Welcome back to big-time athletics, Auburn.
You know your school is relevant again when a nationally recognized cable program is dialing up Tiger football alumni, the ones not named Cam Newton, to inquire who might have received illegal payments when playing on The Plains.
While CBS was hyping the Final Four, HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” presented its audience with Auburn’s version of the Dirty Four. The timing wasn’t exactly coincidental.
I’m not suggesting this was a total witch hunt, but it made me wonder if there was a broomstick in the vicinity of reporter Andrea Kremer. Nobody knows for certain if the allegations made by ex-Auburn linemen Stanley McClover, Raven Gray, Chaz Ramsey and Troy Reddick of being paid by boosters or a Tigers’ assistant coach are true, partly true or fabricated.
And no matter how loudly Auburn head coach Gene Chizik screams “garbage” about the HBO report, he can’t know with absolute certainty whether it happened. A lot of rogue boosters at various schools have done bad things without the coach’s knowledge.
The only thing indisputable is that Auburn football winning its first national title since 1957 has attracted the microscope. Along with fame, the Tigers are getting more scrutiny. The media is now more inclined to unearth whatever skeletons are in Auburn’s closet because it’s No. 1.
Hate to break it to Auburn, but the Tigers are not an exclusive target. It’s the price of success.
Remember Florida State back in 1993, its first national title year. How much attention do you think the Foot Locker scandal receives nationally if Bobby Bowden’s program was on a 6-5, 7-4, 5-6, 6-5 treadmill at the time? Would Steve Spurrier’s comment about “Free Shoes University” become legendary?
More recently, look at the number of arrests involving Florida football players under former coach Urban Meyer. When that total reached 31 in a five-year period last fall, that also attracted a flurry of national attention, including by the same HBO program that featured Auburn in an unflattering light. If UF hadn’t won two national titles in four years, that arrest record has a better chance of flying under the radar.
Point being, Auburn better get used to life under the big top. This isn’t a restaurant menu. Schools can’t just accept the BCS championship trophy and millions of dollars in bowl revenue. There’s a downside, too.
Was the HBO report fair to Auburn? Probably not. Other Auburn players were contacted and said nothing about getting $500 dollar handshakes or illegal payments. But being in compliance of NCAA rules doesn’t make for good television or grab headlines.
Let this be a warning to Auburn and whoever else gets on the championship stage. If you give them a reason to take you down, they will.
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