If the NCAA decides to pick a fight with Fed-Ex and make a deal out of this phone call, then they will lose every time.
I have no fears of losing out on one player. If he is the next Jordan and we miss out on him, I have a feeling we will continue to be successful. And I am not afraid of penalties stemming from these NCAA violations. Goodman himself explains in the article how minor of an offense this is. The worst thing that could happen is they find that Fed-Ex exec's have made a habit of this which could (but probably will not) prompt the NCAA to give us some heat for our relationship with Fed-Ex. That is as one sided of a fight as you could ever see.
One of you Fred-heads can correct me if I am wrong, but I have been under the impression that all of the higher-ups at Fed-Ex are required to donate a lump sum of money every year to a community organization of their choice. Dave puts his money in to the Tigers, and I am extremely grateful for that. I would assume that their are many individuals who donate Fed-Ex money to their alma maters and favorite schools around the country. While they may not have quite the influence of a Dave Bronzack, they still add up to make a significant backing of the machine that is college athletics.
So, if the NCAA tries to even make the slightest inference that the relationship between Memphis and Fed-Ex should be even "closely monitored", they would be targeting one of their own sugar daddies and in a way only hurting themselves.
Additionally, if this were a smaller company, or a smaller level contributor, this would not even be a blip on the national radar. (Actually, it is such a small infraction, that no one has paid it any attention anyway.) If the owner of a catfish farm outside of Batesville had a sit down with an employee who was also the father of a South Panola all world defensive end, no one would know or even care. But because in this case it is an inter-national program with an international contributor, Goodman thinks he has his big scoop.
But I take it as a compliment. When relatively negligible occurrences become one of FOX Sports cover stories in the midst of the Farve/Manny/Jr. sagas, we must have really arrived. So, thank you Jeff Goodman. If I ever get the chance to meet you, I can not wait to thank you personally for this most esteemed of kudos. Nothing makes you feel prouder of your team than when some loser (who makes his living fawning over athletes and coaches he secretly aspired to but could never come close to being like) decides that he can maybe make a name for himself by bringing a team down. All I can say is good luck Mr. Goodman; this is a losing battle you are trying to wage, and more so because if you ever come to Memphis, you are really going to need it.

You think the NCAA wants to mess with all of the money they see, directly and indirectly, from FedEx?

"You want to mess with us,NCAA? Fine, there goes the sponsorship for the Orange Bowl, the Big East Basketball Championships, as well as any advertising money during NCAA events."

well put gentlemen!!

NCAA doesn't see a dime of that Orange Bowl money.

fsquid Wrote:NCAA doesn't see a dime of that Orange Bowl money.

Not directly, but their member institutions do. Moreover, the member institutions that do are by and large the "blue bloods" who are powerful enough to really pressure the boys in Indiana.

i think the reality is that there are layers to this.

we have the base layer - the fans, the posters, the sports bars, the season ticket holders, etc.
a side layer is the run of the mill media
then you have an upper layer of ADs, coaches and the like.

then, where sports truly lives, is the top layer...they money guys. FedEx, Fox, ESPN, beer companies, gatorade, nike, addidas, etc etc.

there is a scale of person that lives in this layer. these people run the show, and they ALL KNOW EACH OTHER. you think Dave doesn't know some of the highest levels of people at Fox? you don't think there is some Fox exec kinda pissed about goodman today? you think the NCAA really wants to bite the hand that feeds them?

the point is that we can talk about what happened all we want but the reality is we have ZERO input. this will be discussed and hashed out behind closed doors between people that we don't know with money we can never fathom. i mean look at USC and the perpetual poop hitting the fan about paying players, housing for R. Bush's family etc. nothing comes of it.

there is TOO MUCH money in sports and the chiefs that run this deal don't need scandal or some pisswater reporter stirring things up. The right things will be said, the correct contrition will be displayed, and all this really will amount to is a bunch of us wasting five minutes typing. like i just did

More than likely the NCAA will see it for what it is and move on.

phototiger Wrote:i think the reality is that there are layers to this.

we have the base layer - the fans, the posters, the sports bars, the season ticket holders, etc.
a side layer is the run of the mill media
then you have an upper layer of ADs, coaches and the like.

then, where sports truly lives, is the top layer...they money guys. FedEx, Fox, ESPN, beer companies, gatorade, nike, addidas, etc etc.

there is a scale of person that lives in this layer. these people run the show, and they ALL KNOW EACH OTHER. you think Dave doesn't know some of the highest levels of people at Fox? you don't think there is some Fox exec kinda pissed about goodman today? you think the NCAA really wants to bite the hand that feeds them?

the point is that we can talk about what happened all we want but the reality is we have ZERO input. this will be discussed and hashed out behind closed doors between people that we don't know with money we can never fathom. i mean look at USC and the perpetual poop hitting the fan about paying players, housing for R. Bush's family etc. nothing comes of it.

