Thursday, August 8, 2013

NCAA's repeated hypocrisy over the Reggie Bush case gets worse. (Updated)

Let's review the NCAA's past hypocrisies over the Reggie Bush case, shall we?
  • Paul Dee, head of the COI stated unequivocally that USC either knew of should have known that Reggie Bush's family had taken money from an agent.  Then it turns out years later, that under Paul Dee's watch at the University of Miami, a massive scandal had been going on, right under his nose.
  • The NCAA repeatedly said that its COI had a transparent process (heck, they even had a dog and pony show), but it wasn't until they had a court order (from the Todd McNair lawsuit) to turn over internal emails, did the court first discover that the COI had been violating its own process and rules regarding investigations.
  • Speaking of rules and the lack of following them, the COI also violated its own rules when they disallowed USC representatives from sitting in on witness interviews.
  • And about this so-called fairness at the COI?  One of the members who adjudicated the claims against USC and Todd McNair, was a former long-time employee of Notre Dame, a major rival.
There were many instances of hypocrisy, but these were the most egregious examples...until yesterday.

Via Larry Brown Sports, we found out yesterday that the NCAA's own paraphernalia sales website -- shopNCAAsports.com -- was selling autographed photos of Reggie Bush from the 2005 Orange Bowl where USC completely destroyed Oklahoma.  Of course, the offending item was removed once it became public.  You know what precipitated all this, of course: The NCAA was profiting from Johnny Football on its website, and Jay Bilas pointed out that Manziel couldn't personally receive compensation for the use of his image and signature, but the NCAA could.

So, while the NCAA demanded that USC disassociate itself from Reggie Bush, the NCAA not only maintained its ties to Reggie Bush, but also made money off him!

How disgusting.

NCAA selling Bush memorabilia, via Larry Brown Sports

Update: Apparently it was all too much hypocrisy for the NCAA. They officially announced that they would shut down sales of items tied to individuals.

It brings up a separate question, though: For now, the NCAA continues to sell Junior Seau jerseys -- see below -- even though he's dead (suicide, suffering from the effects of repeated head trauma); have they ever donated a portion of the proceeds to his children?



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