"University of South Carolina senior quarterback Stephen Garcia has been dismissed from the football team, it was announced today."

By not playing the entire season, does this give him the chance to petition for yet another year of eligibility?

To keep track of all their prostitutes (street agents), the lead pimps (NCAA) are proposing a national registry. Their clients (schools) would have to buy in to using this central registry. If a client contracts an STD (recruiting violation), they must then immediately report it to the central registry so that none of the other clients accidentally use that prostitute's service.

From the article:
"The NCAA Division I Football Issues Committee agreed recently to continue monitoring a new rule designed to address the problem of oversigning football recruits."

It goes on to state that a team may only have 28 LOIs. After they receive and accept 28 - that's it. No one else can commit.

While I assume the school can pick and choose which LOIs to reject if it goes over the magic 28 number, oversigning has been a hot-button topic here on RBR. I thought the NCAA's position on the "problem of oversigning" would show how the governing body feels about it.

Interesting interview in Huntsville on 97.7 today. Mp3 linked above.

(about the tapes)
at about 1:30 in the audio
Host: "Tell us... of what you heard."

Select portions of interview:
"There are people who doubt the validity of the tapes... I just wanted to confirm that they do exist. I think it's important..." "There are some very incriminating... things on the tapes." "The bottom line is, these numbers we keep hearing about - this $150k offer from TN, this $180k offer from Auburn, those came from Cecil Newton. They didn't come from Auburn or Tennessee. They came from Cecil Newton..."
"I never heard anything on these tapes that would implicate MSU."
"$150k offer from TN, and a $180k offer from Auburn. I heard him say that. I've seen the tapes... They exist, that's the bottom line."
"[there are] quite a few [tapes] from several different people."
"I find that hard to believe that Cam didn't know what was going on."
"MSU came back and said, 'listen, we're not going to do anything for you. But if you go to Auburn, we're going to turn you in.'"

And the doozie as quoted from TSK: "Moore said that one of the tapes has Cecil Newton asking for money from Mississippi State with Cam in the room at the same time."

Sorry for the barn stories lately, but this was too interesting not to share.
Update: Better link directly from auburn here.

SPORTSbyBROOKS has a new article up for those who have been following the Thibodaux story.

UPDATE: here's the link to the foxnews story by Thayer Evans. Thanks, atcrawford.

From Thayer Evans' latest piece:

"Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs told reporters that Cecil Newton Sr. would not be in attendance by mutual agreement. But by being here, Cecil Newton Sr. was once again right in the middle of everything, as he’s seemingly been all season."

Either Jacobs was untruthful, or Cecil is not a man of his word.

According to the linked NCAA press release, money, bowls, and favoritism play no role in NCAA decisions. In fact, their rules are all consistently applied in all situations. All these haters are just liars spreading their myths and fairytails.

From the article:

As for the broader issue of a student escaping penalties based on their lack of knowledge, there also have been reports in the media that the recent ruling related to Cam Newton's eligibility will encourage parents or third-parties to solicit benefits or money during the recruiting process while keeping the student in the dark as to their activities.

Again, this strays from the truth

That's our NCAA!

(just in case you couldn't tell, I'm being sarcastic on a few points)

TMZ is reporting that Milton McGregor, an Auburn booster recently arrested during the state's gambling stings, is under investigation, now.

Again, this is TMZ, so take it for what it's worth. Probably the most important piece of the article:

"It's unclear what, if any, direct connection McGregor has to Newton. Back in 2008, McGregor did donate a million bucks toward construction of a new arena at Auburn.

McGregor did not return a call for comment."

UPDATE: This story from sportsbybrooks.com has a lot more details.

EDIT: It looks like these allegations were made yesterday and covered on an Auburn blog already here.

With all the negativity geared toward our defense, and the legitimate concerns that our defense has caused, I just wanted to point out 1 simple statistic.

Alabama is averaging giving up 9.8 points per game, 1st place according to espn. With so many questioning the maturity of our defense, nearly every other team in the nation wishes they had our talent. Congrats guys, but don't let that ranking slip!

This blogpost on "college football zealots" does a very good and complete job of giving the details on Marcell Dareus to-date. Good writing by "J. Martin"

A few tidbits from the article:
* Dareus had family to stay with.
* Multiple Alabama players knew about the party and declined to go.

The Trogans are saying that there will be no release Friday.

Is this the real deal, or merely a Jedi mind trick?

I didn't know where else to ask this. Yes, I am a Bama fan. Yes, I'm enrolled (distance learning) at Auburn (since Tuscaloosa doesn't offer what I need).

If I order the student ticket package + the Alabama game, what is the protocol for getting rid of the extra tickets I don't need? Is it possible to sell student tickets to another student who would actually enjoy the games? Or are the tickets tied only to me?

A little bit of background - I was a joint Alabama/Auburn fan for all of 2 weeks. Then the financial aid office lost my wife's scholarship information (twice) and FAFSA information (once). They then reallocated her scholarship to someone else "on accident." I went up to the Financial Aid office, my heart rate rose (over 250 BPM), and I passed out. In the hospital, they slowed my heart back down and fixed the atrial fibrillation at a later date at UAB. I have despised Auburn (particularly the Financial Aid office) ever since, but have many many friends there and respect the teachers and educational aspect of the institution.

War *vomit* Eagle, and thanks in advance for any help. Feel free to flame me for being one of *those* fans. I find most of the flames here and on rollbamaroll facetious and in good, clean fun.

This is from Dan Wetzel's twitter account.

They're going to cast McCoy's injury in the light of, "casting a pall over everything and altering the game's entire outcome?" Well, we might as well have just handed them the trophy!

RTT is reporting that the charges against Janzen Jackson were dropped. The freshman will probably still get to play and develop as a football player at Tennessee (albeit, the stunted development you expect from a Tennessee player).

Poor guy; wanted to play as a freshman now instead of win championships later.

His comments were actually calm, sincere, and fair. I think he's really learning his lesson and wants to do better. Glad he's getting this out of the way before Atlanta, assuming we beat LSU Saturday.

...yet still manages to find a way to show that he doesn't know the rules!
"I’m going to stay away from it and get ready for this week. We need to get a win. We’ve got a big-time team coming in here."

From the article about "tape-gate" towards the bottom comes this little gem:

Alabama's team appears relatively healthy heading into Saturday's 2:30 p.m. game against Tennessee.

Cornerback Javier Arenas (ribs) "has taken all the reps and done all the work this week," said Saban, who also said Dre Kirkpatrick (back spasm), Josh Chapman (abdominal strain) and receiver Mike Bowman (knee sprain) have all practiced normally.