Mike Balogun and the NCAA

Look, we all know the NCAA has no moral compass, no enforcement teeth, and no interest in actually enforcing the rules against their bell cows. So when they actually decertified an Oklahoma linebacker, it kind of made me take a little notice. Nevermind the fact that they chose a Sooner that we wouldn’t mind seeing on the field – a lot – trying in vain to cover Shipley again this year, it was worth taking a look to see what in the world could cause the NCAA to have no other choice but to take action against an OU player.

In an effort to get to the real truth, Barking Carnival allowed me to hire countless interns and I eventually identified a well-placed source that enabled me to unearth a treasure trove of information. My source, for whom we’ll use the pseudonym “Google” to protect him and his family, was quite cooperative and in fact never failed to answer my questions in a matter of milliseconds. I will now walk you through our conversations as we worked to find the truth. Prepare to enter a dark and seedy underworld where information can always be found but the NCAA can almost never be seen.

The first thing we did is start with a basic query regarding Mike Balogun and his semi-pro football career. “Google” was kind enough to point me toward some information from NewsOK. After reading that article I was amazed at how much information that proves Mike Balogun played semi-pro ball after his 21st birthday was apparently still available on the internet. I thought perhaps the author was only kidding. He referenced the information but didn’t provide links. With that article duly read, I figured it was time to just give up looking for anything else and recommend the kid be given his eligibility back. I mean it’s not like I have subpoena power or any way to find more information. Then I remembered the source.

Hmm…what if I asked him about this rumor printed by NewsOK that Balogun was a 2005 NAFL All-Star? Apparently our lines were crossed though, because Google responded at first with information regarding the championship game that was referenced in the NewsOK article instead of the all-star listing. Clearly this guy was going to play hard to get with his information.

So I pinned him down with a very specific question and got what I was looking for. So what about that box score that NewsOK claimed was out there? Surely that can’t be true.

At this point I was just throwing strings of relevant words at my source and he was singing like a canary. I dug a little deeper into the third response he gave me and once again he confirmed the nasty rumor published elsewhere. There really is a box score with this guy’s name on it from a game played by the Maryland Marauders on November 12, 2005. It was getting harder to deny that this guy played a semi-pro game the day Vince Young tattooed 66-14 on Mangino’s face in return for the BCS tirade.

Was there anything else out there about the Maryland Marauders of the NAFL? Well, playing in the sort of big leagues presents lots of cool stuff like an actual eteamz site that apparently hasn’t been updated for a while. Conveniently for me, there was still information on the 2004 NAFL champs and their all-star reps, including Mike Balogun. That team won the championship on November 14, 2004 according to this Microsoft Word document press release from the team. Another release from the team confirms that Balogun was named defensive MVP of that championship game and goes into a little detail regarding his exploits.

If you’re like me and the NCAA, though, you’re still not convinced. It’s not like there are any other stories out there that reference Balogun and semi-pro football after his 21st birthday. And even if there were stories like that, there’s probably just some other guy named Mike Balogun that signed up for the same team right after OU’s Mike Balogun left. I mean really, what’s more likely – that Mike Balogun played semi-pro football after his 21st birthday and his teams, coaches and leagues were telling the truth about it when it was happening or that all these sites and people were lying about it and are now telling the truth about it 4-5 years after the fact? Let’s not even get into the fact that the internet says Balogun played in the year following his 21st birthday and in the year following his 22nd birthday. Which would make him ineligible not only in 2009, but also in 2008. If true, which it’s not.

85 Responses

Trips Right said:

August 25th, 2009 at 6:02 am

Holy shit that’s greatness. I haven’t clicked on all the links but that’s some solid work.

The bombshell at the end is nice. Not only was ou not deserving of going because they lost by double digits on a neutral field to the team they replaced, but they played an ineligible player in most of the games that year. Only in Norman.
Parlin Hall said:

August 25th, 2009 at 6:14 am

This is just like the Watergate reporting, only without the parking lot meetings and potted plants and FBI and stuff.

