A Rat's Tale

Another Storm Brewing in Coral Gables

The 'U'. Impressed upon my 8 year old mind as being 'IT'. It was Outlaw, it was caps and Sweatshirts featuring Orange and Green and that bird with a corn cob pipe. It was domination, It was Sunshine and the Orange Bowl, it was Hollywood, it was the NFL come to the NCAA. It was over the top, it was lewd behavior,It was militant and it was 2 Live Cru.

What it also was, was very illegal. We all know how that story ended. Not quite as bad as SMU, but it was bad none the less.

And now, just as Ohio State is under scrutiny and it appeared that some justice was going to come to the world, we get this nice little diversion.

Yup, they are at it again in Miami.

Apparently, a rogue booster has made allegations and admitted that he provided things to players of the 'U' that go beyond a chicken nugget happy meal. Sounds to me like we could have some sort of Oliver Stone-esque conspiracy brewing here. I mean the poster school of the NCAA is caught red-handed, but this booster comes out of nowhere and decides now is the perfect time to come clean, and it just so happens to have been at school that everybody expects the worse from.

Maybe that is a bit much, but you have to admit, the timing could not have been better to take the heat off of OSU, but to it's credit, ESPN is still actively reporting and updating Terrelle Pryor's circumstances in the matter at Ohio State.

The booster in question, Nevin Shapiro, is a convicted felon now serving a 20 year sentence. Shapiro was a Bernie Madoff type who had a bonner for the 'U'. In a report conducted by Yahoo!Sports, Shapiro told the online service that he supplied cars, cash, and tits to more than 72 football players and other athletes at Miami.

The school has not taken any independent disciplinary actions, even though Shapiro claims that several of the current players are part of the guilty. Coach Al Golden, who is in his first year at Miami, has said that if players were found to have done wrong, they will be dealt with first. Of course they will Coach, what else were you going to say here?

As of right now, all members of the Hurricanes are participating in practice. In the event current players are found to have dirty hands in this, Golden said that they(Miami) "Will adjust our practices accordingly."

And that ass pirate, NCAA President Mark Emmert, has said that the NCAA has been investigating the allegations around the program for quite some times now, and if there is some serious infractions here, he says it only goes to show that "there is need for serious and fundamental change" in college sports today.

So, Miami and the NCAA are searching for the truth, or maybe Miami is searching for a way to hide some of it. Golden, says he wants to know for sure what went on, who was exposed to Shapiro, and to make sure it does not happen again. Of course you do coach. You get that dream job and it falls all to shit within weeks.

But, that's not all here. In this tangled web of accusations and dirty money, apparently, Missouri, recently rumored to being very flirtations with God's conference, is involved.

Shapiro claims that while at Miami, Asst. Coach Frank Haith paid a recruit a substantial amount of cash($10,000). Haith is now the leader of Mizzou's program, which could lead to MISSERY in MISSOURI.

The list of names on Shapiro's ratted out list include, QB Jacory Harris, Travis Benjamin and Aldarius Johnson all starters currently at Miami, with Ray Ray Armstrong, Sean Spence, Marcus Fortson, Vaughn Telemaque, Dyron Dye, and Oliver Vernon rounding out the list of current players Shapiro named. He also named Robert Marve, who transferred from Miami and is now the QB at Purdue.

But how did Shapiro get that close?

It is reported that the Ponzi general was allowed access by the former AD, Kirby Hocutt, who gave Shapiro privileges and invites that are generally reserved for members of the Athletic Department, and held as high honors.

Shapiro was a con man who had money, other people's money, and he used that money to write checks to Hocutt and the athletic department. Hocutt knew that he had to raise money, that was his job, and Shapiro provided an avenue for him to have job security.

Shapiro, to be fair to Hocutt, was seen on the sidelines at various times before Hocutt took the job, in 2008. Matter of fact, in 2005, former Nebraska player Bernard Thomas says that himself, Shapiro, and former 'Canes Kellen Winslow and DJ Williams all partied together on Shapiro's yacht, which Thomas says was after they had already graduated/left school.

Golden stated that he felt Miami had done him wrong by not informing him of Shapiro's allegations and connections to the program before they hired him,if they had known that this was going to happen, but insists that he and his family are happy in Miami, and will stick it out.

Nelvin Shapiro, who is a little guy, obviously felt like a big shot being around the program, and with his money, probably felt like he was the program. He even called himself, 'Little Luke', after Luther Campbell, the former 'Luke Skywalker' of 2 Live Cru fame, and well publicized 'U' fan during the 1980's and still today. Campbell strongly denies any suggestion that he is anything like Shapiro, having only supported the school out of civic pride, and never once giving money to the school. He resents Shapiro, and his self proclamation of being called 'Little Luke'.

"I did it because I could and nobody stepped in to stop me." That's Shapiro's reasoning for why he did it.

It's been a busy 18 months for the NCAA investigating and sanctioning programs.

Miami draws the heat off Ohio State for the moment, and gives the NCAA more time to dig up something on Kentucky. Yup, business as usual for the NCAA.

Shapiro, the name can get a man acquitted of murder, and murder a football program.