Texas A&M Declares Manziel Ineligible for 1/2 Game; NCAA Agrees

[LUSportsFan]

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/resources/latest+news/2013/august/texas+a+m+declares+manziel+ineligible+determines+h e+must+sit+half+a+game

"Texas A&M University and the NCAA confirmed today that there is no evidence that quarterback Johnny Manziel received money in exchange for autographs, based on currently available information and statements by Manziel. Due to an inadvertent violation regarding the signing of certain autographs, Texas A&M declared Manziel ineligible and submitted the following conditions for reinstatement to the NCAA:

A one-half game suspension for Manziel
Manziel will address the team regarding the situation and lessons learned
Texas A&M will revise its future education concerning student-athlete autographs for individuals with multiple items

Based on the information submitted by the university, the NCAA accepted the conditions as put forward by Texas A&M. If additional information comes to light, the NCAA will review and consider if further action is appropriate..."

(I was refamiliarizing myself with athlete transfer requirements and saw this on the NCAA site.)

[Big T]

I just LOLed when I saw this. They are playing Rice! Manziel Will still be able to get his 500 yards in the second half of the game. Granted Rice is not a team to take lightly. It actually wouldn't surprise me if Rice was close or ahead at the half.

[eagle eye]

This is such a joke. Dez Bryant did nothing wrong except he lied about having lunch with Deion Sanders and his whole senior season was lost due to a suspension. They have photo evidence Manziel signed a bazillion autographs for a collector and because they can't prove he lied the NCAA accepts this bullshit set of sanctions. A half game indeed. I am an A&M fan and I think this stinks. Big T is right this is a joke of epic proportions. I do disagree about the potential Rice has to be in a game with the Aggies even for a half because the Aggies are just so much more talented than Rice. A&M's second team could beat the Owl's by 30 without Manziel.

Along these same lines did anyone see ESPN's Pardon the Interruption the other day? Tony Kornheiser said that athletes should be paid (this was all in the subject of Manziel signing autographs for money). The real kicker was that Kornheiser cited "child labor laws" as the grounds for paying student athletes. Is he crazy? First of all if you compare a full scholarship for an 18 year old to go to college and play a sport with paying pennies a day to 10 year olds working in a sweat shop you have to be out of your damn mind. Colleges are no more exploiting student athletes than the athletes themselves exploiting the universities. Student athletes aren't forced to go to college and play, they choose to go and nobody is forcing them to go to a particular college because that is their choice completely. They are only limited by their talent as to what school they are offered scholarships. If we are to believe that "poor Johnny Manziel" is the victim here I want to point out that Manziel's family is rich and Johnny Football is far from hurting financially. The fact is, Johnny Manziel just pulled a Bill Clinton and spit in the eye of the NCAA and got away with it. Just like Bill Clinton "did not have a sexual relationship with that woman" so too did Johnny Manziel not take money for signing autographs. To say Manziel is a naive waif who was just signing a few autographs enjoying his new found fame is a joke. Tony Kornheiser is normally a pretty level headed guy but I want him drug tested because he had to be high to even say something as ridiculous as this load of crap.

[Lamarcard81]

"aggis don't lie, cheat or steal"

and von miller does not smoke pot

and that was not michael goodson's gun

[LUSportsFan]

"aggis don't lie, cheat or steal"

and von miller does not smoke pot

and that was not michael goodson's gun


In my mind, the most important part of the Aggie Code of Honor is "...or tolerate those who do."

As far as the Honor Code, I would hope that all universities have something similar in place.

I'm proud to see that Lamar has several references of something similar. One pertains to academic honesty.

https://www.google.com/url?q=http://dept.lamar.edu/cofac/deptspeech/files/academic_honesty.pdf&sa=U&ei=NmcfUvGjKMi92gXokoCAB w&ved=0CA8QFjAE&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNGU4wbGrqvw_vPKP45nFV3nyw_6Mw
(https://www.google.com/url?q=http://dept.lamar.edu/cofac/deptspeech/files/academic_honesty.pdf&sa=U&ei=NmcfUvGjKMi92gXokoCAB w&ved=0CA8QFjAE&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNGU4wbGrqvw_vPKP45nFV3nyw_6Mw)

Back to Manziel's situation, looking at the A&M Student Conflict Resolution Services, I don't know if there are any additional actions for A&M as far as the Code of Code for Manziel at this time. There definitely would not be in the cases of Vonn Miller and Mike Goodson. Both those instances fell outside of university jurisdiction. Neither involved a current student so officially the Honor Code did not apply in their case. On the other hand, at an individual Aggie level, I don't know if the Code stops on graduation. A&M prides itself with the statement, "Once and Aggie, always an Aggie". If that's the case, Aggie Alumni should follow the Code.

At the A&M University level, ...

"... Reports submitted will be reviewed by the staff in the Student Conflict Resolution Services (SCRS) office. Depending on the information provided one of the following actions make be taken:

No Action: Incidents that fall outside of university jurisdiction, do not involve a current student, or have a lack of evidence

..."

http://studentlife.tamu.edu/scrs/ccironline
(http://studentlife.tamu.edu/scrs/ccironline)

Both A&M and the NCAA have been unable to find evidence that Manziel was paid. He did receive a punishment for something he admitted to, a 1/2 game suspension for "...an inadvertent violation regarding the signing of certain autographs...". Whether a 1/2 game suspension is sufficient is another question, but I'm not surprised with the action in light of the "Wink, Wink, Nod, Nod" penalties Oregon recently received. Also, I think the actions might be different if proof of payment appears at a later date. The combined A&M / NCAA statement left that window open.

