The "HBO 4"

Well, the episode of Real Sports on HBO finally aired after much pomp and circumstance. There was a guy with a blog that released a transcript of the part about Auburn, which I read, so I didn't have to watch the show and be infuriated by it. The premise of the story was this: 4 former Auburn players that played sometime between 2005-2007 went on the show and said they were paid to come and play for Auburn. Some received money in bags, some in a handshake and some in envelopes by coaches. They said that most of it came from fans and boosters in the form of cash so of course you cannot trace it. I have a few problems with this.

First off, I am not naive. I am a huge Auburn homer but I am not stupid enough to believe that players are not getting some sort of monetary benefit at Auburn or any other school. All four of these players are disgruntled players that left Auburn on bad terms. McClover left early, despite his coaches advising against it, and crapped out in the NFL and is now broke. Chaz Ramsey got injured and never made it back on the field. He has sued the school two different times for mismanagement of his injuries and both times it has been thrown out of court. Troy Reddick said they made him change his major so his classes wouldn't interfere with practice. He also just recently applied for a GA job there and was denied. Raven Gray practiced for about a week, got into a fight, and was dismissed from the team. So, to be cliche, they all had an axe to grind against Auburn.

Every other Auburn player that played with these guys during the year have denied receiving any benefits. So who you gonna believe? 4 angry guys that left on bad terms or every other player that was there? What is also interesting is that HBO has stated it does not pay for interviews. However, HBO is sponsoring the First Annual (how can it be annual if it's the first one?) Celebration Day (or something like that) for McClover's charity. Wow, so HBO doesn't pay for interviews huh? That sure sounds like a payment to me. Sounds like McClover is so desperate for money and his 15 minutes that he is willing to say whatever they want him to in order to make a good story. Junior Rosegreen who was McClover's roommate at Auburn for two years has adamantly denied that he or Mac received anything. In fact, he states that Mac was always borrowing money from him and other players and never wore anything but old worn out clothes. Someone from Mac's background wound not be able to hide thousands of dollars; he would spend it on clothes or jewelry or on a car. Rosegreen did say Mac bought a car but he said that he was there when he bought it and Mac bought it with his Pell Grant money.

Lee Ziemba also stated that none of this ever happened that he saw. He said he walked behind all those guys from one time or another and never saw anyone get any handshakes from boosters or fans. Chaz Ramsey claimed to have received $1000 for his 2007 Iron Bowl tickets but Ziemba said that would be next to impossible. The tickets the players have are handled by the ticket office. They have to submit a list of people that can receive them at the beginning of the year and only those people can get them. There are so many holes in these stories that some of it is a little silly.

Again, I will say that I'm not naive and I know that this probably does go on, but not in the way these players say. What does this mean for Auburn and possible sanctions? The truthful answer is, I don't know. The statute of limitations is a rule that the NCAA can choose to ignore if they so desire. What you have to consider is the likelihood of being able to prove these things actually happened. Since the players said it was all in cash, that is going to be next to impossible to do. It was with a different coaching staff and a different set of administration. Unless there is a trail, it will be hard to prove. I do believe the infractions committee will look into this, but will not be able to find any substantial evidence. If you get a chance to read any of Travis Williams or Quentin Groves tweets or blogs, do so. They refute the accusations pretty well. Also, Gregg Doyel of CBS tweeted a pretty good statement earlier today. He said, "I'd be more inclined to believe the Auburn players on HBO if I'd heard of them. So I looked 'em up. One sued the OL coach. Another, booted from team. I'm not naive, but come on. Credibility issue." HBO only showed one side of the story, but I was not expecting them to show both sides. It doesn't make for good ratings. Gene Chizik said he was not contacted for an interview about this story. HBO said it contacted the athletic department and was given a no comment. Sounds like HBO didn't try very hard, but oh well, would you if you knew that you would get blasted into next year?

No matter what, it's a black eye for Auburn and the national perception of Auburn and the SEC in general is we all cheat. Forget what's going on at Ohio St. and what happened at USC. Don't look at Michigan or Oregon paying tens of thousands of dollars for a "scouting service" to land top players. This is all about Auburn and has been since they started playing really well. It seems most of the country has ganged up to bash Auburn and for what? I'm not really sure, but surely it's not jealousy. AU does rank in the top 10 in winning percentage and is 13th (I believe) in total wins. It really doesn't matter what others think because it has always been about Auburn and Auburn men and women against everyone else. AU has never been a sexy pick like USC or bama or Ohio St. I understand that AU will never be a media darling, but this has got to stop. Maybe when Auburn loses a game, people will drop it. Who knows, but what I do know is that the current coaching staff is doing their best to instill in these players the right character to be good players and good citizens. The rest is just hating. So, as they say, "haters gonna hate" (whoever they are).