Dog Days: Washington Huskies Busted

Welcome to Seattle, Stevo.

It's only been a month, and already Steve Sarkisian's staff has committed an NCAA infraction. Now before you start pointing your fingers and spewing cheater chants, keep an open mind; this infraction is one that should be categorized as absurd.

Apparently, a recruit experienced "real game simulations" while there on campus, and that's a no-no, according to the NCAA.

Desmond Trufant, who orally committed to Washington, described to Dawg.com a simulated game-day entrance from his visit last weekend and that's a secondary (minor) violation. The school will self-report itself to the Pac-10.

Here's a question that needs to be addressed to the NCAA: Why the heck can't a team describe/show to a recruit what the entrance to Husky Stadium is like?

Why can't they have some loud speakers with crowd noise to give him an idea about what it's like to enter that stadium?

What is the big deal? And why is it a recruiting violation?

The rules are ridiculous, and hard to remember as it is, they make you wonder why more schools aren't getting in trouble.

And that's the problem—if Trufant hadn't described his experience on-line, no one would have ever known. How many other schools have done this and not gotten caught?

Is there really a difference between showing a recruit a film of what it's like when the players come galloping unto the field and being on the field and hearing piped-in crowd noise?

Is there?

According to the Seattle Times, the school was hosting some recruits and "the school set up a mock 'game-day entrance' for recruits, simulating running out of the tunnel at Husky Stadium that included smoke and noise."

OMG. Call the police.

Let's suppose a linebacker recruit like Manti Te'o visits South Bend, Indiana, in the harsh winter. Te'o is from Hawai'i, so -10 degrees could be a shock for him.

Would it be an NCAA violation to have him go into a room that shows the magnificent foliage of autumn on all four walls with Touchdown Jesus on one wall?

Isn't that what the players see when they come out of the tunnel and on to the field? Is it illegal if they have the Irish Fight Song blaring with crowd noise in the room as well?

This rule is one of many recruiting rules that is vague, and asking for misinterpretation. Most people of reasonable intelligence would assume the rule is trying to forbid recruits from participating in drills with their possible idols, or participating in some sort of team function that only actual team members can participate in.

Apparently, smoke machines are also in that rule.

So for Pete's sake, throw the Huskies under the bus, right? Better yet, give them the same punishment as the NCAA gave the Sooners for self-reporting on their violations.

After all, the NCAA begs schools to self-report, and yet, when they dole out sanctions, they don't give the self-reporting schools a slight break in sanctions. If you want to know why some schools don't bother to self-report, it's because of what happened to the Sooners.

There's no reason to self-report if you get the same sanctions as one who doesn't self-report. Hey, why give the NCAA anything? They may not find anything! What incentive is there? Let the NCAA try to figure it out. So far, that tactic is working for the USC Trojans, isn't it?

I ask you, the sports fans, does the NCAA need to take a hard look at how asinine some of their rules are?

I ask you, the sports fans, to consider this: After Trufant described his game-day entrance simulation on Dawg.com, there was a discussion on Cougfan.com, the Huskies' rival's fan website (Washington State Cougars), on whether or not Trufant's experience was an NCAA violation.

How come some posters on a Cougars' fans message board know the rules about simulating game experience, but the University of Washington Huskies coaching staff doesn't?

 *crickets chirping*