Upon Further Review: Webber, not school, should be punished
Now some of you may already know about the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s decision this past weekend on a high school being asked to forfeit their championships.
But for those of you who may not, over the weekend Detroit Country Day High School was asked to forfeit championships they won in 1989, 1990 and 1991 when Chris Webber played at Detroit Country.
All of this started two or three years ago, when former Michigan booster Ed Martin claimed he gave Webber and his family $280,000 over a period extending from Webber’s freshman year of high school through his sophomore season at Michigan.
The MHSAA wants all the records to be stricken from the books in games, which Webber played in during his days as a high school athlete. The insane reasons behind the MHSAA statements are that Webber forfeited his amateur status when he received money from Martin.
Now call me crazy, but I’m sure Detroit Country Day had no idea Webber and his family received any money. So if that’s the case, then why should the school be punished?
Granted, this was very wrong. And many of us realize this goes on in a lot of schools. But I’m not sure if the school should be forced to give up something that was done over 13 years ago. Webber did wrong, but don’t penalize the other players, coaches and school for somebody else’s doings.
If you’re going to impose some type of penalties, then wipe out Webber’s state records. Webber was third in the state in career scoring with 2,628 points, first in games played with 107, tied for first for free throws in championship play with 14-for-16 shooting and second in rebounds in a championship game with 22.
The final decision of forfeiting the championships has been left up to Detroit Country Day High School’s administration. The school has refused to forfeit the games on the grounds that they did not have any credible evidence that Webber violated his amateur status while a student at Country Day.
Now I’m glad the school isn’t going to give up their championships, but don’t go as far to say it’s because they didn’t have enough credible evidence on Webber.
Webber has already been sentenced to community service last summer after pleading guilty to criminal contempt for lying to a grand jury about his dealings with Martin while at Michigan. So yes, Webber did receive the money — and so did several other of his college teammates.
So if you’re Detroit Country Day, don’t say there’s not enough evidence, just say what happened, happened, and that Webber’s records should be stricken, not the school’s. There is no evidence that Country Day officials were aware of the violations at the time they occurred.
Martin died last year before any official statements about Webber’s high school career could be given, but he did claim Webber was well paid in high school.
According to Martin he gave over $600,000 to several high school players — four of whom went on to play college ball at Michigan.
This has been going on for as long as sports have become a major profit in the college market. Money rules, and money has ruined many young athletes.
The only way this will ever change is to prosecute the one’s bribing our young athletes. Continue to impose sanctions on the colleges these people represent and make sure the booster are punished to the maximum extent of the law.