Rose had high school grades changed

[dougthonus]

Link to my chicago now piece on the topic

They changed them just while he was getting transcripts done, then changed them back. Heck, why not just use white out.

Of course no one at the school has any idea how such a think could occur, you see the person who's code was on the change was out of town while it was being made and employees regularly share access codes.

 

[Bullsman24]

did rose specifically have this changed, or did a teacher change it to keep him eligible

 

[dougthonus]

It was changed just for the period he was sending transcripts to colleges.

In the article, it said three other athletes had grade changes at simeon as well.

 

[Simeon2UC]

People making a big deal out of nothing. The system is corrupt to begin with and now they want to discourage fans while altering his image.

 

[dougthonus]

Simeon2UC wrote:

People making a big deal out of nothing. The system is corrupt to begin with and now they want to discourage fans while altering his image.

That's sort of fair and sort of unfair.

I don't think it's unfair to say that cheating on your SATs and changing your grades portrays a negative image. People don't like cheaters, and Rose cheated.

On the other hand, I agree with you in regards to the system. Rose's SATs and grades were irrelevant to what he was going to do for his life. Forcing a certain academic level to get into school to play basketball is as ridiculous as enforcing an enforcing a FT% on an engineering student.

 

[MADman24]

I knew this already, without saying too much on how, and to tell you the truth this isn't the worse violation I know of regarding Rose. I can't specifically say how, at least not publicly, but I'll just say he is far from the only one doing this. I know of about a dozen athletes, specifically high school basketball and football players in Chicago from the past few seasons, having there grades changed and I'm not actively pursuing these stories I just happen to come across it each time, many are not big time players although most are D1 prospects. In my unprofessional opinion, I estimate maybe 90% of star players are involved in some kind of recruiting or academic violation. Sometimes you hear about it sometimes everyone keeps quiet. This is merely a story because of who's involved.

Like you Doug, I don't want to justify the actions of any school or player that breaks the rules but realistically the rules are always broken to allow athletes to do what they were going to school for, to make money for their school of choice and the NCAA and to allow them in the case of a star player to continue the path towards going pro.

Really this doesn't bother me and is irrelevant to Rose playing basketball but maybe it's because I'm so used to hearing this kind of story it has grown old.

 

[Hawkfanwillie07]

This won't change a thing. It's going to be an issue for the next month or two while Memphis is investigated and possibly disciplined, and by the time next year rolls around you won't hear about it again. And let's be honest, he's a basketball player. It's not like he is a doctor who cheated his way into medical school and is affecting people's lives. This stuff happens all the time and I'm sure the NCAA knows it. In this case, they wanted to make an example out of a first round pick at a high profile college.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Well, 1) shame on Derrick for cheating 2) shame on the school for helping him cheat 3) shame on the NCAA for just being corrupt as it is 4) shame on the people who are going to try to use this against Derrick in term of basketball

This really won't do a thing at all. It's kind of a shame that these athletes have to cheat their way into college, but I guess that's why they're athletes and not rocket scientists.

 

[Mike]

I think it's strange how eager people are to rush to Derricks defense, blaming whatever system happens to be helping/encouraging him to break whatever rules he's breaking. That's not to say they aren't partially right, or that those "systems" don't share a healthy portion of the responsibility, but so does Derrick. I can't help but feel this reaction is guided by people who may have mistakenly built this kid up to the point of deification, when he's really just a regular (in as much as that term can be applied) young basketball phenom. No better, no worse.

I'm sorry, but all of these stories regarding Rose do bother me, just as this story regarding U of I does. What is alleged to have happened here is wrong. If these allegations prove to be true, the University of Memphis should be ashamed, as should Derrick, as well as Simeon. Especially Simeon, as they're probably the one who had the least reason to do this. There are a lot of things to be upset about here. What about those other kids at Simeon, who don't play basketball, but for whom the ability to attend a university would send there life down a completely different path. Or even something as simple as the fact that some other deserving kid probably didn't get into Memphis because Derrick did.

