Do you know Perry Jones? You should.

If you have not heard about the NCAA’s decision regarding Cam Newton’s eligibility, you were probably out of the country from November, 2010 through the BCS National Championship game. If you didn’t hear about the five Ohio State Buckeyes’ run in with the NCAA, you probably just weren’t listening, or not paying attention. And if you weren’t paying attention then, you’re probably not paying attention now. But if you like college sports, you should be, because the NCAA is putting to bed any lingering doubts about its legitimacy.

Let me be perfectly clear about what I think of the NCAA: it is corrupt. It is a morally reprehensible governing body. It metes out inconsistent punishments depending on which “member institution” is being punished.

This post is not meant to rehash the past. It is meant to examine the present by comparing the present to the past. Now, while you have certainly read about Cam Newton and you have surely heard about the Ohio State Five by now, you may not have heard about a kid by the name of Perry Jones. He plays basketball for Baylor University. He’s really good, too. Will you see him in the NIT tournament this year, though? Probably not. Why not? Because his mom took a thousand bucks from his AAU Coach, whose relationship with Baylor, if any at all, is unclear. To pay her rent. Two years ago. When Jones was 16. Also, by all accounts, Jones didn’t know that his mom had taken the loan, which, incidentally, she paid back.

The NCAA has suspended Jones for the remainder of the season. The NCAA called Baylor to inform the school of its decision about six hours before the Bears tipped off against Oklahoma in the Big 12 tournament last week.

Umm, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Cam Newton get treated a little differently? His dad solicited $180,000.00 from Mississippi State. Fact. He didn’t solicit this money to pay rent; he solicited it in exchange for his son’s commitment to the school. He pimped his own son. That is against the rules and the NCAA acknowledged it. But, the NCAA didn’t punish Cam because Cam apparently had no knowledge that his dad was auctioning him off to the highest bidder. I’m skeptical, but that is what the NCAA found and the reason the NCAA reinstated his eligibility after a day (yeah, it took the NCAA every bit of one single day to determine if the highest profile player in its highest profile sport getting ready to play in its highest profile game knew that his dad was admittedly auctioning him off and it took the same outfit almost six months to investigate Bruce Pearl).

Well, Cam didn’t know about his dad’s side business that involved his commitment, so he got to play. Perry Jones didn’t know that his mom needed to borrow a little rent money from his high school AAU coach, yet he’s suspended. Seriously? How can the NCAA justify this? The answer: it can’t. This is a bullshit decision from a corrupt organization. Period.

But, wait. Perry Jones is about to play in a post-season tournament, so he’ll be able to play now and serve his suspension later, just like Terrell Pryor and four of his teammates who knowingly violated NCAA eligibility rules by selling Buckeyes memorabilia to the owner of a Columbus tattoo parlor. You would think so, wouldn’t you? Well, the NCAA let those guys play because “The NCAA recognize[d] the unique opportunity [bowl games] provide at the end of a season,” said Kevin Lennon, the NCAA’s vice president of academic membership affairs, at the time when the (non)punishments were levied to the Ohio State players.

Well, the NIT tournament may not be the most popular college basketball tournament this time of year, but I bet there are quite a few kids out there watching basketball from their couch wishing they were still playing. Is playing in the NIT a “unique opportunity”? Of course it is. Ask someone off of Auburn’s basketball team.

So, here’s why the NCAA is corrupt. They are punishing one kid for something his mom did when they didn’t punish another kid for something his dad did. They are taking away one kid’s “unique opportunity” while letting four others have theirs-despite knowingly breaking the rules. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to why the NCAA made these disparate decisions, but let me ask a couple of questions to guide you: will people watch the NIT tournament despite Perry Jones’ absence? Would as many people have watched the Sugar Bowl without Pryor and his band of outlaws? Would as many people have watched the BCS Title game without Cam? You $ee where I’m going with this.

Eventually, this type of thing is going to bite the NCAA. Eventually enough “member institutions” are going to decide that if the NCAA isn’t going to treat them fairly, they can do better somewhere else and break away. Eventually enough schools will break away that the NCAA is irrelevant, if it exists at all (just wait until the superconferences we almost saw in the summer of 2010 actually come into existence). But, for now, it’s just despicable to watch this group of goobs punish one kid and not punish another for a worse crime. It’s laughable. It’s sad. It’s why you should know about Perry Jones.