First he writes THIS article, which Phillips Marshall quotes from and which promted me to send Fiu a hatemail:
Auburn, take care of this. Immediately.
This isn’t a court of law, and no, you’re not necessarily innocent until proven guilty. If the story is true and a representative for Cam Newton demanded $180,000 from Mississippi State for the star quarterback to sign on the dotted line out of junior college, then two plus two equals four when it comes to the opinion of most fans. Even though you already investigated this months ago, you need to take the lead and come up with more answers. Considering the Josh Luchs story and all the problems with agents, you can't make a mistake here.
Unless Mississippi State representatives are lying their tails off, and if that’s true then they’re dead in the water and heads will roll in Starkville, then Auburn, you need make 1,000 percent sure and check, and check, and check again to make sure that Newton doesn't become another Reggie Bush and you don't become another USC.
Of course, Auburn is going to demand that a smoking gun turn up before doing anything rash, and because it’s the SEC, and because it’s the South, and because it’s football, and because it involves the Heisman favorite, and because it involves the national championship, there’s going to be a lot of talking, perhaps a committee will be formed that talks about an investigation, and blah, blah, blah.
There’s no time for that.
Auburn, your reputation and your credibility could be on the line here. On the mere suspicion of impropriety, you have to make sure that there's nothing to this. Yes, your prize JUCO transfer, who left Florida after getting arrested and charged with three felony counts relating to a stolen laptop computer, probably shouldn't wear an Auburn uniform until more of the story is uncovered, but that's not going to happen. (And Florida, you had better get working on your story about how you got Newton to come to Gainesville in the first place.)
No, Gene Chizik shouldn’t be in trouble right now without any investigation, and Newton doesn’t have to be booted off the team yet, but this simply doesn't look good.
Auburn, you have to be proactive here to the nth degree. It’s up to you to tell us what, if anything, happened, because if it’s the NCAA that ends up doing more legwork and finds out that someone in your program (like a booster) paid to have Newton come in and play quarterback, you’re going to become very familiar with three letters. U.S.C.
Don’t worry right now about the 2010 dream season that could go up in a puff of smoke, and the Heisman race should be the furthest thing from your mind. Your football program and your national reputation are at stake here. It’s up to you to grill Chizik and the assistants, again, and put Newton under a hot lamp, and demand to know the truth, and then you get to the bottom of this and keep on looking into this. You find out how Newton ended up at your program and you connect the dots yourself and, again, make absolutely sure there's nothing wrong here. Not tomorrow, not after breakfast, now. Because if you don’t, and if you try to hem, haw, and wait for the process to play itself out, you could be completely and totally fried if there's any wrongdoing. This is that big.
If this is true, this isn’t Reggie Bush going rogue and taking some coin from a marketing company. This isn’t Marcell Dareus getting jiggy with it at a party thrown by an agent. This isn’t A.J. Green selling a jersey. This isn’t North Carolina players sticking around for an extra year, but making it worth their while by getting involved with agents. If this is true, this is someone paying a player to come play football at Auburn University. This is as bad as it gets. This hits the core of collegiate athletics, and the NCAA isn't going to take it easy in any way.
From a practical sense, Auburn doesn’t need Newton or Chizik this weekend to beat Chattanooga. They should both sit out and give this time to breathe, if for no other reason than to show that the university is on the case to do more investigating and is more than just a little concerned. The key right now is to not say or do anything that might seem like you’re going to sweep this ...
"We have been made aware of the allegation,†said Auburn media relations director Kirk Sampson. “Cam Newton is eligible to play football at Auburn."
Don't be another USC. Make sure of it.
Then he writes THIS on another website:
CFN Analysis
Cam Newton ... Now What?
By Pete Fiutak
So now what happens for Auburn during its dream season, and more importantly, what do all the allegations swirling around Cam Newton mean to him?
Probably not as much as it might seem.
After Reggie Bush, Josh Luchs, A.J. Green, North Carolina, and all the problems and suspensions this year thanks to the agent issue, and the controversy and discussion swirling around Nick Saban and Urban Meyer’s preseason comments, the entire story around Mississippi State allegedly being ask for money to sign Newton out of junior college, and other schools allegedly offering money for his services, has come up at a very curious time.
Because cheating is so rampant and because the problem is far, far worse than anyone can imagine, to fans, anytime a player’s name is used in a story like this, the automatic reaction is going to be that there’s something amiss, and that’s why, in the court of public opinion, this needs far, far more investigating. This isn't going to stop.
Auburn is right in the thick of the national title chase, and it looks like the story is breaking just in time to try to derail the fun. Now the focus, for right or wrong, is going to be on things outside of Newton’s fantastic season and outside of the national championship. It also points to the problem that Saban and Meyer talked about at length and why they and other coaches are asking for help. This situation also points to the frustration of the player and the family that was investigated for this already, cleared, and now has to answer the questions again.
There’s Cam Newton, who was investigated last summer and cleared, but now gets dragged in this when his focus is 100% on trying to win a national title. There’s Cecil Newton, the dad, who denies any involvement in anything, and is going along with all the NCAA’s requests and fighting to clear his son’s name that’s being used by an agent to try to make some money. Newton’s family, who has gone out of its way to show that it’s not getting any money, evidenced by the condition of their church, the Holy Zion Center of Deliverance, and is frustrated it has to be involved now of all times, is saying and doing all the right things after the story broke. And then there’s the slimy side of the agent world that once again rears its ugly head. And that's why Kenny Rogers, who has gone rogue by allegedly trying to make a buck trying to steer Newton’s career, has to get 100% of the focus, and not Newton himself ... for now.
Auburn has done its due diligence this offseason, but it has to keep investigating on its own and it has keep being proactive to make sure there’s nothing there that could come back to bite the school. Yeah, it is fair to ask the question of how Newton ended up at Auburn if Rogers' story is true. Newton will have the guilt by association, and now it's up to the NCAA to go further to establish just how close Rogers was to the situation. The focus is on Rogers and whether or not he’s telling the truth about being offered money by other people representing other schools to steer Newton their way, and that’s why this is so scary.
The last thing Auburn wants to do is have a dream year and win the national title and see Newton win the Heisman, only to see something happen down the road. But this is a different situation than USC. The NCAA is already on it this time and has already investigated, but because an agent used Newton’s name, the frustration of the agent problem kicks in yet again.
Newton, as long as he’s cleared to play by Auburn and head coach Gene Chizik, and he is, will still be everyone’s Heisman front-runner and this won’t affect the voters in the rankings and the polls. That the Newton’s denials have been so vehement, and that Auburn’s anger and frustration has been so quick, is the step that needed to be taken from the start when ESPN broke the story. If Newton or his family were involved in anything wrong, compared to all those players who have recently been caught, they’re certainly not acting like it.
First and foremost, Newton himself appears to have nothing to do with this at all. He left the decision of where to go to school up to his father, and if all this is true, the player shouldn’t be affected by anything a greedy agent might have tried to do.
Newton’s family appears to be out of this. Again, the condition of the church and the papers submitted to the NCAA shows it, as opposed to the Bush situation that had smoking guns all over the place. If they got money for Newton signature, they’re not showing it.
Newton will win the Heisman. The national title will come down to the Iron Bowl, and Newton will get the chance to carry Auburn on the field, despite all the controversy off of it, and the season will go on as normal. And Kenny Rogers could become the first real case of college football and the NFLPA cracking down on the agent issue in the new, supposedly more diligent world.
However, the focus is all about Rogers and he needs to come totally clean about everything. If his story true and did other schools offer him money to sign Newton, then it’s time to find out, and now, for no other reason than for Auburn to be above any suspicion. Now it’s up to Rogers to come up with proof of something, anything, that shows he got something for his association with the Newtons, but the burden is still on Auburn, too, to keep checking to make sure there's nothing there.
This story isn’t over, and yeah, it’s going to dominate the rest of the college football season. And it’ll be the launching point and the test case to see how the agent issue gets handled.
Holy shit - talk about spewing out of both sides of your mouth!!!!!!!!
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