Cheat to win
Here's how you punish somebody without punishing them ...
Georgia Tech can still call itself the 1998 Atlantic Coast Conference co-champs and mark their run of six bowl appearances in seven years between 1998 and 2004 - even though the NCAA has found the Tech football program guilty of infractions during that period.
OK, OK, so coach Chan Gailey has six less scholarships to give out this year and next year - and yes, that will have an impact, or so one would expect, on the bottom line in Atlanta.
But what about the fact that the school used 11 academically ineligible football players to rack up bowl appearances and a conference title?
So that's kosher now - especially as long as you don't get caught, and even if you do, hey, the games have already been played, right, no harm, no foul.
The NCAA is sending a dangerous message with this ruling - that cheaters can win and get to take credit for their illbegotten gains even when they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
And we get mad when the referee in a professional-wrestling match misses the bad guy hitting the good guy in the head with a foreign object to knock him out and secure the win.
Hey, at least that goes on behind his back. Here the refs know what's going on and still count the 1-2-3 as having been valid.
- Chris Graham