This **** is from ESPN.......Doesn't make us look to sporty.....
</p>
AUBURN, Ala. -- Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton says he "didn't do anything wrong" amid allegations that a man tried to
secure payment from Mississippi State during the Heisman Trophy
hopeful's recruitment.</p>
Newton said Friday just before stepping on the bus to the team's hotel
in Montgomery ahead of Saturday's game with Chattanooga that
he's "sure the smoke will settle." He says he's holding up just
fine, that he's had "worse days."</p><div class="mod-container mod-no-footer mod-inline content-box floatright mod-no-header-footer"><div class="mod-content"><h4>More from ESPN.com</h4>
The NCAA's investigation into the accusations that a man claiming to
represent Cam Newton was soliciting a payment for the star QB has raised
questions. ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach has answers. Story
</p>
</p>
We keep buying into big-time college sports, and big-time college sports
keeps selling us out, writes ESPN.com's Johnette Howard. Story
</p>
•Ex-QB: Man offered Newton for money</p>
</div></div>
A person familiar with the situation told
the Associated Press on Friday that Auburn has had "no contact
whatsoever" with a man who allegedly tried to secure payment from
Mississippi State during the recruitment of Newton.</p>
ESPN.com
reported Thursday a teammate of John Bond, a Mississippi State
quarterback in the 1980s, contacted Bond soon after Newton's official
visit to the school during the Ole Miss game in December. He said he was
representing Newton and soliciting a six-figure payment.</p>
Sources told ESPN.com Bond's former teammate is Kenny Rogers, who played
at Mississippi State from 1982 to '85. Bond told ESPN.com that the
former teammate told him other schools had already offered $200,000, but
since Newton really liked Mississippi State and had a relationship with
head coach Dan Mullen dating to when both were at Florida, Mississippi
State could get him for $180,000.</p>
"He said it would take some cash
to get Cam," Bond said. "I called our athletic director, Greg Byrne,
and he took it from there. That was pretty much it."</p>
Douglas Zeit, Kenny Rogers' lawyer, denied the charge on Friday to ESPN.com.</p>
"The
allegations that Mr. Rogers suggested or stated to anyone that Cameron
Newton was offered or would take money from any university or
Mississippi State University are completely and patently false," Zeit
said.</p><div class="mod-container mod-inline content-box mod-podcast floatright mod-no-header-footer"><div class="mod-content"><h4>Kenny Rogers: 11/5</h4><div class="podcast-player"></div>
Kenny Rogers denies soliciting payment in the recruitment of Auburn's
Cam Newton on 103.3 FM ESPN Radio in Dallas with host Ian Fitzsimmons.</p><p class="footer clear"> More Podcasts »</p></div></div>
Rogers has a company called Elite Football
Preparation, which holds camps in Alabama, Chicago and Mississippi, and
matches football prospects with colleges. Calls to the company have gone
unanswered.</p>
Rogers has separately come under scrutiny from the NFL Players Association and the NCAA.</p>
The
NFLPA has issued a disciplinary complaint against contract adviser Ian
Greengross, and spokesman George Atallah told The Associated Press on
Friday that the union would be looking into Rogers' involvement with
players as well. THE NFLPA identified Rogers as a recruiter for
Greengross.</p>
Greengross was cited for "violating numerous
provisions of the NFLPA's agent regulations while recruiting and
representing players," and, according to the union, is responsible for
the actions of his recruiters, employees and associates.</p>
Auburn,
in the meantime, has not received a letter of inquiry from the sport's
governing body, the person familiar with the situation told The
Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity.</p>
The person said Newton's eligibility "has at no point been in jeopardy." Newton will play Saturday vs. Chattanooga.</p>
"We
have been made aware of the allegation. Unfortunately, we cannot
comment at this time," Auburn assistant athletic director, media
relations Kirk Sampson said on Thursday. "However, Cam Newton is
eligible to play football at Auburn."</p>
Cecil Newton, Cam's father, denied any wrongdoing in an interview with ESPN.com on Thursday.</p>
"If Rogers tried to solicit money from Mississippi State, he did it on his own, without our knowledge," Cecil Newton said.</p>
Cecil Newton is pastor of Holy Zion Center of Deliverance, a small
church located in a commercial building in Newnan, Ga., southwest of
Atlanta.</p>
Documents obtained Friday by The Associated Press through
an open records request show the city has been pressuring the minister
to make some $50,000 in repairs to the structure since June 2008. An
inspector found multiple problems, including a lack of smoke detectors,
sprinklers and rear exits; moldy insulation; faulty wiring; rotting
wooden doors and broken windows.</p>
An abandoned structure needed to
be demolished behind the church building, according to a letter from the
city, and the grass had to be cut because of safety hazards to the
public.</p>
The city issued the first of three separate permits for
work at the site in May 2009, records show. The town's newspaper, The
Times-Herald, quoted Cecil Newton as telling the City Council in
September 2009 that the church had the money for the repairs.</p>
But
it wasn't until last month that city officials agreed to take the
structure off a list of buildings that could be condemned and
demolished.</p>
Cecil Newton would not say where his church got the money to perform the improvements required by the city.</p>
"I'm not going to get into something like that," he told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview Friday.</p>
The
city's public information officer, Gina Snider, said the church still
isn't allowed to hold services in the building because of its poor
condition.</p>
"They have to meet elsewhere," she said Friday.</p>
The minister's son knows what it's like to have to relocate.</p>
Newton
decided to leave Florida following a November 2008 arrest after he
bought a stolen computer. The charges were dropped last December when he
completed a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders.</p>
Auburn
fans have quickly rallied to Newton's defense in the recruiting
scandal. A Facebook page supporting the quarterback gained more than
7,400 members less than a day after it was created.</p>
