Secure in the Truth

BY Phillip Marshall
AuburnUndercover

The question has been put to me numerous times in the last three days. Why Auburn? The truthful answer is I don’t know.

I don’t know why Auburn is such a target. But I did know what to expect after Selena Roberts did a disservice to herself and her profession with one of the worst hatchet jobs I have seen in all my years in this business. ESPN followed with a long story about Auburn players and synthetic marijuana that still has me scratching my head.

And what I expected to happen is what has happened.

ESPN paid little attention to Auburn’s response, which basically obliterated the story. Roberts responded defensively to anyone who questioned her.

And the usual suspects piled on. Even Pulitzer Prize winner Sara Ganim, who broke the Jerry Sandusky story wide open at Penn State and now work as for CNN, offered a hand-wringing tweet about a “black eye” for college athletics. A national radio talk show host derided the Auburn campus as one of the least attractive in the SEC. Yes, things got that silly.

Synthetic marijuana was legal and available at convenience stores? Auburn was one of the first in the SEC to test for synthetic marijuana? Auburn has one of the tougher drug testing programs in college athletics? The players “quoted” by Roberts rose up immediately in protest? Who cares? Why let facts like that get in the way of a good tale?

Much of what was said in both stories is ridiculously easy to disprove. But you can forget about any kind of fair shake from ESPN. It plans to make the story a TV show, so it will do what it does. It will do all it can to drive ratings.

Some national outlets have come to Auburn’s defense and have pointed to the massive holes in both stories. But they have been largely overlooked and drowned out. Good for them for trying to be fair.

Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs has had his say. Former head coach Gene Chizik has had his say. Parents of players have disputed both reports. To those who want to believe differently, it doesn’t matter. Three players await trial on armed robbery charges stemming from the well-documented incident of March 2011. They and their families, understandably, are doing all they can to mitigate their situations. The common thread: It was Auburn’s fault.

Auburn has been given a full exam by the NCAA three times since November of 2010. It has come out clean every time. Maybe that’s happened before, but I’m not aware of it. Does anyone really believe Auburn is so good it can not only trick the NCAA time and time again, but commit major violations right under the NCAA’s nose? Really?

Though Auburn stands accused of nothing illegal by anyone that matters, its reputation has taken a terrible and hit. It’s sad. No one expects college football fans to look beyond the headlines. A large number of those folks are convinced Auburn is dirty, and nothing Jacobs or anyone else can say or do is going to change that. You’d like to think professional news people would be determined to look beyond the headlines. Some are. Many aren’t.

So what can Auburn and Auburn people do now? My suggestion: Speak the truth and be secure in the truth. What is the truth?

* Auburn’s football program has not been sanctioned by the NCAA in 21 years. In that same period, 10 SEC teams have been.

* The NCAA has looked hard at Auburn three times since 2010. Auburn has emerged clean every time.

* Auburn has had more perfect records in the last 10 seasons than any team in the SEC.

* Auburn has had more perfect records in the last 20 seasons than any team in the SEC.

* Despite being beaten the past two seasons, Auburn has won seven of its last 11 against Alabama.

* Auburn has won six SEC championships in the past 30 years, one less than Florida, the same as LSU and one more than Alabama.

None of that means Auburn football is today where Auburn people want it to be.

There is no question that Alabama is the dominant program in the SEC. With three national championships in four seasons, that can’t be argued. And Alabama, historically, is the strongest program in the SEC. That’s makes Auburn’s historic success even more impressive.

The notion that Auburn somehow doesn’t belong, that it is an interloper among the top programs in the SEC and in college football is simply not supported by facts or by history..

Auburn Baseball

Not surprisingly, Auburn is swept at home by Vanderbilt.  Auburn next plays at LSU.  Both opponents are highly ranked.  I can only expect that LSU will sweep us too.  We will start conference play 0 and 6.  What another bummer of a baseball season.

Spring Tuneup

Thank goodness Auburn's basketball season is over.  The Tigers lose to Texas A & M in opening night of the SEC tournament.  That's a 3 & 16 conclusion to the worst roundball season in my memory.  I wish Barbee would be terminated, but I doubt it will happen.

The baseball team is 10 & 3 after a light pre-conference schedule.  Conference play begins with second ranked Vanderbilt.  I do not expect anything better than possibly playing in the conference tournament.

Spring football begins week after next.  There will be talk of players, of position changes, this and that, but I have learned that we cannot make anything of spring training unless someone gets hurt.

About Barbee

Auburn finishes 3 and 15 in the conference in the third year of Tony Barbee's tenure.  I say be gone with him!

No Hope

I conclude that there is no hope for Auburn basketball.  This team was humiliated today 83-52 by Florida, the worst home loss in Auburn Arena history.  This is the ninth loss in ten games.  I watched most of it, more than I could stomach, before leaving.  Florida may be the best team in the SEC, and may make a run toward the Final Four.  The disparity between good basketball, which Florida plays, and bad basketball, which Auburn plays, was never more apparent than today.  Chubb missed an open putback, Wallace missed an open layup, and the Tigers were turning the ball over faster than they were making baskets.  Florida plays with confidence and is more athletic and quicker.  Auburn is slow, unsure, and incompetent.  Auburn is suppose to have its most talented and deepest roster in a while, but it ain't showing at all.  There is no hope for Auburn basketball this season or beyond.

Hall of Fame Vote

For the first time in years, nobody was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame this year.  My immediate reaction was satisfaction, as I felt that those connected to PEDs do not deserve a spot in this shrine.  However, as I digest more of the debate surrounding this issue, I am reconsidering my position.  The best point I have heard is the question, what do we want our Hall of Fame to be: a cathedral or a museum?  If a museum, then the purpose is to capture and document the history of the sport.  In that case, those affiliated with PEDs should be included because they represent the tumultous steroid period in baseball.  If a cathedral, then the purpose is to honor those who achieved notable success in the sport.  In that case, those affiliated with PEDs should not be included.

There is also the possibility of including the likes of Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds in the Hall of Fame, but with a note indicating their connection to PEDs.  That might be a worthwhile compromise... If any of the steroid era players are elected, then how do we choose which?  All of them?  Can the baseball writers fairly cherry-pick which deserve inclusion and which do not?  What about those players only rumored to be connected with PEDs versus those players who are known users?  Are all players from this era to be tainted by steroids?

These are the questions to ponder...

Relatedly, next year will be the first year that Frank Thomas is eligible.  Does Auburn have a player in the Baseball Hall of Fame or would he be the first?

Friday Sports Musings...

Although N.C. State is the only winning team that Vanderbilt beat, they finished the football season at 9-4.  I am amazed that Vanderbilt won 9 games.  That is unprecedent success in recent memory.  James Franklin ought to be coach of the year...

I may have posted this before, but I am sick of hearing about the pompous Rose Bowl. I cannot take anymore of Brent Musburger calling it the "granddaddy of them all." Having lived in the South, as a fan of the SEC, I could not care less about the Rose Bowl. I cannot relate to the Pac-12 and Big 10 playing each other.   Who cares?  When you are the SEC, at least in this current era of dominance, the likes of Wisconsin, Ohio State, USC, or Oregon are jokes...

I always want the SEC to win its bowl games and flex its power.  Shame on LSU for losing, although that was a fun game.  Mississippi State lost, but I also am tickled with satisfaction anytime Mullen and his overhyped program lose.  You cannot rely on or expect a team like Mississippi State to win a bowl game.