Nice work all the same.
Dean Blevens said:

August 25th, 2009 at 6:47 am

Stop doing the kind of journalistic reporting I should be doing if my lips weren’t permanently attached to Stoops’ buttocks!
NateHeupel said:

August 25th, 2009 at 6:55 am

Wow. That is utterly and completely moronic, Huckleberry. The fact that Trips is blowing you for it is perfectly expected though. For a guy who is brilliant with statistics, you really are some sort of dumbass with plain logic.

First of all, it’s weird how your “Google” sources have received absolutely no support from any of the human beings who actually run the league and teams.

Nevermind that the guy who actually runs the league providing those box scores and articles you refer to has stated in no uncertain terms UNDER OATH that they unreliable at best for a number of reasons. Amongst them:

1) Rosters are frequently not updated to keep players from changing teams.

2) Due to the cost of equipment being born by the players, jerseys are frequently reused by different players.
(In other words, if Balogun doesn’t go to the all-star game, Balogun’s number can go with whatever scrub has the cash to take his place.)

Oh, the one witness that the NCAA was relying on who said he thought Balogun played after age 21, but wasn’t sure enough to state that under oath? The guy who wrote those box scores? Yeah, he has now signed a sworn affidavit testifying that he has no records verifying Balogun played after age 21, and that all existing documentation indicates the opposite. That was actually reported on the radio in OKC yesterday. RansomStoddard should’ve caught that.

Here’s the coup de grace, though. This is how I know you are useless. How does a guy as smart as you appear to be completely fail to link Balogun’s court pleadings considering that they’re public record?

http://www.oscn.net/applications/ocisweb/getimage.tif?submitted=true&casemasterid=2026958&db=CLEVELAND&barcode=1010237709

Start your rebuttal there. Thanks.

Stick to numbers, Huckleberry. You’re incompetent to cover anything else. Everything I stated above is available on the websites in the links you provided.
TaylorTRoom said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:00 am

Nate, is there a possibilty that these guys are lying in their depositions, in order to help the guy? thinking there is no way they would ever be charged with perjury in Oklahoma?

I mean, if a guy was a MVP of a game, but was wearing somebody else’s jersey, you would think they would have fixed the record.
Huckleberry said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:03 am

First of all, it’s weird how your “Google” sources have received absolutely no support from any of the human beings who actually run the league and teams.

Except for the direct quotes from articles that predate Balogun’s career at OU, you mean. And the official team pages that predate Balogun’s career at OU. In fact, what your statement quoted above should really say if you are so concerned with accuracy is that the facts “have received absolutely no support from any of the human beings who actually run the league and teams since Balogun got involved with OU.” Before that? Plenty of support.

As for the rest of your comment, you clearly didn’t read the last paragraph of the post. I am well aware of the affidavits and court records. Hence the question about which scenario is more believable. You and other Sooner fans, predictably, expect us to believe that Mike Balogun is the victim of two full seasons of mistaken identity and he was completely uninvolved in those games or seasons. You expect us to believe that some other guy was named an all-star and a championship game MVP under the wrong name and never corrected it. You expect us to believe that Balogun’s own team issued press releases calling someone else Mike Balogun. Not only that, but they released them over twelve months apart. You expect us to believe that the mistaken identity is a case where Mike Balogun actually played on the team before he was 21, then left the team, and the team didn’t realize some new player wasn’t actually the same guy so they kept calling him Mike Balogun. You expect us to believe that a separate coach of a separate team in a separate league also mistakenly called some other guy Mike Balogun at least twice in direct quotes to news articles.

You can believe what you want, even that I’m incompetent to cover anything other than numbers. Unfortunately, you’ve now proven yourself incompetent at a lot more than that. You’re right about one thing, though. One of us is a dumbass at plain logic.
Crickets Chirping said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:14 am

OU fan response?

Ponderos?

Nate?

