War Eagle!!! - UPDATE!

On November 19th, I posted a story about Auburn and the whole Cam Newtong scandal. If you read this blog, you remember, but here were some of the assumptions I made regarding the situation at that time:

ASSUMPTION 1: Cam Newton got cash for eventually signing at Auburn.
ASSUMPTION 2: Other higher regarded recruits have gotten money for signing a LOI.
ASSUMPTION 3: If Newton was going for $180k, then other players have gotten more.
ASSUMPTION 4: ND is getting overlooked by elite talent, because we are not paying players to sign a LOI.

Even then, I still had hopes that maybe, just maybe this was blown out of proportion. I was suspicious that the NCAA resolved the matter almost immediately, with no penalty at all - even though Newton's father literally admitted to soliciting cash, which is an NCAA violation.

Well, set your DVRs to HBO tonight at 10pm for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. I will cue the Doors song right here, "The End." This really is the beginning of the end of college football, perhaps basketball and maybe even the NCAA as we know it.

The show will interview four former Auburn players and they will describe pay-for-play at Auburn as well as the secret cash payments made during recruiting. Stanley McClover even describes receiving a bookbag full of cash to sign at Auburn - Blue Chips style!!! Here is one little tidbit from the upcoming show:

Kremer voiceover: “McClover said it wasn’t until he attended an all-star camp at Louisiana State University that he realized how the game is played. A game of money and influence.”

McClover: “Somebody came to me, I don’t even know this person and he was like, ‘we would love for you to come to LSU and he gave me a handshake and it had five hundred dollars in there. … that’s called a money handshake … I grabbed it and I’m like, ‘wow,’ hell I thought ten dollars was a lot of money back then. Five hundred dollars for doing nothing but what I was blessed to do. I was happy.”

Kremer to McClover: “What did you say to the guy when he hands you five hundred dollars?”

McClover: “Thank you and I’m seriously thinking about coming to LSU.”

Kremer voiceover: “But McClover says there were money handshakes from boosters at other football camps too. At Auburn for a couple hundred dollars and at Michigan State. All the schools denied any wrongdoing. And things really started heating up a few months later when he went to Ohio State for an official visit where schools get a chance for one weekend to host prospective athletes. McClover says there were money handshakes from alumni there too. About a thousand dollars. And something else to entice him.”

McClover: “They send girls my way. I partied. When I got there I met up with a couple guys from the team. We went to a party and they asked me to pick any girl I wanted.”

Kremer: “Did she offer sexual services?“

McClover: “Yes.”

Kremer: “Did you take them?”

McClover: “Yes.”

Kremer: “McClover committed to Ohio State right after that weekend. The recruiter at Ohio State who says he dealt with McClover that weekend denied the school was involved in any wrongdoing.”

• On what caused McClover to sign with Auburn over Ohio State:

Kremer voiceover: “McClover says what he asked for was money. A lot of it. And that he got it. Delivered in a bookbag, exact amount unknown.”

Kremer to McClover: “You opened it up, what are you thinking?”

McClover: “I almost passed out. I literally almost passed out I couldn’t believe it was true. I felt like I owed them.”

So there you have it. That's just a small part of one of the interviews. Obviously Auburn is going down. Looks like some pretty damning stuff against OSU as well. On top of the current Tressel controversy, I'd say he is now dead man walking. I don't know how the NCAA ignores this. I think it might be the end of the NCAA itself. What happens in college sports after that? I have no idea.