Unexpected result of Cam Newton saga: righteous indignation from Florida fans!

Okay, try to follow this if you can, because the dawn of each new day seems to bring yet another unsubstantiated claim concerning Auburn quarterback Cam Newton. Today’s involves his academic standing at Florida, which was the first SEC school he attended. Thayer Evans is the writer who happens to be wielding the hatchet in this instance:

Newton was arrested for the theft of a laptop from a Florida student’s dorm room in November 2008. He again violated the university’s honor code by putting his name on another student’s paper and turning it in, according to the source. Newton was caught after the instructor asked the real author of the paper why he had not turned in his work, the source said.

According to the source, after the student said he had turned in a paper, he and the instructor went through all the submissions and discovered that Newton had put his name on the paper in question.

Newton subsequently turned in a second paper to the instructor, but it was later found to have been purchased off the Internet, according to the source. The source said Newton was to appear for a hearing in front of Florida’s Student Conduct Committee during the spring semester of 2009 but instead transferred to Blinn College.

The committee could have levied sanctions against Newton that included suspension and expulsion from the university. (FoxSports.com)

Keep in mind that the “source” Evans is getting this from is basically breaking the law, because revealing any aspect of Newton’s academic record is an invasion of his privacy.  But I guess when the player in question currently attends another SEC school, all bets are off.

Just for argument’s sake, let’s say the “source” Evans has is telling the truth.  Am I supposed to believe that something this big never came to light while Newton was still at Florida?  That’s awfully damning stuff for an institution of higher learning that supposedly holds itself to higher academic standards than every SEC school not located in Nashville.

Once again, there is no Lloyd Lake holding bank statements or no Eric Ramsey providing a tape recording to substantiate any of the charges that are being levied against Cam Newton.  I guess the writers putting this stuff out are now slaves to the 24 hour news cycle and have to get these smear jobs out as quickly as possible.  Thoroughly researching these claims would take too long, and as for finding actual proof, well, that practice doesn’t appear to be in vogue anymore.

Naturally, the fact that these allegations are being traced back to Gainesville have caused a tremendous amount of backlash against Florida on the part of Auburn fans.  But Florida head coach Urban Meyer says he hasn’t been the source of any leaks in regard to Camgate:

“Our entire focus right now is on preparing for our biggest game of the year against South Carolina,” Meyer said. “For anyone to think that I or anyone on our staff may have leaked information about private student records to the media doesn’t know us very well. It’s a ridiculous claim and simply not true.” (USAToday.com)

Hell, Meyer says he’s not the guy, so if it comes from his mouth, it must be true!  As a result, Gator Nation is hopping mad and fighting back on the Twittersphere, but not really doing a very good job of it.  Here’s a Gator fan taking CFN’s Barrett Sallee to task.  Keep in mind that Sallee has been a voice of reason during this saga:

Playing the victim card after someone from the school she cheers for illegally gave out private information? Nice! Oh, I had to include the tweet about John Mayer because it’s just too funny.  Only a delusional white chick in her 20’s would post something that batshit nuts.

There was also this gem from another disgruntled Florida fan:

Really?  Give me a break. Meyer has done a good enough job of running his own name through the mud.  That’s because his players seem to end up in jail more often than members of Lil’ Wayne’s entourage. 

Since he came to Florida in 2005, a mindboggling 30 Gators have been arrested.  Not even the presence of Saint Tebow himself could keep people from noticing that the Gainesville city jail had started to resemble the Florida locker room on game day.

I know a few Gator fans who just shrug that off, it’s not a big deal.  They tell me that people only notice because the program’s success puts it under the microscope.  Uh huh.  You don’t need a microscope to notice an epidemic of lawlessness amongst a specific group of young men.  Stevie friggin’ Wonder can see that.

We all know that once upon a time, Cam Newton was himself one of the knucklehead Gator players I’m referring to.  He left the school in shame, spent his time in the college football wilderness and is now experiencing the kind of success he should have had at Florida.

However, a happy ending to the story of his college career will be hard to come by.  Does some phantom menace out there now feel that because after being anointed as the heir to Tebow, Newton failed to display the same kind of perceived saintliness?  I sincerely hope this thing isn’t all tied back to some bitter person at Florida who has an ax to grind.

It’s amazing to me that Newton endures these types of slings and arrows while current Florida running back Chris Rainey just breezes through life.  Rainey is back after serving a month’s suspension.  His offense?  He threatened to kill his girlfriend.

So where is Thayer Evans?  Shouldn’t he be calling for Rainey’s scholarship to be revoked?  And Pete Thamel doesn’t seem to mind that at least one member of the Gator football team could be a ticking time bomb.  Nah, he’s too busy following second hand rumors regarding another player who’s already paid the price for past indiscretions.

In regard to how this Camgate thing is shaking out, the righteous indignation on the part of Gator fans is pretty pathetic.  These folks, who’ve grown fat off the success of their team, don’t seem to care that if the University of Florida did leak academic information, then that’s an honest to goodness crime.  But really, when have Florida fans actually cared about crime since Meyer showed up?

In the end, I just want some sort of actual proof that Newton is in fact the cheating, lying bastard that Thayer Evans is making him out to be. The media’s smear job can’t be undone, so the least these writers can do is come up with something that shows that they’re not all totally and completely full of shit.

For now, this is a witch hunt with no bubbling cauldron or flying broomstick to offer up as evidence. And if none is forthcoming, then there’s nothing more to see here.