How in the world could Alabama players have known their jerseys were for sale?
Outkickthecoverage.com has obtained a picture of the kiosk in the center of the Tuscaloosa Mall. (Some now say this is the Galleria Mall. Either way the kiosks were visually the same. So now we know that there were actually autographed jerseys from current players at multiple locations). The Tuscaloosa kiosk is where Alabama actually addressed the cease and desist letter it sent on December 22. According to the date stamp on this picture, it was taken on December 14th, 2010. Clearly, it's near Christmas based on the lights in the background. And look what Santa is offering up for good little boys and girls under the tree: Marcell Dareus, Trent Richardson, and Julio Jones autographed jerseys for the young or old Alabama fan in your life.
Right in the center of multiple Alabama malls, draped all over the kiosks. The same mall and another mall with the same kiosk design where, lo and behold, Alabama players have already been pictured signing autographs inside T-Town Menswear.
It's truly a new level of desperation from Alabama fans that they consider it a victory that multiple malls were selling current player autographed jerseys.
Indeed, one of Alabama's primary defenses so far has been that the players had no idea the jerseys they signed were being sold. Keep in mind that Alabama has already acknowledged via the cease and desist letter that these jerseys were being sold at the Tuscaloosa kiosk. Yet here we have a picture of what the kiosks look like smack dab in the center of the same mall that the Alabama players are constantly visiting and we're supposed to believe that the players had no idea what was going on? Especially when some of the players are going out to dinner with now disassociated booster Tom Albetar?
Let me put it to you this way, would any reasonable person with even a smidge of intelligence not notice if they signed a jersey for T-Town Menswear one day and the next day or shortly thereafter it was for sale at a kiosk in the same mall? Then, if after seeing this you went back and continued to sign autographs, wouldn't you lose all ability to play the "I didn't know," defense?
I think so. And I think the NCAA will agree with me.
In the meantime, in the wake of this kiosk photograph, are we really supposed to believe that the same guys who are good enough friends with Tom Albetar that they're hanging out in his office and going to dinner with him didn't notice that the jerseys they signed were heading for a kiosk in the same mall?
How dumb does Alabama think we are?
Antoine Dodson dumb, evidently.
Also, Alabama fans, are you really rejoicing over the fact that a booster of your program was disassociated? Make no mistake, by the way, you can't disassociate a non-booster. That letter proves that Alabama believes Albetar is a booster. And you're really, rejoicing? Have you no conception of reality? Alabama's announcement last night proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the NCAA is going to come to town and scrutinize this situation.
How many other times in its history has Alabama ever disassociated a booster who didn't commit an NCAA violation?
I don't think it's ever happened.
So last night's announcement was a bombshell. A very bad bombshell for the Crimson Tide program. Prior to now Alabama had been trying to hide the fact that it had been compelled to disassociate Albetar. Now we all know. And so does the NCAA.
Good luck with that.
What's more, every single picture and article we've provided thus far has featured events that took place prior to March 31. All Alabama's disassociation letter, suspicious as it was, has done is waved a big Crimson flag in front of the NCAA and proved what I've been saying all along -- something fishy was going down at this store. Again, the disassociation letter does nothing to remedy any prior actions that may have violated NCAA rules. You think the NCAA isn't going to be all over this case?
This is the same NCAA who, by the way, Alabama hadn't even notified about the disassociation prior to last night's letter. How do you think NCAA investigators reacted when they found out about this nefarious booster who Alabama couldn't control via the public release of a letter to the entire nation? I'll tell you, just like sharks who smell blood in the water.
Yep, the feeding frenzy is on Alabama, good luck surviving the NCAA sharks. And I'd love to see the response when an NCAA investigator holds up a kiosk photo just like this one and says to an Alabama player, "You're really going to tell me you didn't know they were selling your autographed jerseys in the center of the mall?"
Here's the chronology of OKTC's "Suitgate" story.
...
Our initial report on the player jerseys in the window at T-Town Menswear.
Trent Richardson signing jerseys inside the store.
Owner of T-Town Menswear had sideline passes for Bama games, may be a booster.
Alabama acknowledges that current player autographs were being sold by T-Town Menswear owner.
Julio Jones: Man of Many Suits
Why is Trent Richardson out to dinner with Tom Albetar?
The disassociation letter to Tom Albetar
Alabama's timeline makes no sense, what is it hiding?