More On How And Why Cam Newton's Dad Ended Up At The BCS Title Game

Yesterday, Christine Brennan, who writes for USA Today, was on Paul Finebaum's radio show, which is based out of Montgomery, Alabama.

I didn't hear the actual interview, but Finebaum tweeted a few quotes from what Brennan said on the air.  One of the tweets is pictured, obviously, and makes a great point.  Brennan also writes in her article:

Minutes after the game ended Monday night, Cecil, the man who engineered one of the more sordid episodes in recent NCAA cheating history, was photographed by the Opelika-Auburn News in a bear hug with his son, who had climbed a few rows into the stands to celebrate with his father/agent.

The scene was surprising to many people, not the least of whom must have been Jay Jacobs, Auburn's athletics director, who had said confidently before the game that Cecil Newton was not going to be in attendance. That decision, Jacobs told the Associated Press, "was mutually agreed upon. Out of the highest respect that Cecil has for Cameron, he won't be here today."

At the end of the regular season, the NCAA presented a kind of status report on what it knew about the case at the time, exonerating Cam but coming down hard on Cecil. It announced that Auburn had "limited the access Newton's father has to the athletics program." No one knew what that meant, exactly, although not showing up at games was certainly a logical guess.

Now we know what it means, exactly: No hugging within sight of photographers until at least two minutes after the BCS game has ended.

This whole Newton Family saga still really bugs me.  It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as a college football fan.  Cecil Newton was only given a slap on the wrist by the NCAA and the SEC, and he still didn't stay away from the football team, as he was instructed to do. 

These pictures were taken of Cecil Newton before the title game, outside the stadium.  As Brooks, over at SportsByBrooks notes, there is no way Cecil Newton was only the stadium for the post-game celebration, as the Newton's lawyer claims.

"Having attended a BCS Championship Game myself, in 2006 at the Rose Bowl, I can tell you that there was more security before, during and after that game than any event I’ve ever intended - including the Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four. It took over an hour just to get out of the stadium. I can’t fathom being able to go in the stadium at that time.

So how did Cecil Newton get past what was undoubtedly extremely tight security at University of Phoenix Stadium to reach his son after the game?

Hard to believe he could without some manner of formal and/or dubious escort.

And, knowing Auburn’s stance on the matter, why would Cecil do that in the first place - especially if he wasn’t already in the stadium?"

Even though Cam Newton is up and gone to the NFL, this investigation is still ongoing.  I'm telling you, they're going to find out that either Cam knew all along about what his dad was doing, or he ended up getting money from Auburn, or both and it's going to be real bad for the Auburn Tigers.

[ USA Today ]

Cam Newton Declares For The NFL Draft, So That He Can Get Paid Legally

Well, he was a free agent after all, so I don't blame the guy.

[ Yahoo! Sports ]

Alabama Lawmakers Waste Time And Money To Pass Some Stupid, Pointless Resolution Thingy

Not to pick on Auburn, but they just happen to have just won the BCS title this year.  This trend of passing pointless congressional resolutions regarding sports events has actually been around for quite some time. 

Lawmakers in Alabama passed a resolution honoring the Auburn Cam Newtons for winning the BCS national title this season.  They did it because, well, it's important, by golly.  Or something to that effect.

The much esteemed House Speaker Mike Hubbard, had this to say, "It's pretty significant to win a national championship."

Well that's a great reason to waste a bunch of time and a bunch of taxpayers' money, right?

''Auburn's thrilling victory was the culmination of a perfect season that garnered numerous team and individual awards for players and coaches, including National Coach of the Year honors for Coach (Gene) Chizik and the Heisman Trophy for Cameron Newton, perhaps the greatest offensive player in Auburn's rich football history," says the resolution.

None of that whole last paragraph means crap to anyone.  I just have to shake my head when I hear about stuff like this.  Seems about a dumb and pointless as giving Cam Newton his own holiday.

[ AL.com ]

Should Michael Dyer Have Been Ruled Down?

Before I start, this post is going to come across as sour grapes, but it's really not.  Because I'm not a Duck fan. 

