Image by Getty Images via @daylife
On Wednesday the NCAA ruled that Cam Newton, Auburn’s star quarterback and top contender for this year’s Heisman Trophy, was cleared to compete without conditions. They stated:
The student-athlete’s father (Cecil Newton) and an owner of a scouting service (Kenny Rogers) worked together to actively market the student-athlete as a part of a pay-for-play scenario in return for Newton’s commitment to attend college and play football. NCAA rules (Bylaw 12.3.3) do not allow individuals or entities to represent a prospective student-athlete for compensation to a school for an athletic scholarship.The NCAA determined Monday that a violation of Newton’s amateur status had occurred. Auburn ruled the quarterback ineligible Tuesday and requested he be reinstated. By Wednesday, the NCAA restored his eligibility because it “does not have sufficient evidence” to prove that Cam Newton knew his father was trying to sell him.
So the NCAA knows that a serious bylaws infraction was committed, but at present they are accepting the excuse that the student-athlete was unaware of his father’s inappropriate actions.
Is this possible? Certainly.
Is it likely? Extremely doubtful.
As many sports writers and sports talk show hosts have opined in the last 24 hours, this ruling opens Pandora’s Box and essentially provides a road map to student-athletes, their families, and their handlers as to how to beat the system.
Just claim the kid didn’t know what was going on, or make sure that there is no recorded evidence of his/her awareness, and the ‘ignorance argument’ may beat the wrap of significant NCAA sanctions.
Without the benefit of a money trail into the Newton’s bank account or recordings (phone, text, face-to-face) of Cam Newton’s awareness of these pay-for-play scenarios, the NCAA is on the one hand understandably remiss to presume guilt.
At the same time, the NCAA has been much maligned over the years for what many perceive as an overly strict application of their hundreds of pages of bylaws and rules. The casual fan often rolls their eyes when they hear of a school or student-athlete getting punished when someone benignly buys a student-athlete a $20 meal or a $10 t-shirt.
With that context, the NCAA’s ruling on Cam Newton is surprisingly lenient based on their past reputation for being a stickler for the rules.
But if I were a member of the Newton team or an athletic administrator at Auburn University, I would not rest easy. Because recent history in sports proves that fire follows smoke.
Tiger Nation might be in denial right now in much the same way as another Tiger was in denial that he had marital issues.
Don’t believe me? Ask Reggie Bush, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Marion Jones.
The NCAA’s persistence eventually nailed Mr. Bush and USC despite Reggie’s persistent denial of wrongdoing.
Barry Bonds pleaded ignorance regarding the actual composition of the ‘cream’ and the ‘clear’ that he was using in and on his body.
Alex Rodriguez noted that the behavior/ignornance of himself and his cousin was akin to ‘amateur night’ as they used a substance called ’boli’ which turned out to be a steroid.
And Marian Jones denied and lied her way through the 2000s until finally coming clean with the admission of using steroids.
The ‘deny til you die’ mantra seems to be alive and well, no?
At the end of the day and at present, Auburn University still has a chance to hold up the BCS Championship Trophy on January 10th in Glendale, AZ, Cam Newton still has the chance to win the Heisman Trophy, the SEC still has a chance to win its 5th straight title game, and Auburn can still benefit from the extra exposure, notoriety, revenue, and freshman applications that usually accompany a glorious and unexpected championship run.
But make no mistake…this matter is not closed.
NCAA and FBI investigators will hound the Newton family, Auburn administrators and athletic contributors, and anyone associated with this matter until all avenues have been exhausted.
And several college athletic administrators through private letters or through public means will be highly critical of the Pandora’s Box the NCAA has created with its surprisingly and uncharacteristically tepid response to malfeasance.
I’m sure many sports fans would love to give Cam Newton the benefit of the doubt and believe he was an innocent bystander to the overzealous actions of a misguided father. A preacher of fair play and sportsmanship he was not.
But it’s naive to expect sports fans to assume that these athletes are ‘innocent and ignorant’ of their actions in light of recent history.http://blogs.forbes.com/sportsmoney/2010/12/02/cam-ouflaging-reality-newtons-story-parallels-bush-bonds-rodriguez-jones/
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