Cam Newton. That name is so polarizing right now, with so many angles to the story. “Remember Duke lacrosse!” That comes mostly from the Auburn faithful. From the other side? “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire!”
Innocent until proven guilty? That’s in a court of law, not the court of public opinion. Should we try to get all of the facts and be patient before forming an opinion? Yes, of course. But people do have every right to form an opinion. Like most situations, only the few people involved really know the indisputable facts. The rest of us have to base an opinion on what we can find out.
Did Cam Newton’s dad, Cecil, tell schools that it would take more than a scholarship to sign his son? I don’t know. Did he specifically ask Mississippi State for between $100-180,000 for Cam to sign to play in Starkville? I don’t know. Did Auburn meet Cecil’s asking price? I don’t know.
All of those are alleged by people supposedly involved in the recruiting of Newton by Mississippi State. Why did this come out now? Because this is when it came out, perhaps planted by a rival SEC school to ruin Auburn’s magical season. If so, well welcome to big boy college football in the conference that looks like old time Chicago politics. And instead of focusing on why now, Auburn nation should be focusing on whether or not it’s true.
Auburn coach Gene Chizik has done a laudable job of trying to deflect from the story. Praising Newton as a model student/athlete. Hmmmm. During two years at Florida, Newton was accused of cheating three different times. He bought a computer at such a great price that the police paid him a visit to ask about it. While they were at the door, Newton threw it out the window. That one is fact. Hearing now that Newton’s decision to leave Florida for a junior college may have been strongly suggested by the administration at Florida.
We don’t know if these things are true. However, when the list of allegations is this long, certainly it’s more than reasonable to have doubts. Clearly things have happened in Cam Newton’s past. Does that mean he has not been a model citizen at Auburn? No, it doesn’t. And if he has been as Chizik has said, that’s great. I admire him turning things around.
But that doesn’t mean that things in the past should be ignored. When we hear now that Vernon Davis of the 49ers violated NCAA rules by giving a player at Maryland $20 and that Hakeem Nicks violated them by treating some North Carolina players to dinner, we laugh at the NCAA for dealing with these which seem so insignificant. But where is the line? If Nicks spending $3300 is okay, then is $5000 ok? $10,000? If buying a kid a burger is ok, how about a steak? Lobster? Suit? House? Where do we draw the line?
It’s one thing to say the rules stink and to work to change them. Another to say they stink and disregard them. And I don’t think anyone thinks that a father demanding $100-180,000 for his son’s commitment is insignificant. So what should be done? Auburn has clearly decided that they are going to take this magical season as far as it can go and worry about consequences later. They insist Newton is eligible. I can’t blame them. If it comes out later that he wasn’t, well we all know they won those games and maybe a championship, no matter what the NCAA says.
What about the Heisman Trophy? The voters will have to make their decision before any resolution to this. Do they vote for Newton? The NFL Hall of Fame is very clear, only on field performance is to be considered by voters. The Heisman Trophy is not so clear. I believe it talks about integrity. Should a kid be punished solely by allegations? No. However, it’s more than reasonable to look at the body of allegations here and believe that something doesn’t smell right. I wouldn’t vote for Cam Newton.
No comments:
Post a Comment