Other random douchebag?
Crickets Chirping said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:16 am

Crap…the crickets sit down for a quick meeting and miss the first OU salvo…
Chinese Olympic Committee said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:18 am

I believe Balogun and the Sooners. They have sworn affidavits! If he needs support, we are willing to swear to the fact that he is a 14-year-old girl!
Crickets Chirping said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:20 am

Oooohhh…crickets just read all responses…

Huck 1
Nate 0

Or, in statistics:
Huck 100%
Nate 0

Shit, I guess statistics don’t help Nate either…
Danny Almonte said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:21 am

Or a 12-year-old boy!
BrickHorn said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:24 am

Nevermind that the guy who actually runs the league providing those box scores and articles you refer to has stated in no uncertain terms UNDER OATH that they unreliable at best for a number of reasons. Amongst them:
1) Rosters are frequently not updated to keep players from changing teams.
2) Due to the cost of equipment being born by the players, jerseys are frequently reused by different players.
(In other words, if Balogun doesn’t go to the all-star game, Balogun’s number can go with whatever scrub has the cash to take his place.)

Are you a lawyer, Nate? Because the type of reasoning displayed above is typical of lawyerly argument. “There’s evidence against my client? Well, the evidence could possibly maybe be faulty for the following ridiculous reasons…”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a lawyer, it’s that legal proceedings are a terribly ineffective mechanism by which to uncover the truth.
Minnesotahorn said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:25 am

Oh that was beautiful.
Trips Right said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:26 am

Come on Nate. You can do better than citing affidavits that include wiggle room language like “cannot recollect” or “possess no OFFICIAL documentation”. Again, it’s nice lawyering by Oklahoma. It’s part and parcel to the sooner philosophy of pushing the envelope as they always do.

It’s the same philosophy that allowed Chaison back on the team, and Dusty Dvorcek. It’s why you accepted a Jarvis Jones transfer after he was kicked out of LSU or accepted Calhoun and his Dexter Manley like grades.

Shit, you allowed a guy back on your squad that was caught with multiple pounds of marijuana and a fucking scale. It’s what you do, it’s who you are.

Is it really a stretch to think reality lines up a bit better with Huck’s article than some affidavits choc full of statements with wiggle room bigger than a whale’s vagina, provided by an outlaw university?
Vasherized said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:43 am

I’m glad this Huckleberry guy is on our side.
CurrentLonghornStudent said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:45 am

That’s enough smoking guns to arm another Bay of Pigs invasion. The pigs resent their juxtaposition next to the Sooners.
Kafka said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:55 am

Good work, Huck.

Nate, your response is a bit surprising (usually you are less emotional and more rational).
Bitch Slap said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:56 am

It was good for me, was it good for you?
8straight said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:57 am

I have noticed that Nate is really into phrases like: “blowing you” and “hand jobs”. Just saying.
FogHornLongHorn said:

August 25th, 2009 at 8:05 am

Uhm, Nate…. what a passionate reply!! I’m sure those around you at the Norman lie-berry were more than a little stunned at the sound of pounding keys. I’m no behavioral-psychiatrist, but your retort smacks of desperation. You know the jig is up…and the boy isn’t going to ever play again…just relax and enjoy it :o)
Ron Weaver said:

August 25th, 2009 at 8:08 am

I believe in Mike Balogun
houstonearlers said:

August 25th, 2009 at 8:18 am

I can understand that maybe a box score is wrong. Hell, UT’s box score frequently messes up its player participation reports (although because they dress out around 100 players and many share the same uniform number, that is not too surprising).

But Jesus, there are articles describing this kid by name and discussing his performance in certain games or his presence in all star games. That is hard to explain.

I would trust these articles more than the affidavits — which have too much wiggle room.

