NCAA Treats SEC with Kid Gloves-Again!

Johnny Party Boy

The NCAA is an embarrassment to its member institutions and their student athletes. Its enforcement of the bylaws has become a joke. The Johnny Manziel decision yesterday is just one in a long line of blunders and inconsistencies.

This troubled organization suspended Heisman Trophy winner, Texas A+M quarterback, Johnny Manziel, for one half of the team's first game against a four-touchdown underdog, Rice.  Johnny was suspended for violating NCAA rule 12.5.2.1 which says a player "cannot permit their names or likenesses to be used for commercial purposes." Although there is ample evidence that Johnny's 4000+ autographs were "used for commercial purposes," the NCAA had no paper trail to prove that Johnny received money for autographs. However, he was still guilty of breaking the rule -- the autographs were indeed used for commercial purposes. The NCAA says he is only partially guilty because he denies having received compensation. Is being partially guilty similar to being partially pregnant?

Perhaps "Johnny Football" can use that 30 minute suspension to sign more autographs.

Face it, everyone knows he was guilty, and the NCAA invited him into the confessional and asked him to confess. He and his family lawyered up and refused to confess and the NCAA said: "Johnny you have sinned and your penance is missing thirty minutes of a 'walk-over' game. Go thy way, my son,  and sin no more."

What makes such a resolution so disturbing is that it is not consistent with other cases. Dallas Cowboy receiver, Dez Bryant, was suspended a full season because he lied about having dinner with Deion Sanders. (The dinner itself was not a violation.) Terelle Pryor, Oakland Raiders quarterback, was suspended 5 games for trading memorabilia for tattoos. A.J. Green, a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, was suspended for four games for selling his Independence Bowl jersey for cash.

But in a perverse way, the NCAA is consistent. They are chary of leveling meaningful suspensions against high profile quarterbacks from the South Eastern Conference. Although Cam Newton's father offered to have his son play for Mississippi in exchange for a considerable amount of money, the NCAA cleared Cam to play for the Auburn Tigers. Cam also became a Heisman trophy winner.

Apparently, the NCAA is quite willing to give a free pass to high-profile football players from the SEC. I have to wonder what would have happened if instead of Johnny Manziel, the player had been Terrance Owens, the quarterback of the Toledo Rockets. A half game suspension? Get real. The NCAA would throw him under the bus and sanction the University of Toledo as well.

So why is the NCAA reluctant to hand out a meaningful suspension to a high profile football player from the SEC? It is my opinion that the the NCAA fears the SEC may bolt and become its own governing body. If that happens, other leagues might follow suit and the NCAA would unravel. It is in their best interest to keep the SEC happy.