View From Bennett Avenue

Jim Tressel blew it. Yes he was trying to address the reality that one or more of the players penalized for selling merchandise and receiving improper benefits could easily play in the Sugar Bowl and then enter the NFL draft--and therefore go unpunished--by passing on his right to disallow them from suiting up for the bowl game in exchange for a pledge that they return next year. And, of course, they all made that pledge. But he should suspend players for the bowl game if he feels they deserve it, or not suspend them if he feels it is not justified. Using the chip of playing in New Orleans to encourage these players to return is unseemly. And it is wrong. As soon as he heard about what they did he should have suspended them immediately. Then the NCAA would have added 1-3 games next year on top of it. Instead we have a circus.
Let me also address the notion that the rules the players broke are light ones as they owned the items they sold. And yes this is not as bad as their breaking into someone's apartment and selling stolen material. But, like the Cam Newton situation, if you do not crack down on this behavior you are encouraging other student-athletes to do the same and encouraging boosters from loading up prize athletes with money. And selling items they earned from football is making them quasi professional athletes. And, finally, the lack of respect they showed OSU football was a disgrace.

View From Bennett Avenue

Well it is a new infraction for me. Star Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green was caught selling his game-worn jersey from last season's Independence Bowl win over Texas A&M for a cool $1,000. To a sports agent. I am unsure if this is better or worse than accepting benefits to go party down in Florida, which Green is not being accused of doing. But Green got hit with a four game suspension, while Alabama defensive end Marcell Dareus, who was caught accepting $2,000 worth of plane tickets and hotel rooms, etc, to go to the now infamous party was hit with a two-game suspension.
Making matters worse for Green and the Bulldogs is that Georgia's September schedule is more difficult than usual this year as the Bulldogs will not have Green--unless they win an appeal--for games against East rival South Carolina and two good West teams in Arkansas and improving Mississippi State. Dareus will not miss any SEC action, although this Saturday's Penn State game is an important one. So the punishment for Green seems at first glance much more harsh than the one Dareus has had to deal with, although anyone who saw the ending of the Georgia-LSU game last year will come to expect that Green will be punished harsher than other SEC athletes.
Don't get me wrong. I am all for the NCAA's attempt to clean up this aspect of the sport. I just want consistency. Giving them both six to eight game suspensions would be fine by me. Even tossing them for good would be a great way to begin dealing with this problem. We saw this last year with Oklahoma State and Dez Bryant, where the NCAA appeared much harsher in that incident than they do with other forms of cheating. Clear up the gray area in the rulebook--Dareus could have attended the party if he paid his own way for example--and start banning the players. As North Carolina's second half effort proved this past weekend, the sport of college football will be exciting with or without pro prospects. The game is much bigger than any individual.