That's important to know.  This national championship game was a no-win situation for me.  It was either have Auburn win and never heard the end of it from annoying SEC fans, or have Oregon win and never hear the end of it from annoying Oregon Duck fans.  It was like choosing between getting stabbed in the ear or getting stabbed in the balls.  Trust me, neither scenario was ideal.

But I thought the Ducks would win this game.  And they played a pretty good game, although very far from perfect.  The biggest problem for the Ducks in that game and the reason they lost was because they don't have anyone on the team that, when it comes to goal line situations, can just punch the ball in instead of dancing around the goal line.

But Matt Hinton over at Yahoo! Sports brings up a very interesting point, about the play that pretty much single-handedly won the game for Auburn.

Cam Newton's Dad Laughs At The NCAA's Fake Rules About His 'Limited Access'

Cam Newton and his dad hugging after the game

So it looks like Cecil Newton has a problem with following rules huh? 

Yes, apparently that is the case.  See, there is a rule in college athletics that says that you can't sell a college athlete's services for cash.  Cecil Newton broke that rule.  Then, Auburn University flexed their institutional muscles with a very hefty slap on the wrist, and told Cecil Newton to just stay away for a little while.  Cecil Newton decided he didn't want to follow that rule either, showing up at the National Championship game last night to partake in the festivities.

What a slimeball, though.  It's not like the NCAA can do anything to him or Cam in terms of discipline.  The NCAA can't really touch either of them now that football season is over.  You can be sure that Cam Newton is leaving town as fast as he can (I'm actually surprised that he hasn't officially declared as of this writing today).  The Newtons have undoubtedly turned their eyes towards the NFL draft and a bigger and better pay scale, than the one he had in place at Auburn (cough*allegedly).

So Cam Newton Earns A Contract Bonus For Winning The National Title, Right?

Doesn't Cam Newton get an incentive-based contract bonus if Auburn won the national title?  Hmmmm...I swear I heard or read that somewhere.  In addition to the $180,000 (or more) that he already got, I think he gets around $50,000 extra for taking the Tigers all the way to the national title.  I think I have my facts straight, no?

Maybe his dad can add a new wing to his church?  Awww, that sure was nice of Cam to do that for his dear ol' pop.

I'm too tired to get all into it now, and it's going to sound like sour grapes, but Cam Newton shouldn't have been eligible for this game, plain and simple.  This national title is going to be wiped out in a few years by the NCAA ala Reggie Bush and USC.  We'll see then.

This paragraph from The Big Lead sums it up pretty well:

"Not quite as high-scoring as most expected.  Auburn kicked a last-second field goal for the 22-19 win.  Enjoy the game now, before the NCAA wipes it from our collective memory."

Yeah, no kidding.

The Guidelines To Rooting For Your Conference

Ever since the Ducks put the beatdown on the poor little Oregon State Beavers, back on December 4th, I have had quite the time trying to decide which side of the fence I want to be on for the BCS title game.

On the one hand, my dad was an OSU fan and so naturally, I grew up rooting for the Beavers.  I don't particularly like the Ducks, you could say.  It dates way back in my youth, when I went to watch Oregon lose to the Washington Huskies in Eugene, and witnessed what they call "The Pick" by Kenny Wheaton.  That play totally pissed me off and amplified my hatred of the Oregon Ducks football team forever. 

More recently, I've been posting "War Eagle" a bunch of times on my sister's Facebook page just to piss her off and rattle the cage a little.  And it's worked quite well, I might say.  Last night she posted back to me "War duck, bitch."  Cage officially rattled.  Suffice it to say, I am no Duck fan.

And on the other hand, we have the Auburn Tigers.  They're from the SEC, where football is played the way God himself intended...or something like that.  Ahhh, the glorious SEC conference.  Everyone stop and marvel at God's gift to the sport of college football...the Southeastern Conference.  Friggin annoying, isn't it? 

Listen, I have no personal beef with Auburn or anyone that went to Auburn University.  But talk about delusional.  SEC fans are a different breed, that's for sure.  I listen to all kinds of talk radio, and whenever someone from "SEC country" calls in, it's the same thing.  "Well, I'm not an Auburn fan, but since the SEC is the best conference in the country hands down, they're just gonna win."  Or some variation of that thought.  This line of thinking is the reasoning behind the epidemic sweeping the nation called "rooting for your conference."