Doesn't surprise me coming from the Washington Post. Their take on morality has always been skewed toward the worst sleazy miscreants. This was their lauding of "Saint" Bobby Bowden, which is laugh-out-loud funny in its sycophantic tone, blaming his players and not the coach for the sleazy state of his program:
FSU'S DIRT SHOULDN'T SULLY BOWDEN
By Johnette Howard May 15, 1994
Among the major college football programs, it's hard to think of an unlikelier place for a cheating scandal to occur than Florida State. Penn State comes to mind. Then Brigham Young University. Maybe Stanford. The reason to put FSU in such squeaky-clean company is Coach Bobby Bowden, whose nickname is "Saint Bobby." For decades, one of his genuine delights in life has been accepting invitations to say a few words from church pulpits all over the South.
Now comes word that seven of Bowden's 1993 players probably took illicit gifts from some wannabe agents who visited Tallahassee late last season to improperly woo players. The awful news has singed Bowden's heart. And it's made him sizzling mad.
If Bowden were a proven incorrigible who had been caught before, FSU would deserve to be slammed as stiffly as the rules allow. If Florida State had a reprehensible sports history like Auburn, an athletic program that has been put on probation nine times since the NCAA enforcement division was founded in 1952 -- an astonishing rate of one proven scandal for every recruiting class the school's had in the last 30 years -- there would be better grounds to seriously discuss revoking FSU's first football national championship.
But not as things stand now.
I'll always believe Florida State's national-title election over late-season conqueror Notre Dame was a sort of lifetime achievement award for Bowden. And his career-long deportment deserves the same weight now. As long as the story remains no worse than reported by Sports Illustrated this week, FSU deserves some sanctions. But beyond that?
SI uncovered evidence that seven FSU players accepted hundreds of dollars in merchandise during a greedy Foot Locker shopping spree sponsored by an agent named Nate Cebrun and Raul Bey, the Las Vegas businessman who backed him. The players named by SI were cornerback Corey Sawyer, linebacker Ken Alexander, offensive lineman Marvin Ferrell, tailback Sean Jackson, wide receiver Kevin Knox, fullback Tiger McMillon and offensive guard Patrick McNeil. SI also reported that six of the players (excluding Alexander) took illegal cash gifts last fall ranging from $60 to perhaps as much as $250.
Only McMillon and McNeil have eligibility left.
Sawyer brazenly defended the players' actions, telling SI: "At Florida State you work so hard to give to that program and get nothing out it. The most you can get out of it is a trip to the NFL. I felt I was entitled to money or clothing. Why couldn't I have it?"
It's an attitude that's rampant. And it's stomach-turning.
I'm tired of the argument that student-athletes -- in addition to getting books, room and board, fees, unlimited tutoring and life-enhancing experiences -- are exploited. Exploitation is being hustled through college though you can't read.
When a cheating scandal hits, figuring out a coach's culpability is always hard. It has to be done on a case-by-case basis, with an eye on history.
Until now, Bowden and his staff had a reputation for vigilance. Before SI's story broke, Bowden defended himself against suggestions he should've known, saying: "What do you expect us to do? We can't put security guards outside in the bushes" at the athletic dorm.
No. The best approach is an interlocking system that involves everyone. The NCAA should adopt a zero-tolerance rule: An athlete or coach caught cheating once is banned from college with no option of reinstatement anywhere. Period. Then negotiate an equally hard-line pact with the pros. Make all agents register and get certified by each league. Add this caveat: Any agent caught breaking NCAA rules would be banned. For good.
Now move on to state legislatures. Like a handful of other states, Florida has a law to regulate sports agents. Violators face felony charges. Every state should consider similar measures.
As for whether athletes should get paid, the retort is simple: They already do. It costs $10,700 annually for an out-of-state athlete's full ride at FSU. Which is a bargain. The cost easily jumps to $20,000 or more at private universities -- which is more than the $15,000 stipend a one-year Fulbright student to Eastern Europe or the first-place winner in the PEN/Faulkner fiction competition receives.
Jocks like Corey Sawyer need to drop the persecution complexes. If a university comes up with a revolutionary atom smasher or an antidote to a virus, do the students who helped with the research project get a slice of the windfall? No. For all the Division I basketball coaches' chest-pounding about their $1 billion TV contract and all the football coaches' boasting, the fact is most programs don't pay for themselves, let alone entire athletic programs. Researchers such as Murray Sperber have also asserted there's no provable correlation between sports teams' records and alumni donations either.
If a football or basketball player needs money to dress sharp, buy a car or take his girlfriend out on Saturday night, he should get in touch with a novel little idea everyone else considers. It's called the student loan.
The current 5 percent interest rate equals or beats the minimum 5- or 10-percent cut even the most scrupulous sports agents charge. So getting an above-board loan instead of an illicit one for signing with some slime-slicked agent could actually save a star jock some money. And their alma maters would remain places they could come back to. And it would spare decent men like Bowden from having to endure a scintilla of grief because a kid he recruited can be bought for the appallingly low price of a $100 handshake or a few pair of new shoes.
All jocks like Sawyer are really "entitled" to is a lecture.
Stop being so dumb. You look cheap.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...34d-ad53-cab8da41e39a/?utm_term=.e6874e01198c