As for the "system" that forced Derrick to go to Memphis when he should (some feel) have been able to go to the NBA, I sincerely don't think "it's" what's to blame for any of this. He went to Memphis for a lot of reasons (The coach? The playbook? The campus? Exposure that he felt would make him more money down the line? A willingness to help him get by without doing any school work? World Wide Wes?), but any decision made by David Stern was not among them. If he didn't have the grades to attend Memphis, then he could have gone to Depaul, or UIC. If he hates school, he could have gone to play in Italy or something. If he didn't want to go to Europe, he could have signed a deal with Nike/Adidas/Puma and spent the year training in Florida at IMG. He didn't. He cheated and got into Memphis, and any way you slice it, it was his decision, and it was wrong.

Does this mean I'm going to decry Rose as a terrible person, and refuse to cheer for him? Of course not. Dennis Rodman was probably my favorite player growing up, and I'd imagine he's done worse things. I think what he allegedly did was inexcusable, but demonizing him for it would be just as misguided as it would have been to deify him for all the great things I've seen him do. I'm still VERY MUCH a Rose fan, I just don't feel the need to make excuses for him.

Sorry for the epic length of this post. I'll try and keep it short next time.

 

[AirP]

Thank god it was Derrick instead of Tyrus, could you just imagine the kind of bashing that would be going on?

And I do blame the NBA. There's no reason why a kid should have to be forced to wait to join the NBA. Sitting out a year, playing against lesser talent or being on a bench in Europe has a negative effect on where they'll be drafted which can cost the kid MILLIONS... not to mention the MILLIONS they're missing because they'll be in the NBA one less year which also means 1 more year to wait to get to their 1st contract after the rookie deal.

Believe what you want but the higher level of college team/conference you play comes into play bigtime, the tougher the competition in college, the easier it is to translate how good a player will be in the pros.

 

[dougthonus]

He didn't. He cheated and got into Memphis, and any way you slice it, it was his decision, and it was wrong.

It was his decision, but it clearly wasn't his decision alone. Simeon clearly makes a practice of doing this kind of thing (as noted in the article three other athletes had the same thing done).

Also, Memphis was clearly complicit in all of this as well as the NCAA. The results of his SATs didn't come out until now? Why? They were just routinely looking at two year old SAT scores? Memphis didn't know what was going on witht his stuff?

Rose deserves blame, but he was in a system that encourages this kind of thing. His HS, his college, and the NCAA board are all willing participants in this system. There is widespread cheating from grades to illegal benefits.

I'm not trying to make excuses for Rose as if what he did was right, but I am trying to point out that this is a system where I'd estimate 90% of the big name prospects are doing something illegal. It's like steroids in baseball. I don't feel the need to crucify an individual for what I believe the vast majority of the league was doing.

It was wrong for everyone, but I don't want to throw stones at one guy who got caught when I feel like by watching I'm basically supporting this type of widespread activity throughout everyone.

 

[Hoover]

did anyone else read the Clout List article in the trib today? Athletes are the only ones getting special treatment. I'd post link but I'm on a phone.
Do a google search and it comes right up, pretty interesting.

 

[Hoover]

Oops, should say aren't the only ones

 

[Woodz]

dougthonus wrote:

Rose deserves blame, but he was in a system that encourages this kind of thing. His HS, his college, and the NCAA board are all willing participants in this system. There is widespread cheating from grades to illegal benefits.

I'm not trying to make excuses for Rose as if what he did was right, but I am trying to point out that this is a system where I'd estimate 90% of the big name prospects are doing something illegal. It's like steroids in baseball. I don't feel the need to crucify an individual for what I believe the vast majority of the league was doing.

It was wrong for everyone, but I don't want to throw stones at one guy who got caught when I feel like by watching I'm basically supporting this type of widespread activity throughout everyone.

QFT

 

[Dpauley23]

Just heard on Sportsnite (local Chicago Sport recap show) that IHSA will investigate grade and there is good possiblity that 2 of finals will be stripped

 

[??? ??????]

If they strip both of Rose's Simeon titles he will no longer be a winner!!!