Psst, want to buy the Brooklyn Bridge?

Jim Gordon | The New Mexican

7/3/2008 - 7/4/08

Ah, the gullible. What would the world be without them? Certainly a place where column material was harder to find.

Today, for instance, we would lack the complete mess that is Indiana University men's basketball, brought to you by those who believed coach Kelvin Sampson — a proven cheat — really had seen the light and changed his ways.

IU's then-President Adam Herbert and athletic director Rick Greenspan not only believed Sampson's words of repentance enough to hire him away from the University of Oklahoma in 2006 but believed him enough to not bother to monitor Sampson and his staff.

The result? Serious NCAA violations that have led to a) Sampson's departure in disgrace from the college ranks; b) the departure of all but one of the Hoosier's scholarship players; and c) the likelihood of severe NCAA-imposed penalties.

"You will love his values," Herbert said when he and Greenspan hired Sampson. "... He has made clear ... that he will comply fully with NCAA regulations."

As long as he made it clear.


No one has accused the New England Patriots of being credulous, yet how else would one explain their reaction to Willie Andrews' Feb. 5 arrest for alleged marijuana distribution?

According to The Boston Globe, the team stood by Andrews "after the defensive back explained his side of the story." The Globe also noted that Andrews had been found "with a half-pound of marijuana, no means to smoke it and $6,808 in cash."

Andrews must be one amazing storyteller.

On Sunday, Andrews was arrested again — this time after allegedly brandishing a handgun at his live-in girlfriend, at one point reportedly placing the barrel of his Glock .45-caliber weapon against her head.

Does he have another good story? I'm sure he does, but he'll have to find another audience — the Pats released him Tuesday.


Teams aren't the only entities prone to gullibility. Unfortunately, newspapers are, too.

When a man named Derrick Martin was arrested last weekend in Cleveland for alleged marijuana possession, Baltimore Ravens' defensive back Derrick Martin claimed the authorities had nabbed the wrong guy — despite the fact that the arrestee had the same date of birth as the player and had listed as his hometown Owings, Md., which just happens to be the Ravens' headquarters.

The Baltimore Sun could have run the news item and the denial, and left it at that. Instead — according to sports.aol.com and badjocks.com — it fell for Martin's denial, running a story with the headline "Ravens' Martin Mistakenly Linked to Drug Arrest" and the subhead, "Initial media reports implicated cornerback for Cleveland airport stop, but clarification revealed man had same name, birth date."

Yes, it turns out Martin was lying. But be fair: Who knew people in trouble lied?

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.