It was just another Saturday afternoon of college football around the country last week, with blood donors giving major blood to the Ohio States of the world. Another ho-hum Saturday, so we thought. Actually, it was the fledgling beginning of a movement on campus. While this movement should not be likened to campus protests in the 1960s and ‘70s, one has to think that the “All Players United” statement will not fall on deaf ears. Or will it?
If you are new to the party, some football players from Georgia, Georgia Tech and Northwestern had the letters APU – All Players United – written on their gear during Saturday’s games as a show of solidarity that organizers hope will lead to changes in the NCAA.
The National College Players Association, an advocacy group for college athletes, organized All Players United and launched the campaign Saturday with an announcement on its website. While this is truly a grass-roots effort, the battle will be uphill as not all are on board yet. At Georgia Tech, head coach Paul Johnson said that not all of his players were aware of the statement. Johnson went on to say that he wished the matter would have been put to vote. Yeah, OK.
The NCAA, which is under fire from every direction these days, issued a make-nice statement.
“As a higher education association, the NCAA supports open and civil debate regarding all aspects of college athletics,” NCAA Director of Public and Media Relations Stacey Osburn said in a statement Saturday night. “Student-athletes across all 23 sports provide an important voice in discussions as NCAA members offer academic and athletic opportunities to help the more than 450,000 student-athletes achieve their full potential.”
Nice. It is no coincidence that current head of the NCAA Mark Emmert came out on Monday saying that changes were coming to the NCAA. He did not elaborate on if he and his staff will be departing by sundown.
This will be a challenge for the National College Players Association, as they will not get much help from the NCAA and their media partners in promoting the cause. Why would ESPN, Fox and CBS support an overthrow of the current regime when they benefit so much as it is and do not have to spend one dime on players? There will be token stories done on the movement, but the best thing the NCAA can hope for is that these leaders of the movement will graduate from college and the movement will be placed on the back burner.
This movement should prepare for the guerrilla approach by those who currently support the NCAA and its treatment of athletes. The next step will go to toward politely attempting to discredit this group because their numbers are too small to make a difference. Then again, they could get coaches involved in suppressing the movement.
I only wish “Johnny Football” Manziel would wear some tape in support. His name is the biggest in college football. At that point, they would have to pay attention to the cause. It’s my hope that this will not go away any time soon, as the National College Players Association has some valid points that need to be heard, discussed and resolved … while we are young.
Most valuable, not sentimental
As the baseball season winds down, the awards will be voted on by the media. There are two honors that have a St. Louis Cardinal flavor. When it comes to Pittsburgh Pirates’ player Andrew McCutcheon and manager Clint Hurdle, the word “sentimental” is always included in the sentence when their names come up for Most valuable Player and Manager of the Year, respectively. Both are having outstanding seasons, but the awards should be left in St. Louis.
If you think McCutcheon is having a good season, look at Matt Carpenter. His numbers are better in batting average, and he will be the only player in the National League with 200 hits or more. He leads the league in doubles, hits, runs scored, multi-hit games and a few other categories. If the Cardinals finish ahead of the Pirates, how can you not give MVP to Carpenter – or, that matter, Yadier Molina?
As for Mike Matheny, I wonder where Clint Hurdle would finish if he lost one of his top pitchers at the beginning of the spring in Chris Carpenter, a 40-plus-save closer in Jason Motte and two other starters in your rotation for big chunks of the season. Did I mention that 20 players made their Major League debut for Matheny this season, 10 of whom were pitchers? As the Cardinals go into this weekend’s play, they will be in the hunt for the division title. If they win it, hand it over to Matheny.
As for McCutcheon and Hurdle, everyone is happy that after a drought of 20 years, the Pirates are in the playoffs. It’s good for Pittsburgh and it’s good for baseball, but that is no reason to give these two awards to them. Next year have an award for Most Sentimental and make sure they get plenty of ice cream and cake to go along with the trophies.
Rams?
They will have their fourth game under their belt after tonight as they play the 49’ers. Evaluation and predictions come next week.