there is TOO MUCH money in sports and the chiefs that run this deal don't need scandal or some pisswater reporter stirring things up. The right things will be said, the correct contrition will be displayed, and all this really will amount to is a bunch of us wasting five minutes typing. like i just did

This is a very valid point. But it still doesn't mean that the FedEx guys should call recruits' parents about their kids, even if they work for FedEx. We shouldn't, and have no need to, take advantage of something like that.

tigers1985 Wrote:

phototiger Wrote:i think the reality is that there are layers to this.

we have the base layer - the fans, the posters, the sports bars, the season ticket holders, etc.
a side layer is the run of the mill media
then you have an upper layer of ADs, coaches and the like.

then, where sports truly lives, is the top layer...they money guys. FedEx, Fox, ESPN, beer companies, gatorade, nike, addidas, etc etc.

there is a scale of person that lives in this layer. these people run the show, and they ALL KNOW EACH OTHER. you think Dave doesn't know some of the highest levels of people at Fox? you don't think there is some Fox exec kinda pissed about goodman today? you think the NCAA really wants to bite the hand that feeds them?

the point is that we can talk about what happened all we want but the reality is we have ZERO input. this will be discussed and hashed out behind closed doors between people that we don't know with money we can never fathom. i mean look at USC and the perpetual poop hitting the fan about paying players, housing for R. Bush's family etc. nothing comes of it.

there is TOO MUCH money in sports and the chiefs that run this deal don't need scandal or some pisswater reporter stirring things up. The right things will be said, the correct contrition will be displayed, and all this really will amount to is a bunch of us wasting five minutes typing. like i just did

This is a very valid point. But it still doesn't mean that the FedEx guys should call recruits' parents about their kids, even if they work for FedEx. We shouldn't, and have no need to, take advantage of something like that.

Nowhere have I read that it was anything more than an employer calling an employee and congratulating them on the success of their son. DB made no mention of her son attending the U of M in any shape, form, or fashion. There was no attempt to try to take advantage to persuade her to send her son to the U of M. It was no more than a simple mistake period. Let's don't try to make a mountain out of a molehill.

I bet DB heard from someone close that Abdul's mom worked at FedEx and he figured as CEO he can call and say congrats and commend her on her son's abilities. I doubt he went into the fact that Abdul should come to Memphis and how the other schools can't compare. Probably one of those things where a "light bulb" went off and he figured it'd be fun to call her.

FedEx has a sponsorship in everything. No chance the NCAA would make a big deal over this.

Fedex is hosting the south region of the 2009 NCAA tournament. No way NCAA is gonna put a dent on that relationship.

TigerDynasty Wrote:Fedex is hosting the south region of the 2009 NCAA tournament. No way NCAA is gonna put a dent on that relationship.

First of all, U of M is hosting the south region in 2009, not FedEx. It is at the FedEx Forum. Secondly, I don't think they use the directional designations anymore. I think they refer to it by the host city, i.e., the Memphis regional, Boston regional, etc. Thirdly, FedEx gets a lot of exposure out of its various relationships with the NCAA and its member schools. It is not going to sever all or any of those relationships over something so minor.

Calm down. We'll be fine.

UofM_Tiger Wrote:

TigerDynasty Wrote:Fedex is hosting the south region of the 2009 NCAA tournament. No way NCAA is gonna put a dent on that relationship.

First of all, U of M is hosting the south region in 2009, not FedEx. It is at the FedEx Forum. Secondly, I don't think they use the directional designations anymore. I think they refer to it by the host city, i.e., the Memphis regional, Boston regional, etc. Thirdly, FedEx gets a lot of exposure out of its various relationships with the NCAA and its member schools. It is not going to sever all or any of those relationships over something so minor.

Calm down. We'll be fine.

They went back to the old names for the regions. The endlines will say "Memphis."

RationalRebel Wrote:

UofM_Tiger Wrote:

TigerDynasty Wrote:Fedex is hosting the south region of the 2009 NCAA tournament. No way NCAA is gonna put a dent on that relationship.

First of all, U of M is hosting the south region in 2009, not FedEx. It is at the FedEx Forum. Secondly, I don't think they use the directional designations anymore. I think they refer to it by the host city, i.e., the Memphis regional, Boston regional, etc. Thirdly, FedEx gets a lot of exposure out of its various relationships with the NCAA and its member schools. It is not going to sever all or any of those relationships over something so minor.

Calm down. We'll be fine.

They went back to the old names for the regions. The endlines will say "Memphis."

correct. they are all named based on the region again.

and while it is technically correct to say that The University is hosting the South regional next year, they can only do that with corporate backing when they make the bid. And who is the largest corporate donor to The University?