</p>
AUBURN, Ala. -- Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton says he "didn't do anything wrong" amid allegations that a man tried to
secure payment from Mississippi State during the Heisman Trophy
hopeful's recruitment.</p>
Newton said Friday just before stepping on the bus to the team's hotel
in Montgomery ahead of Saturday's game with Chattanooga that
he's "sure the smoke will settle." He says he's holding up just
fine, that he's had "worse days."</p><div class="mod-container mod-no-footer mod-inline content-box floatright mod-no-header-footer"><div class="mod-content"><h4>More from ESPN.com</h4>
The NCAA's investigation into the accusations that a man claiming to
represent Cam Newton was soliciting a payment for the star QB has raised
questions. ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach has answers. Story
</p>
</p>
_________________________________________________
We keep buying into big-time college sports, and big-time college sports
keeps selling us out, writes ESPN.com's Johnette Howard. Story
</p>
•Ex-QB: Man offered Newton for money</p>
</div></div>
A person familiar with the situation told
the Associated Press on Friday that Auburn has had "no contact
whatsoever" with a man who allegedly tried to secure payment from
Mississippi State during the recruitment of Newton.</p>
ESPN.com
reported Thursday a teammate of John Bond, a Mississippi State
quarterback in the 1980s, contacted Bond soon after Newton's official
visit to the school during the Ole Miss game in December. He said he was
representing Newton and soliciting a six-figure payment.</p>
Sources told ESPN.com Bond's former teammate is Kenny Rogers, who played
at Mississippi State from 1982 to '85. Bond told ESPN.com that the
former teammate told him other schools had already offered $200,000, but
since Newton really liked Mississippi State and had a relationship with
head coach Dan Mullen dating to when both were at Florida, Mississippi
State could get him for $180,000.</p>
"He said it would take some cash
to get Cam," Bond said. "I called our athletic director, Greg Byrne,
and he took it from there. That was pretty much it."</p>
Douglas Zeit, Kenny Rogers' lawyer, denied the charge on Friday to ESPN.com.</p>
"The
allegations that Mr. Rogers suggested or stated to anyone that Cameron
Newton was offered or would take money from any university or
Mississippi State University are completely and patently false," Zeit
said.</p><div class="mod-container mod-inline content-box mod-podcast floatright mod-no-header-footer"><div class="mod-content"><h4>Kenny Rogers: 11/5</h4><div class="podcast-player"></div>
Kenny Rogers denies soliciting payment in the recruitment of Auburn's
Cam Newton on 103.3 FM ESPN Radio in Dallas with host Ian Fitzsimmons.</p><p class="footer clear"> More Podcasts »</p></div></div>
Rogers has a company called Elite Football
Preparation, which holds camps in Alabama, Chicago and Mississippi, and
matches football prospects with colleges. Calls to the company have gone
unanswered.</p>
Rogers has separately come under scrutiny from the NFL Players Association and the NCAA.</p>
The
NFLPA has issued a disciplinary complaint against contract adviser Ian
Greengross, and spokesman George Atallah told The Associated Press on
Friday that the union would be looking into Rogers' involvement with
players as well. THE NFLPA identified Rogers as a recruiter for
Greengross.</p>
Greengross was cited for "violating numerous
provisions of the NFLPA's agent regulations while recruiting and
representing players," and, according to the union, is responsible for
the actions of his recruiters, employees and associates.</p>
Auburn,
in the meantime, has not received a letter of inquiry from the sport's
governing body, the person familiar with the situation told The
Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity.</p>
The person said Newton's eligibility "has at no point been in jeopardy." Newton will play Saturday vs. Chattanooga.</p>
"We
have been made aware of the allegation. Unfortunately, we cannot
comment at this time," Auburn assistant athletic director, media
relations Kirk Sampson said on Thursday. "However, Cam Newton is
eligible to play football at Auburn."</p>
Cecil Newton, Cam's father, denied any wrongdoing in an interview with ESPN.com on Thursday.</p>
"If Rogers tried to solicit money from Mississippi State, he did it on his own, without our knowledge," Cecil Newton said.</p>
Cecil Newton is pastor of Holy Zion Center of Deliverance, a small
church located in a commercial building in Newnan, Ga., southwest of
Atlanta.</p>
Documents obtained Friday by The Associated Press through
an open records request show the city has been pressuring the minister
to make some $50,000 in repairs to the structure since June 2008. An
inspector found multiple problems, including a lack of smoke detectors,
sprinklers and rear exits; moldy insulation; faulty wiring; rotting
wooden doors and broken windows.</p>
An abandoned structure needed to
be demolished behind the church building, according to a letter from the
city, and the grass had to be cut because of safety hazards to the
public.</p>
The city issued the first of three separate permits for
work at the site in May 2009, records show. The town's newspaper, The
Times-Herald, quoted Cecil Newton as telling the City Council in
September 2009 that the church had the money for the repairs.</p>
But
it wasn't until last month that city officials agreed to take the
structure off a list of buildings that could be condemned and
demolished.</p>
Cecil Newton would not say where his church got the money to perform the improvements required by the city.</p>
"I'm not going to get into something like that," he told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview Friday.</p>
The
city's public information officer, Gina Snider, said the church still
isn't allowed to hold services in the building because of its poor
condition.</p>
"They have to meet elsewhere," she said Friday.</p>
The minister's son knows what it's like to have to relocate.</p>
Newton
decided to leave Florida following a November 2008 arrest after he
bought a stolen computer. The charges were dropped last December when he
completed a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders.</p>
Auburn
fans have quickly rallied to Newton's defense in the recruiting
scandal. A Facebook page supporting the quarterback gained more than
7,400 members less than a day after it was created.</p>