"...If additional information comes to light, the NCAA will review and consider if further action is appropriate..."

I personally think the Aggie Code of Honor and Codes of Honor at other universities as well as many businesses are good standards for anyone. Following something like that should minimize one's trouble when dealing with others.

[Lamarcard81]

He got paid. atm knows he got paid. everyone knows he got paid.

People go to jail on circumstantial evidence all the time.....unless you are connected.

He did not sign all that stuff for free.... for people he did not know.......in a hotel room where no one could see.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.........

[LUSportsFan]

Can't say I disagree.

I think the NCAA set itself up. It's difficult to come down on a player profiting from a signature when the official NCAA website provided links to a site selling athletic paraphanalia including a $179.95 photo autographed by Reggie Bush. Kind of hard to strictly enforce a rule when the rule enforcer is participating in questionable tactics.


http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2013/08/jay_bilas_shuts_down_player_me.html

I think both sides just wanted it to go away.

Here's a link to a good Sports Illustrated article concerning the NCAA's weak position. Not saying the Manziel position is the right one. Just pointing out the importance of strict adherance by both parties. Lack of that weakens the position for each.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130828/manziel-suspension-ncaa-texas-am/

[KABrother88]

As an Aggie fan I will say if you think he didn't get paid you're delusional...but to me, the length of the suspension boils down to the current lawsuits against the NCAA and their own "lack of institutional control". The rule they said he broke is NCAA bylaw 12.5.2.1 which states "student-athletes cannot permit their names or likenesses to be used for commercial purposes, including to advertise, recommend or promote sales of commercial products, or accept payment for the use of their names or likenesses." With all the Johnny Manziel products the NCAA had for sale but took down after Jay Bilas called them out on it and all of the former players now suing in the EA Sports video game business...could you imagine what would happen if Manziel and his family's deep pockets filed a lawsuit if the NCAA decided to suspend him for any great length of time? Also, if they did try to hit him hard with no paper trail, there is just another reason this would drag on with appeals and lawsuits...simply see this as a "Hey, you screwed up, we screwed up. Give us half a game that you were already going to only play half of and we'll call it good"

[eagle eye]

I am getting more cynical every day I suppose but I am growing more and more disgusted with the institutions in this country as a whole. Growing up I generally believed in the, for lack of a better word, sanctity of the governing bodies in the country. But now, How can I believe in the NCAA when they are obviously become an inconsistant bunch of morons who slap USC on the wrist while hammering Penn State. How they can hammer Dez Bryant and let Johnny Manziel off the hook. Look at how they crush Miami and let Oregon off with a joke.

I was thinking about this the other day when the US Congress was saying that the US will be unable to pay it's bills by October if their ability to borrow money isn't increased. For God's sake, why can't the government take the bull by the horns and clear up the economy? I reminds me of the Mel Brooks line in "Blazing Saddles" when faced with scandal, "Oh my god Headley, we've got to do something. I've got to save my phony-baloney job!" and what Brooks and Harvey Korman's characters did was something illegal. It strikes me as a societal problem, a you and me problem. We complain about the NCAA or the government but we don't do squat to make changes. Maybe all this has gone on for a long time and it just gets more press now because of the saturation of media coverage. I don't know but the Who song "Won't Get Fooled Again" was a scathing indictment of the system in general and was summed up in the final line of the song, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." followed by angry power chords to end the song. We are fed lines about making changes by new regimes who come in and do the same damn things as the previous regimes did. It's all about money and preserving their phony-baloney jobs.

As for the Aggie Code I wonder if alumni are sending Vonn Miller and Michael Goodson scathing letters or emails demanding they clean up their act because they are not being good Aggies? Are the alumni demanding action be taken against Johnny Manziel for violating NCAA rules and the Aggie Code or are they hoping the guy gets off light because the football team needs him? What do we expect of our players here at Lamar and does it make any difference if they are special athletes vs average Joe's? I'm proud of the people who levied their no-tolerance opinions at some of the players who have left the Lamar program but if they were Heisman Trophy winners would we be so righteous? Everyone is looking forward to seeing Johnny Football lead the Aggies against Alabama a month from now. So, do we all breathe a sigh of relief now because that game is on track to take place? Do we feel justice has been done? I hardly think so but the hype over the "game of the year" is still rolling down the track. Even Aggie fans have to the thinking, "Wink-wink, nudge-nudge, say no more." after these lame sanctions came down this week.

[Lamarcard81]

Kevin Sumlin told a reporter he did not see johnnys antics on Saturday until the 15 yd penalty or he would have done something about it earlier. Really Kevin? No one from the booth upstairs told you? The national media was going crazy with the story and no one told you?

If you are wondering if the aggis will do anything about johnny......there's your answer.

I hope the NCAA is restarting their investigation.

Keep in mind....Chancelor John Sharp said "there is no evidence that johnny violated the code of conduct" Really John? No evidence?

[eagle eye]

Kevin Sumlin sat Manziel down in the 4th quarter of the Rice game because he bahaved badly talking smack to the Rice players who probably started the whole thing talking smack to him. Manziel also popped off to Sumlin and that made Sumlin bench his star QB. My brother played D-1 football for Colorado State and he said at one time Freshmen couldn't play on the varsity much less win a Heisman. It is my brother's feeling that Manziel, or any other freshman, just isn't mature enough to handle the changes the Heisman brings. It sure bears out his theory when Manziel continues to exhibit the level of immaturity that he has the past 9 months.