TigerJJ Wrote:Nowhere have I read that it was anything more than an employer calling an employee and congratulating them on the success of their son. DB made no mention of her son attending the U of M in any shape, form, or fashion. There was no attempt to try to take advantage to persuade her to send her son to the U of M. It was no more than a simple mistake period. Let's don't try to make a mountain out of a molehill.

from the foxsports article:

Quote:Recalling the conversation while watching her son play in a tournament in Las Vegas last week, Oseye Gaddy told FOXSports.com, "I was like, 'Why would he want to talk to me?' But the whole time he talked to me, he talked about my son.
"He was just talking to me a little bit about (John) Calipari and the program and then he was telling me about The FedEx Forum and how he goes to a lot of games and sits on the floor," she added. "How Calipari is a really nice guy."

On what basis will the NCAA tell a CEO that he can't discuss whatever he wants with a woman whose paycheck he has signed for more than 10 years? I'd like to see the text of that letter. Any salesman uses any angle he can to establish a relationship--it's how business is done. It just so happens that Dave was alerted to a legitimate relationship he never realized. Impossible for the NCAA to do anything at all with this. IMPOSSIBLE. The legality of this contact is unassailable.

MrStripes Wrote:On what basis will the NCAA tell a CEO that he can't discuss whatever he wants with a woman whose paycheck he has signed for more than 10 years? I'd like to see the text of that letter. Any salesman uses any angle he can to establish a relationship--it's how business is done. It just so happens that Dave was alerted to a legitimate relationship he never realized. Impossible for the NCAA to do anything at all with this. IMPOSSIBLE. The legality of this contact is unassailable.

I have never really heard that the fight was with Fedex. I didn't know they had a team. Oh yeah they don't. Who are they gonna play , UPS, and DHL.
I don't give a crap who he works for. He is a booster, and a social friend of Cal's. If you are a booster, I'm not gonna quote the rule, cause I'm not gonna look it up again. It's been debated here ad infinitum.
Damn I love them big words and phrases. But Impossible and unassailable. We will see, you don't have to get a major penalty for it to hurt ya. The negative pub will linger. It can hurt.
I've been a salesman all my life, and yes you do use every advantage you can. The trick is to not get caught. Yes that is how business is done Mr. Stripes, you are 100% correct.
And let's never forget college basketball is a huge business. It's a business so huge, that it hacks me off that the NCAA runs it. The NCAA is a joke.
They won't play a football playoff. Because it will keep the students from their studies. It would add too many games for these poor kids, who we all know are working hard on their studies.
But we all love college sports so much, that we stood by, and let them keep adding games. So now they play 12 games a year.
Unless they are playing them all on the same day, they added more weeks away from the books. It's hypocritical for anyone to think about college sports as anything but a business.
So Dave you run package deliveries. And let Cal make phone calls to recruits Parents. fair enough.

TigerJJ Wrote:

tigers1985 Wrote:[quote=phototiger]

Nowhere have I read that it was anything more than an employer calling an employee and congratulating them on the success of their son. DB made no mention of her son attending the U of M in any shape, form, or fashion. There was no attempt to try to take advantage to persuade her to send her son to the U of M. It was no more than a simple mistake period. Let's don't try to make a mountain out of a molehill.

This is not major but it is not OK. This was more than a howdy to an employee. DB knew who she was. He knew who AG is. He knows Cal wants him badly. He talked about Cal being a nice guy, He talked about the FEF being a great facility. Not casual talk to an employee he had never met or heard of before. He has a high position but he is like most of us...simply a fan...who made a mistake.

You don't roast the guy for a mistake like this. He will get a letter saying "you done wrong my man." But you also can't lose perspective and pretend that this is nothing at all. If it happened at another school we would scream to the high heavens.

Agree, Dave knew what he was doing, he just thought with an employee, it was okay. It will not take all the back room negotiating to clear this up, though. He will get a letter of reprimand, and that will be it. On to the next thing.

Memphis Blazer Wrote:

TigerJJ Wrote:Nowhere have I read that it was anything more than an employer calling an employee and congratulating them on the success of their son. DB made no mention of her son attending the U of M in any shape, form, or fashion. There was no attempt to try to take advantage to persuade her to send her son to the U of M. It was no more than a simple mistake period. Let's don't try to make a mountain out of a molehill.

from the foxsports article:

Quote:Recalling the conversation while watching her son play in a tournament in Las Vegas last week, Oseye Gaddy told FOXSports.com, "I was like, 'Why would he want to talk to me?' But the whole time he talked to me, he talked about my son.
"He was just talking to me a little bit about (John) Calipari and the program and then he was telling me about The FedEx Forum and how he goes to a lot of games and sits on the floor," she added. "How Calipari is a really nice guy."

I don't see much in that. Doesn't everyone already know that Cal is a "really nice guy" ? He just stated the obvious. It's not like he was offering her his tickets on the floor or a promotion.