Should I Get Investigated by the NCAA? I Get Paid to Play Football...

For my Mom, sister, and 3 other people who read my blog, I am very sorry for slacking on my duties the last 2 months. These crazy things called school and getting into law school have gotten in the way of my blogging. But fear not- football is over, the bulk of my classwork is done, and I have gotten into law school. Yes the same guy who once jumped off the pulpit at Shabbat services and yelled "Cowabunga!" is going to be a lawyer. God help us all.

Anyways, the topic of discussion today, along with every other person who knows anything about college football, is Cam Newton. The question is not IF he will be declared in eligible, but rather WHEN. He broke the rules. Even if he did not know about it, his Dad broke the rules on his behalf. Auburn is not going to get in trouble other than having all of their wins erased from this year, and the national championship will be taken away if they win. That's a big if though. I know the NCAA ruled him eligible today, but there is no way they could have conducted a thorough enough investigation in this short time frame. I will explain why they are sweeping this under the rug, but first here is what Auburn's defense will be:

1. Cam Newton did not know anything about his father or his "representative" Kenny Rogers was trying to extort money from Mississippi St. for Newton's commitment.
2. Cam Newton did not attend the university he supposedly tried to extort money from
3. No money ever exchanged hands

There's a few problems with this. First, since Cam is connected to both his father and Kenny Rogers, he will get screwed no matter what because he probably knew about it anyways, and they were still acting on his behalf. Next, it doesn't matter if he went to Mississippi St. or not, or if he ever received money. If the NCAA rules that what he did is legal, then the flood gates will rush open and every player and their mother will try to extort money from any school that contacts them. If it works, the school will just make sure it stays hidden. If it doesn't work, then the player will just go on to the next school and try again. Either way, there is no way the NCAA will let something like this start. Last but certainly not least, I would have to guess Auburn did something to sweeten the deal for his commitment. His Father's church needed about $150,000 in repairs and low and behold, the good Lord answered his prayers and he somehow found the money to fix it up. Hallelujah!

But this is not anything new for the NCAA. Players have been getting paid to play for a while now. Hell every time we had a road game I got at least $10 to spend on food. Do you know how much food you can get at McDonald's with $10? It could feed kids in a third world country for a week. So I either pocketed the extra dough, or just went ahead and bought and ate all $10 worth of food. I promise it was almost always the former. But in all seriousness, this is not an isolated incident. Players on most big time schools get paid to play. But they aren't all the best player in the country playing on a possible national championship team who also is the leading candidate to win the Heisman. That's why the NCAA is taking its sweet time to do an investigation because if they sped it up, the results would be catastrophic. Think about this: it's the middle of December and the BCS championship game is between Auburn and fill in the blank. The NCAA rules Cam Newton ineligible and they forfeit all games he participated in this year. What happens now? Who the hell knows. And you know why this won't happen? It all comes back to money. But not Cam Newton's money. It's the NCAA's money. It's the BCS's money. That's what college football all comes down to these days. That's why the BCS added another bowl game that is just the national championship held at one of the rotating locations. That's why the NCAA added this horrible week of football when Bama is playing Georgia St. and Florida is playing Appalachian St. The almighty dollar has ruined one of the purest games, a game that is near and dear to so many people in this country. And that's without even getting into the problem with agents and illegal benefits for amateur players. Nothing is going to change anytime soon. There are too many people that have too much of a financial stake in what's going on for it to change.

So I'm going to go ahead and admit that Bama's performance in the second half against Auburn was one of the biggest letdowns I have ever seen. My best friend from high school goes to Auburn and watched with me, and I was actually apologizing and making excuses for him in the first half because I felt so bad. Needless to say I was eating my own words by the end of the day. The thing that is pissing me off the most is how Bama fans are reacting to the loss. "Oh the victory will be vacated in a few years so it doesn't matter." SHUT UP! Be happy that we have an SEC team that is one game away from the national championship. Be happy that the SEC has the chance to win 5 straight national championships. Cam Newton is the best college football player in the last 5 years without a doubt. I can handle getting beaten by the best team in college football that has the best player in college football because I know our guys left it all on the field. I'm proud as hell of them and can't wait to see them in a bowl game. And I will wait till next week to rip Boise St. a new one after their loss to Nevada. I can't wait.

As for this week, it's time for the conference championships, and I'm quite excited. Let's start with the SEC. They always say it's hard to beat a team twice in a season, but I think Auburn will be able to handle South Carolina in Atlanta come Saturday. Although Spurrier is one of the best game planners of today, I just can't bet against Cam Newton. If Nick Fairely and Auburn's front 7 can stop Lattimore, it will be a long night for the Gamecocks. Auburn wins by at least a touchdown. In the Big 12, it's really a coin flip because both teams have not had the best of seasons. The Big 12 in general is down, especially with Texas not even being bowl eligible only a year after being in the national championship. Had to throw that in there because my roommate is from Austin and a die-hard Horns fan. Hook 'em! I'll take Oklahoma as they are 6-1 in the title game, winning by 10+. For the ACC game, I like Florida St. in this one. Coming off a big win against Florida, I think they will use momentum to get another win. FSU by 4. Last but not least, Oregon has their rivalry game against Oregon St. This shouldn't even be close with Oregon's unstoppable offense, but playing at Oregon St. will keep it close at the beginning, but ending with Oregon dominating by 35+.

That's all for now folks. I will be getting back on track with my blogging as the semester draws to a close. Look forward to next week when we finally know who is playing where, and for my annihilation of Boise St.

Until then,
Roll Tide!
The Big Man