As the NCAA's Cam Newton investigation lurches onward silently in some alternate dimension, HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel is set to drop a one-hour special on pay-for-play in college football that features four ex-Auburn Tigers players. Sports By Brooks claims to have a transcript of the program, in which Chaz Ramsey, Troy Reddick, Stanley McClover, and Raven Gray accuse Auburn and other schools including Ohio State, LSU, and Michigan State of handing out money (and sex) left and right.
The program is scheduled to air on March 30 at 10 pm ET. A few choice cuts:
McClover says there were money handshakes from boosters at other football camps too. At Auburn for a couple hundred dollars and at Michigan State. All the schools denied any wrongdoing. And things really started heating up a few months later when he went to Ohio State for an official visit where schools get a chance for one weekend to host prospective athletes.
McClover: "They send girls my way. I partied. When I got there I met up with a couple guys from the team. We went to a party and they asked me to pick any girl I wanted."
Kremer to McClover: "I think in one game you had four sacks, what did you earn in that game?"
McClover: "Four thousand. Against Alabama."
It goes on and on, and you really should read SbB's transcript and be sure to clear your Wednesday night schedule. Will anything come of this? College football fans know this stuff happens everywhere, but something this big could be the kind of thing that actually gets the casual public involved enough to cause some government body to lumber to life and attempt to "fix the system," whatever that means.
It's already been a busy offseason for Auburn. While celebrating their 2011 national title, they've also had to deal with a four-man robbery and a recruiting investigation distinct from the Newton case.
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