Cabal for Political Correctness Out to Get FSU
Bobby Bowden suggests the NCAA is punishing Florida State because of its mascot
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"Who's responsible for these rulings against us?" Chief Osceola raises his hand.
According to Bobby Bowden, the sanctions Florida State are facing from their academic fraud scandal are not only unfair -- FSU has already appealed them -- but a bizarre conspiracy to exact revenge on the school by a cabal bent on political correctness. That's what he said prior to last week's meeting of the Miami Seminole boosters club.
The NCAA, he offered, "might not like us because we didn't change our name from 'Seminoles.'"
Oh, sure. And the Miami Hurricanes were punished to the tune of 31 scholarship reductions back in the day, not for a Pell Grant scandal or improper benefits, but because a few NCAA administrators were afraid of storms.
Let's review the widely published facts of the NCAA's investigation. (Academic fraud, by the way, is illegal -- and perhaps the one thing the NCAA feels truly compelled to punish. Everyone knows this.)
- Athletic department staff helped a lot of athletes across several sports -- but mostly football -- cheat, in the "most egregious" and "widespread" case of academic fraud the NCAA has seen.
- The NCAA did its job for once, and handed down punishments that fit the crime and apply to the period in question.
Huh. There's not much about the Seminole Tribe-approved mascot in there. It's a lot more likely that the NCAA doesn't "like" Florida State right now because THEY CHEATED. How do we know? They sorta went on record with it.
It's certainly FSU's right to appeal any sanctions handed down by the NCAA, though an institution of higher learning should remember itself and take its medicine because this is a terrible, terrible message to students. But declaring the scandal a result of a politically correct witch hunt is so ridiculous we're beginning to wonder if Bowden isn't getting a bit loony in his old age.
What's certainly not going to help his case against senility? He also expressed a desire to "walk off quietly" when it comes time to retire.
It's a bit late for that, you old lawsuit-filer, you.
Janie Campbell would like some of whatever pills Bobby Bowden is on. Her work has appeared in irreverent sports sites around the Internet.
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Posted Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 4:05 PM EST
