NCAA Sports: A Shady Business
Written by MC Homer, Thursday May 28 2009
Surprise, surprise, another collegiate head coach busted for, um, let’s say bending the rules, because we all know these NCAA rules don’t break. Ex-Memphis Head Coach, John Calipari is under fire, well, in the news at least, again. Calipari, who has since moved on to Kentucky, in case you’ve been living in a cardboard box, on Mars the last few months, has been assured he will not be slapped with any violations, because we all know he is mister innocent. Riiight. Supposedly, one of his players, who was named by one of those extremely credible “anonymous” sources, has some fishy SAT scores. Why am I not shocked?
This time, it’s not the usual, run-of-the-mill recruiting violation that every team is guilty of, but only a select few seem to be caught. Instead, Calipari and
Not only is the possible charge from the NCAA about the SAT score of a student-athlete, but also allowing the relative of an athlete, who just so happens to allegedly be the brother of the same athlete with the alleged questionable SAT scores, to travel with the team. Hmm, it all sounds a bit shady to me. Shady? Yes. Unprecedented? Not even close. Every year it seems, we get at least one coach who is slapped on the wrist, or kissed on the hand if he’s a big, successful coach like Calipari, for a recruiting violation, test score tampering, or the ever popular, spending cash epidemic.
When is the NCAA going to do something about any of it? Wow, taking down a banner, that hurts, it hurts deep. Erasing the record 38-win season in ’07-’08, both of which the NCAA has threatened, would be disastrous, or not. It isn’t like the people who care about the wins record will just erase it from memory. That’s like telling a jury something during a trial, then having the judge tell them to disregard the last statement. The coach (Calipari) is long gone and most of the players who were the reason for the success have moved on as well. The people who will have to bear the brunt of the violations had little to do with the success of the person (coach, not player) or team in question. How is that fair? This is a load of crap. The NCAA can say what they want, but just like any other business, the top dogs are untouchable. God forbid they suspend a coach or program for doing something illegal. Instead, they’ll sit back, point fingers, let the accusations die down and everything is back to status quo. It’s the proverbial “sweep it under the rug” trick.
I’m sick of it. I am not surprised coaches and programs will do anything it takes to be successful, because with success, comes fame and fortune in their line of work. I get it, I really do, but I don’t like seeing the rules, which were made to be enforced, or so I thought (there I go, thinking again, ouch), being bent and usually broken, no, obliterated, by the high and mighty who can get away with anything and everything. Last time I checked, a rule is a rule, no matter who breaks it, but it’s been a while since I last checked. Times, they are a changin’. It’s a bit like the traveling rule in the NBA. It’s there, but never enforced (and half the time they do call it, once a season, they’re wrong).
Calipari is claiming he had no idea that any of this was happening. Again with the riiight. He’s not the first and won’t be the last moron to actually think the general public believes his bold-faced lie. We get it John, it’s never the coach’s fault, it’s always someone else. When all else fails, play stupid, right? Sometimes, it’s hard for me to believe they are simply “playing” dumb.
In the letter from the NCAA, they basically said the blame, or at least the majority of it, falls on “the player.” Let’s take a second here and think about this logically. As previously stated, the accusation relates to an SAT score. Evidently, “the player” scored somewhere in the 700’s on his third try, making him eligible to play. Really, 700’s? And we are blaming him for this? It sounds to me like he really worked the system or NOT.
The NCAA will punish
Maybe it’s just me, but we are talking about student-athletes, not athlete-students. This is the example we are setting for our kids? I don’t care if they are not smart enough to get into college to play ball, we all know why they are in college anyways. If David Stern didn’t have his stupid rule, none of this would be an issue, of course, then I wouldn’t have as much to write bitch about. The NCAA tries to act all innocent, like they have the best interests of the kids in mind, when all along they could care less about the kids as long as they get theirs. Good ol’ capitalism.
Photo Credit: John Sommers II / Icon SMI
Tags:
Recent Kentucky Articles
- NBA Investigating Jay-Z in Kentucky Locker Room
- Kentucky holds on against North Carolina
- Examining The Elite Eight
- Kentucky Worries About Itself
- Kentucky Rolls over Florida for SEC Title
- Kentucky Gives Scholarship to Four Foot Tall Student
- John Wall prepares himself for NBA Draft
- Wall And Turner Declare For The Draft
- John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins of Kentucky Are College Basketball's Best Duo
- No. 2 Kentucky Survives Against Alabama 66-55
Leave a comment
Not So Fast! To publish your comment, you have to login
Not Registered? Register now as it only take 20 seconds!
Click here to browse
1 comment
Please sign in to rate!
Homer you hit it dead on, Calipari is KNOWN sleaze bag in these parts. It's a known thing that he is a shady coach and no one has been able to catch him in the act so to speak yet. The rumor was the reason why UK didn't hire him a few years ago was because they thought he was a worm. I guess the worm has turned so to speak.