Oklahoma St. Wide Receiver Dez Bryant ruled ineligible by the NCAA

Joe Shad broke this story a few hours ago on ESPN.com

You can read the report for the details of the story, but I would like to focus on another aspect of this ordeal.

Anyone who works in the field of college sports will tell you that corruption runs rampant through nearly every sport (football and basketball especially). So why is it that the NCAA has decided to end Oklahoma St. wide out Dez Bryant's season over a lunch that he paid for himself and a light jog? The answer has two parts. First, the lunch and the jog were with future NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders and secondly...Dez Bryant lied about it.

There is nothing illegal about the initial detail, but it can make the NCAA suspicious. The relationship between pro athletes and college amateurs is volatile because often the mediators of such encounters are agents. At this time, it is believed that Bryant did not break NCAA rules by meeting with Sanders. Still. it is the latter portion of the answer that carries the explanation for his penalty. Despite doing nothing wrong, Bryant lied about meeting with Sanders altogether, leaving him at the mercy of the traditionally merciless NCAA. Now he faces a long wait before playing another football game, and his 3-1 Oklahoma St. team may lose the chance to ever see him suit up in orange and white again.

While it was totally unnecessary for him to lie about his completely legal relationship with Sanders. I totally understand why he did. The NCAA has always been a big time whistle blower on small time issues. They are much quicker to stumble upon a post lunch jog than they are to catch a basketball player who didnt take his SAT (Well, I'm sure Derrick Rose and Robert Dozier think the NCAA has great timing). The fact is that Bryant lied to the NCAA because he did not trust the system that he works under as an amateur athlete. He viewed his actions as a precaution and not a violation. I am very concerned about the fact that athletes feel this way about the establishment that has been commissioned to protect them. The disturbing issue in this story has nothing to do with Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State, or Deion Sanders. The players have lost their faith in the NCAA...and the treatment of Dez Bryant has further fractured that relationship.

Here's a small dose of what Dez Bryant is capable of on the football field...