Nocera 2nd powerful piece on Boat

[Clockshop]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/opinion/nocera-living-in-fear-of-the-ncaa.html

 

[61cygni]

Was looking forward to his next article.

No way should she have just handed over her bank records, regardless of the situation. It's too bad that any parents are coerced into this kind of cooperation when their kids are basically held hostage.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

to be honest, i didn't think that article was that great. he could have made a much better argument.

 

[uconnbill]

It was a good article but wish he produced more info from others on the lousy treatment by the NCAA. I agree with his Gezpatcho comparison 100%

 

[Burnsbros23]

This just pisses me off so much. I really think there trying to get back at us for skating around the whole scholarship situation.

Here is a story that will piss you off even more. I was playing basketball yesterday with a kid who played at Northern Illinois who is close with World Wide Wes. Watched Carmelo's first playoff game in the skybox with him, his dad is very good friends with him. And he is explaining what World Wide Wes does two these two kids who dont following recruiting like some of us do. Basically saying He calls Coach Cal(World Wide Wes is Cal's agent) or whatever coach and says I got so so in my pocket he wants 100,000 dollars and he will go to your school. And these kids all wanna be with World Wide Wes cause he has ties to Nike and Lebron and all those guys.

And it just pisses me off cause he we are and they are doing everything they can to find out about Boatright. Who was rated in the 70's by most sites? Who is 5'10 150 pounds? Sure he has a future in basketball but he is no sure thing. If the number 75 recruit in the country family is getting money dont you think the number 1 recruits family is getting money. They are really sticking it to us on this one.

 

[rbny1]

His basic point, that the NCAA is protecting itself and its own interests rather than the interests of student-athletes, goes to the heart of the matter. The NCAA is deceitful and two-faced: it claims it is upholding the sanctity of amateur athletics, but its real goal is to commercialize college athletics as fully as possible and maximize its income from TV contracts. Its actions should be held accountable to the law. Unfortunately, they are not.

 

[Waquoit]

The fact that Cam Newton was cleared in about 20 minutes tells you all you have to know.

 

[Kitaman]

Where is the Chicago Tribune on this matter? What irks me is the length it takes to decide and the timing. How the hell can the NCAA regulate high schoolers or their parents who don't know all the rules?

I would bet that many poor high school kids around the country have some violation in their past. Unfortunately for Ryan his bitter mother's ex is involved. Back in the 70s, my high school teacher paid me for touchdowns ($20) do you think I refused it at the age of 16? Kids live in the now and aren't that focused on the future or consequences. Its called being a kid and high schoolers are the most vulnerable. Its the reality.

Anyway the NCAA needs a limit on the time of their investigation, if not completed in 5-10 days then the kid is 'free'.

 

[TXHuskyFan]

Would Boat even know if his mother got a little extra money for some Christmas gifts? Unless she was buying her kids cars for Christmas, I doubt any kid is going to ask where the money came from, and all she says is that it was a "Christmas Miracle" or something to that effect. It's not like Newton's dad asking for hundreds of thousands and him not knowing. If the NCAA can rule that he did not know his dad was asking for pay to play in 20 minutes, they can certainly see how Boat might not know about a few extra gifts under the tree at Christmas, assuming again, that they weren't cars or something else extravagant.

The NCAA is completely out of control.

 

[caw]

I wouldn't say it was a powerful piece, but I do think it shows the NCAA in a bad light.

It would have been more powerful if he had been able to put a dollar amount to what Mrs. Boatright was gifted by friends.

I mean if we are talking 10's of thousands of dollars, something might be happening that is a concern. If we are talking a lower total amount, I could see that as being Christmas present money and it would really be silly for the NCAA to even bother with it. Or maybe petty is the correct word.

I had the same issue with the first article. He says Ryan Boatright has to pay $100 a month until the airplane tickets are paid off but doesn't say how much the total is, he just says it's a "considerable amount". He does not give the reader an idea of what a "considerable amount" is.

That aside (and maybe just a pet peeve of mine) this article serves to show the NCAA is just a mess of an institution regardless of being right or wrong in this situation.

 

[UconnDon]

I would like to see the language by which the schools agree to join the NCAA. Don't forget, the NCAA is only a a governing apparatus created/allowed by the member schools. My guess is that each member school agreed to support the NCAA in any decision, and that there are no restrictions as to its activities, illegal or not. But who will be the first school to defy the monster they all created??

