Football players are just as bad

Why do big-time college basketball programs get into so much more trouble with the NCAA than college football programs?\nInherently, it doesn't make sense.\nCollege basketball teams have far fewer scholarship players. They play in front of smaller crowds. Furthermore, college basketball didn't become a major passion on the sports scene until the early-to-mid 1970s, when UCLA's domination -- winning 10 national championships in 12 years from 1964 to 1975 -- demanded they be showered with attention.\nCollege football teams have 85 scholarship players plus walk-ons. That's a lot of people of which to keep track. They play in front of massive crowds in stadiums, many of which dwarf in size those in the National Football League. Meanwhile, college football's popularity stems back much further, most notably to Red Grange's five-touchdown effort for Illinois against Michigan in October 1924.\nBasketball programs, though, shame themselves more, and the factors why are exactly the factors why one wouldn't think so. Being so scarce, basketball players are made to feel more special. \nA prime example is at Michigan, where Chris Webber will wait two more years to find out his sentence after pleading guilty to criminal contempt. He admitted he lied to a grand jury about his relationship with slimy booster Ed Martin. Webber finally owned up to paying Martin $38,000 in compensation for services, partially covering part of the $616,000 Martin gave Webber and three other Wolverine players during the 1990s. Michigan wound up having to forfeit 112 games, perhaps the most massively hollow punishment in the history of intercollegiate athletics.\nThen, there is the mess at Baylor. While we still don't know exactly what happened between Patrick Dennehy and Carlton Dotson on the night Dennehy was killed, we do know that former coach Dave Bliss tried to falsely portray Dennehy as a drug dealer in order to explain how Dennehy, who was not on scholarship while sitting out the season as a transfer, managed to pay for his education. In fact, Bliss had direct involvement in the paying-off of Dennehy's tuition as well as the cover-up.\nAt Fresno State, the NCAA placed the school on four years probation for academic fraud, recruiting and eligibility reasons. The NCAA wound up finding a virtual potpourri of transgressive behavior, enough to keep them on their toes. There was a statistician and a team academic adviser participating in a cheating scam on exams with three players. There were free meals given at a local restaurant owned by a Fresno State booster. A player continued to play even though he was supposed to be certified as academically ineligible. \nSt. Bonaventure's scandal ranged from its men's basketball coaching staff to its athletic director to its president. Lying about forward and top rebounder Jamil Terrell's academic qualifications -- the junior college transfer only had a welding certificate, not a legitimate core course background prior to coming to St. Bonaventure -- school president Robert Wickenheiser gave the go-ahead to admitting Terrell and later resigned. The school forfeited its six Atlantic 10 victories and the players, apparently bamboozled along with everybody else, chose to forfeit their last two games.\nSince one player can make a difference, those who corrupt think they can corrupt absolutely if they find the right sap. Get Player A to come to your school instead of School B, and suddenly, the balance of power may shift greatly. Remind Player A that even though the contract between CBS and the NCAA is worth billions, he won't receive any of it. Then, remind him he'll make millions in the NBA some day, even if it's not true. But he just needs the additional coaching and family atmosphere you will provide.\nIt's harder to corrupt in college football. No team is one player away from greatness, and you only had to see Antwaan Randle El at IU from 1998 to 2001 to have that idea reinforced.\nThe Maurice Clarett situation, therefore, was a unique one. Clarett, whom the school suspended for the season for allegedly lying to police about the value of items taken when his car was stolen and for taking payments and other items, stood out so much on his team that he made a target. Furthermore, he enjoyed being one, behaving like a man who expected handouts from the day he showed up at Ohio State and then having the gall to portray himself as being wronged.\nCollege football's stature as a team game, though, saves it from mass trouble. In college football, no one player is bigger than the team. Because of that, no one booster is either.