Debunk this

One scandal after another. A day after Michigan's internal findings, news breaks of a basketball scalping op involving the Kansas athletic department.   

    In case you weren't familiar with the Pumps, now you are. Big names on the AAU circuit. Guys who have figured a way to make a killing off the seedy side of college basketball. I've heard some interesting things about their annual "retreat" for coaches as well, maybe that will get its own headlines some day.

    While that marinates, the U-M situation fades until the NCAA acts in mid-August. No shortage of coverage of that around here, nothing too surprising either. I think Michigan guessed about right on its penalties, I suppose I could see the NCAA grabbing a couple scholarships, but anything more than that would indeed be a surprise. David Brandon's support of Rich Rodriguez has been forceful. But there's no public alternative at this point.

    The one thing that has bothered me in the past couple days is some people concluding -- or following through on their pre-determined conclusion -- that the results of the internal investigation somehow invalidate the original Detroit Free Press report. Because, you know, they don't match up. Sorry, but that's just silly.

    The whistleblowers said one thing. Internally, milder transgressions were uncovered. That only happens in cases like this ... oh, about 99.7 percent of the time. The bottom line is, U-M admitted to four major violations, regardless of whether you think they should be deemed "major" or not. And that's a validation of the original report, and of some people who have received outrageous personal attacks for doing what journalists are supposed to do -- from people who, on that subject, don't have a clue.