[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Sports Central

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

 

Please Visit Our Sponsors
 
[an error occurred while processing this directive]

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

 
NBA - Trapped in a C-Webb of Trouble

By Tony Arnoldine
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2004
Print   Recommend

Chris Webber's name is back in the headlines this week. Is it because he is soon returning to the court? No. Is it because the Kings are having a great season despite his absence? No. Is it because he did the same things in high school and college that every other high-profile NBA-bound star did? Yes.

Webber was just one of the many high school and college athletes of that era, and of our current time, that accepted favors from boosters. Webber has been singled out in this case and has been put through the rigors of the process worse than anyone else has before him.

I'm no Johnny Cocraine, but if he's not the only one who did it, then he must be acquitted. If a governing body wants to crack down on this sort of booster activity, which has been going on since before Chris Webber was even on this earth, they must spread their McCarthy-like search out over all the high-profile collegiate and high school athletes in the country.

Yes, I'm sure Chris Webber illegally accepted money and vehicles from a Michigan booster. But can we honestly try to convince ourselves that Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, and LeBron James didn't accept gifts like an 8-year-old on Christmas Morning?

We know (even though they say he's innocent) that LeBron accepted jerseys as a booster gift. And to make it more obvious, "King James" got a Hummer. Not a Mustang ... a Hummer! It's sort of like Michael Jackson. You can deny it all you want to make him look better, but the evidence has been there for a while and we all know he did it.

The latest developments in this ongoing "Young and the Restless" meets the NBA drama is that the Michigan High School Athletic Association wants Webber's old high school, Detroit Country Day, to forfeit all the games they played in -- including three state championship victories -- when Chris Webber was on the team. This all because the MHSAA has declared that Webber was not an eligible amateur at any time during his high school career.

Forcing a high school to forfeit things and then changing them is "Back to the Future" with the MHSAA as Doc. Why go back in time and mess everything up when it isn't so bad now? If they force Detroit Country Day to forfeit their titles and give them to the runner up, that is ridiculous.

No one knows what the outcome of any of the games would have been had Chris Webber not been an eligible participant. In defense again, it is unfair to Webber's teammates at Detroit Country Day to take away their championships, when they may have disagreed with or had no knowledge of what Webber was involved in.

The most important point here is that this is nothing new in college sports and it is rapidly spreading to the high school level, where many of the top players in the game have come straight out of. It is unfair to Webber's teammates to take away their titles, and it is unfair to Webber to place all the blame of a corrupt system on his shoulders.

Have something to say? Visit the message boards and discuss this article.

Comments? Agree? Disagree? Send in your feedback about this article.

     Back to NBA
     Back to Home

[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Interested in advertising with us?
More information.

 
[an error occurred while processing this directive]