Published April 11, 2011 - 12:21pm
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Things you can count on: death, taxes, and bad blood between Auburn fans and Alabama fans. Hundreds of years ago, Benjamin Franklin told us about those first two. But death can be delayed thanks to medicine, and taxes can be avoided due to loopholes. But that third one – there seems to be no getting around it. And with some of the things that have happened over the past few months, that bad blood looks to be getting worse and worse.
First, it was a few poisoned trees at Auburn’s hallowed ground, Toomer’s Corner. Then, it was an arrest of Harvey Almorn Updyke, the guy who ruined his life by taking up for his team and showing those trees what was up. Later, it was the radio host, Scott Moore, who tried to again stir up the Cam Newton pay-for-play saga. He lost his job over that one.
And now we have Auburn writer Jeffery Lee making some big accusations against Alabama Signee Brent Calloway. You probably remember the roller coaster of a recruitment that followed Brent Calloway. He was a long-time commitment to the Tide, but later switched his commitment to the Tigers. At that point, many were already talking about how his change of plans was nothing more than a glorified PR stunt. And, almost as if it had been planned, Calloway later recommitted to the Tide and eventually signed with them in February. Lee, a guy who has a history of being a little over-the-top (A few months back, he released some personal information about one of the subscribers of his Rivals.com website, Auburnsports.com. Yes, he really did.), was on an Alabama radio show this week when he made some pretty big claims against Alabama concerning their recruitment of Calloway. Here’s a summarized list of his claims from NBCsports.com:
* A supporter of Alabama took Calloway to Tuscaloosa multiple times including the weekend prior to national signing day.
* The supporter allegedly then drove Calloway out of state and kept him there until he returned to his hometown of Russellville, Alabama on signing day.
* Before Calloway’s final trip to Tuscaloosa pre-signing day, the Bama supporter allegedly made cash payments to Harland “Peaches” Winston who is Calloway’s adoptive father.
* Winston supposedly received $2,500 from the Bama fan on at least one occasion.
* Supposedly, Winston also received aid in catching up on his home mortgage.
* The fan also allegedly provided Calloway with a new car that the player drove to school. Supposedly enough questions were asked about the car that it was returned on the same day.
* Allegedly, the car was purchased by the Bama supporter from a dealership in Muscle Shoals owned by yet another Alabama supporter.
* Supposedly, the supporter told Calloway that he would receive $1,200 per month while playing at Alabama.
Pretty serious stuff, right? If any of those points are true, then Alabama could be facing some real problems. But if history is any indicator of what’s going to happen in the future, nothing will ultimately come from those allegations – at least nothing will come quickly. For a year, we’ve heard about the Cam Newton allegations. But when pressed to present the information he supposedly has about the situation, Scott Moore didn’t and lost his job as a result. And now the guy who is bringing up these allegations about Brent Calloway has a reputation as an Auburn homer who will do anything to throw dirt at Alabama. On the surface, he just doesn’t seem to be an objective outsider, so his allegations might be short-lived.
And now, even as I’m in the middle of writing this article, I’m online, reading about how Calloway’s adoptive father paid off his mortgage – yes, the mortgage that Lee said he needed help to pay – 15 years ago and how Calloway’s high school principle is saying that Calloway never drove the alleged new car to school. So not even a full day after Lee hit the airways with his accusations, they are apparently starting to crumble under the weight of seemingly legitimate evidence (I haven’t seen the documents, of course, but you can’t really argue with a mortgage that’s been paid off for 15 years). And I’m sure that 5 minutes after this article hits the site, more of these allegations will either be confirmed or disproven. At this point, though, Lee, with his already sketchy background as a journalist, isn’t doing himself any favors.
He’s not doing the SEC any favors, either. Already, it’s a conference seen by outsiders as a dirty, cheating conference with fans that are a little too crazy about their teams. And no matter how this situation turns out, that persona is going to be perpetuated.
If the allegations are true: Alabama, due to a booster connected to the athletic department, has cheated. They’ve effectively bought a player, and the prevailing thought that the SEC is a conference full of cheaters is preserved. But Auburn looks good, right?
If the allegations are false: Jeffrey Lee, a man who’s supposed to be a reputable journalist, has spouted off things that he knew to be false or at least didn’t know to be completely true. He’s potentially ruined the future of kid who is innocent, and he’s added to the recent history of tree poisonings, mattress burnings, and other false allegations about a pay-to-play scheme. But Alabama looks good, right?
Either way, true or false, this probably won’t turn out well for the SEC. Sure, either Alabama or Auburn will come out looking a little better than they did previously, but the conference will come out of this one with a stronger reputation as either cheaters or people who take their football a little too seriously.
Either Alabama or Auburn will win this one, but for the conference, this rivalry has become a no-win situation.
If the allegations are false then Jeffery Lee has all but destroyed his career. No question about it.
If the allegations are true and he can prove it then he has done his job and broke a major story for college football. Jeffery has recorded interviews with Calloway and saved text messages. Interviews with his high school coach. He thinks he has something. Guys who cover recruiting for Auburn have been sharing notes and asking questions. Calloway sent text messages to other Auburn commitments. The recruitment of Calloway is an interesting story that was going to run regardless of the other implications.
