USC is simply the best team money can buy.... hell their own alumni even say it! The scary part is how obvious they've been about it and for how long.... Sooner or later their basketball or football team is going to get SMU'd.....
I agree on the USC sentiments but disagree that it well ever result in a SMU situation. The precedents that lead me to believe that are the Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo situations (every one forgets that Mayo was paid off as well for basketball). Add Cam Newton, and (____insert big program player here____), and it leads me to believe that the only thing that can really slow down these major programs is a coach raping potential recruits (thanks Penn State for setting that standard!). Let's be real though... you guys are all Oregon fans. You have Phil Knight in your back pocket. You guys have all of the new jerseys, the new uniform technologies, and all of the money in the world to spend courting these recruits in the most fashionable way. I've always found that to be just as much of an advantage as Bush getting paid to play at USC. It's the same for UNC basketball. Young African-Americans are getting killed for the latest Jordan's. You don't think having Michael Jordan himself deliver the newest Jordans to UNC players is a recruiting advantage for the Tar Heels? I think the NCAA needs to stamp out all "gray area" recruiting tactics and let the schools recruit based on the merits of their schools and their football programs.
Yeah, USC just can't stop paying its players. It'll never stop until the program gets tossed out for a year.
NOVoodoo, if you had gone to U of O, you'd know that we need Phil Knight wining and dining athletes to get any of them to stay in that desolate, never-ending rainscape. Eugene is all concrete and asphalt, and when it rains (October through May), the town is literally like a black and white movie. The only time Eugene looks nice is during recruiting weeks and student preview weeks... total bait and switch job.
That will never happen. The NCAA wants to punish their best schools like the NBA wants to see LA out of the playoffs.
Agree to disagree here.... USC has already been put on probation for a few years and just got their bowl eligibility back.... If they are smart they should lay up for a while.... Lamo isn't smart enough to understand how to be low profile.... I see more violations coming..... USC's boosters can't stay out of the mix it seems.... This is exactly why Terry Bowden left Auburn... Couldn't keep the boosters from corrupting the kids...
USC players openly brag about getting paid, and the NCAA does nothing about it. [video=youtube;m-owog4Dkf0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-owog4Dkf0[/video]
it's being investigated by both the school and the NCAA. How do I know? A friend of mine owns a catering company and had a USC fundraising event/dinner last week that I helped out with. Among others in attendance were the school President and Athletic Director Pat Hayden. After dinner PH took questions from the attendees and addressed this. He didn't get into specifics, but said that it's ongoing and they'll confront the facts head on and work with the NCAA to make things right STOMP
Only in the SEC does the NCAA move fast. Remember Cam Newton being suspended, and then cleared, in a two-day window by the NCAA? That guy never attended a class at Auburn, his dad got paid $180k by Auburn boosters, yet Cam wins the Heisman, Auburn wins a title, and Team SEC wins again.
I always get the impression that the NCAA is slow when they want to be slow, and they're swift when they want to be swift. Just look at how quickly the penalties came down on Ohio St., for example. The longer something drags out, the less likely there is to be a public outcry if the penalties are soft. Just look at the Duke 'scandal' with Lance Thomas. The story broke, and there was a lot of uproar at the time, but now the public has mostly forgotten about it. At the time, people were calling for Duke to be put on probation, but I bet you that either nothing comes of it, or a few months down the road we'll hear about a fine or something and be okay with it.
