O. S. U.

[JD8]

I'm delusional because I because I have contacts inside the department? OOOOOOOK.

So NOW you're saying you have "contacts"?? Your original statement said.... "I was there in the 90s.... I know"

If you NOW say you have "contacts" then great.... I STILL have a tough time believing you're the eyes and ears of the OK State football program but whatever you need to say to save face.

 

[okietom]

Sent to me from another OSAer, interesting take. It's too long to paste the story in the post.
http://m.newsok.com/oklahoma-state-tales-from-a-les-miles-walk-on/article/3881699

That is good.

 

[Poke78]

Sent to me from another OSAer, interesting take. It's too long to paste the story in the post.
http://m.newsok.com/oklahoma-state-tales-from-a-les-miles-walk-on/article/3881699

Seems closer to reality than the "investigative journalism" being published by SI.

 

[Poke78]

Sent to me from another OSAer, interesting take. It's too long to paste the story in the post.
http://m.newsok.com/oklahoma-state-tales-from-a-les-miles-walk-on/article/3881699

Another Berry Tramel blog from a 4-year player with similar info:

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-state-football-justin-waller-writes-mike-holder/article/3881894

 

[FamousAJ]

There is only one quality thing about SI....the swimsuit issue.



Go Pokes!

 

[Hobbes]

National sports media is beginning to catch on to who sources of the SI series really are.


Some aspects of the story of former Oklahoma State safety Fath' Carter, who was quoted extensively in Sports Illustrated's series about improprieties within the Cowboys' football program, are inconsistent with information obtained by ESPN from a number of university documents.

Carter was one of the main sources quoted in SI's five-part series that alleges players were paid by coaches and boosters and had an academic coordinator complete school work for them while at Oklahoma State.

Among the claims by Carter that are not supported by university documents were that he graduated from the school and attended classes in 2004 with running back Tatum Bell in which the professor gave them failing grades because their eligibility had expired.

Another discrepancy was from running back Dexter Pratt, who told SI that in his first semester, in 2009, every course he took was online. According to university records, Pratt took three online courses and two actual classes.

In Tuesday's SI report, Carter said he graduated from OSU with a degree in education. George Dorhmann, one of two SI reporters who wrote the stories, also said Tuesday on CBS Sports Radio's "The Doug Gottlieb Show" that Carter "has two degrees from Oklahoma State, spoke on the record, recorded. I have no reason to believe he lied. And he's certainly not disgruntled."

Carter didn't have two degrees. Carter attended OSU from 2000 to 2005 but did not graduate, according to the university's office of the registrar.

Carter also told SI that he and Bell were in the same class and got A's and then had the same instructor again for a class in 2004 but got F's.

"I'd guess that there was pressure [on the instructor] to give us those A's when we were playing, but not when we weren't," Carter told SI.

However, Bell wasn't at Oklahoma State in 2004. He withdrew from school after the 2003 fall semester, according to the OSU transcript he provided to ESPN.

"I withdrew from school after the [Jan. 2, 2004] Cotton Bowl," Bell said. "I was never enrolled in 2004 and never attended classes in 2004."

Carter spoke with Tulsa's News on 6 on Tuesday and said he "gave the truth -- no matter who likes it, it is the truth."

Carter made some of the biggest allegations against Oklahoma State, claiming players received "$500 handshakes" from boosters and that an academic coordinator completed papers for players.

Bell, who played in the NFL for the Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions, vehemently disputed Carter's accusations.

"Not only did he lie about me attending those classes, he's trying to degrade everybody," Bell told ESPN. "I never received a dime from anybody.

"All these cats say they got stuff. How were they getting stuff? I wasn't getting stuff. I worked for everything I got. Nobody handed me nothing -- none of that $500 handshake stuff. Nothing like that was going on."

On Tuesday, Josh Fields, OSU's starting quarterback from 2001 to 2003, told ESPN he and others from the school and the Stillwater area questioned the credibility of the players quoted.

Of the 12 former players who made allegations or admitted guilt to SI, nine either were kicked out of school for failed drug tests, dismissed from the program, transferred for playing time issues or quit. Of those, several had criminal records, the Daily O'Collegian and Tulsa World reported. SI did not mention those dismissals or arrests.

