Kenny makes a good point

[boomersooner82]

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Mossman's obviously playing a little PR game, deflecting blame from the university. But he makes a good point in that Bomar and J.D. are really the only ones to blame. No one should have to tell you that taking money for work you're not doing is wrong. True.

[Flagstaffsooner]

Latest Edition of Mossman Prophecies Courtesy: SoonerSports.com
Release: 08/07/2006
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The easy thing to do would be to act like last week didn't happen. That's the way it gets done in PR circles sometimes.

If we were to do that, what would our credibility be when the good things happen? If our fans are to believe us and take stock of the good news we deliver it only stands to reason that we must be here when the news is bad too. So here goes ..

The butler did it.

No, make that the head coach. What about the athletics director? Aha, it was the compliance staff!

We now know that two OU football players and a booster element conspired to do the unethical - award and accept payment in excess of work performed.

It's laughable that this act is first referred to as an NCAA violation. If, under the heading of NCAA rules, universities in this country have to tell students that they should not accept money under false pretense, then we've had a horrible breakdown on the kindergarten and Sunday school level.

When I arrived on the campus at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan., nobody had to tell me that I should be honest in my business dealings. Even my warped moral compass could direct that much.

This is a matter of right and wrong, period. So let's call it what it is... personal failure.

Then let's get back to that blame game. The players and business in question did not report the business arrangement to the university. Should the university have still known? Maybe, but that's foresight that few if any could claim.

For the sake of argument, let's just say that the job arrangement had been reported per normal procedure. Is there any reason to believe that the exchange of money would have been any more honest? Not if they were determined to exchange the funds out of the spotlight of scrutiny.

A chorus from the loud minority suggests that better monitoring would have stopped the shenanigans. Let's apply some everyday reality to the issue.

Wal-Mart has how many hundreds of cameras in its stores? How many hundreds of thousands of dollars does that chain lose each year to shoplifters?

An entire police force monitors the streets of Norman, Okla., every day. Yet crime persists. How can that be? We have trained officers patrolling the neighborhoods and checking suspicious behavior. Yet the jail is occupied and the court docket is packed.

We all know the rules, folks. We also can come up with ways of breaking them well before anybody can detect us.

Adam and Eve gave us lesson No. 1 in breaking the rules. Since their very public misstep, the human race time and again has tested the natural law of right and wrong. Despite consistent results, we keep banging our head against that wall.

And just like Adam and Eve, at the first hint of culpability we start looking for somebody else to blame.

This is a simple matter. Break the rules, create anguish. Live by the rules and stress is a stranger.

In the end, the OU compliance staff, minus the power of subpoena, eventually got the necessary documentation to uncover the wrongdoing. By doing so it gave the university the distinct advantage of reporting itself to the NCAA. The offending parties have been dismissed and a strong message has been sent.

How anyone can blame the compliance outfit, the head coach or anybody other than those directly involved is to exact a standard that most of us don't even practice with our own children. When was the last time you checked one of their time cards? When they claim to be at a friend's house, do we always drive by to check?

We don't do those things because we trust those close to us to be upfront with us. That is one of the most disturbing aspects of this episode. Trust was violated.

Bottom line... a deliberate attempt to deceive was uncovered. The blame, all of it, resides squarely on the shoulders of those who set out to create that deception. And from what I can discern, they have accepted such.

Here's to hoping that they have learned from an episode that hurt so many of us and here's to hoping that we as a society can someday return to a point where we assign blame exactly where it belongs.

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Kenny Mossman, Associate Athletics Director for Communications, provides his perspective on OU Athletics in his regular column on SoonerSports.com. Read more in the Mossman Prophecies Archive (http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=300&ATCLID=311464).
Good read.

[humblesooner]

This is exactly the way it is.
Well said, Kenny.

[David Earl]

Good job Kenny!

[The Maestro]

I just e-mailed a copy of this to Skip Bayless, who obviously sits in his makeup chair wondering what kind of shock-TV info he can flare up with instead of looking at the big picture. I sure hope he responds.

[ashley]

Great, and true.

[FaninAma]

I'd like to ask Kenny two or three questions.

First off, Kenny, don't you think that the fact that 24 or more OU football players worked at BRS&I over the past few years should have warranted a little closer scrutiny of the place....oh I dunno, say a few drop by inspections to see how the players were doing or a look at the time cards and pay stubs of the players?

Secondly, the compliance office may not have supeona power but do they have something even better namely the enforcement power of the NCAA and the fact that the scholarship agreement an athlete signs basically gives the program Carte Blanche to check almost anything it needs to to insure the athlete is complying with the rules? And if they don't agree to allow the University to check their situation out then isn't suspension is in order?

Lastly, what is Stoops and the other coaches' relationship with the team? Is it close enough that the players feel comfortable coming to the coaches if they see another player engaging in an activity that could hurt the entire program? And if not, why not? Or do you think Bomar and Quinn were just clever enough to pull off this stunt without even a single other team member or program member knowing about it?

[Paperclip]

While I do agree with Mr. Mossman's view of personal responsibility, he's missing the point. The point is the NCAA is going to hold the university responsible, therefore it is in their best interest to be as nosy as possible when it comes to the activities of their student-athletes. "We didn't know" isn't going to fly. Same thing happens in real life. At work, "I didn't know" is not going to endear me to my boss. It's my job to know what occurs in my area of responsibility.

[crimson&cream]

While I do agree with Mr. Mossman's view of personal responsibility, he's missing the point. The point is the NCAA is going to hold the university responsible, therefore it is in their best interest to be as nosy as possible when it comes to the activities of their student-athletes. "We didn't know" isn't going to fly. Same thing happens in real life. At work, "I didn't know" is not going to endear me to my boss. It's my job to know what occurs in my area of responsibility.
Looks to me several on here miss Mossman's points. How well do you monitor your kids, employees etc. Should the Norman police monitor evey Norman citizen 24/7 each and evryone of them--impossible.
If RHett & JD curcumvented the empolyment procedure then how would the enforcement staff even know to ck on them especially if they are in choots with a Mgr at BRS who would hide if from the enforcement bunch if they did come around as he would also know it ain't KOSHOR!
How much is enough monitoring, how do you determined that. Even if they had a 100 enforcement staff member following these players around 24/7 I'll bet some if they wanted to break the rules could still find, like on the computor because you just can't be with them 24/7.
If it is simply a case where the blame falls on nobody but Rhett & JD why is there always a need by some who think more should have been done or always want to believe there's more to it than what appears. IN that case Stoops you better acquired the powers of GOD=ALL KNOWING & ALL POWERFULL.
Lets give this a rest.It's going to be hard enough as it is now to overcome some of the fallout from BOMARGATE.!:pop:

[TopDawg]

I need to start using the term "in choots" more often. I like it.

[Rogue]

Rhett, JD, and the BRSI joker who paid for the no-show work.