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On Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, the NCAA and more

NASCAR fans weighed in heavily on two of the sports biggest names -- Jeff Gordon and the family of the late Dale Earnhardt. Gordon has been facing off against his former wife and one-time Miss Winston, Brooke, in divorce proceedings, while the Earnhardts were back in a Florida court last week in the fight to protect the privacy of autopsy photos.

Let’s head to the mailbag to discuss these and other topics.

I for one am not a (Jeff) Gordon fan _ #3 (Dale Earnhardt) was my ride. But when it comes to what is happening to Jeff I must give my input. From the first (awards) banquet I made the observation that Brooke was after all the money Jeff could acquire and I still think that is the case. I feel she saw an opportunity to get rich fast and took it. Doesn't sound like there is much Christian attitude when it comes to so much money. Should he be punished because he is a good race car driver and made a good living at it?
-- Judith Drayton, Grand Rapids, Mich.

If handing over a fat check to the ex-wife is punishment, then Jeff is definitely in for some pain. Good point about the Christian attitude, too. Makes you wonder about the Gordons’ hand-in-hand appearances at Sunday chapel service.

I'm not writing to argue with you but to ask you to let Mr. (Tom) Julin know that it will never be any less emotional for thousands of us fans. We will back Teresa and do whatever we can as long as possible!
-- Janet Daurity, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

That’s a relief, glad I’m not on your bad list. The legions that have taken up the fight for the Earnhardts are impressive.

Every single major college program has athletes that get paid either monetarily, through bogus high-paid summer jobs, or special privileges. Time for it to stop or legally pay the athletes. Since NCAA will not pay, the only way to stop this activity is through legislature and law. I like what you did in this article because I believe in Dr. Tom. You have issued a challenge to him. Don’t mess with the Doctor.
-- Fred Noren, Puget Sound, Wash.

Yeah, every Washington lawmaker needs something for the locker room wall. Raise the roof, Dr. Tom.

How can you investigate Arkansas, Alabama and Minnesota for months and months, and Tennessee can do an investigation in a week? To top it all off, the commish (Roy Kramer) says, "All things APPEAR on the up-and-up." Their day will be coming.
-- Rusty Odom, Kingwood, Texas

Maybe UT pays its investigators by the hour. Or maybe the sleuths knew the outcome before they started.

Just wanted to thank you for a good article which points out what a hypocrite (Tom) Osborne is and how little U.S. senators actually have to do with their time. How about a world where agents, alumni or even pro teams pay a high school player's tuition to the college of his choice, if he can get in? We wouldn't need eligibility rules and he could stay in college as long as the tuition was paid. Eventually we may have a situation where pro basketball teams make kids take Berlitz courses in English in order to get their GEDs and colleges are drafting players out of junior high.
-- Howard Brooks, Harrisburg, Pa.

It’s a crazy world out there, isn’t it? It’s not just the NBA that is taking our kids. You have high schoolers drafted by major league baseball and others going off to represent our country in figure skating, gymnastics and the like.

About Michelle Kwan’s 2001 Sullivan Award, she deserves it many times over, so stop stepping over her and kissing up to (Sarah) Hughes, who has not proved anything besides a one-night wonder! What can MK do to make SI stop bashing her -- bleach her skin and dye her hair? She is the most dominating U.S. female athlete for the last decade and Winter Olympic would have been a bomb without her sport and participation.
-- Lisa, Mission Viejo, Calif.

Wow, take it easy. Michelle is fine the way she is and she can keep her Sullivan Award. Besides, I can’t imagine her sponsors would go for anything too radical.

I still think the people who want access to these (Earnhardt) photos are ghouls and for anyone to suggest they WON’T end up on some sick bastard's Web site is naive. It's just another reason for me to despise lawyers.
-- Michael C. Quinn, Cheswick, Pa. I’m with you on all counts, unless the photos can aid in an investigation.

Obviously, counsel for Ms. Sealey Gordon had a motive in painting her as such a gold digger when the complaint was filed. Intriguing the need for confidentiality by Jeffrey (Gordon) to protect "trade secrets, research & commercial information." I thought he was a race car driver, not a nuclear physicist! This is starting to make this old country boy wonder what's up?
-- Rob Raker, Pleasant Hill, Iowa

Haven’t you heard -- NASCAR has gone high tech. I’d just like to take a look at those trade secrets.

I'm a NFL agent and I agree with you that (Tom) Osborne is promoting gibberish. The problem is that players are not held accountable, and when agents are found to have paid players in college, all they get is a slap on the hand. There are already rules that prohibit the conduct Osborne is detailing. Agents know the rules, players know the rules -- they just don't care. If players knew that they would face criminal charges or civil charges such as liability for money lost by the university, maybe that would deter the behavior.
-- Joe Palumbo, San Diego, Calif.

It is kind of odd that the law wouldn’t address players, family members or friends who accept (request or even demand) cash from an agent or agents. What about equal justice?

It is time that the universities themselves own up to their part in student(?)-athletes leaving early, accepting money from agents or alumni. It is damn time that college sports revert back to what they were before they became the for-profit farm teams for the NFL, MLB and NBA.
-- Jeff McCoy, Forsyth, Mont.

Hey, wait a minute. The folks running the show understand college basketball and football is serious business. How else do you explain the NCAA fattening its account with $6 billion from CBS and schools fighting over the BCS money?

I am a Buckeye fan, and I think that it is undisputed that Ohio State is one of the prima donna programs in the country. You’re absolutely right in your critique of this pending, free trade-threatening legislation. This is America the Beautiful and the NCAA (an institution that prostitutes athletic talent under the guise of protecting young players from, uh, million dollar salaries?) is not immune from the Invisible Hand. Oh, by the way, I’m also a classical economist.
-- Dale, Birmingham, Ala.

A Buckeye fan in Birmingham and a classical economist to boot? OK, if you say so.

Since there is no realistic possibility that they will ask me to take on the task of NCAA president the next best candidate is Congressman Dr. Coach Tom Osborne. Well, let’s just call him TO. TO has a past that gives him contacts in virtually all areas of sports, business, medicine, and politics. Not to mention he knows this country better than most people know their own backyards. From his days of playing in the NFL to his (current) days of serving in Congress, no one is better prepared to take on this challenge.
-- Paul, Nebraska

Well, they’re looking for a college president to run the NCAA. Former University of Kansas chancellor Gene Budig -- a Nebraska native, by the way -- is my early favorite. But since Dr. Tom is a do-it-all kind of guy, let’s throw his name in the mix.

This is what Alabama fans having been stewing about for years. We do the crime -- we do the time. Tennessee does the crime, but says they didn’t and no one has the guts to challenge them.
-- Lydia L. Bennett, Mobile, Ala.

Got that right. It seems Alabama has been spending a lot of time in NCAA jail while Tennessee leads the SEC in in-house investigations.

Your article makes some serious allegations about some players at Nebraska being signed to agents and still playing. I’d like to see and hear the proof. It’s a little shallow for you to make a charge in an article about (Tom) Osborne and then not back it up. It’s typical Sports Illustrated assassination journalism. It’s why I no longer subscribe to the magazine. Osborne’s record will stand up with anyone, even Saint Joe at Penn St.
-- Larry Casper, Austin, Texas

The agent dealings of Mike Rozier, Irving Fryar, Broderick Thomas is out there for your reading. They all took money from agents while suiting up Saturdays for Big Red, though it wasn’t uncovered until after their eligibility had expired. Osborne has a terrific record, but Joe Paterno owns more W’s

Mike Fish is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

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