At the end of the day, I don’t care that much. But this is typical of OU’s compliance department. I mean some guy on Texags knew Rhett Bomar was getting paid for no show work and about the Lexus special Peterson received. OU had no knowledge of that and its investigation (which was a joke — read Rufus Alexander’s interview transcript) concluded only Bomar, Quinn, and some scrub walk on were getting paid (out of the 30 plus Sooners who were hard working Big Red employees during the Stoops era).
BatesHorn said:

August 25th, 2009 at 8:21 am

Jesus, Nate. Are you going to send me the bill at $400 an hour or just debit my account directly?

DC is busting at the seams with lawyers too incompetent to practice and do politics instead. You’d fit right in.
Scipio Tex said:

August 25th, 2009 at 8:27 am

Great job, Huckleberry.
BoilerHorn said:

August 25th, 2009 at 8:42 am

Before today, I thought Google was only used to find nude pictures of marginal actresses.

I see Balogun as this season’s sacrificial lamb for the program, a la Quinn and Bomar. Quinn and Bomar were expendable – far more so than Peterson and a bevy of others that were implicated. Externally, sacrificing Bomar legitimized OU’s internal investigation. Why else would you throw your starting QB under the bus?

With OU, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. I just hope the NCAA does not stop with Balogun. Heck, they may not even start there…
Newy25 said:

August 25th, 2009 at 9:10 am

Did I read that correctly? A Sooner came here despite ample evidence that the player is in fact ineligible to say that someone was wearing the wrong jersey?

Seriously you guys can spin and rationalize any sort of cheating.
swngtrdr said:

August 25th, 2009 at 9:46 am

How old are you people? 19? I’ve followed major league baseball for over 50 years and have seen pitchers credited with wins that never even got in the game. ESPN could’nt get the stats right from the Jets vs Ravens game last night. Sanchez throws a pick 6 and ESPN credited him with a touchdown pass. Balogun is supposed to be the MVP of this all-star game yet his DC has no recollection of Balogun even being at the game let alone playing in the game.But hey, according to Huckleberry it does’nt matter that major league sports can’t get anything right, we should accept internet accounts of semi-pro football games as the gospel.
uthookem said:

August 25th, 2009 at 9:48 am

That’s it, swngy-dngy presented a counter argument, I completely switch sides. We all make mistakes, and it is fucking obvious that those folks made the same mistakes twelve months apart, hell, even ESPN makes mistakes.

Best. Argument. Evar!
OUtter said:

August 25th, 2009 at 9:52 am

Barking Carnival readers, I’ll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our student athletes. We did.

But you can’t hold OU responsible for the behavior of a few sick, twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn’t we blame the whole Big 12? And if the whole Big 12 is guilty, then isn’t this an indictment of our educational institutions in general?

I put it to you, Barking Carnival – isn’t this an indictment of our entire American society?

Well, you can do whatever you want to OU, but we’re not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America.

Gentlemen!
Scipio Tex said:

August 25th, 2009 at 9:57 am

Well played, OUtter.
BoilerHorn said:

August 25th, 2009 at 10:03 am

I am willing to put the entirety of the USA under indictment if it will get OU the NCAA death penalty.
TXinDC said:

August 25th, 2009 at 10:05 am

swngtrdr -
#1 – You’re surprised they mess up baseball stats for which pitchers were in the game? Dude, you’re talking about BASEBALL, quite possibly the most challenging game of “can you pay attention long enough” out there.

#2 – You’re citing ESPN’s coverage of a preaseason NFL game as an example of the stats folks not getting their numbers right? After the first game of the preseason I realized they weren’t actually going to give a crap about what happened in the game, because guess what – no one else gives a crap either!

Wrapping up here, I think you missed many of the other links of Huck’s that had nothing to do with box scores or stats tracking. But don’t give up, try again!
eloy said:

August 25th, 2009 at 10:07 am

swngtrdr-

sanchez got credited with a touchdown pass because he threw one to leon washington in the second quarter……swing and a miss
Vasherized said:

August 25th, 2009 at 10:13 am

Toga, toga, toga!!!
Sooner Logic said:

August 25th, 2009 at 10:16 am

Can’t you whorns figure it out?!?!? An ESPN employee incorrectly attributed a touchdown to Sanchez in a preseason game. Clearly this implies that a player in another league in another time was probably named an all-star and a championship game MVP in seasons where he wasn’t even in the league.

