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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">From this morning’s Chattanooga Times-Free Press. Probably the only apology we will get.</span></p><p style="BACKGROUND: white; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: #940c0c; FONT-SIZE: 19.5pt">Wiedmer: Auburn deserves apology</span></p><p style="BACKGROUND: white; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" class="MsoNormal"><span id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT102" class="Object"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d; TEXT-DECORATION: none"><img id="Picture_x0020_1" border="0" alt="<a" href="http://media.timesfreepress.com/img/staff/2011/MarkWiedmer_3187.jpg">http://media.timesfreepre...011/MarkWiedmer_3187.jpg</span> src="http://sz0161.ev.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/?auth=co&id=220020&part=2.2" width=43 height=44 dfsrc="cid:[email protected]"></span><span class="fontred1">by</span><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d"> <span id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT103" class="Object">Mark Wiedmer</span></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">It's time to apologize. To Cam Newton. To the rest of Auburn's 2010 football team, especially coach Gene Chizik. To the War Eagle Nation. To the school administration. Maybe even to the poor, poisoned trees at Toomer's Corner.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">It's time for all of us in the media, myself included, as well as all those opposing fans who've ripped Auburn on the Internet and talk radio airwaves to tell the Tigers we're sorry.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">With Wednesday's announcement that the NCAA has cleared the program of all wrongdoing in Newton's recruitment, a good number of Southern football fans in general and untold media in particular have enough egg on their faces to feed a third-world nation for a month.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Call it Egg McNewton.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">We arrogantly found the Tigers guilty until proven innocent regarding their obscenely talented quarterback, an error in judgment that needlessly lessened the joy of Newton's Heisman Trophy win and march to the national championship during his lone season on the Plains.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">On the vaguely defensible level that Cam's dad, Cecil, has admitted to shopping his son to Mississippi State for $180,000, such initial hysteria was somewhat understandable.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">After all, what parent in his right mind would encourage his son to go to Auburn for nothing if he could get even close to $180,000 at another school?</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">But asking is not the same as receiving. I could ask the New York Times to pay me $1 million per year. You could tell your boss that you've asked your rival company to triple your salary. Doesn't mean they're going to do it.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Whatever any of us may think happened, there has never been much credible evidence that any member of the Mississippi State athletic department ever seriously considered handing Cecil Newton $180,000.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Moreover -- as has been written in this space previously -- people forget that Newton was a junior college transfer with some pretty heavy baggage from his earlier days at Florida. Damaged goods, some labeled him. Beyond that, he wasn't even a clear Auburn starter until late in preseason camp.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">But then he blossomed into the most talked-about SEC player since Georgia's Herschel Walker tongue-tied the nation for superlatives 30 years earlier. By the time Newton was done he had thrown 30 touchdown passes, run for 20 TDs and almost single-handedly carried the Tigers to their first national title since 1957.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">A player that good had to have gone to the highest bidder, went the argument. And money well-spent, at that.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Nor did the NCAA help quell the masses when it told an exasperated Chizik in the late spring that the investigation remained alive.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">In Chizik's mind it must have seemed as if the Mark Twain's line "A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth puts on its shoes," had been altered to include the entire Earth.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Yet Chizik's confrontation with NCAA enforcement also may have encouraged the NCAA to bring this to the swiftest end possible, especially since the coach's frequent statement "I sleep well at night" began to sound more and more like an honest man wrongly accused than lawyer lingo.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Could it be that we -- all of us accusing Auburn of wrongdoing -- were the ones doing wrong?</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Finally, on Wednesday, Auburn released this statement from the NCAA: "Any allegations of major rules violations must meet a burden of proof, which is a higher standard than rampant public speculation on line and in the media."</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">For those conspiracy theorists who still believe the Tigers got away with something, the NCAA did oddly add the following words: "As with any case, should the enforcement staff become aware of additional credible information, it will review the information to determine whether further investigation is warranted."</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">(Note to Tennessee fans: Allegedly wiring $1,500 to Willie Lyles for former recruit Lache Seastrunk's unofficial visit may still get you in trouble.)</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">But as it stands now, Auburn is free and clear and back in the NCAA's good graces.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Maybe next time at least a few of us (blush, blush) will be more patient and more prudent with our criticisms. Until then, let me be the first to apologize to the entire War Eagle Nation. The line behind me should stretch at least halfway around the world.