I know this still could go anywhere, but this Ohio State thing is becoming very interesting. OSU is already starting to distance from Clarett. They see trouble on the Horizon. Because if Clarett goes down. He will drop the dime on Ohio State. What does he care. This is the same thing as Baylor. One thing happens and the whole thing unravels. This is just speculation, but I have a feeling OSU is guilty of some serious violations. Oral exams, payment to players, Surrogate fathers giving gifts to players. I my opinion this is much worse then Alabama. Alabama had a rougue booster. This could un-ravel. Worse case - Another Michigan basketball fiasco - They vacate the National Title and last season.. Best case - They throw Clarett to the dogs, and move the spotlight off of them and basically sacrafice Clarett. Man dont they wish that guy never broke into his "Borrowed" car and steal 10,000 bucks worth of "surrogate" father gifts. Or he actually attended class. The end result will be IMHO that Clarett challanges the NFL and wins. That could change the way High School football players are viewed from now on. THe NFL is not a leauge a highschool kid could play in. Maybe 1 every ten years so it wont be like Basketball. But dont be suprised if teams waste late round picks on high school kids and put them in Europe or on Practice squads. This could get very intersting. Geaux Tigers
Yeah. There's something going on there. On the NFL, the kid will win a court case but, as you said, high schoolers are not mature enough for the NFL. There are going to be a lot of Trev Faulk stories.
I dont think that will happen. The NFL is willing to shell out the huge bucks to fight this in court. They would probably drag it out for a couple years so that Clarret would be eligible before the case is even over. Also, I dont know where Clarret would get the money to pay the lawyers for this issue. It is just not smart for Clarret to try this. And all the colleges with D1 football teams would probably lobbying bigtime in support of the NFL on this issue.
Im almost positive that cant happen. The NCAA can tell them that they forfeit all 2002 games, but since the NCAA does not officially sponsor or endorse the BCS Championship, they cant take what wasnt theres to give. Its different with the NCAA sanctioned mens basketball tourny. I also think if Clarrett challenges, he loses. I mean really, hes not worth half the two shits he thinks he is to the NFL. They probably feel like they can take him or leave him. After all, there are plenty of freakish tailbacks coming out of Miami these days.
However he is being denied the right to work correct ? He is over 18. The NFL is a vocation just as we are in our regular jobs. That is what happened in Basketball when they challanged it. As sad as it sounds it was Age discrimination. The liberals will jump all over that. Tack on that he is African American you drag the Jim Browns, Jesse Jackson of the worlds into the mix and they play the race card and people head for the hills. I agree with Clarret is a spare in the NFL. But if he wants to he could make a mess of all this.
good post...i agree, OSU seems to be backing out on the clarett situation...rightfully so this guy has $$$$ written all over him heck he's best friends a with 90 million dollar teenager
Good point. I guess we will see. Although I did hear Jim Brown on ESPN radio either yesterday or the day before very vocally opposed to changing the rule, and I think he has acted as a mentor to Clarrett. He said his advice to Clarrett was to just sit it out and stay in school. Also, health is more of a concern regarding football. Basketball and baseball players dont take the pounding that football players do, so football players need those extra years to mature physically and pack on some muscle.
Correct. The NFL would clearly be found guilty of restraint of trade if they attempted to fight it. (Not my original thought, I heard an analyst talking about this next point). Any hot shot lawyer looking to making a name for himself will take it on pro bono and get paid on the back end because someone will draft Clarett and he will make a tidy sum of money.
The only defense the NFL has for it's age requirements is the safety argument; that this is not the NBA or baseball and that an 18 year old is physically not ready to take the punishment that the NFL dishes out, thus, three years of post-secondary school football is necessary to get the experience and toughness needed to survive (not do well in, SURVIVE) the first brutal couple of years in the league. A lot of people are saying Clarett would win, but I'm not so sure. Football has ALWAYS been treated differently than other team sports because of the brutal nature of the game (Teddy Roosevelt threatened to outlaw it back in 1906 unless safety reforms were implemented. Think where U.S. sports would be today had he done that or had the NCAA told him that he was a sissy and forced him to ban it?) I guess really it depends on what court and what judge it landed in front of. But I definitely think any judge except one completely ignorant of sports is going to see that the NFL is not like MLB or the NBA and that an age limit is necessary for the protection of the players. Very few kids are ready for the NFL after high school or freshman year. I would hate to see a kid get badly hurt and ruin his life (to say nothing of his career) simply because he couldn't wait three more years for the big check. But we live in a society that demands instant gratification, so there it is. As for Ohio State, a completely gutless move on their part. By leaving Clarett to twist in the wind, they are hoping to throw the NCAA off their trail. If I'm in NCAA inspector, this is blood in the water for me. I go after Ohio State even harder now. It's looking more and more like Ohio State sold their soul to win that national championship, because I've heard from other boards that Tressel is dirty, that he was dirty when he was at Youngstown St. and dominating 1-AA (one McNeese fan on one board went so far as to say that all those national championships at YSU were bought and paid for) I don't know about that. But I do think Ohio State owes Clarett some loyalty. He is a part of their program and they do have a certain amount of obligation to look after him. Of course, Clarett has an obligation to follow their rules, something he hasn't always done in the past, so I guess they think they're just fine foresaking him. Still, two wrongs don't make a right IMHO.
