Auburn Football: Your Weekly Auburn Zen – Rims Edition

It’s that time again, where we track the black helicopters that are buzzing around the Auburn football message boards. Alabama is cheating, of course, this time by allowing young men to drive cars. What’s next, letting them buy clothing? Food? Where does it all end?

"Does anyone know more about these Bama player photos in front of Hot Wheelz? I saw them on another site and am sharing them, but all I know is that this store is supposedly in Mobile."

"as planned the updykes have destroyed college football. They destroyed Auburn’s traditions, they have infiltrated Auburn and Tennessee programs to gather info and they own the NCAA so they are imune to penalties. Why because everyone let them, they said never again, Auburn said we are sorry, can we be friends? Auburn is becoming comfortable as a lower tier SEC program, maybe Gus can do something about it."

"On the front page of the Sunday Sports Section of the Nashville Tennessean, their main sportswriter, David Climer, wrote an excellent commentary exposing the updykes and Saban for their “process”. It’s really a shame that no sportswriter in the State of Alabama has the guts to write such an article for fear of retribution by the updykes. I guess when it comes to freedom of the press, Alabama in still in the 1600’s."

"It took Tennessee to bring down bammer in the Albert Means case. The Nashville Tennessean used to be, and hopefully still is, strongly pro-Univ. of TN. The Maybe they’ll get their old fighting spirit back and track down some “processed bammer players” for interviews."

"there are not-so-subtle signs of possible widespread extra benefits being given to the bama players. I’ve asked this before, but can anyone show us examples of AU players possibly getting extra benefits? Because as much as the national media seems to love to dig up dirt on Auburn, surely if there WERE any such pictures, they’d be on the front page of the New York Times by now."

"in this modern era of parity in college football, it makes PERFECT sense that one program wins 3 out of 4 BCS titles, and there’s absolutely no shenanigans going on. And by the way, I’ve got this property out in Arizona I’d like to sell to anyone reading this…. beautiful view of the Pacific ocean….."

"Y’all should check out the Hot Wheelz of Mobile FB page. I wish I had time to copy the pictures. There is one of Reuben Foster where the guy writes “RTR” and “The rich keep getting richer”.. Could this be another T-town Tom type outfit?"

"It appears they are getting them from Terry Thompson Chevy. That would explain the plethora of GM vehicles.. Geez! I checked their inventory. A used Tahoe costs over $30K! I’m 40 years old, have a good salary and cringe at the thought of buying one of those. AJ has 2 Yukons PLUS a CAMARO SS!"

"Looks like these guys are really hurting for food, clothing, and living expenses. Further proof we really do need to pay college athletes, that way they can get 5k rims and not these horrible 2k ones."

"I have no idea what that strip mall is called, but it should be Also Known As the “extra-benefits strip”. As you see from left to right, they start out at “Dinette World” where the players (and their whole family, probably) go and pick out a new dinette set and other furniture. Then it’s on to the “Nails R Us” store where they get a mani-pedi. Next, it’s a “spending” spree (only there’s no actual “spending”) at “TNT Car Stereo” to get their free sound system for their ride. Then they walk next door to “Hot Wheelz” and pick out whatever rims they want. Then it looks like “Ocean Sauna” is next door to that. They feature a “dry sauna”, so you can imagine what type of freebie the bama players get there. Can’t say for sure, but I’d bet there is a men’s clothing store to the right of the “Ocean Sauna”."

"Another obvious question is – why do we never see similar pictures of Auburn players posing in front of businesses or in stores signing autographs, etc? Maybe they exist and just never get posted to ITAT, but I don’t recall seeing anything similar. With bama players however, life just seems to be one big party after another. One day they’re getting what appear to be free suits, then on another occasion they’re out at a nice restaurant with some booster/not-a-booster. Then we see them in front of a tire-and-rim store where they’re posing with their new cars and expensive rims. I’m not “sayin'”….. but I’m just sayin’……."

"Surely there are similar pictures of regular alabama students in front of Hot Wheelz, right? I mean, it only makes sense that all students from tuscaloosa would go have their work done in Mobile."

"I’m sure they were just in the area and happened to help a little old lady change a flat tire… She probably asked for a snapshot so she could say a prayer for them at church that Sunday. If we could just find these women, we’d clear this right up."

"This is clearly dirty on so many levels but yet not ONE sports writer will touch this for fear of job and life! Trey DePriest is from Ohio but has traveled all the way to Mobile for rims? Why would Fluker drvie from Foley to Mobile (1 hr each way) for rims and Christmas with a jock sniffer? AJ’s dad is an assit. HS football coach (last I knew) how in the world could he afford these cars for himself, much less his son?"

"Wow! Not only can AJ afford chest tattoos, custom wheels & two other vehicles, but also a custom pearl paint job as well.. Not bad for the son of a fire fighter."

"Starting to look like some of those guys drove from Tuskerloozer down to Mobile for some REALLY great deals on rims (and these are just the guys that got their pictures taken and were subsequently uploaded to FB!). Also really awesome that thanks to FaceBook, we have a nice timestamp on those photos. As in, a lot of these guys were at Hot Wheelz in 2011 and in early 2012. So if there WERE any violations, bama might have played one or two seasons with multiple ineligible players. But if it’s all on the up-and-up, the bammers have nothing to be askurred of."

"like many of us have said, there’s evidence of MULTIPLE violations right before the eyes of the world. In fact, more photographic evidence of potential violations than you’ll see in the majority of NCAA infractions cases. Pretty sad that there was ZERO evidence in the Cam case concerning Auburn….. yet it took about a year to clear our name. Meanwhile it looks like bama players are getting extra benefits out the arzz…. and the chances of an investigation are probably slim. Even for fans with little interest in college football, you’d think they would be repulsed by pictures such as these, especially in conjunction with the recent attacks against innocent fellow students."

"My hunch is this is how bammy is skirting the rules. Let’s say some player arrives in Tuscaloosa as a Freshman. Some of the older guys take him down to (for example) T-Town Menswear. The Freshman gets nothing at all the first year – it’s all part of developing a “friendship”. The Freshman “friends” the store owner on FaceBook and they act like lifetime friends for about a year. Then in his Sophomore year it’s time to sign some jerseys and start getting nice suits for free (or dirt cheap). If anyone asks, the store owner merely says “Oh, I’ve known that guy for well over a year!”. Store owner will also go out to dinner with this player from time to time, just to make it look even more authentic."

"Biggest part of this story is the owner of Hot Wheelz has a myspace page!"