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">From this morning’s Chattanooga Times-Free Press. Probably the only apology we will get.</span></p><p style="BACKGROUND: white; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: #940c0c; FONT-SIZE: 19.5pt">Wiedmer: Auburn deserves apology</span></p><p style="BACKGROUND: white; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" class="MsoNormal"><span id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT102" class="Object"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d; TEXT-DECORATION: none"><img id="Picture_x0020_1" border="0" alt="<a" href="http://media.timesfreepress.com/img/staff/2011/MarkWiedmer_3187.jpg">http://media.timesfreepre...011/MarkWiedmer_3187.jpg</span> src="http://sz0161.ev.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/?auth=co&id=220020&part=2.2" width=43 height=44 dfsrc="cid:[email protected]"></span><span class="fontred1">by</span><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d"> <span id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT103" class="Object">Mark Wiedmer</span></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">It's time to apologize. To Cam Newton. To the rest of Auburn's 2010 football team, especially coach Gene Chizik. To the War Eagle Nation. To the school administration. Maybe even to the poor, poisoned trees at Toomer's Corner.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">It's time for all of us in the media, myself included, as well as all those opposing fans who've ripped Auburn on the Internet and talk radio airwaves to tell the Tigers we're sorry.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">With Wednesday's announcement that the NCAA has cleared the program of all wrongdoing in Newton's recruitment, a good number of Southern football fans in general and untold media in particular have enough egg on their faces to feed a third-world nation for a month.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Call it Egg McNewton.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">We arrogantly found the Tigers guilty until proven innocent regarding their obscenely talented quarterback, an error in judgment that needlessly lessened the joy of Newton's Heisman Trophy win and march to the national championship during his lone season on the Plains.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">On the vaguely defensible level that Cam's dad, Cecil, has admitted to shopping his son to Mississippi State for $180,000, such initial hysteria was somewhat understandable.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">After all, what parent in his right mind would encourage his son to go to Auburn for nothing if he could get even close to $180,000 at another school?</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">But asking is not the same as receiving. I could ask the New York Times to pay me $1 million per year. You could tell your boss that you've asked your rival company to triple your salary. Doesn't mean they're going to do it.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Whatever any of us may think happened, there has never been much credible evidence that any member of the Mississippi State athletic department ever seriously considered handing Cecil Newton $180,000.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Moreover -- as has been written in this space previously -- people forget that Newton was a junior college transfer with some pretty heavy baggage from his earlier days at Florida. Damaged goods, some labeled him. Beyond that, he wasn't even a clear Auburn starter until late in preseason camp.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">But then he blossomed into the most talked-about SEC player since Georgia's Herschel Walker tongue-tied the nation for superlatives 30 years earlier. By the time Newton was done he had thrown 30 touchdown passes, run for 20 TDs and almost single-handedly carried the Tigers to their first national title since 1957.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">A player that good had to have gone to the highest bidder, went the argument. And money well-spent, at that.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Nor did the NCAA help quell the masses when it told an exasperated Chizik in the late spring that the investigation remained alive.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">In Chizik's mind it must have seemed as if the Mark Twain's line "A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth puts on its shoes," had been altered to include the entire Earth.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Yet Chizik's confrontation with NCAA enforcement also may have encouraged the NCAA to bring this to the swiftest end possible, especially since the coach's frequent statement "I sleep well at night" began to sound more and more like an honest man wrongly accused than lawyer lingo.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Could it be that we -- all of us accusing Auburn of wrongdoing -- were the ones doing wrong?</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Finally, on Wednesday, Auburn released this statement from the NCAA: "Any allegations of major rules violations must meet a burden of proof, which is a higher standard than rampant public speculation on line and in the media."</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">For those conspiracy theorists who still believe the Tigers got away with something, the NCAA did oddly add the following words: "As with any case, should the enforcement staff become aware of additional credible information, it will review the information to determine whether further investigation is warranted."</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">(Note to Tennessee fans: Allegedly wiring $1,500 to Willie Lyles for former recruit Lache Seastrunk's unofficial visit may still get you in trouble.)</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">But as it stands now, Auburn is free and clear and back in the NCAA's good graces.</span></p><p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND: white"><span style="COLOR: #2d2d2d">Maybe next time at least a few of us (blush, blush) will be more patient and more prudent with our criticisms. Until then, let me be the first to apologize to the entire War Eagle Nation. The line behind me should stretch at least halfway around the world.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span></p>