Show Sheridan the Money!

As noted earlier in this space, Danny Sheridan of USA Today appeared on Paul Finebaum's radio program today with his attorney Vince Kilborn. While I'm not necessarily pro-Bama or pro-Auburn, I (and probably you) was disappointed in that, aside from maybe one item, the story really wasn't advanced.

That one 'new' item is that Sheridan said that the NCAA (some of his sources) knew a name as the "bag man" for payment to the Newton family, and that there was/is a witness who provided this name. Whether or not this witness 1) is credible or 2) will come forward to testify is unknown. And Sheridan even said that he was unsure as to the accuracy of this witness' statement.

Now, in the usual Finebaum fashion, this was not the focus as the show turned to phone calls. Callers and the Twitter-world spent 115 minutes slamming Sheridan as a buffoon hack and that he had lost all credibility.

Danny Sheridan has spent more than 25 years building his reputation. Only took 20 minutes to destroy it.

- @darrenrovell, Darren Rovell of CNBC

Danny Sheridan should apologize to Cam Newton. This is absurd and it's not fair to the player.

- @DanWetzel, Yahoo! Sports

Both Rovell and Wetzel's tweets were referenced during Finebaum's program. To which Sheridan's attorney challenged those reporters and others who criticized to step and do what Sheridan has done: find the name of the bag man and the name of the source, or prove that Sheridan is wrong.

But what really got me today was the constant challenges by Sheridan to "put your money where your mouth is", challenging all comers to put thousands of dollars down for him to take a polygraph test.

This is where it gets a little bit off the tracks for me. How did Danny Sheridan and Paul Finebaum manage to turn the Cam Newton story into an episode of Maury Povich?

It wasn't like he had only mentioned the polygraph in passing - it was several times throughout the show. Over a dozen, I believe. And all challenges came with that price tag - you had to put some money down to get him to do it.

Now, I don't think Sheridan would expect anyone to actually do that, and neither do that.

But I see that as an opportunity. What if someone in the state (or out, doesn't matter) ponied up several thousand dollars and challenged Danny Sheridan to the polygraph? And - as suggested by my friend McDuff, the one who ponies up the money should also have control of the questions. Wouldn't that be wildly entertaining?

Where's the Yella Wood guy? He should be all over this.

Milton McGregor - does he have any money left?

I'm calling on the people in the state to band together or go alone on it. Put together a few thousand dollars, and call him to the carpet. If someone was looking to discredit Danny Sheridan, what would do it more than calling him out and putting him on a Maury Povich/Jerry Springer style challenge of a polygraph test? I can't think of anything. For all of his work, he'd forever known as the guy who had to take a polygraph on the Finebaum show.

And that wouldn't be good for Danny.

But why not? It'd be a good opportunity for Auburn fans to be vindicated. It'd also possibly be a good opportunity for Alabama fans to get closer to getting their name. Everybody wins.

So I say we call him on it. How much more ridiculous get it honestly get?

Show Danny the money.

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