And I remember a major league baseball game some time in the last 50 years where a pitcher was credited with a win and he never even appeared in the game. Ignore the possibility that it’s just a senior moment and a partial recollection of the multiple times pitchers have been correctly given wins without ever throwing a pitch. The fact that this could be a scorekeeping error from the last 5 decades in another sport is convincing proof that a football team issued a press release naming a player from their team with details of his championship game heroics despite the fact that he wasn’t even on their team. And then a year later issued another press release naming the same player as an all-star from their team over a year after he left not only their team but the entire league. IT’S JUST COMMON SENSE!

Stupid whorns.
Orangechip said:

August 25th, 2009 at 10:23 am

Sooners are obfuscating. This is not a debate whether a newspaper EVER makes a mistake. This is a debate as to whether a newspaper or tv REPEATEDLY WITHOUT CORRECTION OVER 2 YEARS makes mistakes.
BoilerHorn said:

August 25th, 2009 at 10:27 am

The debate is whether the Sooners cheated and are attempting to, again, cover it up.
Switzer said:

August 25th, 2009 at 10:29 am

OUtter: I’ll give you $300/month spending cash if you keep up the hard work.
ThatsYou said:

August 25th, 2009 at 10:49 am

anyone else remember the days when OU would cheat to make a good player eligible?
Barry Switzer said:

August 25th, 2009 at 12:03 pm

I will vouch for Mike.
Travis said:

August 25th, 2009 at 12:05 pm

so will OU have to forfeit those wins from the games he played in? How can they honestly argue that it wasn’t him… He is making semi pro football sound like the bad news bears, that ppl will just wear random jerseys for 2 seasons with some other guys name on the back, and let that other guy recieve praise for being an all star and game mvp? That argument is almost as stupid as “we beat tech and you lost to tech so we are better than you”
Travis said:

August 25th, 2009 at 12:11 pm

I bet they have documentation that he was working with brett bohmar at the dealership during that time, he wasn’t playing semi pro ball, that had to be another Mike Balogun
TxTower said:

August 25th, 2009 at 12:19 pm

Sooner Logic? Isn’t that an oxymoron? You know like Jumbo Shrimp or Military Intelligence or Nate’s Right.
Pancho Claus said:

August 25th, 2009 at 12:44 pm

Due to the cost of equipment being born by the players, jerseys are frequently reused by different players.
(In other words, if Balogun doesn’t go to the all-star game, Balogun’s number can go with whatever scrub has the cash to take his place.)

Wow.. these guys can give birth to their own equipment? That’s amazing. The best I’ve seen is a picture of Tommie Harris shitting a helmet. No wonder OU wanted this guy on their team. Imagine the cost savings… and not having to clean Tommie Harris’s poo off your helmet.
Magnus Bleuveigner said:

August 25th, 2009 at 12:57 pm

Is there any chance that OU didn’t even know about this since Balogun wasn’t heavily sought and was more or less just going to be an emergency back-up? To me that makes it even more beautiful. It’s proof that the football gods are conspiring against them. I don’t think OU takes recruiting infraction risks for such a marginal player. That being said, I’m glad this all taking place and from the depths of my heart hope for the very worst possible outcome for OU.
Huckleberry said:

August 25th, 2009 at 1:07 pm

There are only two possibilities when it comes to OU’s repeated problems with what their players are doing or have done in the past. They are either fully aware and don’t care about the rules (my vote) or their compliance department is the single most incompetent department of any department in any organization in the world.

