Miami Hurricanes are going down

[Hilltopper]

I posted this in the other thread, but this is big enough for its own thread. It will be interesting to see how the NCAA handles this one. Yahoo Sports rocks!

Why Miami is in trouble

The NCAA has a checklist when it comes to major infractions cases and Shapiro can click through most of it quickly. There’s no denying his role as an official Miami booster – “an ardent, devoted, intense supporter,” the school website once described him. There is no question he owned part of Axcess Sports, which had signed Vince Wilfork and Jon Beason, Hurricane players who became first-round NFL picks.

And there is no question Shapiro provided scores of Miami athletes with impermissible benefits from 2002-2010. In March 2011, he began working with a team of NCAA investigators and Shapiro said they call it, “the biggest case they’ve ever had.” Multiple media reports say NCAA investigators were on the Coral Gables campus Monday.

The most difficult issue for Miami, the one that will cause the NCAA hammer to drop harder and swifter than any other is this: did school officials know, or should they have known, of Shapiro’s actions?

“Everybody knew,” said Shapiro, who tried to hide specific actions but overall wanted to be seen as a big-time player on the scene. “The whole town knew. I didn’t care who knew. With all that I was doing (illegally), do you think I cared about the NCAA? I thought I was invincible. My mentality with Miami was, ‘what are you going to do about it?’

“And you know what? They didn’t do anything.”

Not even after he tried to fight the compliance director.

Renegade Miami football booster spells out illicit benefits to players

In 100 hours of jailhouse interviews during Yahoo! Sports’ 11-month investigation, Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and, on one occasion, an abortion

[K92]

Of course this was the number one story on the radio this morning. Were you listening to Bill King, Hilltopper? He said the same thing, that this scandal makes OSU's look like absolute child's play.

Did you see the short interview with Al Golden on ESPN yesterday? He looked like he had seen a ghost.

[GP1]

Just think if these kids were allowed to go out and get a job signing autographs. A lot of this could have been avoided.

[K92]

Just think if these kids were allowed to go out and get a job signing autographs. A lot of this could have been avoided.

Nice try, but I'm not taking your bait.

[Zipmeister]

Of course this was the number one story on the radio this morning. Were you listening to Bill King, Hilltopper? He said the same thing, that this scandal makes OSU's look like absolute child's play.

Did you see the short interview with Al Golden on ESPN yesterday? He looked like he had seen a ghost.

I think Al may have just thought of another clause he should have had in his employment contract.

[johnnyzip84]

Of course this was the number one story on the radio this morning. Were you listening to Bill King, Hilltopper? He said the same thing, that this scandal makes OSU's look like absolute child's play.

Did you see the short interview with Al Golden on ESPN yesterday? He looked like he had seen a ghost.

I think Al may have just thought of another clause he should have had in his employmeny contract.

And what would he call it? Why the Golden Parachute of course

[Zipmeister]

Of course this was the number one story on the radio this morning. Were you listening to Bill King, Hilltopper? He said the same thing, that this scandal makes OSU's look like absolute child's play.

Did you see the short interview with Al Golden on ESPN yesterday? He looked like he had seen a ghost.

I think Al may have just thought of another clause he should have had in his employmeny contract.

And what would he call it? Why the Golden Parachute of course

Not bad!

[K92]

I think Al may have crapped a golden brick when he heard the news.

[Dave in Green]

Did LeBron James 'curse' the University of Miami?

[Buckzip]

Of course this was the number one story on the radio this morning. Were you listening to Bill King, Hilltopper? He said the same thing, that this scandal makes OSU's look like absolute child's play.

Did you see the short interview with Al Golden on ESPN yesterday? He looked like he had seen a ghost.

I think Al may have just thought of another clause he should have had in his employmeny contract.

And what would he call it? Why the Golden Parachute of course

Well played.

[GP1]

Renegade Miami football booster spells out illicit benefits to players

In 100 hours of jailhouse interviews during Yahoo! Sports’ 11-month investigation, Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and, on one occasion, an abortion

I absolutely love this tread and I can't believe more people aren't posting. The more you read about this case, the more you realized how out of control college athletics has become on every level. Are the players corrupt, or has the arms race in the form of building one facility after another caused this environment? College kids are college kids (not just athletes) and if you put a free hooker in front of one of them (imagine the quality of hooker one can get in Maimi), there is going to be some sex going on in 99% of the cases. College kids are not able to resist the temtations presented to them. A kid who grows up in a ghetto, in most cases, is not going to turn down a ride on a million dollar yacht in Miami, or a free $1,000 per hour hooker, or a dinner at a high end steak house, or anything else ("Is there a bigger racial divide in American than the difference between the players playing college football and the high end donors?" Mrs. GP1, the luckiest woman in the world).

Universities have spent millions in building facilities. Ashland University just spent $20 on athletic facilities for a D II school....a D II school... and $70 million on school buildings...talk about a school that doesn't have its priorities straight. The money doesn't fall out of the sky...it has to be raised. At a school like Miami (and there are others like Miami), there aren't that many high end donors so if you find one, you let him basically do whatever he wants in order to keep up with the Jones. If you don't, you are finished.

What's the ncaa's solution to this problem it doesn't see as a problem? Create more rules preventing the kids who have no chance of turning down a free hooker from getting the free hooker. It seems to me that the arms race has created the problem, not the players. If the people at the ncaa had a combined half a brain, they would restrict the "building processes" at these schools that are at the core of the problem. The players aren't at the core of the problem. The problems are the athletic departments who haven't seen a stadium building project they would turn down and the ncaa who is obsessed with making college athletics bigger and bigger at any cost. Nobody will say it, but that's the problem. It's so out of control now that no control can be established and every off season we are going to hear these stories until the ncaa reforms or is eliminated. The main stories of college football are now about teams in a scandal and not, you know, actual college football. It's terrible for college football.

