Last week, one of the 926 ballots for the 2010 Heisman Trophy award arrived at my mailbox.
With a Dec. 6 deadline, voters usually spend this time making sure they watch and critique the top candidates as they play in meaningful late-November games.
Not this year. This year, voters are checking the news wire to find the latest nugget on the ballooning scandal(s?) of the clear on-the-field favorite, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.
Investigators of many realms are looking into Newton’s involvement in a pay-for-play allegation that he was shopped to Mississippi State for a six-figure amount during the recruitment process. In addition, there are reports that Newton left the University of Florida in 2008 because of three instances of academic cheating.
So the dilemma is not whether Newton is the best player in college football. It’s pretty safe to say that’s the accepted belief around the country.
The predicament is in the voter’s role as a moral trailblazer.
One voter summed the line of thinking in this way: “Sooner or later, we have to send a message about what’s right and what’s wrong,” Chuck Hathcock, the sports editor of the Grenada Star in Mississippi, said. “People tell me that the kinds of things we’re hearing about with Cam Newton are just part of college football now. But I say it’s not a part of college football, and if it is, we need to stop it.”
That may be all quite noble in theory. I just find that path flawed.
The Heisman trophy voters should not be the ones grabbing the flaming torch and leading the mob to take on the morally corrupt college football super stars. It isn’t our message to send.
I understand the moral-responsibility feeling. It comes from the vacant 2005 Heisman trophy that went to Reggie Bush, which was eventually returned after it was learned he and his family received nearly $300,000 in gifts and money from a sports agent.
So you say you don’t want a Reggie Bush Fiasco again? Well, what’s a voter to do this year? Say don’t vote for Cam Newton. Ok, the second best player? A case could be made that’s Oregon’s LaMichael James.
James, the same player who was arrested in Februrary on a domestic violence charge. The same player who the NCAA investigated after he swapped his 2000 Mustang for a 2003 Range Rover, with the little help from his uncle. OK, when the ‘uncle’ was pushed for further details, it’s discovered he’s just a ‘family friend’. But he’s not an agent, so the NCAA says its all on the up and up.
I’m not incriminating James. I’m saying if I can’t vote for Cam Newton because he’s engulfed in a crapstorm of allegations and I can’t vote for James because he’s got some sketchy characteristics, I’m starting to get pretty far down the ladder. Do we vote the squeaky-clean Boise State standout every year?
It’s rather obvious to say, but the NCAA should be in charge of squelching the apparent rampant wrongdoings amongst its elite players. It’s fostered an atmosphere that has Heisman voters doing more background checks than stats analysis. We’re looking at what cars they’re driving and not what kind of offense they’re operating.
Fault lies in years of NCAA incompetence. Heisman voters, although cute in theory, can’t put out that fire.
O.J. Simpson earned his Heisman on the field. So did Johnny Rodgers (At 18, was at the wheel of a gas station robbery getaway car) and Billy Cannon (counterfeiting) and Billy Sims (failure to pay child support).
Let’s let this Heisman be decided on the field. Let’s leave it up to the NCAA to make sure we don’t have another tainted pool of candidates in the future.
Isn’t it up to the Heisman committee and the sportwriters to screen the candidates? The NCAA has no authority over the Heisman.
If Cam Newton wins the Heisman and later was proven to have accepted money, the Heisman loses. The Heisman committee needs to add a character assessment as part of its voting, as that would help solve some of the issues.
If there is fault with the Cam Newton situation, that fault lies with Auburn (paying a player’s father), with Mississippi State (for delaying the reporting of the payment request), with the SEC (for not aggressively following up the situation), and with Cameron Newton and his father. The NCAA is not the party to blame here.
What if we later find out that Cam Newton knew nothing of his father’s actions and never received a dime, yet his name was dragged through the mud and he didn’t win the Heisman because of speculation. Is that fair?
Interesting take. I’m not sure the NCAA has all the facts right now. I think a rush to judgement could be the wrong answer as well. Sometimes due process of the law can get in the way. I hope that something like Heismann voting doesn’t cause them to rush to the wrong conclusion, either for or against Newton. I do think character issues, specifically “integrity” which is listed within the mission statement on the Heisman website, needs to be on the mind of the chosen few who do the voting. Is there enough evidence right now to render whether Newton has failed in the “integrity” issue? I think that answer is clear with James.
If the athlete honors the award through his actions on the field, which I feel needs to include being a role model, then he’s worthy of the Heisman. Lately, all the Heisman has been a tool for agents to use in contract negotiations. Too bad it’s such an individual trophy. Team awards mean more. My vote for the Heisman would go to the University of Wisconsin offensive line.
I’m with Tom. The NCAA will point fingers and indict 18 year old kids at the drop of a hat. AD’s will allow No. 5 USC jerseys to be sold throughout Bush’s tenure and then ban the man from campus after generating untold millions for the school. And for what? The illusion of the student athlete. It’s a joke. Vote Cam Newton. Watch him give it back. Watch Calipari go to another Final Four. Watch the school take the banners down. One of two things need to happen: (1) The NCAA needs to either stop playing morality police or (2) The SEC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10 and ACC need to just leave the NCAA all together. I mean, do they even need them?
What I find interesting is the laundry list of things that Newton has done off the field that would make any person question his moral character. How can you ignore all of those issues?
Honestly let them be judged by what they do ON the field not OFF the field. I’m sure if you dig deep into all the athletes background they all would have some kind of skeletons hiding in their closet. Tom you never officially said who you voted for.
The ballot says I’m not suppose to release my vote until the official announcement.
So Pete Rose should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame: not.
Yes I do think Rose should be in the Hall of Fame.
THE NDSU BISON are now in contention for the National Championship of FCS Football. Naturally from the perspective of the intelligent fans populating the UND community the field is very weak, the Gophers, Kansas, Ball State and Central Michigan are no good either, but TT & Northern Ill were huge moral victories for the UND football team, which brings me to my point: why are the moral victories so important to UND yet NDSUs actual wins are simply dismissed as flukes? Do the moral victories help as much with earning an FCS playoff spot as quitting of athletic competition with NDSU was in securing a D2 football playoff spot?
Not sure if you noticed, but I wrote about the Heisman trophy. In the inspiring words from Billy Madison, let me share this with you: ….. “Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
Jack or JBB by any other name is still Jack or JBB.
38-31 ha, ha
i second your comment Mr. Miller.
Looking to the NCAA for moral leadership. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
The only way to prevent this kind of stuff is to end amaturism and pay people what they are worth.