No Clue At All

What can I say about the NCAA that has not been said before. When I was growing in my teen years, the NCAA slapped programs down like they were an annoying friend. They did it without malice and discrimination. If you got caught cheating, stealing, lying, embarrassing the NCAA you got sanctioned so hard that it would take years for you to get back up again. Ask the University of Kentucky basketball program, Southern Methodist University football program, Auburn University football program just to name a few. Right now Florida St. University is being made to forfeit games because of a campus wide cheating scandal that has rocked the school. Athletes from different disciplines were caught and everyone is affected. University of Memphis is under investigation because an unnamed player apparently didn't take his own ACT test or SAT test. The NCAA doesn't play and you better not take them lightly.
When Oklahoma ST. wide receiver Dez Bryant had lunch and spent some time with Deion Sanders, I bet he thought he was the man, the myth and the legend. The great "prime time" showing an interest in him must have made him feel beyond special. Deion had mentored Devin Hester while he was at Miami and Hester is now an elite player. When the NCAA asked him what he and Deion were doing together, Bryant lied because he feared that he did something wrong. Deion has no affiliation with Oklahoma St. at all. They split the food bill and he did not receive any benefits other than knowledge from one of the greatest college and pro football players ever to live. So they NCAA gave him a chance to defend himself and explain why he lied. They were not satisfied and now Bryants' career is over even though the school is appealing on his behalf. What kind of message is this sending around college athletics is an obvious one: Don't Lie!! But to suspend the young man for a year and basically tell him to go pro is the wrong message. Now Bryant is an unbelievable talent so he will be okay in the end, but what if he wasn't going to be a first round pick? Earlier this year a running back on the University of Oregon's football team slugged a player on Boise St. after an embarrassing loss and he was later suspended for the remainder of the season by his University. The coach has recently started to have a change of heart and the running back may be reinstated back to the team next month. The NCAA stayed out of the situation and allowed the University of Oregon to handle the mess. I thought a full season suspension was unwarranted because he was taunted by the Boise St. player and thought that the Boise ST. player should have been suspended too. Nothing happened to him and the NCAA stayed away from that too. I do not condone lying under any circumstance but the guy did nothing wrong. If he did do something wrong, he has already missed 4 games. Enough is enough. The NCAA usually gives athletes the benefit of the doubt in most circumstances. There are several athletes that apply for the medical redshirts or sixth year eligibility and most of the athletes get that chance. The NCAA is supposed to be there for the athletes. So a guy who nearly started a riot by throw a punch as a sore loser is going to get a chance to play and a guy who had lunch (which is legal) is done for the year.
Also this cheating scandal at Florida ST. has nothing to do with Bobby Bowden or any other coach at the school. Why is he punished because the indiscretion of several immature students? I know in the past that Florida St. had a scandal where a couple of players grabbed a few hundred dollars worth of stuff and paid very little for them. The players were suspended then reinstated after they payed back the money. FREE SHOES UNIVERSITY was what they were called after that by then Florida Coach Steve Spurrier. Bowden didn't forfeit any games then did he? They won the national championship later that year too.
I guess that NCAA would rather avoid creating a playoff system that crowns a true champion.. another topic on another day..