I feel like a friend died.
My brother and I both got our BBAs and MBAs from the University of Miami, my dad has been a huge athletic booster since we attended in the late 80s/early 90s, my hubby Tommie got his JD at Miami, I was the undergraduate student government vice president, I interned in the Athletic Department while in grad school, and when I worked in the Office of Alumni Relations I organized all the on-the-road football pre-game parties.
I watched the Canes win their national title my freshman year at the Sugar Bowl. I threw the 6,000 person pre-game party before the Canes won their last national championship title in 2001 at the Rose Bowl.
And yesterday, the bottom dropped out.
Yahoo Sports broke the story that Nevin Shapiro, the convicted Ponzi schemer who is living out a 20-year sentence in prison, gave players money, parties, prostitutes, and access to his yacht over an eight-year span.
It’s going to be hard to dispute this one. Sure, Nevin is a little ass who made a living off of lying and has a huge bone to pick with his Miami “friends” for not helping him out when he got arrested, but Yahoo Sports is a highly respected and credible news source. They did their homework, and they can back up the allegations.
We kick off the Al Golden era at Maryland in a few weeks, and Tommie and I plan to be there. It’s likely that the twelve current players named in the report will be put on suspension from the school, but the rest of team, the new coaching staff, and the fans will be ready to play. Wouldn’t it be an amazing story if our team could rise above this horror story and win the old-fashioned way?
That’s what I’ll be hoping for on September 5th. We rose up after surviving the Pell Grant Scandal and the Uncle Luke days. My orange and green blood will stick by the program through this miserable ordeal to watch us rise up again.
Go Canes!
