Sitting atop Reddit CFB on Sunday afternoon was this:
Waiting on the Crock-Pot dinner, and watching an Eagles-Bears game more pitiful than UCF‘s rejection of Florida‘s 2-for-1 offer, I had some time. I’ll bite.
“Exposing InSECurity: Support Our Major Investigation of Elitism in College Sports,” read the headline, attributed to “Staff” of Knight News, a student newspaper, the self-proclaimed “leader in UCF news”.
The gist: Knight News believes they’ve discovered SEC collusion based on obtained e-mails between Missouri athletics director Jim Sterk and Florida athletics director Scott Stricklin, a member of the playoff committee.
The supposedly damning e-mails — or “prime evidence” of antitrust violations, according to University of Miami Law professor Daniel Ravicher — show that Sterk sent Stricklin a one-page attachment with highlights from the Tigers’ season, a common practice in lobbying for bowl games and individual awards.
“[H]opeful you can take a look and share info with the committee,” Sterk wrote.
“Thanks, Jim. I’m a big fan of your team. Will do my best,” Stricklin replied.”
Whoa. Guantanamo Bay have availability?
“Had any other team that wasn’t part of a cozy relationship reached out to him, he probably would’ve responded in the appropriate way,” Ravicher said, “which to say, ‘I received your message, but this is not the proper channel to lobby for better bowl selection.”
Where’s the evidence Stricklin responded to UCF athletics director Danny White or another AD without an alleged “cozy relationship”? Ravicher doesn’t have that evidence, though that didn’t stop Knight News from mistaking an opinion for evidence.
It’s pure speculation.
It gets better. Knight News launched a GoFundMe campaign to fund an investigation. As of Sunday afternoon, 17 people have contributed $400 toward their $5,000 goal.
“The goal of Exposing InSECurity is to shine a spotlight on elitism that unfairly puts a program’s pedigree over performance on the field. We’ll do this by obtaining emails through freedom of information laws, and by asking tough questions of the controversial College Football Playoff corporation execs and others, along with other journalistic tactics. We will not be ignored. And we won’t back down.”
They won’t back down from a one-page promotional sheet?
