Who a person associates with will always give you a clue as to who they really are.

Now, we all make mistakes in choosing friends or associates. Sometimes our initial impressions can be wrong. If a decision is made quickly to disassociate from those people or persons then no harm no foul. But continuing to keep the relationship going when you know someone has some questionable character issues says a lot.

No you are probably all wondering why I am on this soap box. I mean, far be it from me to pass judgment on anyone, I have just as many skeletons in my closet as the next guy so who am I to make broad statements.

But I found this interesting...

ESPN analyst Craig James was a key member of the SMU football team in the early ’80s but has long attempted to separate himself from the dirty dealings of college football’s most notorious program.

The story of why SMU football was canceled, if you don’t know it, is actually pretty simple.

SMU linebacker David Stanley admitted to WFAA-TV in Dallas - on-camera - in 1987 that he received $25,000 from school athletic officials to sign with SMU in 1983. Stanley then was paid more money as a player by SMU employees during the 1983 and 1984 seasons.

The Stanley story led to another NCAA investigation that uncovered what the DALLAS MORNING NEWS characterized as a "slush fund" established by a single SMU booster to pay players. The NCAA and the DALLAS TIMES-HERALD documented that from 1985 to 1986, $61,000 was paid to 13 players.

So who was the booster the NCAA confirmed was behind that fund to pay SMU players?

The ASSOCIATED PRESS reported on Feb. 27, 1987:

Sherwood Blount Jr., a developer and sports agent who was banned from booster activity at SMU two years ago, was the unidentified source of payments for student athletes cited in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s probation report this week, the Dallas Times Herald reported.

The newspaper quoted persons close to the SMU athletic department as saying that Blount provided $61,000 in cash payments.

Blount was one of nine boosters barred from SMU athletics in August 1985, when the NCAA put the school on three years’ probation.

That’s right, Blount set up the slush fund to pay SMU players after the NCAA had already "barred" him "from SMU athletics" for previous misdeeds.

As the story goes on to show, would it surprise you that Blount is also Craig James' agent?

James also pretty much ambiguously admits that some money did find its way to him.

It is bad enough that James used the same tactics and group to smear former Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach that were used to smear Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 election (I didn't vote for Kerry but the whole swift boat thing left a bad taste in my mouth), but to have James pontificate on the ills that hit USC while trying and distance himself from any wrong doing while he was at SMU only to be represented by the guy who took down SMU is more than a little bit of a head scratcher don't you think?

</rant>

I can't wait to watch the ESPN 30 and 30 show on SMU Saturday night after the Heisman Ceremony, I am sure more interesting things will come out.

James is a clown. Nothing new there...