Thaindian News

By Ranjan Bhaduri
Dec 12, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The famous “30 for 30″ documentary series of ESPN ended officially with ‘Pony Excess’ which takes a dig into the SMU football team, notorious for its tryst with controversy and scandal in the 1980s. It made for a great watch and football lovers watched the documentary with rapt attention when it was aired last night. The portrayal of some unscrupulous people who were responsible for taking down a college football program was worth a watch. The scene stealer in the two hour piece was Craig James. Another noteworthy figure was Coach Ron Meyer. He was in charge of the program at the time when the infamous cheating started during the late 1970s.

The people who were responsible for the cheating scandal at SMU tried to defend themselves by arguing why NCAA was single handedly picking them while others were also resorting to similar activities. The documentary presents a totally candid and non-diplomatic look into the inside happenings of the SMU scandal. Those who watch the documentary agree with its conclusion and it is almost impossible to argue the death penalty given to SMU.

The actions of Cecil Newton reminded the viewers that it is very difficult to keep college football clean from corruption. Some of the bigwigs involved in the affair lashed out at NCAA for the decision taken over their alma mater. It is indeed ironical as some of them were under suspicion. However, watching the way the former SMU players made celebrations of the pay-to-play plan could be a tad uneasy for diehard football lovers. NCAA took the decision of death penalty only once and the documentary reveals that there was no other way of it.