Further, the NCAA reaches down into the high school ranks also. My sons participated in sanctioned varsity sports while in high school, and they were required to actively register with the NCAA high school division each year prior to the sport's active season.

I believe that this NCAA activity would act to bring its Gezpatcho-like tactics into the realm of federal or state proscription. Who has the courage to step up and contest this grotesque group???

 

[sledog]

Time for a revolt - and a change.

 

[freescooter]

Here's the problem with the article...it presents one side of the picture, Boatright's mom, getting a few dollars for christmas gifts, is a great example. But does it matter whether she recieved say $300 from her friends and relatives or $10,000 from a Nochimson type character? In my mind, those would be vastly different situations. What was the situation? the piece doesn't tell us, but wouldn't you say the those facts matter? Same with the plane ticket or tickets. If a friend of the family, her church, something like that, provided $300 for her to fly to Bradley to see UCONN, not an issue. If an agent or a potetntial agent provided money to fly to hartford, Providence, Cincinnatti, and Morgantown, that would be a very different situation. Again, details matter. As caw said, a "considerable amount" is being paid back. that leads one to think that it wasn't a $300 coach flight to Bradley and back. But again, a considerable amount to a single mom is different than a considerable amount to Mitt Romney (not to get political. His income has just been in the news a lot lately!) This piece reminded me of an old time politician who wanted to badmouth his opponent. In his speech he said, "You know, some people say my opponent stole money from widows and orphans. I'm not making that accusation, of course. I'd never say anything like that without hard evidence. But other people aren't so scrupulous. they don't have my standards. And they say he did. So I'm calling on my opponenet to just tell us the truth so we can clear up this horrible situation."

 

[Frank06830]

Doesn't anyone it find curious, the mother's bofriend is Reginald Rose, the brother of Derrick Rose? Ironically Reginald was arressted for passing bad checks in 2008. Who knows NCAA the target in this may be bigger than Ryan; perhaps Reginald and his cronies...just a thought
i.e. if Reginald is still associated with AAU ball you know young stars of the future will still be in his site... for peddling to the likes Calapari et al......Just a thought

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Doesn't anyone it find curious, the mother's bofriend is Reginald Rose, the brother of Derrick Rose? Ironically Reginald was arressted for passing bad checks in 2008. Who knows NCAA the target in this may be bigger than Ryan; perhaps Reginald and his cronies...just a thought
i.e. if Reginald is still associated with AAU ball you know young stars of the future will still be in his site... for peddling to the likes Calapari et al......Just a thought

Reggie Rose is not the mother's boyfriend. He was Ryan's AAU coach.

 

[Danzz]

His basic point, that the NCAA is protecting itself and its own interests rather than the interests of student-athletes, goes to the heart of the matter. The NCAA is deceitful and two-faced: it claims it is upholding the sanctity of amateur athletics, but its real goal is to commercialize college athletics as fully as possible and maximize its income from TV contracts. Its actions should be held accountable to the law. Unfortunately, they are not.

Somewhere along the line the NCAA lost its mission. I'm not one who thinks the they should be replaced with some coaches dominated association but they damn well need to be reorganized. A player or family of a player needs to sue the NCAA and win a big judgement for things to change.
I would also like to see the AAU disbanded. The AAU is almost always involved in every diciplinary action in some way and that organization is polluted with a lot of unsavry characters. If one or the other of the above happened, Boatright wouldn't have missed any games.

 

[freescooter]

I just re-read the 2 pieces by Nocera and I really don't think they shed ANY light on the situation. In fact, I suspect that I could rewrite them without changing the "facts" in such a way as to make Boatright look as guilty as sin. Since he really doesn't present any detail to support his conclusions, it really seems that he's just using Boatright to grind his own ax with the NCAA. What he says might be completely true, or it might not be. But from these pieces we just have no idea.

 

[caw]

I just re-read the 2 pieces by Nocera and I really don't think they shed ANY light on the situation. In fact, I suspect that I could rewrite them without changing the "facts" in such a way as to make Boatright look as guilty as sin. Since he really doesn't present any detail to support his conclusions, it really seems that he's just using Boatright to grind his own ax with the NCAA. What he says might be completely true, or it might not be. But from these pieces we just have no idea.

