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Did I mention I hate f$u? Randy ----- Original Message ----- From: JunoGator <mailto:[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 8:36 AM Subject: [gatornews] Today's Gatornews from Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post Greg Cote: NCAA going too far in taking wins from Bobby Bowden Florida State coach Bobby Bowden watches a replay on the monitor against Miami in the third quarter at Dolphin Stadium, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008. Florida State coach Bobby Bowden watches a replay on the monitor against Miami in the third quarter at Dolphin Stadium, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008. By GREG COTE The legacy that Bobby Bowden has worked 50 good years to build and grow and earn is being hijacked by a misguided committee of pinheaded bureaucrats. Punishment is merited for Florida State University's academic misconduct at the root of all this, yes. But the NCAA infractions committee tramples common sense and fairness to allow a small-scale scandal to derail college football history. The NCAA sanctions, upheld this week, would cost Bowden 14 career victories unless FSU prevails later this summer in a final appeal. The reduction would all but hand the all-time record to Penn State's Joe Paterno, whose 383 wins led Bowden by one entering this coming season. With Bowden turning 80 in November and planning to coach only one more year or two more at most, vacating 14 wins is a death penalty to his dream of the record -- something he has worked toward since his first head-coaching job in 1949 at Howard, and the past 33 years leading the Seminoles. ''Joe would not want to win this thing the way [the NCAA is] doing it,'' Bowden said Friday -- and he's right. Paterno, even with history to gain, has said it would be a shame if the penalties included victories stripped from Bowden. Baseball's hallowed home run records are stained by steroids and now one of college football's biggest records will be stained, too, and needing an asterisk -- only this time through no fault of the potential record-setter. BOWDEN IN THE DARK Bowden had no idea that for a couple of semesters in 2006-07 a tutor and two low-ranking academic staff members took it upon themselves to feed students answers to an online music-history test. Sixty-one students in 10 sports were involved. FSU discovered the wrongdoing itself -- a renegade misconduct not orchestrated by any coach -- and quickly turned itself in, cooperating with the NCAA probe and, in Bowden's case, even voluntarily suspending the involved players from the 2007 Music City Bowl and the first three games of the 2008 season. So much for FSU's forthrightness in coming forward mitigating in its favor with the NCAA. The governing body could have and should have simply reduced scholarships for the involved sports and placed each on probation. Instead, in addition, there is the retroactive stripping of victories -- even though no evidence exists that A) Any players would have failed that test and been ineligible if not given answers, or B) That FSU would not have won those games had those mostly marginal players not participated. ''The committee is just wrong,'' retiring FSU president T.K. Wetherell said. It jars the mind to think that small-scale shenanigans involving a single online music-history course would ruin what Bowden has worked a lifetime to achieve. Some tutor whispers ''Beethoven'' in a backup left guard's ear and college football history is altered? That's dumb, and unnecessary. That's over the top, and an abuse of power by the NCAA. If the omnipotent ruling body wants to get tougher it could increase the scholarship reductions, extend the probation or any number of other measures, but why involve vacating wins when so few players were involved and when no coaches or athletic-department officials were? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
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