Well, I m new to the list  urged on by Cathy Hart  and through long
association with athletics at UMaine certainly have an opinion about
the NC$$ (thank you, Lindsay!) and its octopus arms and
Communist-under-every-bed mentality.  Shades of the McCarthy hearings..
 Gee, I am also old enough to remember when the NC$$ consisted of a
director and a part-time assistant.  Now they have enough lawyers alone
to form a nice cozy Wall Street firm.
        First, many years ago when I was first solicited to make donations to
UMaine athletics, there were no disclaimers or caveats given.  Nowhere
did I EVER see the words:  WARNING!  If you give us one red cent, you
will then for life be known as an athletics representative or (God
forbid and horrors!)  Booster  and your life and your choices and your
friends will be governed by the most arcane set of rules imaginable.  I
might have given more thought to donations of any kind.
        Second, such an invasion of my personal liberties  being able to
choose my friends and those with whom I care to associateflies so
firmly in the face of the U.S. Constitution that it is a joke.  The
NC$$ runs on fear and rumor-mongering and a huge book of regulations
that are so contradictory in nature that in reading any six pages, one
will find one rule contradicting another. Yes, we all want an even
playing field, but this is not it.
        I have no problem abiding by rules when a student-athlete is an
eligible student-athlete.  I would like to think that, if I abide by
them, that the schools in the Big Ten or the SEC or the Big Eight won t
be giving cars and cash to athletes.  Do I believe that to be the case?
Hell, no!  But, I will not do anything to jeopardize the collegiate
career of a student-athlete at UMaine   period.
So I, like all the others I know, play by the rules.  Those rules, by
the way, also prevent a coach from going to a dorm with orange juice
and soup for an athlete with a cold, and prevented me from taking a
hockey player with a borderline concussion home to keep a watch on for
24 hours.  He had to go back to the dorm and hope that someone checked
on him during the night.  Even Good Samaritan laws exist for a reason,
administridiots!
Your mentioning Scott King makes me comment on two things  first, he is
a real, live doctor in his second year of surgical residency
(orthopedics and sports medicine) in Philadelphia.  He and wife, Dr.
Andrea (family practice) are expecting their first child this year.  I
know this because we are friends and will continue to be so.
And, when he was a student here, in a speech class, the assignment was
to give a speech promoting an appositional view to the norm  he gave a
speech on why student-athletes are discriminated against.  Unlike
 normal  students, they could not go to a local home for a meal (they
can now with severe restrictions and on a very limited basis), could
not go out for a meal with friends if those friends were boosters, and
could really not associate with these suspect boosters for fear that
someone would trump up a story about the relationship and cause
problems.  When Maine underwent its own investigation, I know
first-hand how many other voices were raised against us, however
 anonymously  in an attempt to cause further problems.
Sorry  have gone on a bit too long. Thanks for reading this and, for
those who aren t close to the campus, please know that rules are
followed and the student-athlete always comes first with those I know.
To do less would be an affront to what we all love about UMaine.
GO Blue  all the way to the Frozen Four!
Nonni Daly  59