Tony Barnhart With A Right Cross

[AUChizad]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/15371568/friday-follies-alabama-best-be-wary-of-friendly-boosters

Friday Follies: Alabama best be wary of friendly boosters
 
By Tony Barnhart
CBS Sports
July 29, 2011

Alabama had better be right on T-Town Menswear: Remember when I told you that the world changed after Ohio State's "Tat Five" played in the Sugar Bowl? That reality is hitting home at Alabama.

Not that long ago, if a school determined that one of its boosters was getting a little too chummy with a football player, the athletic director would call the booster and tell him to knock it off. And if a nosy reporter got wind of the situation and asked about it, the AD would simply say "We handled it." End of story.

Alabama says no rules were broken in Tom Albetar's clothing store but will keep its distance anyway.      
Not anymore. SEC commissioner Mike Slive said last week that college athletics "had lost the benefit of the doubt." Here is another example: Alabama officials say they have checked into the relationship of past and present players to the owner of T-Town Menswear in Tuscaloosa. The school's investigators have determined no NCAA violations have occurred, even though there are pictures in cyberspace of several Alabama players in the store posing with the owner, Tom Albetar. Signed jerseys and helmets are also in the store. Even though the school claims no rules were broken, it still disassociated itself from Albetar.

Obviously, if players got free clothes or discounted clothes, that would be a violation. There is no proof that such a thing happened. There is no fire.

But there is smoke. A website run by attorney Clay Travis (outkickthecoverage.com) has obtained photos of former player Julio Jones (who had been pictured in the store) wearing 16 -- that's right, 16 -- different suits to Alabama football games (some sharp stuff, I might add). Again, there is currently no proof that a violation has occurred.

The point: In a college football culture that has featured one scandal after another, the digging will continue and opponents are more than willing to help. Technology makes it hard to close the book on one of these cases. That's why Alabama must be right.

[The Prowler]

Uhhhh....Nothing to see here.....Uhhhh.....MOVE ALONG!!!!....Uhhhhh