Notre Dame's return to glory
Dec
2
Written by:
12/2/2010 2:04 AM
The NCAA ruling on Wednesday that Cam Newton is eligible for the SEC Championship Game has done many things. The hypocrisy of the NCAA in this situation versus everything they allegedly stand for in promoting amateur athletics is glaring. I definitely have some personal feelings, as a UNC fan, about how the NCAA has handled the situations so much differently, but that discussion is for another day. Kevin Lennon, who is the NCAA vice president for academic and membership affairs ruled Wednesday that, "In determining how a violation impacts a student-athlete's eligibility, we must consider the young person's responsibility. Based on the information available to the reinstatement staff at this time, we do not have sufficient evidence that Cam Newton or anyone from Auburn was aware of this activity, which led to his reinstatement." Now that the NCAA has set this precedent, Notre Dame Football can now return to National Prominence.
Think about this, what school out there has alumni with deeper pockets than Notre Dame? Google Notre Dame notable alumni and the Notre Dame School page lists over four pages of individuals. There are three CEO’s listed in just the letter “A” section of alumni. In 2009, CEO’s at the nation’s largest corporations received an average of $9.25 million in total compensation, according to the AFL-CIO’s analysis of available pay data from 292 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. If Cecil Newton was allegedly able to ask for $180,000 for his son, who definitely had some baggage, what potentially could the parents of the #2 CB or #5 RB get from one of these boosters? Many would think Brian Kelly and his 7-5 record this season would welcome any advantage that could be offered by his alumni. Notre Dame’s alumni could offer some people opportunities alumni of other schools never could. Have your parents, particularly your mom, always wanted to meet famous 1953 alum Regis Philbin? Someone may be able to set that up for your parents, but neither the school nor you can know anything about that “chance” meeting. The more and more I think about this, all I can say is the NCAA is advancing down a road that may turn the movie Blue Chips into a documentary.
The NCAA essentially has said that as long as the players nor school know about anything going on, then the kids will not lose eligibility. We now know that money evidentially is allowed to exchange hands, but what about jobs, cars, and other “perks?” Will the same rules apply for lower Divisions? What about other sports such as basketball? How will the NCAA monitor its estimated 420,000 student athletes’ parents to make sure that the kids did not know about the benefits their parents could receive?
This to me is also designed to do one other thing, eliminate the TCU’s and Boise State’s from the National Title picture. Michael Wilbon, of Pardon the Interruption fame, was one of the first people I heard vocalize the idea on ESPN that the BCS has a large hand in this matter. Wilbon voiced, and I agree, that if TCU were not #3 in the polls this week and poised to slide into the BCS Championship Game should Oregon or Auburn slip up this weekend, Newton would have most likely been suspended indefinitely. Should Auburn win Saturday evening against South Carolina, the SEC will have had a team in the BCS Championship game for 5 consecutive years! Do you think that might influence SEC Commissioner Mike Slive just a bit to allow Newton to play?
With every action, there is a reaction. So if your parents allegedly take $200,000 to “steer” you towards a certain school, what are the consequences if they are caught? In Reverend Cecil Newton situation, his access to Auburn athletics has been, “limited.” Does this mean instead of lower level seats for Saturday’s game, he may now have to sit in the club seats at the Georgia Dome? What happens if Rev. Newton is sitting in a suite with some prominent Auburn alum during the game Saturday? Obviously, the NCAA would then come out and say that Rev. Newton did this on his own and neither Auburn nor Cam Newton knew anything about where he was sitting or how he got access to that ticket.
The FBI is still investigating and if it turns out there is something here, one also has to think the IRS won’t be far behind. What happens to the NCAA if the FBI determines the NCAA was hiding things to keep Auburn in the title picture? This situation is so fluid right now, that this story may change numerous times before kickoff this Saturday evening. One hopes the NCAA is handling this matter on the up and up. After what happened with USC, why would the NCAA allow things to proceed this way? There seem to be a lot unanswered questions here and I was always told that if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck. Only thing missing now is the Aflac trivia question. Quack Quack.