Manziel potentially ineligible

[emmitt01]

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/9537999/otl-ncaa-investigating-johnny-manziel-profiting-autographs

"Two sources tell "Outside the Lines" that the Texas A&M quarterback agreed to sign memorabilia in exchange for a five-figure flat fee during his trip to Miami for the Discover BCS National Championship. Both sources said they witnessed the signing, though neither saw the actual exchange of money."

Source one- Nick Saban

Source two- Mack Brown

[Rudy]

WHOOP!

[UNTLifer]

I think that should be "WHOOPS,"

[UNT90]

Did any CREDIBLE source see this happen?

[UNTexas]

I would laugh my ass off if this guy gets the boot. He would get destroyed if he tried to play on Sundays right now.

[KRAM1]

Really...could an A&M "student" athlete be this absolutely stupid? This is a joke, right? Even a pee-wee football player knows that sort of thing is a no-no! Cannot believe even Little Johnny Football would be this plain ignorant.....stupid!

Cannot wait to see how A&M handles this...already removed from tomorrow's media day appearance list...AND, dare I say it...how the NCAA handles this investigation. Anyone else think that even if he was this stupid that somehow his parents are allowed to repay the money. And somehow Little Johnny Football is back on the field in time for Alabama!

We'll just hide and watch this one. You know, the NCAA being so "fair and balanced" the way it handles this sort of thing depending upon which school and/or player is being investigated.

[emmitt01]

Texas aTm will suspend him for the first two weeks (Rice, Sam Houston) and the NCAA will accept their punishment as sufficient.

[greenminer]

Johnny needs to take responsibility, but is there not any legal repercussions on the autograph broker's end? Are they allowed to get away with luring student-athletes into breaking these NCAA rules because it's business profit for them?

[Green Dozer]

Yes, Johnny does need to take responsibility. But what surprises me is how Coach Sumlin has handled Manziel. I know stars are treated differently, but it seems Sumlin does not hold him accountable for anything off the field. Could be issues between AM and the Manziel family, I have no idea. Just thought Sumlin was a tougher coach than what he has shown through this.

[H-towngreen]

Agree with you Dozer. It was Sumlin who got his suspension from the university overturned last year. J. Football was his golden ticket

[FirefightnRick]

Did any CREDIBLE source see this happen?

Here's a little about the "Credible" Source.

http://www.goodbullhunting.com/2013/8/4/4588610/johnny-manziel-ncaa-investigation-autographs-profit-darren-rovell-espn

Sunday, August 4th, 2013. The eve of fall camp was a day we all thought would be one that came and went with very little consequence. Oh how naive we were after the offseason that had just taken place. Everyone's favorite Twitter-troll Darren Rovell dropped a bomb early Sunday evening by reporting the Johnny Manziel is under NCAA investigation for profiting off of a rumored autograph session during his trip to Florida for the BCS National Championship in January.

If you have the stomach to read the article (not because it's about Manziel, but because Rovell wrote it) you surely saw a bunch of words, but absolutely no evidence. This rhetoric falls eloquently in line with the warpath that ESPN has been on since the offseason began. There are a lot of words, a lot of speculation, a lot of painting a picture of a kid guilty of doing nothing yet somehow bringing shame to the game. What you definitely don't see in the report is any shred of evidence or credibility. None. I honestly cannot say I am even remotely shocked. This report coming from a guy that got duped by a teenager with a fake escort service is really all you need to know. Look, when a guy is a running joke among the public, you probably should take anything he says with a grain of salt (see: Rovell's Century of Legendary Tweets).

BOTH SOURCES SAID THEY WITNESSED THE SIGNING, THOUGH NEITHER SAW THE ACTUAL EXCHANGE OF MONEY. -ROVELL IN OTL STORY

So congratulations on that ESPN. You're one step closer to ruining a kid that has made you millions while you continue to profit from him. In case you don't believe this, Rovell took to Twitter to explain that yeah, there's no evidence while not mentioning this anywhere in his original article. Don't worry, he's known to go back and edit his original articles long after the fact. How is this even acceptable?

http://deadspin.com/5950631/darren-rovell-gets-duped-again-and-then-edits-his-story-like-nothing-ever-happened

How Rovell has kept his job is a mystery?

Rick

Edited August 5, 2013 by FirefightnRick

[FirefightnRick]

And just now, at 11:14 pm, despite not having an ounce of evidence on this story, channel 5 reports it as "More Problems For Manziel.

Rick

[LakeTravis]

How do you explain 999 autographed authinticated photos on sale through eBay by one source?

This couldn't happen to a better bro-bag or university.

