Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Cam Newton mess

Well for everyone that follows NCAA football, the best player in the league and the person expected to win the Heisman trophy has been in a bit of trouble lately. Cam Newton considered the front runner in winning the trophy has been battling allegations that he decided what school he would go to by how much money they offer him. Recently a former Mississippi state player, Bill Bell, came out saying that Newton's father representative sent him text messages asking for over 180k over a period of 60 days for his son to attend that school. I'm not saying that Newton is guilty but this bad publicity and ongoing investigation could cost him the Heisman even though he clearly is the best player. It is strictly against NCAA rules to take money and gift from agents or schools; if you do you lose NCAA eligibility for the year. We've already seen one mess regarding these rules this year already with Reggie Bush. But why are these rules implemented in the college system? Many student seem to get easily manipulated by agents and they end up accepting gifts without the intent too. So do you believe that the NCAA should remove or weaken the rules regarding receiving gifts during recruitment or do the serve a bigger purpose that I don't know of. Enlighten me.

4 comments:

Joshua Chan said...

The NCAA should definitely impose harsher rules receiving gifts during recruitment. Not only does it give an advantage to certain players, but it's just straight up unfair that others don't receive special rewards from the best schools. On the other hand, it's hard for star athletes to ignore bribes from the best. We've seen this kind of situation one too many times, and it's important that the NCAA should change the rulebook.

Shorhon said...

I agree with Josh; the current NCAA regulations just aren't strong enough. Many unrecorded students continue to receive various forms of bribery. Not only are gifts during recruitment against NCAA rules, but the bribes are morally unjust and corrupt. The gifts can obscure a player's judgement and cause them to choose a school that may not be suit their best interests, in the long run. Furthermore, in the cause of public institutions, the money comes from the taxpayers. The money isn't allocated to the athletic department for bribery purposes; that's just wrong.

Rosslee Mamis said...

I think many people misunderstand the situation of gift giving in the NCAA. The schools are not the ones giving money to the players 99% of the time. This money is almost coming from outside sources like boosters, professional agents, and sports companies and businesses. Also what is so wrong about players trying to make a buck while they are in college putting their bodies and future welfare at risk for the NCAA to make money off of them? I mean I may not be a fan of this case in particular because it involves the recruitment of a player to a school and it was probably happening without his knowledge but like I said the NCAA makes billions of dollars off student athletes why shouldn't they be able to make a buck?

Max Liebergesell said...

I agree all of you that the NCAA needs to impose harsher rules againt recruting, but where is the line drawn? Recently the Tennessee mens basketball coach has been suspended for 8 games, for illegaling hosting a potential player at his house. Photos were taken at the house and were said to be against the NCAA laws, Pearl denied these photos. But how do we know that hosting a family for dinner is a violation of the rules?