Sorry, Seminoles, But Rules Are Rules

After looking over Florida State University's plan to go to war with the NCAA boogey man that wants to take away all those football wins, an uncomfortable thought occurred.

If FSU had been as interested in preventing the problems that led to this mess as it is in fighting the punishment, we wouldn't be here.

They can try to confuse the issue as much as possible, but the fact is that the people who should have been paying attention at FSU were asleep when 61 athletes across 10 sports got a free pass in an online class that was rigged.

FSU took corrective steps when it found out about the problem, including nudging former athletic director Dave Hart out the door. That may earn the Seminoles a bonus point or two, but that's as lenient as anyone can get.

It may take away any realistic chance Bobby Bowden has of finishing with the most wins, which is too bad, but also doesn't change things.

It is really quite simple: Academically ineligible players participated in those 14 football games, as well as other sports. The coaches didn't know those players were ineligible, but that doesn't matter. There was cheating going on involving athletes and FSU didn't find out about in time.

Athletes played who shouldn't have. Case closed.

Or at least it was until FSU decided to launch a public counterattack on the NCAA. Good luck with that. Why do you think the NCAA insists on referring to players as scholar-athletes? Without at least the notion that academic integrity trumps everything, the NCAA falls apart.

For as long as I can remember this is what happens to any school using ineligible players - high school, college, whatever. For FSU President T.K. Wetherell to argue otherwise sends a message that Bobby Bowden's win total matters more than anything.

I'm not sure that's a place the university really wants to go.

Even Wetherell admits FSU is guilty as charged.

He is going to appeal anyway because, he told reporters Tuesday, the punishment is "excessive and inappropriate."

Actually, it absolutely is appropriate, considering it strikes at the core of what the NCAA is supposed to stand for.

If Joe Paterno winds up with more wins, so what? Being No. 2 on the list won't diminish from Bowden's legacy, not one iota. Bowden's win total can't be the issue here. That competition between the two was becoming a little unseemly anyway.

Wetherell played for Bowden back in the day and I understand why he'd want to have his coach's back this time. And it wouldn't be Bowden's place to simply stop the appeal in the name of nobility because other sports are affected too, including the possible loss of the 2007 national championship in men's track.

"It just isn't right. It just flat isn't right," Wetherell said.

That sounds like a diversionary tactic to me. But maybe if he shouts loud enough about the injustice of it all, people might forget that all of this really happened on his watch.