“Peaches” is a foster care provider and has to register with the state of Alabama. He has to show the state that he has the financial stability to provide a foster home. Being delinquent in his mortgage payments puts his status in jeopardy. The version of the story that I read did not say that Peaches paid off his mortgage, but that Peaches brought his account current and inquired about the amount of money he would need to pay off his mortgage. How Jeffery Lee has obtained this information is not known, but because of Peaches status as a state foster care provider his financial information is public record.
Your article implies that Auburn and Alabama need to look the other way when the other crosses the line and I disagree. MSU should have acted faster and screamed louder when they found out about the Cecil Newton and not continued to recruit Cam. As a fan I would much rather have these things brought out before the season starts. If Calloway’s recruitment is tainted I think Alabama fans would rather find out about it now than have it come out in the middle of the season or two years down the and risk having to forfeit all of the games where he played. IF (and this is a BIG IF) Jeffery Lee was doing this out of spite or some other vindictive motive he would have held this story and worked on it until after Calloway has enrolled and actually played in a game. At that point Alabama would have been put their season on the line. By rolling these questions out now (and there are some real questions) Alabama can deal with this now and not have it impact the upcoming season.
Jeffery Lee has posted the full story over on AuburnSports.com
Good comments. And I agree that if there was some shadiness to the Calloway recruitment, then it needs to be brought out – no different than any other shady business. My point is that the constant fighting in the Alabama/Auburn rivalry might not be what’s best for the SEC, and with people already thinking about it due to the Calloway story, it seemed like a good time to write my opinion on it.
Tree poisoning + the Scott Moore saga + this Calloway mess (especially if it comes out to be false) = taking it a little too far, in my mind. Again, that’s my opinion.
And like I stated in the article, it might or might not be true, but either way, it gives the conference a black eye. That’s the problem with it.
This is young man that is not even out of high school ,Would Auburnsports .com reported anything bad about this young man if he had went to Auburn?That is why the SEC tries to investigate things like this before it hits the media.
Typical reporting by a biased fan. Lee has plenty of material to report about, but apparantly those little nuggets aren’t worth investigating, including but not limited to: Cam Newton scandal, 4 Auburn players arrested for home invasion, 2 Auburn recruits from Louisiana being investigated for allegedly receving funds to go to Auburn at the last minute (sound familiar) when they were previously going to go to LSU, and 4 more Auburn players going on HBO and stating that they received funds to go to Auburn. Talk about turning a blind eye, this guy decides to try to take big brother down instead by throwing out recruting rumors about Calloway a player he loved just the week before signing day. The real question in this is why did Calloway all of a sudden change his commitment to Auburn the week before signing day? Auburn has real problems, and no mud throwing is going to change that.
@kendcopeland
I am not sure what rock you have been living under, but everything you listed were reported on already and over reported. All of the above had nothing to do with Auburn. The Cam story and the HBO players story had no proof and a mountian of proof that they were made up. The Legal problems of the 4 AU players again had nothing to do with the school itself, and they were released from the school the second AU found out about it. Bama on the other hand has had its share of legal problems with its players, yet none of them even were punished with the team. Bama has been praying that they were not caught with Julio being given not one, but two cars, and his mother given a house. At this point there are way too many people that know about it. For all Bama’s mug they throw, they had better pray their national championship holds up. Face it, Calloway and Cyrus are both dirty as hell, and if it comes out or the Julio story comes out national then Bama will face “real problems”. They are still on probation, and have shown a lack of instutional control for years. Tons of slopy evidence left all over the place.
It is quite obvious that you are An Auburn fan, WE do want the Calloway Recruitment Investigated, but we are calling for Auburn being investigated in their recruitment of Calloway. We are not the School that has Football players representing them, that committed armed robbery, why would the other 4 *pay for paly* ruin their lives to just make Auburn look bad, this all says volume’s about your school and the caliber of student you are creating; we all see that, just as you do when it’s one of ours. Just like all of you say, SHOW ME THE Evidence. If not then well, It make’s it sound a lot more promising that Cam was paid for, even though he was also a thief . What about the Twins? Those are your problem as well. So don’t tell us that we have nothing to say about a University that Makes this state Look pathetic. It’s Called Auburn University, the home of armed robbers, liars, test cheaters, pay for play, and crooked Board of Trustee’s. Auburn – The worst sportsmanship in the History of the world. One Championship and you think you are better than GOD by the way you act. I personally really never want to play you again, we need to play someone who has good sportsmanship and conduct. Auburn is going to drag the whole state down with them.
I think some of what is going on is actually beyond Alabama and Auburn. As holy as “our” rivalry is in our state, I think the biggest thing about much of this is simply the media and their frenzy for negative news. If an Alabama (or Auburn for that matter) player found a wallet in a parking lot and returned it, untouched, does anyone in their right mind think it would make any news ? The press wants to make mountains out of molehills when it comes to bad news because that is what people are conditioned to hear……. and therefore want to hear.
I am at the point in my life where, in general, I am going to talk about the good things Alabama does…. NOT the bad things Auburn, Tennessee, etc. etc. do. You have to take the bad with the good in life…… don’t get me wrong, but I am not going to let my love of Alabama EVER be overshadowed by a hatred of anyone or anything including Auburn.
Bryant
Well said.
I, being an Auburn fan but more importantly being a thinker, always try to remember “Believe none of what you hear, and half of what you see.”
I do not fall into the hatred or yelling or screaming at Alabama or the fans. I have yet to believe any story involving Cam Newton or Julio Jones. When the truth comes out, it will come out. But until then it is just crazy people spouting crap that they think they know.