At least it used to be with the NCAA. Or so we thought:
When the Manziel story first broke, I couldn’t help but think of former Georgia receiver A.J. Green, who was suspended for four games — that’s eight halves — for selling a signed, game-worn jersey (worn against Texas A&M in the 2009 Independence Bowl, if you can believe it) to a quasi-agent for $1,000. The NCAA looked at his bank records as part of a different investigation (involving Miami, if you can believe it; it’s the sports version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon), saw a $1,000 deposit and asked him about it.
“I told them,” Green said. “I’m not going to lie to them and jeopardize my whole season.”
What a chump. Green should have hired a lawyer, refused to talk to the media and threatened to transfer. Maybe then he’d have gotten a slap on the wrist as well. Manziel rewrote the record books during his freshman season; now he’s revising the playbook for rule breakers. Maybe he can wrap it up during the first half of Saturday’s game. He’ll have all that extra time on his hands.
If something like that ever happens again with a Georgia player, I’ll bet you money it doesn’t get handled the same way it did before.
Get The Picture 
I disagree. Knowing Georgia, we’d do the exact same thing again thinking honesty is the best policy
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+1
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I dunno, we are awfully goody-two-shoes about everything. Mostly, I support that and I feel like we are better for it. But, damn, it doesn’t seem like anyone but is following the rules.
“If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin”. – seen in the Ole Miss coaches office
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I sure hope we don’t. I believe in honesty but I believe in equal treatment more. What’s sad is I never knew you could prioritize those until the NCAA came along.
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We will be honest and cooperative, our guy will end up suspended, fans of every other school will point and say “UGA is a dirty program”.
Circle of life.
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At Georgia, it’s not about winning. It’s about money.
Fighting the NCAA costs money. It’s much cheaper to take the penalties.
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The real issue between UGA and the NCAA goes back to the UGA/OU lawsuit. Some old-timers with the NCAA will never forgive us for that. It is just one of the reasons I am in favor of breaking away from this group of incompetents.
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Bingo!
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+1,000.
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You don’t think AJ sitting for 4 games was expensive?
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Re: AJ Green. Hell, I was saying lawyer up and stonewall ’em at the time. UGA runs a clean program where players/coaches/ADs cooperate with the NCAA and kids actually get punished if they break rules. What has it gotten us? The media bad-mouths our team as if they were a bunch of criminals because the school imposes punishment (which hurts the team in games BTW) while our rivals ( FU, UT, Auburn, and yes, USCe, just to name 4) sweep things under the rug. We need to get this punishment thing sorted out and I am still hopeful that Jere Morehead will change the way things are done from the way self-serving Mike Adams did things. When I was growing up if a kid violated team rules HE got punished (running the stadium, extra practice, laps, etc.) instead of the TEAM being punished by losing a key player’s participation in a big game, and maybe losing that game because of it. Alice-In-Wonderland stuff here, folks. Wake up Morehead, you have a window of opportunity here.
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This thing with the NCAA is really mind boggling to me…has the NCAA been rendered irrelevant…is it the numbskull that’s in charge now…I always viewed the NCAA and college sports being akin to that of what Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was to baseball…all and powerful, the last word, my way or the highway…when did the change(s) occur…was it the $cam Newton debacle…if I were the presidents of the various universities I’d be sitting in a room and questioning what the next logical move(s) is/are needed…right now the NCAA, and the head bozo, have made a joke out of an organization that had been feared, somewhat respected (although always hated by fans), to keep as even a playing field as possible for the good of the sport(s) that they ruled over…the university presidents should get together and see if they can come up with something better, or dictate terms to these clowns what they are to enforce and how…absolute power may corrupt absolutely, but mismanagement and Incompetence cannot reign supreme…what a joke they have become…Snake out
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We handle it different? Look no further than Kolton Houston for the answer of how hard UGA adminstrators and coaches will fight the ncaa. AJ’s 4 games were nothing. We’ll hold a player out a few years if we’re told.
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You make a good point, Westy. UGA just grovels before the NCAA and gets screwed repeatedly. Auburn and aTm stand up to the NCAA and…..the NCAA backs down. A lesson here. Just wait and see the Miami outcome. Within a week the NCAA will announce that investigation is over and that Miami’s self-imposed punishment is sufficient. Scared of Donna Shalala. (Can’t blame ’em for that-I’m scared of her, too.)
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