Manziel is done with A&M after this season. He made that clear and his parents. johnny football stock is at the peak. He can't achieve anything more than he already has with a heisman and SEC records so he will take a 5 figure paycheck now when he has the chance since his nfl career is uncertain.

[CMJ]

This looks bad for Johnny Football.

Sometimes athletes with a lot of bravado annoy me....other times I really dig it. Manziel falls in the latter category for me. I hope this isn't as bad as it looks.

[JesseMartin]

I don't think it makes any sense. In that other Manziel link last week, there was a part where his dad talked about buying him the Mercedes or BMW or whatever because Johnny really wanted it and he didn't want him to make any bad choices to get it. He's a spoiled brat, no doubt, but he wouldn't need the money for any reason. On the other hand, if they're not for random kids and others just popping up...why do it for a dealer? Maybe it was in exchange for money/percentages to be discussed/paid after he leaves college ball behind...would that be allowed under the NCAA rules? You know..."sign a few sets of things for me over the next year or so and I'll give you $X or Y% after you leave aTm"...if they're trying to find a loophole and he would be getting a lump sum for multiple signings after his college career, would that be acceptable?

[FirefightnRick]

How do you explain 999 autographed authinticated photos on sale through eBay by one source?

.

How do I explain it? Here's one explanation.

SI.com:http://m.si.com/3236358/perils-of-johnny-football/

Theres not yet any hard evidence Manziel took a dollar, but based on ESPNs reporting, it requires extreme credulity to think the player voluntarily signed a series of 999 pictures out of the goodness of his heart. In fact, in both an interview I conducted with him in March and in colleague Andy Staples

Sports Illustrated

feature story on him last week, Manziel specifically expressed frustration with autograph seekers. He separately told both of us the same anecdote about being approached in the Dallas airport last December by a man who asked him to sign a sheet of helmet decals for troops overseas, only to later find them on eBay.

Rick

[UNTexas]

Actually, they said two witnesses witnessed the agreement and signatures but not the exchange of money. So technically there are a minimum of four potential witnesses already. The two aforementioned witnesses, the individual offering to pay for the services, and Johnny Football. The first two didn't witness the financial exchange. So it's a he said she said on the financial exchange. However, if five figures changed hands there will be a trail. I doubt ole Johnny Football can launder money very well. It's also not a criminal case so no one is facing jail time. It's a case of a wanker kid who may or may not have taken money. If he did, follow the money and witnesses will start popping up. It's just like almost every criminal case. Follow the money. I'd start with the man who allegedly paid him, who incidentally broke no laws. Shady yes, but none the less not criminal.

[MeanGreenTexan]

So the guy claims that signing autographs is so stressful and he doesn't want to do it anymore, yet he gets the gumption to randomly sit down with a dude in Miami and sign 999 things... For free???

Lol.

[FirefightnRick]

Don't ever underestimate an Aggie Message Board....ever! This thing is growing legs by the day and has the potential to blow up in so many faces there's no telling what the repercussions will be?

http://tamu.247sports.com/Board/20/Brokers-Linked--20439491/1

Brokers LInked

Don't really want to type it all out, but here are some posts to somewhat explain what I'm trying to say. Texags has a huge thread right now about all this Manziel stuff, and they're supposedly finding out a lot of what media heads are now using to throw back at the NCAA and could be why ESPN has been backing off some. The actual quoted posts are from AY explaining the TA thread. Too lazy to read 33 pages right now.

"Haven't gone through the whole thread that is on A&M Football forum (nonpremium), but it looks like their computer savvy members found all the support for top echelon college players signing for the same broker and many as much as Johnny, or more. I think they then provided this to reporters like Jay Bilas. They did the research that turned this around. Looks like ESPN decided they better stop before they break college football."

"From what I could gather based on the free forum provided above, they're doing script runs at the PSA Authentication site to manually pull information on how many items have been authenticated from Clowney, Bridgewater and others, and are finding that there are actually as many or more from those players, and that ESPN was singling out Johnny unnecessarily. They are actually doing some really intensive work, and contacting brokers as well, many of which are changing their information on eBay, passwords on the site are changing, other stuff to insinuate that people are aware of their investigating prowess and not appreciating it one bit. Makes me smile quite a bit, I think they're actually doing some really solid work and would not be surprised at all if this has something to do with ESPN backing down a bit based on the information they're sending out!"

