I'm no fan of Miami and deep down a part of me would like to enjoy the Shapiro allegations but the recent TAT5 scandal makes that impossible. The hundreds of false allegations against the Buckeyes has shown me that most of these guys are clueless when it comes to actual journalism and I don't trust anything any of them. ESPN has been bad but some of the worst hack jobs against Ohio State have come from Matt Hinton and mediots at Yahoo's Dr Saturday. They've been so wrong so often that it makes me wonder how they keep their jobs and it appears they aren't starting off any better in the Miami scandal.
Hinton's recent article ends with this quote:
"But if the death penalty is in the bylaws, it must be on the table here. Practically speaking, if this isn't a death penalty case, then the death penalty no longer exists."Really Matt? Do you even know anything about the death penalty? First, the NCAA doesn't call it the death penalty, they call it the repeat violator clause which should give you a clue how it works but here's the relevant part of the NCAA statute on the "death penalty":
19.5.2.3 - An institution shall be considered a “repeat” violator if the Committee on Infractions finds that a major violation has occurred within five years of the starting date of a major penalty. For this provision to apply, at least one major violation must have occurred within five years after the starting date of the penalties in the previous case. It shall not be necessary that the Committee on Infractions’ hearing be conducted or its report issued within the five-year period.In other words, to be a repeat violator you have had to have committed a major violation within 5 years of the start of the penalties from another major violation.
When was the date of Miami's last major penalty? Dec 1, 1995 or almost 16 years ago. Even Shapiro says he didn't start funneling money to players until 2002 which means the death penalty isn't possible in the Miami case even if every allegation from a man charged with fraud is true and you ignore the NCAA's statute of limitations.
Next time I wish these guys would do a little research like their brethren on the Yahoo investigative side before they publish anything. I'm sure that won't happen but a guy can dream.
I shouldn't post the link but here it is if you feel the need....
Link: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/For-Miami-booster-s-bombshell-means-it-s-time-t?ur
