I'm seeing red. Really. This has to be a joke. Perhaps I can take a small measure of comfort in the fact that the trOJan times published a piece that defends UCLA for once, but the charges that need defending are so ludicrous that it's hard for me to believe that anyone puts any trust in the absolute FARCE of an organization known as the NCAA.
You ready for it? Here it is:
The recruit was Kevin Love, now the Bruins' star freshman center.
The person representing the interests of the university was John Wooden.
What?
Hold on there. The rest of the article goes on to explain how the complaint is full of it because Coach Wooden is a paid consultant with UCLA and so there is absolutely no question that he is an official representative of the University.
But those false allegations, that's not what gets me. Isn't there something else that should be occupying the time of the geniuses at the NCAA? Something like, oh I don't know, the contents of THIS BOOK!?
They go out of their way to investigate legal contact between a great and genuine human being and an impressionable young man, where the conversation probably stayed well out of the realm of basketball, but when it comes to printed receipts and oral documentation of a supposed amateur athlete receiving HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS, suddenly the NCAA doesn't know what to do. Receiving free groceries is the crime of the century, but raping, underaged drinking, roiding up, assaulting, rampant racism on facebook, and free rent across town is just "boys being boys". If we must endure this investigation to nowhere while the inmates run the penitentiary across town, then the NCAA is a disgusting and corrupt organization which desperately needs some oversight of its own.
I suggest reading the rest of the article, as it further underscores the ridiculous double standard the NCAA has applied thus far. It sends the message that all it takes to slander a school is a random and unsubstantiated complaint. Where's the NCAA hotline? I have the feeling that Pete Carroll "loves" animals. I can't wait for that subsequent investigation and news article. How about this as a potential lead in line? "Carroll may be a 'humanitarian' but not when it comes to his recreational activities."
Congress is currently investigating steroids in baseball. I believe it is far more important for them to investigate the culture of selective permissiveness and double standards applied by one of the most arbitrary and capricious organizations in existence that is currently making a mockery of collegiate and amateur athletics.
The NCAA better come down HARD on Bu$h and $UC if they have time to pursue this kind of foolishness. The clock is ticking, and they are losing credibility by the second.
Thanks to melliott2 for bringing this to my attention.