Day 130 - The NCAA (Not Capable At All)

It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to spout off my opinions on Life, the Universe and Everything (RIP Douglas Adams, one of the funniest authors of all time). The summer months have brought about some changes in my day to day habits and have caused my time spent indoors to be severely limited. What all has changed since I last updated? Well, in a nutshell; not much. Everyone seems to still be in an uproar over the “Lack of Institutional Control” continuing to be displayed by college athletics governing body….The NCAA (Not Capable At All).

It seems like every time we turn around another big time program is being thrust into the spotlight for indiscretions surrounding their athletic programs. We started this downward spiral off with North Carolina and their snuggles with an agent. We then moved on to a couple of smaller schools grabbing a few headlines for violating this rule or that one. We saw the “Vested One” have his ever so shiny image tarnished beyond repair at Ohio State. This one continues to grow in most every aspect even now. The fallout from the tOSU scandal made it blatantly obvious that Delany and the Big 10 needed to be sweeping around their own door instead of taking cheap shots at the SEC. Oregon’s Coach Kelly started trying to cover his tracks a bit late in the Will (Willy) Lyles recruiting scandal.  Most recently, Nebraska has opted to out themselves in a text book scandal similar to the one that the Crimson Tide was in trouble over just a few years back. And then there is Auburn….

While it is no secret that my opinion of the powers that be at Auburn University is not a very high one, I must say that I have spoken with some very level headed Au fans that are sick of all of the controversy themselves. Granted, there is a much more vocal crowd of Au supporters that like to employ the 3D method of Deflect, Deny and Deter, but there are those Au fans that just want whatever is going to happen to happen. The numerous allegations being leveled at Au are not going away. While many of the Au faithful try to paint those of us who feel sure Au has been playing dirty as “Tin-Foil Hatters” or “Disgruntled Updykes”, they have had no success at changing anyone’s mind. Sure there have been smear campaigns aimed at the Scott Moores of the world, but overall; Au is viewed by the rest of the country as being dirty. Nothing new to me, however; I’m not going to rehash previous entries on this site regarding the suspected improprieties of Au and its administration. 

I am going to ask some questions though. I want to know why it is that it takes media outlets like Yahoo Sports to get any type of real reaction to allegations from the NCAA? Charles Robinson (The E.F. Hutton of Sports Reporter’s) seems to be our best bet at getting the NCAA to act on something. Based on previous reports by Mr. Robinson and the resulting fallout, I contend that he should be the President of the NCAA. How is it that the NCAA interviews Will (Willy) Lyles for 6 hours, yet do not bother to even ask him about the ins and outs of Lache Seastrunk and LaMichael James recruitment at Oregon? I mean, why waste 6 hours of the man’s time if you aren’t going to ask him about the meat of the subject at hand? It took the likes of Charles Robinson and Dan Wetzel to ask those questions. Speaking of Wetzel, I nominate him as Robinson’s Vice President of the new NCAA. Does the NCAA just not want to know? If the answer to that question is yes, then why even have a governing body? The NCAA repeatedly has more egg on its face than can be found in a 100 Waffle Houses. The very people that buy the tickets to all of these sporting events have ZERO faith in the NCAA’s ability to get anything right. Selective penalties, looking the other way, downright ignoring glaring facts are all things the average fan has come to expect from the NCAA. 

Are these problems because they are under staffed? That’s probably part of it, but it is not a valid excuse. Hire more investigators and make sure these investigators know what questions to ask. It’s not like the money isn’t there to hire as many investigators as they need. AHHHHH!!!! Therein lies the problem….MONEY. Do you suppose that dollars are the reason that tOSU has been allowed to play dirty for so long? Do you suppose that dollars are why Will (Willy) Lyles was not asked the pertinent questions in his interview with the NCAA? Do you suppose that dollars are the reason that the NCAA did not want to react on the allegations they were most definitely aware of concerning the two teams that played for the National Championship? YES to all of the above. What we have here is a governing body that is made up of its member institutions, not unlike your Neighborhood Housing Committee that gives you that phone call if your grass is taller than ankle high. The very schools that are corrupt pay the salaries of those that govern them.  No wonder they don’t want to do anything about corruption. The solution? See above and let a 3^rd party organization that is paid off of fines levied at rogue institutions, bowl game revenues and endorsements govern college sports. This would take the conflict of interest away that is currently the real GOVERNOR of college athletics.

Make the “Not Capable At All” become the “Not Complacent Anymore”

RTR

BamaSon25