Another twist in the UNC saga
You can't make this stuff up ... the latest in the UNC scandal -- somebody broke into the room where the records were stored for the UNC honor court and stole the confidential records of 31 student cases:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/08/...-break-in.html
At the moment, no evidence that any of the stolen case files involved athletes ... but considering how many appeared before the honor court within the last year and how strange the honor court rulings have been (as we know in the McAdoo case), it's going to be interesting to watch this one unfold.
link to Black Sox scandal
I was just thinking about this and being bothered by a strong sense of deja vu. I finally realized what this whole eposide reminded me of -- the aftermath of the Black Sox Scandal in 1920.
The eight players indited in the case all confessed during pre-trial questioning. But when the trial arrived, low and behold, someone had broken into the courthouse and stolen their confessions. Without that evidence, the prosecution failed and all eight cheaters were found no quilty by a jury of Chicaho sports fans (okay, I don't know they were fans, but they were all men).
That's not the end of the story.
A couple of years later, Joe Jackson and another player (Buck Weaver, maybe?) were suing Charles Cominsky in a Milwaukee courtroom for some of their back salary that was blocked whenthey were suspended by Judge Landis. In the middle of the case, guess what happens -- their signed confessions to throwing the world series suddenly appear again ... the Judge rules in Cominsky's favor and the players are stiffed.
Obviously, the original theft was engineered by Cominsky, who thought that if his players were found not guilty, he'd get them back (not counting on Landis to banish them anyway).
I can't help wondering if somebody at UNC is setting up a situation to prevent any more players from filing any more lawsuits. The McAdoo case, which so many thought was a brilliant tactic to embarrass the NCAA, blew up in their face. I can imagine that UNC doesn't want to see any of the other 13 football players (and apparently 2-4 baseball players) who were in the honor court over the last year filing any lawsuits that may uncover more dirt.