# Michigan State Linebacker Issue **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 5, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977 "2014-01-05T22:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/21 "2014-01-06T19:26:47Z")
This thread is…interesting. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/22 "2014-01-06T19:36:17Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > Geez, between etv78’s caustic unhelpfulness and Kitten Mitten’s odd demand that another board rules should apply here, I’m surprised this isn’t in the Pit. I took **Kitten Mitten** ’s post as a joke. **etv** has always been kind of special. > [@](#): > > For what it’s worth, I’m curious about what happened too. Other schools announce academic eligibility problems, so I guess it isn’t that. A legal issue would show up in the police blotter, so I don’t think it’s that either. I wonder if he got mouthy with a coach? Or banged the coach’s daughter. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/23 "2014-01-06T20:19:13Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I took **Kitten Mitten** ’s post as a joke. Makes sense. > [@hajario](#): > > **etv** has always been kind of special. Makes sense. > [@hajario](#): > > Or banged the coach’s daughter. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/24 "2014-01-06T20:54:18Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > If Google doesn’t know, why would any of us? Don’t do this. If you don’t like a topic, don’t post in it, but don’t keep posting in it just because you might think it’s useless or futile, especially if you’re just going to go on about how you think it is. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/25 "2014-01-06T20:55:48Z")
> [@Kitten\_Mitten](#): > > As Ann Landers used to say MYOB. > > Moderator, I respectfully request that you lock this thread. All such threads that are started on the Spartantailgate board are locked and I would gratefully appreciate if this one would be as well. > **Go GREEN!** It’s an okay topic that doesn’t break any rules. Like the above note: Don’t post in it if your only offering is something akin to “threadshitting”. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/26 "2014-01-06T22:12:06Z")
His brother said they [“can’t”](http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2013/12/michigan_states_riley_bullough_5.html) talk about it, but this could just be a 19yo repeating what his mom said. The guy was team captain and they suspended him on Christmas night, like they couldn’t wait the 12 hours to make the news. Las Vegas oddsmakers posted the following odds for the various potential violations: Positive test for steroids, HGH, etc: 2:1 Accidentally signed with agent: 5:1 Legal (like Jameis Winston): 10:1 Gambling: 10:1 Recruiting: 20:1 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/27 "2014-01-07T03:38:52Z")
When Dennis Lundy intentionally fumbled the ball for Northwestern against Ohio State (and resulted in costing NU an upset) he was benched for the rest of the season (2 games) for “violating team rules”. I don’t recall that it was ever revealed what exactly the rule violation was until NU and the NCAA blew open the gambling scandal that excised Lundy and a bunch of other athletes from the record books, ended up with criminal charges against them, and took down the powers that were paying them to not cover spreads. NU, the Big Ten, and the NCAA wanted it all kept under wraps until they could get to the bottom of it all. After Gary Barnett saw that no one had touched Lundy in the game tapes, despite Lundy’s claims otherwise, Barnett approached Rick Taylor, the athletic director at the time and informed him, who in turn went on to inform the Big Ten and NCAA. I’m not saying this is anything like that, but you never know. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/28 "2014-01-07T14:28:24Z")
Here in the middle of Spartanland we’re as clueless as anyone. Obama would love it if his staff could keep a secret as well as Dantonio’s. I’ve heard theories but absolutely nothing that even bears repeating. Those that talk don’t know and those that know don’t talk. Given the Bullough family’s deep Spartan tradition, surely it was something that warranted the suspension. IF I had to guess, it would be that he was working with an agent in perparation for the draft. But that’s just my completely uninformed guess. NOBODY with knowledge is talking about it and it might well stay that way. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/29 "2014-01-07T14:49:48Z")
True, but with the football season over, does it make sense to keep “I accidentally signed with an agent” out of the news? He declares for the NFL, makes his apologies, deals with 2 weeks of press bullshit, and moves on with his life. My money is on PED’s or gambling. I don’t know about a criminal investigation - I would assume that the press is calling their usual contacts at the police department and would have a lead on such a story by now. (I didn’t think about it earlier, but it could be academic. Maybe he was found cheating on a test? But then he would be kicked out of school, right? So that can’t be it…) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/30 "2014-01-07T14:54:39Z")
I’m not up on the NCAA rules, so I don’t know if signing with an agent would make MSU forfeit any games or not. I’m thinking whatever it was, it would be something that if MSU let him play, they’d risk forfeiting the Rose Bowl retroactively. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/31 "2014-01-07T15:24:40Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I’m not up on the NCAA rules, so I don’t know if signing with an agent would make MSU forfeit any games or not. I’m thinking whatever it was, it would be something that if MSU let him play, they’d risk forfeiting the Rose Bowl retroactively. NCAA Rules Governing Agents and Amateurism (PDF) [http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/bc/genrel/auto\_pdf/agent-rules.pdf](http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/bc/genrel/auto_pdf/agent-rules.pdf) If he broke any of these rules and then played in a game those wins would be vacated or forfeited. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/32 "2014-01-07T15:29:32Z")
The other completely unsubstantiated rumor is that he got a BMOC cops-look-the-other-way deal up in Traverse city, and that the DA has strongly suggested every body shut they hell up until the legal investigation is complete. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/33 "2014-01-07T23:10:17Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > My money is on PED’s or gambling. Is legal gambling (in Vegas, say) an NCAA violation, or just potentially a team rules thing? If it’s NCAA, does it matter if he was betting on college Football, or on his own team, or is any betting or gambling verboten (e.g. online poker)? ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977/34 "2014-01-08T05:28:08Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Is legal gambling (in Vegas, say) an NCAA violation, or just potentially a team rules thing? If it’s NCAA, does it matter if he was betting on college Football, or on his own team, or is any betting or gambling verboten (e.g. online poker)? NCAA Student-Athlete Gambling Bylaws > **[NCAA Student-Athlete Gambling Bylaws](https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/ncaa-student-athlete-gambling-bylaws.html)** > > Learn everything you need to know about NCAA student athlete gambing laws. Get in touch with Legalmatch for the best sports lawyer near you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-state-linebacker-issue/677977.md?page=1)