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This whole episode exemplifies why I'm rather ambivalent about the whole amateur sports concept. It seems obvious that the Black Bears and Shawn Walsh broke the rules and some sort of punishment is deserved, but I still think that a good hard look at the system is necessary. The most obvious thing is the interviewing of witnesses by Walsh. This is one of those things that people mean when they complain about the NCAA abusing due process. What did Shawn Walsh do? As one of the prime defendents, he and/or his attorney's interviewed potential witnesses; from what's been posted, this is all that really is known. Within the legal system, this is a fundamental right (at least, I'm pretty sure it is. Any lawyers in the house?). It becomes more complicated, of course. The obvious inference being drawn is that Walsh convinced some of these witnesses to not testify. Unlike the legal system, the NCAA (or the University of Maine) can't compel testimony, so it tries to prevent these meetings from taking place. Even before the questions about the integrity and impartiality of the NCAA begin, it seems to me that we have a real problem here. On the issue of breakfast, why weren't the players simply put on a pass list? Anytime cash is put into the hands of athletes with the instruction to use it for something specific, potential troubles arise. The University of Michigan baseball team got hit very hard a few years back when the players were selling programs at the football games and Bud Middaugh kind of, umm, forgot to collect the proceeds from them. I still maintain that we'd be better off dropping the pretense of amateurism, which is just as hollow at the collegiate level as it was at the Olympics. The corrosive nature of the under the table money or the worries of it are enormous. There is the problem of simple integrity; the athletes are being abused. The payment for their services is a scholarship that many of them are too busy to get the full advantage of; then there are the players who aren't on scholarship, who receive no recompense for their efforts. People can talk about the privilege of playing sports; that's what IM and club sports are for. Varsity athletes are part of a serious business; even if it doesn't make any money. So someone gets a break on his rent from a booster; I don't smell the impending end of Western civilization. Another problem, one example of which is outlined in my first paragraph, is the tyrrany of the enforcement procedures. I tend to dismiss people's claims about the ticky-tack nature of some of the violations. I've tended to see these as being attached to the bottom of the sheet to make a long list after some major violations are listed. I can't remember a program getting into significant trouble from solely nit-picking accusations. What worries me more is the procedure the NCAA uses to go about it's investigations; most of them would be thown out by the courts for due process violations if they showed up there. Again, it's not necessarily that NCAA officers are heartless demons with no concern for these issues (I take no position on this issue). There just is no other way that they could run an investigation. J. Michael Jackson HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.