would self report nothing!
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I’m guessing these aren’t going to sell well going forward.
http://cgi.ebay.com/STANLEY-McCLOVER-AUBURN-TIGERS–ART-PRINT_W0QQitemZ280155908730QQcmdZViewItem
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Certainly not to the Auburns but the
“STANLEY McCLOVER AUBURN TIGERS ART PRINT a/k/a Stanley celebrates as he earns anywhere from $300 to $400”
could be a collector’s item depending on the severity of the sanctions against Auburn. Supplies are limited so Finebaum and the rest of the Bama fans need to order now.
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Senator, I think we would all appreciate it if you made it a policy not to link to anything written by Bradley. Other than that, thank you for your outstanding work.
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Imagine my surprise, Senator!
Apropos, but the worst of songs on an otherwise quintessential Q record. Which had nothing at all to do with Yankee Stadium other than the cover.
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