BOL Round Table

I already answered this one, except for how I did it.

I got really, really lucky and landed a clerk's job with the News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., and do some odd jobs on the side. I think I made $17,000 that year. Basically, I worked my tail off and hoped they would take a chance on me. It took me three years to land a full-time gig with the paper. Funny part about that was it was the news desk that hired me, and the first day they gave me some pages to lay out/design. Me: "Ok, how do I do that?" They had no idea I had never been trained (it was a pagination system if that means anything to any of you). A couple of months later I was traded to the sports department to be an editor/writer.

As all of you know, I'm much better at the writing part.

Yeah - that's just not my territory. I very rarely deal with recruits and leave it to our experts.

Not so much the teams, but the people, definitely.

The only team I root for that I covered is the Phoenix Suns, but I'm not much of an NBA guy. FYI the Buccaneers, Cardinals and Packers all made it to the Super Bowl after I covered them, and the Diamondbacks obviously won the World Series.

Alabama is the first team I've covered that reached and won its title game.

I think I could take him, but we wouldn't be setting any records.

He'd kick my rear on the golf course, though.

More in a bit ... need to do some more work.

I remember you and the Deaderick story being your first night.

Kind of hit the ground running.

He's a little more low-key off the field (except when attending Super Bowls. Sorry, couldn't resist).

Different kind of intensity.

Ive nominated this thread for a pewlickzer.

I think the only thing I wrote about it was the following column, which was posted Dec. 4, 2010. I did do my homework for it and talk to some people, but I can't emphasize enough that we don't cover Auburn. It's not like we sit around and talk about Auburn -- in fact we don't sit around and talk about hardly anything because we really don't have time. You all have obviously noticed judging by all the questions about "Do you have a personal life," etc.

Our focus is on Alabama, pure and simple.

- - -

When people ask what it was like to cover the trial of former University of Alabama booster Logan Young, two things always jump to mind.

For two weeks a handful of reporters sat on uncomfortable wooden benches in the back of the U.S. District Court for Western Tennessee and listened to every moment of the proceedings. The night before the verdict, while celebrating with some Rendezvous ribs knowing that we would soon be heading home, a local writer asked us to each predict the outcome.

Somewhat to my surprise every person essentially said the same thing, that it appeared that Young was involved but there wasn't enough evidence to convict, only to have the scribe inform us that we were all wrong. His reason will forever stick in my mind: "You guys don't understand Memphis."

SEC commissioner Mike Slive, a former judge and attorney, has taken a lot of heat this week.
Of course he was proven correct. After just four hours of deliberating the jury found Young guilty of conspiracy to commit racketeering, crossing state lines to commit racketeering and arranging bank withdrawals to cover up a crime. He appealed, but died before it could be heard.

The other thing was the realization that we all had considered going to law school, but were very thankful to instead be sportswriters.

Both kept coming to mind this past week because even lawyers are confused about what's been going on with the Cam Newton situation, with the fallout from Wednesday's highly-controversial eligibility reinstatement felt nationwide. While it was determined his father Cecil had indeed shopped his services to Mississippi State, the quarterback was allowed to continue playing and will suit up Saturday in the SEC Championship Game.

Huh?

Not only has the announcement been blasted by nearly everyone in college football living outside of South Alabama, including numerous conference commissioners, but the NCAA president himself made a statement on this specific case, which isn't close to being resolved.

At heart of the issue is SEC rule 14.01.3.2: "If at any time before or after matriculation in a member institution a student-athlete or any member of his/her family receives or agrees to receive, directly or indirectly, any aid or assistance beyond or in addition to that permitted by the Bylaws of this Conference (except such aid or assistance as such student-athlete may receive from those persons on whom the student is naturally or legally dependent for support), such student-athlete shall be ineligible for competition in any intercollegiate sport within the Conference for the remainder of his/her college career."

There are numerous arguments that can be made about the language of this rule. There's nothing about being offered to a different team, it seems reasonable that an offer means you "agree to receive," and specific to this case it was ruled there's no proof Cam knew what was going on (the same defense used for the stolen laptop issue at Florida).

Southern California athletic director Pat Haden accurately pointed out to the Los Angeles Times: "I was always told the parent is the child. That's what we've been telling our kids. If the parent does something inappropriate the child suffers the consequences."

However, there's one important distinction between Newton's situation and when the NCAA came down on the Trojans for Reggie Bush. That was enforcement, which is very different from eligibility, and in this case the NCAA is continuing to investigate.

However, one certainly has to wonder about the timing of it all.

Mississippi State said in a statement that it first contacted the Southeastern Conference about the pay-for-play issue in January. Does anyone really think it's a coincidence that Auburn submitted information on the first workday after it played its biggest rival, declared Newton ineligible the next day and asked for immediate reinstatement, which it received in roughly 24 hours?

