NCAA is a Silly Place

I have to give the NCAA credit for one thing. They obviously could not care less what other people think of them.
Announcing that Cam Newton was eligible for both the SEC title game and Auburn's bowl game, while making it okay for Heisman voters to cast their votes for the young quarterback, was considered a huge positive for college football. At least I assume that was the behind-the-door reasoning that came to this poor decision. If the decision was not based on helping the sport's television ratings, then what was it based on? Common sense? No way. The NCAA found evidence that Cecil Newton offered his son's services through a peddling agent to Mississippi State. But they ruled that since there was no evidence that Cam knew about the deal, nor that Auburn did anything wrong, they are ruling him eligible and slapping the dad on the wrist. Auburn can go ahead and continue their charmed season.
The reasons this is a stupid ruling are myriad. For one thing, your father is an extension of you when it comes to recruiting. All decisions are made by the family together and the onus should have been on Cam to prove that he did not know anything about pay-for-play offers. Secondly, we have to assume that Cecil also shopped his son to Auburn. That is what everyone outside of southern Alabama thinks. Is the NCAA already finished investigating Auburn? If so, that was rather quick and will not assure fans of the sport that the NCAA exhausted all avenues in this regard.
But my biggest problem with this ruling is the message sent to players, their families and schools/boosters that cheat. The NCAA came down hard on Dez Bryant to not only punish the receiver (and cynics will say ensure Texas's undefeated regular season) but send a message to players: do not lie to the NCAA. Then this summer the NCAA dropped the hammer on USC. The message: establish your program in a way that makes compliance, not cheating, easy. So now they can make a statement about the selling of star players to colleges. But despite finding evidence that Cam was offered to MSU, the NCAA dropped the ball. The message: continue to sell your kid to programs but keep him ignorant of the situation and keep the number of people in the know about the offer to a minimum.
This is a ridiculous ruling.