The following are excerpts from an article by Roberta Scruggs, a staff
writer for the Portland Papers (Sunday Telegram and Press Herald),
which appears in today's (August 4) Maine Sunday Telegram.  If I can
get permission, I'll post the entire article on my web page later
this week.
 
"Walsh No Dummy About Rules"
 
"Shawn, you've been insulted.  The NCAA says you displayed 'an appalling
lack of knowledge' of its rules.  For 10 solid years, you couldn't
comprehend even the NCAA's most basic concept - that student athletes
can't receive special benefits."
"I guess the NCAA doesn't know you like we do.  Every sports writer
who ever covered Maine's hockey team heard you brag you were the master
of the NCAA rule book.  It was a point of pride that you had studied it
like a Bible student searching for salvation."
 
...
 
"You trusted your own interpretation of NCAA rules more than the NCAA's
itself.  That's why you recruited Jeff Tory even with the NCAA letter in
your hand saying he was academically ineligible.  And when you were
suspended for keeping that letter to yourself, you said you still
believed you were right and the NCAA was wrong. So when the NCAA says you
broke their rules because you didn't know any better, they must be
wrong again."
 
...
 
"You were just too dumb to know the rules."
"Shawn, I know how much that must hurt.  You've always prided yourself
on the ability to outthink the opposition.  You made A's in college.
And the first time I met you, you told me you made a perfect score on
the math portion of the SAT."
"So which is it, Shawn?"
"Has the NCAA insulted your intelligence?"
"Or have you insulted ours?"
 
****
 
This is just a portion of Ms. Scruggs excellent piece.  Its located on
Page 1 of section D of the Maine Sunday Telegram and can be seen today
on the Press Herald web site (www.portland.com/sports/sports2.htm).
Incidentally, there is another article by Kevin Thomas which looks at
the reasons why Shawn Walsh was not fired by the university, and includes
quotes from UM president Fred Hutchinson ("We went down the road of
fairness") and AD Suzanne Tyler ("Shawn can be remediated").
The Portland Papers generally do not archive stories on their web site,
so its unlikely you will find them after today, unless they give me
(or someone else) permission to archive them on our own web site.
 
 
John Forsyth
http://maine.maine.edu:80/jforsy41/
 
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