Cam Newton may have created his own law because apparently the apple really doesn’t fall that far from the tree.
On Dec. 1, the NCAA ruled the Auburn quarterback and Heisman frontrunner Cam Newton clear to play despite the pay-for-play scheme involving his father, Cecil Newton.
The allegations first came to light when it was alleged Newton used his son for $180,000 in order to get his national letter-of-intent signature from schools recruiting him, most notably Mississippi State.
The NCAA has thus far found that Cecil and a middleman (most likely a booster or someone working with recruiting agency) responsible for the pay-for-play scheme, and thus no proof that Cam Newton was involved or even knew of the scheme.
Okay NCAA, so you’re telling me that as long as the athlete doesn’t know he’s being shopped like a prized piece of jewelry at an auction from Tiffany’s, it is acceptable?
What the NCAA just ruled is implying that future violations can only be invited, and that boosters can officially shop around highly-recruited athletes as long as the athlete does not know it is occurring.
What the NCAA is saying is that there is a legality in cheating, and that there is justification for the promotion and the price-tagging of players to interested parties.
The ruling dumbfounds me, and should be proud to acknowledge that they have reached a ruling as embarrassing as the “separate but equal” doctrine in the landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case.
That case upheld the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation, and the NCAA infractions committee just upheld the justification for placing price tags on student-athletes.
“The conduct of Cam Newton’s father and the involved individual is unacceptable and has no place in the SEC or in intercollegiate athletics,” SEC commissioner Mike Slive said Wednesday.
Really? You didn’t need the Hardy Boys to figure that one out. The fact Slive would even consider making a statement like that is appalling, yet he also does not hesitate to say that “there’s not enough clarity.”
The apple fell from the tree but came to a dead stop once it hit the ground. So Newton didn’t defy the law of gravity, but it sure seems like he found a loophole the size of the depleted ozone layer to get out of this worst-case scenario.
The NCAA had the opportunity to rightfully declare Newton ineligible, but instead shot out blanks. They came to a gun fight with knives.
So get ready for the NCAA to tolerate many more pay-for-play operations in the near future. The Plessy v. Ferguson case was not reversed for almost 60 years.
How long will it take the NCAA to reverse this decision and reestablish a proper precedent for the ethics of recruiting?