Sports Agenda For Wednesday (8/17/11)
Big Story:
The Marlins finally got back on the winning side last night in Colorado, winning just their second game in the last 12, Texas A&M may get a deadline to make their intention known, and, hmmm, what was it, oh yeah, the University of Miami, well, let's get into that now.
Dropping the agenda like Cameron Wake does a quarterback, here we go.
Firsties:
Um, wow. Yeah, just WOW!
USC paying Reggie Bush, UNC steering players to agents and having a coach paid by the agent, and Ohio State and tattoos…all of that is child's play.
If even half of what Nevin Shapiro is claiming comes true, the University of Miami football and basketball teams arse's are grass and the NCAA is about to be a lawn mower.
The storm clouds are growing large in the distance and this program is about to get hit with a storm of epic proportions.
It's too much to put together in one agenda, but man, Yahoo! Sports, who has the best investigative sports unit anywhere, just blew up the UM program.
Not only that, but if the NCAA ever wanted to truly make an example out of a school, UM is definitely it.
The closest the NCAA has come to giving the death penalty to a school since SMU in 1987 was the University of Alabama in the early part of the 2000's.
Alabama paid one player and coach $250,000 to come play at Bama.
Again, that's nothing compared to the things Shapiro has said.
72 athletes from 2002 to 2010, I mean it's just mind boggling.
I've covered sports, followed sports, and written about sports for more years than I care to admit, but I've never seen anything like this.
Coaches, staffers, recruits, everyone was feeding at the same trough and as long as the cash kept coming, the gig was never up.
The list of players includes past stars and current players and I had previously said that the statute of limitations might protect UM, but I forgot bylaw 36.2.3.
That said that an investigation can expand beyond the statute if information reveals that an individual tied to a university has engaged in "a pattern of willful violations" over a sustained period beyond the previous four years.
In other words, if just a few of the athletes admit this pattern, and Shapiro has the documents Yahoo said he has, there is nothing that can save the University of Miami's two cash cow athletic programs, football and men's basketball.
This thing is so big, it's reached up to my alma mater, where Frank Haith is now. Hopefully, Mizzou put in a morality clause or something that will let them walk away from him in a BIG hurry asap.
A scandal like this has been brewing for UM for years, and it looks like the end of one of the most storied programs in the last 30 years.
Marlins: (@ Rockies, 8:40 p.m., Fox Sports Florida)
The Marlins finally got off the schnide last night as they knocked off the Rockies 6-5.
It was a great win for Anibal Sanchez, who notched his 7th win of the season, and snapping a 5 game losing streak for Anibal.
Mike Stanton also banged out his 28th home run of the season last night against the Rockies.
That puts Stanton in a tie for second place in the NL for homers, just two behind NL leader Albert Pujols.
The win left the Marlins two games out of third place in the NL East, and, yeah, well, they're only 22 games out of first place.
Yes, the Phillies are that darn good.
Texas A&M/SEC Update:
The Dallas Morning News reported that Titanic captain Big XII commissioner Dan Beebe may ask the conference's board of directors about setting a date for A&M to make a commitment to the conference.
Luckily for Beebe, a report came out over the weekend the Aggies would jump to the SEC within three weeks.
Not much is known past that, other than A&M's new chancellor said he's all for heading to the SEC.
For the Big XII, they need to know now so they can pursue probably Houston, SMU, or TCU.
For the SEC, they need to know now so they can decide if they want an additional school to balance out the league.
Once this domino falls with A&M, buckle up, cause conference realignment will really start to take off.
