Auburn's Tainted Title

[dixiehack]

Setting aside the possibility that Oregon's about to get hammered too, the second-place team doesn't get the title when the winner vacates. This ain't Miss America.

It's OK. We'll all know who the true champion is.

(Quack, class of '90.)

2005 Oklahoma says hai.

Finebaum's free agency begins in a little less than three weeks. Odds are he gets picked up by the rival FM sports talker in town, probably owning the show himself and owning full syndication rights.

 

[Steak Snabler]

The real tragedy in all this is that Finebaum is on hiatus right now.

PAWWWWWWWL!

Yeah, what's up with that?

Changing radio networks and the non-compete is in play right now.

How long is the non-compete & is he coming back to sirius?

Three months from some time in late January. No one knows for sure where he'll wind up, but everyone assumes he's going to another Birmingham station, 97.3 The Zone.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Returning to this "tainted title," accept this notion of cheating. So who is the last national champion who didn't do it? And I'm talking about the real stuff, the straight-out cash and cars, not just the paper-shuffling crap.

I'd have to go back to '86 Penn State. Raping boys maybe, but not doing bad stuff like cheating.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Returning to this "tainted title," accept this notion of cheating. So who is the last national champion who didn't do it? And I'm talking about the real stuff, the straight-out cash and cars, not just the paper-shuffling crap.

I'd have to go back to '86 Penn State. Raping boys maybe, but not doing bad stuff like cheating.

Don't know why anyone would think Penn State boosters are more pristine than any other school's.

 

[scottwcoleman]

Still having a hard time believing that legitimate draft picks would stay at Auburn for cash 'in the thousands' of dollars. If it turns out that much of this holds water, though, current HC Gus Malzahn likely goes down, and it's hard to think that there should't be an investigation of Muschamp at Texas and Florida. That is, IF the NCAA is serious about investigating and rooting it out. I've personally believed for years that college football is dirty across the board, not just at a few select schools, and there is a tacit acceptance of it as long as the NCAA can maintain plausible deniability by hammering a few scapegoats every so often.

 

[podunk press]

This goes on everywhere.

The schools that have squealers and good investigative reporters on their tails get caught.

The others slide by.

And eventually get caught.

This will probably end badly for Auburn. But look on the bright side! Will Muschamp is named in this so maybe Florida winds up in some indirect hot water as well.

 

[DanOregon]

Were there any docs cited? It sounded like it was all sourced to former players, no cancelled checks, transcripts etc. Usually a story like this you have corroboration with an outside independent party or have something that you can hang these allegations on that isn't dependent on someone's memory.
That said, this is the kind of thing that killed the Southwest Conference.

 

[dixiehack]

A closer look at Dre Kirkpatrick's recruitment probably wouldn't be cheerful news in Tuscaloosa either.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Were there any docs cited? It sounded like it was all sourced to former players, no cancelled checks, transcripts etc. Usually a story like this you have corroboration with an outside independent party or have something that you can hang these allegations on that isn't dependent on someone's memory.
That said, this is the kind of thing that killed the Southwest Conference.

Well, Roberts is working on a follow about the role boosters played. That might have documentation. I hope it does for her sake.

 

[LongTimeListener]

"I actually ran into Julio in the spring recruiting. I said hello to him. I said, 'Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you at the end of August.' And then he got out and got in his Escalade and drove off. That’s serious. And then I went over and watched Burton Scott at Vigor High School at the track over there, and Burton Scott was running around. He went and got in his Escalade out at track practice and drove off. So I’m familiar with those two guys."

--Clemson's defensive coordinator, 2008

 

[hondo]

Selena Roberts is wasting her considerable talents on useless crap like this. NOBODY CARES!!!!!

Come on Mike. Just because you don't care doesn't mean everyone else doesn't care. I, for one, thought it was a helluva story. It would have needed more sourcing to make our paper but it's a web site. The rules are different.

 

[hondo]

Well, this might get interesting ...

RT @bmarcello: Chatted w/ Selena Roberts, author of Auburn allegations story. She says she's working on a "part 2" focusing on AU boosters.

God, do you think someone will finally take down Bobby Lowder?

 

[DanOregon]

Throw this on the pile with the NCAA enforcement problems, Penn State, various other scandals of the week, I could see the next big scandal undermining the very core of the NCAA. Maybe it's something involving game officials, actual bribes being involved in some of the conference movement, TV programming executives tipping off schools and/or conferences about shenanigans being investigated by their news departments.
Nothing will surprise me at this point.

 

[murphyc]

Were there any docs cited? It sounded like it was all sourced to former players, no cancelled checks, transcripts etc. Usually a story like this you have corroboration with an outside independent party or have something that you can hang these allegations on that isn't dependent on someone's memory.
That said, this is the kind of thing that killed the Southwest Conference.

Well, Roberts is working on a follow about the role boosters played. That might have documentation. I hope it does for her sake.

To me, it's the cumulative effect. You already have the Cam Newton bribe angle, you have how quickly Auburn regressed on the field, then you add this story and the possibility of more to come, particularly if either a follow-up story has documentation or another writer like Wetzel starts sniffing around. That will be a lot of sharks in the water.

 

[HanSenSE]

Throw this on the pile with the NCAA enforcement problems, Penn State, various other scandals of the week, I could see the next big scandal undermining the very core of the NCAA. Maybe it's something involving game officials, actual bribes being involved in some of the conference movement, TV programming executives tipping off schools and/or conferences about shenanigans being investigated by their news departments.
Nothing will surprise me at this point.

Unfortunately, my only retort is: I've heard that one before. Or are so many snowballing that The Next One will really be it?

 

[Tom Petty]

Setting aside the possibility that Oregon's about to get hammered too, the second-place team doesn't get the title when the winner vacates. This ain't Miss America.

It's OK. We'll all know who the true champion is.

(Quack, class of '90.)

wasn't will lyles the agent for lamichael james?

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Hondo, I wish to amend my earlier remarks. It's not that nobody cares, although I sure don't. Rather, what makes stories like this tedious is that they are evergreens. This crap has been going on since about one hour after the end of the 1869 Princeton-Rutgers game, and it will be going on long after we're all gone. Back in the '40s, the guys got convertibles, now they get Escalades. Same difference.

 

[Boom_70]

What is the background on the web site that story is on. I've never heard of it.

 

[Steak Snabler]

By the way ... Selena Roberts, Auburn graduate.

 

[mediaguy]

Is there a story behind the (bad) name for the site? Not even sure how to pronounce it.