He does state some things as facts about the initial case: 1) Boatright's mom took the money 2) it was to travel with her son to visit colleges 3) it was money from Reggie Rose 4) Rose has been a friend of the family for many years 5) Rose is not an agent of any school or an agent at all.

This makes Boatright look better because the person giving his mom money was for a good reason (though technically against the rules) and Boatright himself didn't take money. This also absolves UConn in the first situation.

The second article is much fuzzier and could definitely be twisted to make Boatright look bad and is vague enough to allow innuendo against UConn as well.

 

[selles]

I just re-read the 2 pieces by Nocera and I really don't think they shed ANY light on the situation. In fact, I suspect that I could rewrite them without changing the "facts" in such a way as to make Boatright look as guilty as sin. Since he really doesn't present any detail to support his conclusions, it really seems that he's just using Boatright to grind his own ax with the NCAA. What he says might be completely true, or it might not be. But from these pieces we just have no idea.

You're missing the forest of his argument for the trees. He's saying the NCAA is an arrogant, absolutist power with overly broad, stupid, and discriminatory rules, that it selectively enforces those rules, and that it does so without any respect - or even any real pretense of respect - for basic American values like due process, presumption of innocence, the privilege against self-incrimination, warrantless searches, or meaningful judicial or appellate review.

The specific facts of the Boatright case aren't the real issue. The real issue is the moral bankruptcy of the NCAA.

 

[CL82]

Here's the problem with the article...it presents one side of the picture, Boatright's mom, getting a few dollars for christmas gifts, is a great example. But does it matter whether she recieved say $300 from her friends and relatives or $10,000 from a Nochimson type character? "

Did matter if Newton's dad was selling him for $100 or $100,000 dollars? Apparently not.

 

[freescooter]

Did matter if Newton's dad was selling him for $100 or $100,000 dollars? Apparently not.

Do we both agree that the Newton situation should not have been tolerated? I think we do. So if you say Newton's situation was wrong, why is this one not wrong, too? And if you think Newton got away with something he shouldn't have gotten away with, then you should be happy that it isn't happeneing again. The real question, though, is what does that case have to do with this one? Presumably there are different sets of facts.

 

[freescooter]

He does state some things as facts about the initial case: 1) Boatright's mom took the money 2) it was to travel with her son to visit colleges 3) it was money from Reggie Rose 4) Rose has been a friend of the family for many years 5) Rose is not an agent of any school or an agent at all.

This makes Boatright look better because the person giving his mom money was for a good reason (though technically against the rules) and Boatright himself didn't take money. This also absolves UConn in the first situation.

The second article is much fuzzier and could definitely be twisted to make Boatright look bad and is vague enough to allow innuendo against UConn as well.

Absolutely agree with you on the second piece. I'm not as confident as you are on the first piece's "facts" though. We only know Rose has been a "family friend" for many years...he also happens to be the kid's basketball coach and has a bunch of other basketball connections...he might not be registered as an agent. And while it sounds nice to say someone gave her money to go with her son to visit colleges, again was it $350 for a flight on Southwest or a few thousand? Was it done for a good reason or to to encourage her to encourage Ryan to be his mealticket, too, down the line? I'm not saying either of those things apply, but this whole mess seems to me to be open to interpretation. To say the least. And as I have said consistently, it doesn't sound like Boatright or UCONN are much, if at all, to blame. Yet they're are the ones being penalized.

 

[John Fryer]

to be honest, i didn't think that article was that great. he could have made a much better argument.

I, for one, would like to hear what you would consider to be "a much better argument."

Peace,

John Fryer

 

[Palatine]

Do we both agree that the Newton situation should not have been tolerated? I think we do. So if you say Newton's situation was wrong, why is this one not wrong, too? And if you think Newton got away with something he shouldn't have gotten away with, then you should be happy that it isn't happeneing again. The real question, though, is what does that case have to do with this one? Presumably there are different sets of facts.

The cases are exactly the same. The parent did something wrong, not the kid or university. Newton was cleared to play. The university suffered no penalty. It was handled in a day.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I'd still love to hear an explanation as to why the NCAA can investigate the mere existence of money in a bank account. As someone else pointed out, I doubt they're asking Mr. and Mrs. Craft to show how they come up with the money to make their mortgage payments.