Let’s say, hypothetically, that I was in Hollywood and I shot Lucy Liu on the set of her new movie. You can believe that the media would have a field day. In fact, every media outlet in the entire world would tune in to hear about the crime of the decade, and the murder would most likely be the “breaking news” story for two weeks. If the jury was able to identify that I was the murderer, I’d be put away for the rest of my life.

In theory, the concept of justice isn’t dependent on the status of the criminal, nor is it dependent on the status of the victim. If I shot Liu’s barber’s wife’s second grade teacher, there wouldn’t be a media frenzy, but you can bet that the justice system isn’t going to be any more lenient than if I were to shoot Liu herself. Nor would the justice system show any more leniency if Liu had shot me. They aren’t going to issue Liu a ticket; depending on the motivation and other outside factors of the situation, she’s either going to be put in jail or put to death.

There are a few situations where celebrity individuals “get off the hook.” It’s almost as if they have an actual “get out of jail free” card. Celebrities like Michael Jackson, O.J. Simpson, Kobe Bryant and R. Kelly had a plethora of evidence against them that it’s possible to perceive that their celebrity status kept them out of jail. But on the other side of the coin, generally, if an individual is convicted of a crime, their sentencing isn’t very lax and doesn’t change.

That doesn’t seem to be the case with the NCAA and the University of Oklahoma. Rhett Bomar was the quarterback for the Sooners, and was a halfway decent one at that. He threw for a total 2,018 yards, and though he didn’t do much in comparison to his predecessor Jason White, he was named the MVP of the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl last year.

Early this month, however, an investigation resulted in the findings that Bomar was essentially being paid for work when he wasn’t actually working. ESPN.com reported that he made up to $18,000 when he wasn’t even working five hours a week. Once the university was able to confirm these accusations, he was released from the team. The expulsion was permanent.

Bomar recently enrolled at Sam Houston State University where he will most likely play football this season. He’s not required to sit out a year, but he’s required to wait for NCAA review before he’s eligible again.

Yes, you heard me Bowling Green. A man who took money from an undercover booster organization is, most likely going to be eligible to continue his college football career without a skip in his step. The only catch is that Sam Houston (a Division 1-AA school) won’t give him the national publicity, nor the statistics, that former Big 12 champion Sooners would have offered. He’ll probably still be looked at by scouts and highly-regarded as he finishes up his career, though. (South Dakota State’s Adam Vinatieri did pretty well for himself).

This is a problem. Essentially, the man committed a scam, and the NCAA is in a position of giving Bomar the ability to retain his eligibility. In a move that affects so many people, the NCAA can actually ignore the situation and act like it never happened.

Ultimately, this is saying that the power of the NCAA is higher than that of our local, state and federal governments. After committing fraud, Bomar and the job in which he “worked” could possibly go home free. While thousands of law-abiding student athletes play hard in an effort to hopefully one day make it to the NFL, Bomar disregarded ethics and work effort.

At the end of the day, most of the different constituencies should have handled this situation better than they did. Oklahoma was in the clear as they did exactly what should have been done ” remove the virus from the cell. The NCAA should have already declared that Bomar’s eligibility – anywhere – be retracted. Sam Houston shouldn’t have even thought twice about accepting the player in question. The team should have fought its Division 1-AA schedule with the integrity it no longer has.

And most of all, the police need to continue to investigate the issue. As of right now, Bomar has been let off the hook, but the role he played in scamming the American people should not be forgotten.