HOOKED ON A-PPEALING

From Wheeling, Dealing, and Stealing, to Reeling, Kneeling, and Appealing:  The trojans drop to their knees and beg for Mercy, because although they finally accept responsibility for the wrongdoing, they still deny doing anything wrong

Is there a ceiling to the squealing about feeling unappealing?  The u$c football team is quickly losing its appeal to recruits, as yesterday USC Officially initiated the lengthy Appeals process of their NCAA sanctions.

The trojans, who claim that the sanctions are unfair and unprecedented, are asking for the Bowl Ban and Scholarship Reductions to both be cut in half.  While usc fianlly ADMITS that RULES WERE BROKEN and that they are “Responsible,”  they are still whining that it was beyond their control, and that they shouldn’t be punished so harshly due to the actions of wannabe-agents and other outsiders. 

In other words, they still are showing NO REMORSE, despite STRATEGICALLY CREATING the atmosphere that fostered all the violations.  They are completely disregarding the NCAA’s assertions that usc stuck their heads in the sand, and did not monitor the two athletes who were widely-reputed to be on the take.

Why should the NCAA listen to this baseless Appeal?  How can usc possibly refute the NCAA’s observation of sc turning a blind eye?  usc cannot prove that they were showing the required diligence, without incriminating the Department for being complicit in the violations and covering them up.  And forget trying to disprove the violations themselves:  How do you argue against hard copies of receipts and the Bush family names carved in concrete in front of their free house?

But unlike Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo, usc isn’t saying that violations didn’t occur — They are just claiming ignorance.  And believe it or not, NOT EVEN usc has the gall to ask for ZERO sanctions.  Despite undoubtedly promising their new recruits that there would be NO bans, usc has now Officially accepted at least a ONE-YEAR Bowl Ban, since the Appeal only seeks to reduce the Ban from 2 years to 1.  The Appeal also requests that the Lost Scholarships be lowered from 10 per year for 3 years to 5 per year for 3 years.

What the Appeal does NOT do is contest Bush’s ineligibilty, or the vacating of their victories from 12/04- 1/06.  That means that usc has in effect SURRENDERED their tainted BCS Title, as well as Bush’s ill-gotten Heisman.   But that didn’t stop sc from instigating this athletic/legal equivalent of a burnt-by-hot-coffee lawsuit.  The usual Appeals process takes several months, so this decision by sc will extend the dark cloud of sanctions and bad publicity for quite a while, as all their recruits continue to waffle, and depart for greener (and bluer) pastures.

The NCAA should be insulted by this lame legal maneuver.  SC is claiming that the NCAA has some sort of vendetta that is causing the Organization  to trump up charges against troy, and that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.  But the NCAA has already clearly stated that they went EASY on sc, in light of sc’s Repeat Offender status.  The trojans were on Probation when Bushgate hit the fan, which could have subjected sc to much bigger penalties, including a Ban from TV.  But the NCAA was LENIENT, allowing the trojans to keep their TV contracts, and not delivering the dreaded-but-deserved Death Penalty for the Football program.

But sc ignores all of that, claims that the NCAA is envious, and says that this is all someone else’s fault.  The trojans are blatantly telling the NCAA that usc will continue to be run in the exact same way that it has always been run, and by the same people, too.  If the NCAA really had the courage of its convictions, they would not only toss out the Appeal, but they would also render much STIFFER penalties, because of usc’s lack of remorse, and lack of any desire to clean up their act.