So we now know who is the "Man" who is in charge in the Eric Bledsoe clearinghouse situation. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Chuck Wynne, excuse-maker extraordinaire in charge of the National Clearinghouse, and all around fair guy. If you don't believe me, just ask him.

This Jerry Tipton article (one of his few good ones) brings information to light that some of us folks may or may not have already known about the eligibility process. In it Mr. Wynne explains that the National Eligibility Center only has one goal, and that is fairness across the board. Which is a nice quote if you can manage to hold a straight face while saying it.

Wynne Claims that while all athletes records are reviewed, the 55 employees review approximately 90,000 records every year. And while I am not going to delve into the entire process (feel free to read it yourselves), as it is described in this article it is basically a joke. And on top of that, there is no angst on the part of Mr. Wynne that schools could end up playing a player that has been cleared who is later found to not be clear. He states for the record, in his best "fair" tone,

"And remember, schools are always going to do what's in their self-interest. That applies to geopolitics and everything else.

Which in and of itself wouldnt be so bad to hear coming from an NCAA official until the final comment made by Mr.Wynne in the article.

"If a certain nation in a Southern state that really loves basketball is upset, what we're concerned about is we have fairness across the board for everyone," Wynne said. "We don't have it in for anybody. What we're trying to do is make it fair for everybody."

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/06/04/1291487/ncaa-explains-role-of-eligibility.html#ixzz0ptLzJTWV

So, all the NCAA cares about is being fair. And the key part to this is all contained in the following description of why the National Eligibility Center exists in the first place.

The Eligibility Center, which is in Indianapolis, determines academic eligibility and whether an athlete is an amateur. In explaining why the Eligibility Center exists, Wynne used women's volleyball as an example. If one school determines that a player from a professional team in Europe cannot be considered an amateur, it would not recruit that player. But another school might judge the player an amateur.

"So they wanted an objective third party to make the decision," Wynne said. "... the NCAA is all about fair play. We want to make sure every team Kentucky played against (knows) Kentucky didn't have an unfair advantage.

 If I was not an angry fan before I read this, I was a madman afterward. The NCAA creates this place, makes it responsible for being the "3rd party" to determine eligibility and then absolves itself of all guilt if the system doesn't work. Tell me this is not the body responsible for the "fairness of competition" for collegiate athletics. Please. And if this guy is the best we can get to run the place, I pray we never have any real problems in collegiate athletics, because this guy is about as competent as Inspector Clouseau. Oh wait, Clouseau usually got to the bottom of things in the end, no matter how much bumbling he did, I am not sure the NCAA can do that.