I don't think this will effect Reggie Bush with the Saints. If everything is true about him accepting money while at USC then money drives the guy at a higher level then most. He now has all the money he needs for himself and his family. He knows in his heart what he was risking by taking money. If the facts show he's guilty then I suspect he's known this day was coming for a while. He's just going to let the lawyers fight it out.
Reggie's defense is that this guy can't be trusted because he is an ex-con and that ultimately may be true. I have no idea whose story is true. However, why was Reggie Bush "involved" with an ex-con while he was in college? How would we feel if something like this came out about one of our players?
Great point! When you get beneath all the BS and lawyer talk the question is "Where did all the money come from?" And, how much money was given to Bush and his family?
In order to have "provided" nearly $300k in benefits, Lake would need to show that he had that much to provide. The only way to do that is through tax returns/pay stubs. Last time I checked, prison pay doesn't come out to hundreds of thousands.
You tell me. And I don't recall the Gators ever getting sanctioned despite their own admission of having agents/reps on campus. "He was instrumental in persuading a Louisiana State University assistant football coach to sign an affidavit that Black told him in December that he had purchased a car for an undergraduate athlete at Florida. That month, according to the LSU assistant, someone identifying himself as one of Black's representatives offered him cash, "whatever it takes; 10-, 20-, 30-thousand dollars," to deliver defensive lineman Anthony McFarland." http://www.sptimes.com/News/62499/Sports/Agent_says_UF_officia.shtml
This is all about UF or was that your intent? The only mention of LSU was an assistant that signed an affidavit detailing that he was approached by an agent. So should we feel bad that he is doing the right thing? "You tell me?"
Just read this article This is from an article out of the SF Chronicle. Former LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell's six-year deal with the Raiders is worth $61 million, some $32 million of it guaranteed. If the deal pays out in full, agents Ethan Lock and Eric Metz will collect more than $1.8 million from one client, assuming they get the maximum 3 percent allowed by the NFL Players Association. They'll also get a much bigger slice of whatever endorsement deals they cut for him. Because he plays a high-profile position, those deals figure to be lucrative. Russell was essentially delivered to Lock, Metz and their firm, LLM, by former University of Miami and NFL running back Melvin Bratton, a highly successful "runner" who twice failed the agent test required by the NFLPA. "He brought me to those guys, and I met them and built a relationship with them," Russell said. "You're putting your life in their hands. Once we sat down with them, my mom thought they were the kind of group for us." http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...CSN73Q.DTL&hw=tempting+business&sn=002&sc=320 Come on guys, a runner is someone who goes to college campuses and does the bidding for the agents. It's naive IMO to think that agents aren't frequenting the campuses of top programs or buzzing the phones of top players. As a side note, in 1995 USC sued a would be agent for paying inducements to players who were subsequently ruled ineligible. An award of $50k was paid by the offender. Seeking some recourse, the university filed the lawsuit, which is believed to be the first of its kind. It alleged that Mr. Caron had induced the athletes to breach their contract with the university -- a scholarship agreement in which they promised to obey N.C.A.A. rules -- by accepting impermissible cash and other benefits. The day the lawsuit was filed, the court issued a temporary restraining order barring Mr. Caron from soliciting the athletes or providing them with favors in violation of N.C.A.A. rules. A few days later, a settlement was reached.
Don't worry, although USC should get the death penalty they will come out unscathed. If the NCAA was serious about pursuing these allegations as vigorously as it has allegations against some other universities this investigation would be at the penalty phase already. It is common knowledge that the NCAA picks and choses which teams it wants to hammer and those that get a free pass.
Well if Anthony McFarland was being offered cash (whatever it took) to play for Florida and he ended up at LSU, then isn't it possible he and MANY others of his calibre were also offered cash to play? It happens, it happens at lots of schools, and it's possible it happens at LSU. It is virtually IMPOSSIBLE for any school to eliminate all agent contact with players. When big money is involved, they will find a way, particularly when "new" agencies are trying to break into the business. My take is that since it's wrong, players and agents should be held accountable. The difficulty is trying to determine whether a school knew or should have known. I'd be interested to hear what suggestions people have to deal with this.
Show me where it says McFarland accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from and agent and that his family that couldn't pay the bills one week moved into a mansion the next. It's one thing to have someone try to lure a player into illegal activity, it's another if the player willingly joins in.