No wonder so many people, including Auburn fans, believe the school has taken the attitude of win at all costs no matter what the outcome.

There are scores of examples of where the NCAA hasn't been so accommodating, and for this argument we'll use the 1999 allegations against former Crimson Tide men's basketball coach Tyrone Beaman for trying to create a slush fund for recruiting and then lying about it to investigators. Although the NCAA eventually praised Alabama's handling of the matter, it was a very slow process.

Here's the short version: On Jan. 13, 1998, Beaman allegedly asked two boosters and the director of a YMCA in Montgomery for $5,000 to send to the coach of a recruit in Houston. School officials met with Beaman on January 28 and after they felt he provided false and misleading information suspended him (it was lifted on Feb. 20).

On April 27, the university submitted a self-report to the NCAA's enforcement staff, which interviewed Beaman on June 11. On June 29, a letter of preliminary inquiry was sent, with the official letter of inquiry issued on Aug. 19. The deadline for responses was Sept. 28, a prehearing conference call was held Oct. 26, following by the actual hearing and the public report as issued on Feb. 9, 1999.

None of that has occurred yet with Newton, which ties in with the NCAA's stance this past week, that the quarterback is eligible based on the information available at the time - which also came from Auburn, because eligibility is considered primarily the responsibility of the schools.

But at the scandal's most basic levels, we have two certainties:

1) An NCAA violation did occur.

The NCAA, the SEC and Auburn are all in agreement that Cecil Newton shopped his son around, at least to Mississippi State. There's no more speculating, the only questions now are who was involved and how far did it go?

2) Cecil Newton lied.

When the initial reports started breaking and the father was still talking to reporters he steadfastly denied everything. Granted, that's self-preservation, and in this case lies are way down on the list of bad deeds, but it's also precedent.

Go back to the FoxSports.com report, citing an unidentified person that Cam Newton had three incidents of academic cheating at Florida and faced potential expulsion, which was never denied. If it's true that was the primary reason for his transferring to a junior college, then that's another lie.

But while assumptions are easy to make, proof is much harder to come by, and is how one way or another Auburn's fate will be determined. Eligibility can always change, like it did with basketball players O.J. Mayo and Derrick Rose or the Alabama textbook scandal, but at this point no one knows what the NCAA, FBI or State of Mississippi might find or conclude, although none of them are known for quick resolutions or launching investigations without good cause. Similarly, that's why Young's trial was five years in the making and the average case takes nearly a year to resolve.

So for now, Newton is eligible to play and that's just the way it is, although perception can be far from reality.

Meanwhile, the NCAA, SEC and Auburn are all under siege, despite an undefeated record the Tigers haven't landed a recruit since August 5, and although numerous head coaching jobs are open offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn doesn't appear to be a serious candidate for any of them.

Just more reasons why so many people are scratching their heads.

Leave it up to the government to mess up a sports program at universities.

Not that my experiences and opinion matter, but here's my 2 cents from my time in the media...

1) No question, it's LSU! Just listen to the radio broadcasts, you can hear the LSU media cheering. Part of that is because of how incredibly bad the press box is at Tiger Stadium (it has been updated, but from what I've heard it's still awful). There was a time in a pre-game broadcast from LSU that another media member was leaning over into the Alabama radio box chanting Tiger Bait while Eli and the crew were trying work.

2) I know this won't be popular, but I always had great experiences at Auburn. No matter the sport, they rolled out the red carpet and helped any way they could. Of course, the fact that they sucked at everything made it important that they kissed the media's butt.

3) Best sound bites I ever got were always from Roman Harper. He was honest and well spoken. His friend and defensive backfield mate, Charlie Peprah was a close second.

1) "Can I have your autograph" or "Can I have a picture with you" happens a couple times each year and it's unbelievably unprofessional. I've seen some weird things over the years, but not too much worse than that. If I think of a better answer I'll post it.

2) Yeah, Auburn used to have the reputation of being incredibly media friendly, and remains very media savvy. Florida was pretty helpful when I was working on one of my books. Tennessee was known for treating reporters well when Bud Ford was the sports information director.

FYI, Saban's policy is that assistant coaches, freshmen and player's families are all off-limits minus a couple of exceptions. His disciples are all doing the same thing when they become head coaches, so the reporters from those teams are all grimacing about the lack of access. Me? I'm indifferent. As long as we're all playing by the same rules I'm fine with it.

3) Greg McElroy was always good to interview, but he wasn't necessarily a sound bite. Personally, I like linemen, and always have. Roman Harper, Wallace Gilberry (although he didn't always say what his teammates wanted him to) and Wesley Britt were all good, but the winner by far was Joe Kines.

Prefer covering college or pro sports?