[Hilltopper]

Renegade Miami football booster spells out illicit benefits to players

In 100 hours of jailhouse interviews during Yahoo! Sports’ 11-month investigation, Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and, on one occasion, an abortion

I absolutely love this tread and I can't believe more people aren't posting. The more you read about this case, the more you realized how out of control college athletics has become on every level. Are the players corrupt, or has the arms race in the form of building one facility after another caused this environment? College kids are college kids (not just athletes) and if you put a free hooker in front of one of them (imagine the quality of hooker one can get in Maimi), there is going to be some sex going on in 99% of the cases. College kids are not able to resist the temtations presented to them. A kid who grows up in a ghetto, in most cases, is not going to turn down a ride on a million dollar yacht in Miami, or a free $1,000 per hour hooker, or a dinner at a high end steak house, or anything else ("Is there a bigger racial divide in American than the difference between the players playing college football and the high end donors?" Mrs. GP1, the luckiest woman in the world).

Universities have spent millions in building facilities. Ashland University just spent $20 on athletic facilities for a D II school....a D II school... and $70 million on school buildings...talk about a school that doesn't have its priorities straight. The money doesn't fall out of the sky...it has to be raised. At a school like Miami (and there are others like Miami), there aren't that many high end donors so if you find one, you let him basically do whatever he wants in order to keep up with the Jones. If you don't, you are finished.

What's the ncaa's solution to this problem it doesn't see as a problem? Create more rules preventing the kids who have no chance of turning down a free hooker from getting the free hooker. It seems to me that the arms race has created the problem, not the players. If the people at the ncaa had a combined half a brain, they would restrict the "building processes" at these schools that are at the core of the problem. The players aren't at the core of the problem. The problems are the athletic departments who haven't seen a stadium building project they would turn down and the ncaa who is obsessed with making college athletics bigger and bigger at any cost. Nobody will say it, but that's the problem. It's so out of control now that no control can be established and every off season we are going to hear these stories until the ncaa reforms or is eliminated. The main stories of college football are now about teams in a scandal and not, you know, actual college football. It's terrible for college football.

I agree with you 100%. The kids are not the problem. ESPN is an enabler for this crap. I watched their "Panel of experts" try and explain why the BCS should stay the other night, what a joke.

[GP1]

I agree with you 100%. The kids are not the problem. ESPN is an enabler for this crap.

Good point about espn.

A lot of complaining about politics and how ugly it becomes centers on the 24 hour news cycle and I would agree with that line of thinking. The 24 hour news cycle of espn has gotten college athletics out of control. ESPN is a problem. They all sit around and act shocked when a school is caught cheating, yet many of them played college football and saw first hand cheating.

I don't know if the kids are not the problem. They are a secondary problem.

[Dave in Green]

Looking for a scapegoat? Follow the money. Who does it ultimately come from, where does it go and for what reason?

Obsessed sports fans may find that the path leads right to their mirrors. You there in the mirror are the one who controls the level of demand for whatever it takes for your favorite sports teams to win.

Want to get the big money corruption out of sports? Cut it off at the source. The supply side is not the source of the problem. The supply side merely supplies what the demand side demands.

Big money sports only exist because obsessed fans are willing to dump big money into sports.

All the others are just trying to get a piece of the action from obsessed sports fans who so willingly give their financial support in the pursuit of having winning sports teams while turning a blind eye to the details of how it's accomplished.

[Zip Watcher]

If you haven't read Mark Titus' blog, I think you're missing out. He's a younger Bill Simmons with the experience of being inside a BCS athletic program. Usually a good read.

Titus weighs in on Miami @ Club Trillion

[Zipsrifle]

Renegade Miami football booster spells out illicit benefits to players

In 100 hours of jailhouse interviews during Yahoo! Sports’ 11-month investigation, Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and, on one occasion, an abortion

I absolutely love this tread and I can't believe more people aren't posting. The more you read about this case, the more you realized how out of control college athletics has become on every level. Are the players corrupt, or has the arms race in the form of building one facility after another caused this environment? College kids are college kids (not just athletes) and if you put a free hooker in front of one of them (imagine the quality of hooker one can get in Maimi), there is going to be some sex going on in 99% of the cases. College kids are not able to resist the temtations presented to them. A kid who grows up in a ghetto, in most cases, is not going to turn down a ride on a million dollar yacht in Miami, or a free $1,000 per hour hooker, or a dinner at a high end steak house, or anything else ("Is there a bigger racial divide in American than the difference between the players playing college football and the high end donors?" Mrs. GP1, the luckiest woman in the world).

Universities have spent millions in building facilities. Ashland University just spent $20 on athletic facilities for a D II school....a D II school... and $70 million on school buildings...talk about a school that doesn't have its priorities straight. The money doesn't fall out of the sky...it has to be raised. At a school like Miami (and there are others like Miami), there aren't that many high end donors so if you find one, you let him basically do whatever he wants in order to keep up with the Jones. If you don't, you are finished.

What's the ncaa's solution to this problem it doesn't see as a problem? Create more rules preventing the kids who have no chance of turning down a free hooker from getting the free hooker. It seems to me that the arms race has created the problem, not the players. If the people at the ncaa had a combined half a brain, they would restrict the "building processes" at these schools that are at the core of the problem. The players aren't at the core of the problem. The problems are the athletic departments who haven't seen a stadium building project they would turn down and the ncaa who is obsessed with making college athletics bigger and bigger at any cost. Nobody will say it, but that's the problem. It's so out of control now that no control can be established and every off season we are going to hear these stories until the ncaa reforms or is eliminated. The main stories of college football are now about teams in a scandal and not, you know, actual college football. It's terrible for college football.

Never thought about it this way.....interesting.