NCAA should sanction itself

Have you ever noticed how some people can do whatever they want and nothing ever seems to stick to them?

I read the story yesterday about how the NCAA is forcing Oklahoma to forfeit all of it's games from the 2005 season. I guess I don't have too much of a problem with this since Oklahoma has admitted that it had two players (Bomar and Quinn) who got payed by a local car dealership for jobs that they didn't actually perform. I do think that the punishment was a little severe considering that Oklahoma self reported and sanctioned itself.

I suppose the thing that bothered me the most about this story is that it reminds me again that the NCAA selectively enforces its rules on both athletes and universities. Case in Point; Jim Tressel. I know I'm going to catch hell for saying this but I think he may run the dirtiest program in college athletics. If you don't believe me, check out this story that ESPN ran about Jim Tressel. During Ohio State's championship season there were all kinds of violations going on in the Buckeye program, but the NCAA didn't find out until after the season was over. The NCAA didn't do anything about it because they didn't want to have to deal with the precedent of Ohio State forfeiting it's National Championship. The evidence is just as strong in the Ohio State case as it is in the Oklahoma case. The only reason Oklahoma is getting punished so hard is because they didn't win the championship in 2005 and their coach told the truth when he found a problem. This fiasco will probably end up sticking to Bob Stoops for the rest of his career, while Jim Tressel somehow continues his coaching career with his "good" reputation intact.

I don't see the difference between college players getting paid by a car dealership for work they didn't perform and a college player having a car dealership give him a black Monte Carlo for work he didn't perform. Or how about a booster paying thousands of dollars in cell phone bills for a player. Nah, the only difference here is that Bob Stoops is an ethical guy who told the truth when he found out that two of his players were breaking the rules. Bob, and his employer, are now going to pay an enormous price for telling the truth. They should have followed Jim Tressel's lead and just lied to the NCAA and the investigators. Its really sad, the NCAA appears to be rewarding liars and cheats while punishing people who tell the truth. I have to say, though, that I'm not surprised.

Myles Brand wants us to believe that he is cleaning up college athletics. Myles Brand, Dick Pound, Bud Selig, and David Stern all have egos that are too big to effectively run their organizations. They all seem to care more about individual fame than they do about the reputations of the organizations that they represent. I have no use for any of them. But, nothing ever sticks to them either.