Hanks “Scandal” At Bama Isn’t A Scandal

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We live in a Twitter world.  If it takes more than a paragraph to explain something, people lose interest and just go with an over-simplification… even if it’s wrong.  (Say, maybe that’s why our country has created a debt ceiling crisis out of thin freakin’ air!)

Yesterday evening, word came out that starting senior receiver Darius Hanks will miss the first two games of Alabama’s season due to an NCAA ruling.

The immediate thought: “He’s ineligible!  He broke a rule!”

As a result, several websites have referred to the Hanks’ situation as a “scandal” today lumping the story in with Bama’s other current worries.  (Surprise, surprise, still more photos have emerged from T-Town Menswear.)  But this isn’t an actual scandal.

Hanks was granted an extra season of competition by the NCAA because he appeared in only the first game of the 2007 season as a freshman.  NCAA Bylaw 14.2.6.2.1 states that any player receiving such a waiver “shall be withheld from two contests of intercollegiate competition for each contest in which he or she competed.”

In other words, Hanks’ situation is nothing new, it doesn’t involve a rules violation, it’s not a punishment, and it’s certainly not a new “scandal.”