"The other thing they are finding is sequential numbers for the same players in those databases which indicate large quantities being signed all at once. Several guys like Clowney and Bridgewater have 200+ sequential authentications in a row indicating they could've been paid to sign a ton of stuff at once"

"well it looks like they (TexAgs posters) are saying the the 3 or 4 different brokers that ESPN (rovell and schad) have tied to JFF are actually working together, that espn is trying to make it look worse by have 3 or 4 out there and in different parts of the country. Some guy, maybe a poster named Telco, has proof of how these 4 are connected, either thru facebook, etc.. and that the big part of this is actually a betting scheme..ie, these guys have big money on Alabama winning a NC, a bunch of different parlays, other games, etc.. and that they only see JFF as the one who could prevent it and they are trying to get him out for the season or at least 4 games or so.."

"The reason this is important is it dismantles two of the story lines ESPN was hitting hard.

1. Sequentially numbered PSA/DNA authentication numbers are tangible proof that things were signed for dealers and a strong implication that they were signed for money.

2. Clowney and other star players would never sign for dealers, and this is a JFF issue alone.

What is more important is the dismantling of the first one, in my opinion. Using the mainboard (a cesspool as it may be) as an indicator, the haters have stopped repeating the "Sequentially numbered items mean he was paid" line that Rovell first attempted to run with. ESPN seems to have stopped running with that line as well. It has basically taken that out of evidence in the court of public opinion.

The second one is nice, if for no other reason than there are a few other schools that might pressure the NCAA to let the autograph thing go. Yes, they may have cleared their players, but our compliance department cleared JFF in March. That didn't stop the NCAA from coming back around."

Rick

Edited August 8, 2013 by FirefightnRick

[PlummMeanGreen]

MIssing and what may be the hidden piece of this whole story is that there sure are a whole bunch of Former Students of TAMU with big time money and they take their Ag' football very seriously, too. One of those Former Students down in Aggieland used to own the Dallas Cowboys at one point. So don't rule out righting a wrong with another wrong with this Johnny Football story from a Former Aggie Student. Also, I think the NCAA likes this kids story on the football field too much to punish him too severely if they punish him at all.

Last time an Aggie won a Heismann was John David Crow in the mid 50's and ironically, TAMU was on an NCAA probation that year as I recall the story.

GMG!

Edited August 8, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[FirefightnRick]

Plumm, I know it's a lot to read, and I haven't read it all either. But the point of the link above, if I have this right and someone please correct me if I don't,... is a link from a free 247 website to TexAgs.com, which is where the aggies have researched and compiled proof of items autographed by other famous players, and a lot of them. And in there they have linked the brokers of those autographed items to ESPN and entities in Vegas.

So the NCAA and ESPN have been willing to intentionally ignore players autographing items for sale in the past through brokers who may also be connected to gambling circles, but for whatever reason, decide to come out in hunting parties for JFF?

Edit....I separated the paragraphs above for easier reading.

Stay tuned.

Rick

Edited August 8, 2013 by FirefightnRick

[MeanGreenTexan]

Plumm, I know it's a lot to read, and I haven't read it all either. But the point of the link above, if I have this right and someone please correct me if I don't,... is a link from a free 247 website to TexAgs.com, which is where the aggies have researched and compiled proof of items autographed by other famous players, and a lot of them. And in there they have linked the brokers of those autographed items to ESPN and entities in Vegas.

So the NCAA and ESPN have been willing to intentionally ignore players autographing items for sale in the past through brokers who may also be connected to gambling circles, but for whatever reason, decide to come out in hunting parties for JFF?

Stay tuned.

Rick

Has there ever really been an easier target? The kid puts himself out there constantly. It's almost like taunting. He created this for himself.

**Edit: Whereas guys like Clowney or Bridgewater may be doing this, but if they are, they're not going to NBA finals games and flaunting it everywhere. They're probably taking it and giving it to their family and stuff.

Edited August 8, 2013 by MeanGreenTexan

[PlummMeanGreen]

Plumm, I know it's a lot to read, and I haven't read it all either. But the point of the link above, if I have this right and someone please correct me if I don't,... is a link from a free 247 website to TexAgs.com, which is where the aggies have researched and compiled proof of items autographed by other famous players, and a lot of them. And in there they have linked the brokers of those autographed items to ESPN and entities in Vegas.

So the NCAA and ESPN have been willing to intentionally ignore players autographing items for sale in the past through brokers who may also be connected to gambling circles, but for whatever reason, decide to come out in hunting parties for JFF?

Stay tuned.

Rick

I will now read it in its entirety but I think the worse case scenario would be if any degree of guilt is found that the only punishment Johnny Football would get is he misses 1 or 2 "quite insignificant" OOC games.

GMG!

Edited August 8, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen