Friday, April 5, 2013

Auburn Football: Grade Fixes, Drugs, and Pay Scandals

Is there anything that Auburn football is not being charged with?

On top of allegedly bribing players to stay another year, changing grades so that athletes would be eligible to play, and committing recruiting infractions, Auburn is now being charged with having a drug problem and cover up scandal.

According to E:60 and ESPN the Magazine, Auburn had a drug epidemic during the 2010 season that crossed into 2011 when they played the BCS title game. The drug was called "Spice" which is a synthetic marijuana drug, and several players seemed to be addicted to it.

Drug tests for Spice, however, did not occur until after their BCS title win over Oregon. During the ensuing tests, a dozen players tested positive for Spice. Auburn then kept the tests confidential.

It is also being reported that up to a dozen more players, seniors, have used spice and gotten away with it.

This time in Auburn football seems to be one of the most scandalous ever reported in college sports. Who gets caught doing all of these things at once? The various infractions and wrongdoings are stunning for this short period of time. If any or all of these allegations prove to be true, I can see the school being dealt crippling infractions.

Of course, Auburn's fault lies partly in getting lost in the quest for a winning program. Colleges today want the best football programs, as well as basketball programs, so that they can make money. It's the endgame of every business and the NCAA and the universities are no different. The only thing that Auburn did wrong is break the rules that are there to mislead the populace (and more importantly the "student athletes") into thinking that college sports are not a business but for the betterment of student athletes and higher education.

Yes, Auburn should be punished because they've seemingly crossed ethical lines as well as broke the NCAA's rules. But to think that this university and a handful of others are the only ones committing these types of infractions is incorrect. Maybe not to the level of letting kids slide on drug use but I have no doubt that several universities bend or break the rules in effort to get a winning program.

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