He mostly took calls and it was a lot of "what if" questions from callers.
(paraphrase) He said that "if" it can be proven that players received an economic benefit from the memorabilia and the suits then shit will hit the fan like it did at OSU. If not then it will be nothing more than message board fodder. He thought it was weird that with the disassociation letter and the guy not being a booster, talked a little about the time line of the letters. Nothing really. If this happens, then this will happen, if this doesn't happen, then this won't happen. Said that the way he saw it today that there was an 80/20 chance that this will go away and nothing will come of it. Maybe TR and others will be ineligible for a game, and have to pay restitution on the price of the suits and they have from the date until graduation/end of eligibility to pay it back, and that it can be done in monthly installments if the family can't afford the lump sum up front.
He also said the Camgate thing was over and nothing will ever come of it. That no one is getting in trouble for it and that the NCAA is working hard to change the rule.
I'm not an NCAA lawyer, and you really don't have to be to deliver such an opinion. This, on the surface, has the potential to be as bad as the Tat 5 shit.
We KNOW bammer knew about the situation. We know they suspected NCAA rules were being broken, or at least that there was some potential for it, but we don't know that they were. Players can sign shit. They can have autograph sessions. If I have some signed gear, I can sell it, and as long as the player gets nothing, there's no problem.
The grey area is signing shit for use to promote a business. And it's a question to the player of "what did you know, and when did you know it?", and even so, as long as the player didn't benefit, it would likely still be a secondary violation.
The big question is, where did Julio come up with the money for all his suits after wearing a hoodie to court before he arrived on campus? You say a player could afford $299.00 suits on the scholly stipend. Ok, so you're saying this player took and bought $3K worth of suits for game day walk of douchebags? Not counting ties, belts and shoes? May be.
But, there's AT LEAST as much smoke here as 4 long gone disgruntled players saying they got sacks of cash 4 to 6 years ago. Enough for the NCAA to look in to for sure.
And bammer sends a cease and desist letter that cites an NCAA rule, disassociates a guy with sideline passes and clear connections to the Updkye Academy, but says he's not a booster? Yet, they don't even notify the NCAA of any of this?
If this were happening in Auburn, The NYTs, Fox News, Tuscaloser News, B'ham News, and Finebaum, would be on it like stink on shit, and the bammer parade of morons on Finebaum would have the FBI, CIA, DEA, FDA, NASA, NCAA, and the United States Military descending on Lee County ready to level it, all the while screaming "dem cheatin' Aubs paaaawwwwl".
Is there anything to it? I'd say likely nothing that can be proved by paper trail, or snitch. But, there's damn sure enough to raise suspicion and investigate.
IF, and that's a HUGE IF, there is something to it, AND it can be proved, and bammer didn't report it, which we know they didn't...THAT will be the death-knell.
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