It took me less than an hour this morning to find the info and write this post despite its not having my full attention at the time. Why the hell didn’t their compliance department find these huge red flags as soon as they knew he had played semipro ball before his JUCO days? This guy was 24 years old when he stepped on their campus and turned 25 in the first month of his first season there. Their failure is either intentional or utterly astounding in its scope and degree.
SizzleChest said:

August 25th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

His name means, paraphrasing in the greatest sense of paraphrasing, a ball of gun(s). Okies love guns. Okies REALLY love balls. No wonder their fighting so hard to keep him.
Magnus Bleuveigner said:

August 25th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

Huck—I’m sure you’re right, I was just playing Switzers advocate.

It just doesn’t make sense. I guess the concept of risk/reward has yet to navigate its way into the northern dust.
Facebook User said:

August 25th, 2009 at 2:28 pm

I guess the concept of risk/reward has yet to navigate its way into the northern dust.

I think you have that backwards.
RansomStoddard said:

August 25th, 2009 at 5:43 pm

I am assuming that Ponderos is kicking the crap out of his dog tonight after getting bitchslapped here. Regardless, any school that can get and keep Jermaine Gresham eligible will have no problem altering boxscores to keep this guy eligible. If you went to Gresham’s high school, you know what I am talking about.
glenn said:

August 25th, 2009 at 5:59 pm

i hate to bring this up because i don’t want to give certain lurkers any ideas, but in mexico they could have his birthdate changed.

if they had him made 17 they could probably start his eligibility all over since the ncaa would obviously have erred in clearing an underage kid. no doubt the ncaa would readily compromise* and re-start his clock.

*compromise, ncaa-style means do what they are told to do but include some meaningless concession to placate the dull and the disinterested.
Birther said:

August 25th, 2009 at 6:33 pm

The uniform in question was not born in the USA, is an illegal and is not eligible under other applicable NCAA rules without a proper work visa or evidence of marriage to a cousin from Altus.
NorthDallasSooner said:

August 25th, 2009 at 6:39 pm

A school can’t certify a player, only the NCAA can. In this case the NCAA DID certify the player. Now they seek to de-certify him. If they do, and it holds, so be it. But, given that they and only they can certify, and they did, nothing before this very moment is relevant to wins/losses or compliance.
Facebook User said:

August 25th, 2009 at 6:45 pm

NDS – The NCAA: Here To Fuck It Up For Everybody
ponderos said:

August 25th, 2009 at 6:47 pm

RansomStoddard
August 25, 2009 at 5:43 pm

I am assuming that Ponderos is kicking the crap out of his dog tonight after getting bitchslapped here.

How did that happen?
Huckleberry said:

August 25th, 2009 at 6:50 pm

Ninja bitchslap. You still don’t even realize it.
Magnus Bleuveigner said:

August 25th, 2009 at 6:51 pm

I think he meant Nate Heupel….Nate Heupel is kicking your dog.
IamYojimbo said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:12 pm

You know, the sad part is, Nate and company’s argument actually makes perfect sense in Oklahoma. I mean, it is Oklahoma we’re talking about here. OKLAHOMA. Anyways, that is all.
Dave said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:15 pm

“Rosters are frequently not updated ”

I’d bet, in fact, that the frequencies comprise a dense set.
Gus McCrae said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

Holy hell, Nate disappeared faster than a felony charge against a sooner recruit.
SizzleChest said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:42 pm

Faster than Brent Rawls tumbling out of a truck bed.
Teddy Lehman said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:47 pm

Faster than me running a 40.
Tim Tebow said:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:49 pm

Faster than I will ascend.
Scipio Tex said:

August 25th, 2009 at 8:03 pm

Dude, this blog is harsh.
Doperbo said:

August 25th, 2009 at 9:19 pm

Maybe all I know about Huck was that he was fine fisherman. You know more than that, my father said. He was beautiful.
Art Vandelay said:

August 26th, 2009 at 5:59 am

Nate’s next line of reasoning:

- Mike Balogun was actually hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2004-2005

- Balogun should be allowed to play for the sooners because it will reduce terrorism and save lives

- The OU compliance officer was inadvertently given a heavy dose of Propofol

Great work Huck.
Art Vandelay said:

August 26th, 2009 at 6:13 am

Even the normally reasonable North Dallas Sooner falls into the trap here.

