USC To NCAA: You Are All Morons (the Joe McKnight Scandal)

We’ve all heard of the various scandals at USC. Tim Floyd lost his job after paying for the right to coach OJ Mayo for one season. And that was nothing compared to the Reggie Bush scandal. Apparently he made so much money in college, he didn’t feel the need to earn his pay in the pros.

I write about USC’s most recent transgressions (at least they’re the most recent as I write this) not because I am confused as to why the NCAA has done absolutely nothing. I don’t write about it because the NCAA concerns itself with denying good kids additional eligibility and preventing college students from talking to recruits. I write about it because USC’s cover-up of the Joe McKnight scandal sends a message to the NCAA loud and clear: we know you won’t do anything to us so we are going to treat you as though you are all idiots.

So here are the facts, as reported by the press. Joe McKnight has been seen on multiple occasions driving an SUV that is owned by a man named Scott Schenter. In addition to owning the car that McKnight drives, Schenter owns a website called www.4joemcknight.com . If that’s not enough, he also has a company started up in 2008 called USC Marketing.

C’mon. This is too easy. Even the NCAA has to see what’s going on here, right? Well…

And here’s where it gets fun. Schenter claims the car is actually for McKnight’s girlfriend, though there is no explanation as to what his connection to her is. And McKnight denies ever having driven the car, but that has been proven to be a lie.

And the website? Well, Schenter claims he wants nothing to do with athletes or agents, but he still owns many athlete websites, and that McKnight’s is just one of many, though he did not mention what other websites he owns. It’s just some kind of crazy coincidence!

Furthermore, USC Marketing is supposed to stand for United States China Marketing, according to Schenter, of course. Yes, USC Marketing seems like a perfectly logical way to abbreviate that name. Anyone would know what your company is about by looking at that name. For those not well-versed in that art of sarcasm, the last two sentences are examples of such.

I think the facts speak for themselves. McKnight obviously did something wrong. Why would he lie about driving his girlfriend’s car if it was really her car and there was nothing fishy going on? Even if it was her car, why would she involve herself with someone who obviously has ties to McKnight and the program?

USC has gotten away with too much already. And you know what? They know this. They know the NCAA will do nothing to them because the NCAA makes too much money off of USC. It benefits the NCAA to have USC as a dominant team.

Accordingly, USC has decided to just give the dumbest explanations possible for their violations, so at least the NCAA can save face when they don’t punish them for their obvious wrong-doings. But we know better. Or at least we should. We should see this for what it is—another scandal and another stupid cover-up that will go away with time. USC will just keep paying to get players, employ coaches illegally, allow agents to talk to players at practice, and showering players’ parents with houses. Why? Because USC knows the NCAA is full of morons who won’t do anything so long as they can make money off of them.

Just sad.