Cal_Fan2;841916588 said:
I'll answer your questions....you can google this stuff but I DO KNOW the ethics of the Bama situation and the LSU situation because the players who got bumped were all over the internet when this happened and how unfair it was at the time. I initially got this info from people WHO WERE THERE before I even knew oversignings.com existed. By the way, that site has been reputed to be pretty right on as far as the facts go.
Yes...we recruited Fortt right out of high school and he visited Cal back then and had a relationship with Thompson and liked Cal a lot. We have free schollies since 2 kids just failed to qualify academically and we haven't used up our all our schollies anyway. This is not even close to the USC situation which by the way, I don't blame Kiffin that much, he is just unethical as a rule. Not sure what we promised him, probably similar to what we told him the first time he came out here.
You talk about splinters in one's eye. I'm not talking about isolated incidents, I'm talking about institutional patterns of slimy behavior, repeated over and over...and some of us did blame Cal when we did something similar on the field also.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OversigningSo I guess we should ask all your old girlfriends to explain why you broke up. We want the real story right? Or do you want Saban to violate Hipaa and academic privacy. "Cecil W. was suspended because he's an idiot and can't pass a class. He has since left the team and we gave his scholarship to another player."
COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS SLIMY. Why? Because BILLIONS of dollars are on the line. If you want clean sports try crew at Harvard maybe. Again, institutional patterns are that there are winners and losers based on the rules of the game that these institutions agree to and self-enforce. Factories put out winning football teams. You may have a subjective ethical concern, but that's your problem. Either play the game to win or accept that there are things more important than winning, such as your own ethical standards and self respect. As I said, I like the way Cal does its sports my son just spent a week with the NCAA champ's swim camp. but I accept that as a result, teams that push the lines and perhaps cross them to get a competitive advantage are likely to beat us. I don't get my panties in a wad that someone else wants to win no matter how. But that's life in a "call your own fouls" world.
Alabama and Nick Saban
[edit]2010
[edit]WSJ Medical Scholarship Concerns
On September 24, 2010 2010, theWall Street Journal published an article suggesting the University of Alabama and its head coach, Nick Saban, had encouraging some under-performing players to quit the team for medical reasons in order to gain a competitive edge.
Former Alabama linebacker Chuck Kirschman said "I'm still kind of bitter," and
Coach Saban encouraged him to accept the scholarship because of a back problem that Kirschman believes he could have played through. Kirschman said the school offered in the summer of 2009 to pay for his graduate degree in business, an offer he accepted, and that he still gets some of the same perks as players. Kirschman completed his MBA in Finance.Charles Hoke, a former Alabama offensive lineman,
took a medical scholarship in 2008 because of a shoulder problem, said the choice was left entirely up to him and was based on the many conversations he had with the team's doctors and trainers over the course of his junior year.Jeramie Griffin tore an anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in August 2009. He said, "I came back in the spring and I was OK." Griffin said that he was surprised football staff told him
he had failed a physical. Griffin said, Saban asked him what he wanted to do besides playing football, and that Saban floated the possibility of a medical scholarship and asked if Griffin was interested in student coaching. Griffin said he doesn't contest the results of the physical and said it was "basically my decision" to forgo the rest of his playing career.Doug Walker, the school's associate athletic director for media relations, said "Decisions about medical disqualifications for student-athletes are made by medical professionals and adhere to the parameters outlined by the NCAAand the Southeastern Conference."[20]
On September 29, 2010 Coach Saban responded to questions about the Wall Street Journal Article, "We don't make the decision about medicals. I have nothing to do with that. Those are medical decisions made by our medical staff. I think we have one of the finest medical staffs in the country. I don't have any question about the fact every player we have given a medical to, it's been because of the medical opinion of the medical staff," Saban said.
"Those guys should not continue to play football because it would put their future in tremendous risk. Those decisions are always made in the best interest of the player. Whether the player agrees with that or not, I can't control. I don't make the decision. They don't make the decision as players. That's why we have a medical staff."[21]
[edit]WSJ Transfer Concerns
On November 25, 2010, the Journal reported that several former Alabama players claim Saban and Alabama lied about their reasons for leaving the school.[3] On August 5, 2009, Saban made a statement in a press conference that included a reference to four players Price Hall, Brandon Fanney, Alonzo Lawrence and Jermaine Preyear. "These guys all did something. It doesn't make them bad people.
These guys didn't do what they were supposed to do here, whether it was for academic reasons or whatever. They're not going to be part of the program."[22] The players told The Wall Street Journal they committed no such violations and that Alabama and Saban had only claimed as much so as to protect the image of their program in the eyes of future recruits.
Prince Hall, a
starter and All-American as freshman, had been suspended for the 3rd time during the Spring according to published reports, the last being categorized as indefinite. Brandon Fanney, a 14 game starter from the previous season,
had been suspended for rules violations during the Spring.[23]Preyear, who
decided to transfer six months after enrolling during the Spring, said
he chose to leave over concerns about playing time. "I don't know any rules I could have broken."
Alonzo Lawrence reasons for transfer were unclear, but according to his high school coach his problems at Alabama "wasn't anything major," and
tied it to things like being late to team meetings. Lawrence transferred to Southern Miss before moving on to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.[24][25]
[edit]Saban's Exchange with another Reporter
On April 15, 2008, Saban was asked by reporter Ian Rapoport how he was going to handle the numbers and when does he you start to worry about it? Saban replied "I'm not worried about them. It'll all work out. I mean, the whole thing has a solution to every issue. You don't put yourself in a position where you don't know what's coming." Rapoport respond, "So you're not going to tell us?" to which Saban replied "We know how it has to be managed, and it will be managed. It's none of your business. Aiight? And don't give me this stuff about the fans' need to know, because they don't need to know. Don't even ask. Aiight?"[26]