It’s not cheating until we get caught…… and then it’s the NCAA’s fault for not catching us sooner???

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Thayer Evans said:

August 26th, 2009 at 6:42 am

I believe everything I read on the internet. It’s a perfectly reliable source of information that’s infallible.
NateHeupel's Brain said:

August 26th, 2009 at 6:53 am

I don’t know the difference between a single source with ties to Oklahoma writing about Oklahoma and multiple sources from different states releasing information about their business enterprises then changing their stories once they get involved with Oklahoma.
Bob in Houston said:

August 26th, 2009 at 7:17 am

Question is who lied: Balogun to the Sooners, the Sooners to the NCAA, or both.

If it only took an hour for Huck to find these things, seems to me the Sooners had a responsibility to look around a little harder. They’ve obviously done *something* since the stories have changed.
Gus McCrae said:

August 26th, 2009 at 7:20 am

This thread is the gift that keeps on giving.
J.R.69 said:

August 26th, 2009 at 9:49 am

The Sooners did do something: they looked the other way.
Cincohorn said:

August 26th, 2009 at 10:22 am

Sooners are now saying that Mike’s real last name is Baloo, not Balogun. They have just released an affidavit from Rudyard Kipling that predates these inacurate Internet postings by a little over a century.
NorthDallasSooner said:

August 26th, 2009 at 11:32 am

I’m right.
TxTower said:

August 26th, 2009 at 11:38 am

Actually “It’s the NCAA’s fault” is a relatively new excuse for the Sooners. It’s as easily digestable and simple for Sooner fans as “Everyone does it”. This is what they call progress in Norman.
Pokey said:

August 26th, 2009 at 12:21 pm

Can’t prove that Dexter Manley couldn’t read, all you have is his word….and that wasn’t under oath. There are also no sworn statements by other people stating that Dexter coundn’t read. And if he really couldn’t read, it just shows the fine job that OSU did educating people with disabilities (like being 6’4″ and 250 pounds).

A Cowboy homey…
cityofnompton said:

August 26th, 2009 at 1:49 pm

Seriously? He’s a backup. Who cares?
HornInExile said:

August 26th, 2009 at 2:20 pm

Next step for Internet sleuths…

1) Start facebooking with ex-teammates on allegedly faulty roster.

2) Find out which guy Balogun beat into a coma with a baseball bat, and which cheerleader he held hostage with a screwdriver.

3) Track down the motivated individuals identified in step 2 and see which one wants 15 minutes of Internet fame.
Trips Right said:

August 26th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

Nobody died when Balogun lied.
PatronSaint said:

August 26th, 2009 at 7:24 pm

Maybe that was someone other than Balogun wearing the OU uniform?
KilgoreTrout said:

August 26th, 2009 at 7:53 pm

I think it is becoming obvious that Mike has an evil twin or scheming look alike. The one who should be really chapped about this revelation is Dedifisher. Since Mike was an ineligible player last year all the Sooner wins would have to be vacated, thus giving the tortilla flingers the B12 South title.
Texastough said:

August 26th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

Maybe that was someone other than a Sooner booster that paid off the Maryland Marauders coaches for their epic about face?
mejake007 said:

August 27th, 2009 at 1:27 am

If the jersey don’t fit…you MUST acquit!
Sailor Ripley said:

September 21st, 2009 at 11:24 pm

Done and a shout out to Huck.

Link
Boomer and Sooner — Blog — The Continuing Saga of Mike Balogun said:

March 10th, 2010 at 7:07 pm

[...] The NCAA apparently liked the general “take anything on Google as gospel truth” (as did my pal Huckleberry) approach (despite every legal, logical, and experiential concept being to the [...]

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Mike Balogun and the NCAA

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