"I'm in disbelief," Fields told ESPN. "I never had anyone attempt to give me any type of payments or do my schoolwork and never saw my teammates accept money. I never accepted anything. Seeing my name in there was a shock."

Former OSU coach Les Miles and several other former Cowboys players have denied several of the allegations. SI's five-part series concludes Saturday.

http://espn.go.com/college-football...ndermine-some-oklahoma-state-cowboys-accusers

I guess this kind of fact checking is beyond the abilities of Thayer Evans.
We also know that he never even spoke with Associate Athletic Director/Academics Marilyn Middlebrook.

 

[SoonerP226]

I guess this kind of fact checking is beyond the abilities of Thayer Evans.

I don't know about Evans, but someone at SI should've been doing some fact checking. Hell's bells, that's why reputable journalistic enterprises have, you know, fact checkers. At the very least, the editors should've been hounding them for confirmation; it is inconceivable that such a major piece could go to print containing as much apparent factual discrepancy as this one does.

I haven't bothered to check out the SI article, but I did hear on the radio the other day that the "Bell" mentioned in the Monday article was not, in fact, Tatum Bell (I forget the other player's first name), although the way the article was written, it led one to the conclusion that it was. I wonder if that's the case in Carter's statement?

 

[Hobbes]

I don't know about Evans, but someone at SI should've been doing some fact checking. Hell's bells, that's why reputable journalistic enterprises have, you know, fact checkers. At the very least, the editors should've been hounding them for confirmation; it is inconceivable that such a major piece could go to print containing as much apparent factual discrepancy as this one does.

I haven't bothered to check out the SI article, but I did hear on the radio the other day that the "Bell" mentioned in the Monday article was not, in fact, Tatum Bell (I forget the other player's first name), although the way the article was written, it led one to the conclusion that it was. I wonder if that's the case in Carter's statement?

That would be William Bell, the former defensive end , who claimed he was paid to catfish from a pond.

The article says that William Bell was a freshman in 2004 and the quote is:

In the spring of 2004, after their eligibility expired, the two players again enrolled in a course taught by that instructor, but Carter says that this time they both received failing marks.

So clearly it refers to Tatum Bell who left at the end of 2003.

The whole article is written so poorly it does lead to all kinds of confusion though.

 

[NikatKimber]

Why did it take so long? Probably because in reality everyone, including the NCAA, knows this stuff is happening everywhere at every level. Once and awhile someone shines a light on it and people get all aghast and pretend at "fixing" the problem...when in reality nothing gets fixed (does anything actually need to be fixed? I don't give a crap if some college ball player got paid) and everything goes right back the way it was.

The only people who really got all hot and bothered by it are the rabid fans of whichever university is being highlighted (most of whom probably never even attended any university, let alone the scandalized one) who get all "OH NOES, NOT XXXX UNIVERSITY! They wouldn't do that!".

Anyone that thinks high dollar sports programs don't find ways to entice and reward their players is a fool.

*sigh*

What he said.

Telling me that there isn't corruption in high level college athletics, considering the power and money involved, is like saying there isn't corruption in DC. Preposterous.

On thing this is reminding me of...

I hate big sports.

Makes a bunch of "grown up" men and women act like little children.

I'm an OSU grad. If it's all true, it's embarrassing. If it's not, it's maddening that it got published. Either way, it's certainly NOT surprising.

 

[BadgeBunny]

*sigh*

What he said.

Telling me that there isn't corruption in high level college athletics, considering the power and money involved, is like saying there isn't corruption in DC. Preposterous.

On thing this is reminding me of...

I hate big sports.

Makes a bunch of "grown up" men and women act like little children.

I'm an OSU grad. If it's all true, it's embarrassing. If it's not, it's maddening that it got published. Either way, it's certainly NOT surprising.

Well, while I don't hate big sports I do hate that the NCAA and universities like to pretend that this stuff doesn't go on and then, every once in a while, offer up a sacrificial university. (Oh and if "grown ups" weren't acting like idiots and ***holes over this, they'd be doing it over something else. In fact, they probably are ... )