While obtaining a quality education is the primary reason many teens and 20-somethings pack up and escape move away from Mom and Dad, it’s often the wicked college parties and unfiltered social scene that keep these young adults excited about pursuing higher education. With the seemingly unending supply of cheap booze and party venues, it’s here that many people learn to balance responsibility (schoolwork) and fun.
Still, at nearly every college party you’ll find those students who haven’t yet mastered the balance. Whether it’s the guy passed out on his feet while leaning on a speaker blaring “Blurred Lines” or the young lady “red nosing” barefoot because she’s tired of falling down in her heels, every college party has a person (or 12) who has partied to the point of impaired judgment. It’s time to take away the NCAA’s big red cup.
Yes, the NCAA has turned into that 12th-year sophomore that shows up to every event on campus mumbling about something that nobody understands or cares about. With each convoluted rules change, corrupted investigation and public lawsuit defense, the organization has almost run out of ways to contradict itself regarding student athletes.
Last week, Mike Claiborne talked about the Ed O’Bannon suit that seeks to end the NCAA cashing in on its players’ likenesses with video games, memorabilia and more without sharing so much as a dime with said athletes. The NCAA’s perceived exploitation of student athletes has long been discussed, but until now nothing has really been done, all in the name of preserving amateurism.
With O’Bannon’s antitrust suit gaining steam, college bigwigs are scrambling to get out of the way of the multi-billion dollar backlash that could result. The SEC and other major conferences have announced they will no longer license their conference names and logos to appear in future video games. The NCAA also announced it will stop selling jerseys on its website after ESPN’s Jay Bilas blasted their hypocritical ways of profiting off individual players while forbidding the same players from earning money off their own names.
This week, the NCAA found itself in another PR firestorm when ex-Marine Steven Rhodes was initially denied eligibility to play college football because he played in a recreational football league while serving his country. He wasn’t paid to play and didn’t accept any cash from big bank boosters. As a matter of fact, the five-year military veteran is a walk-on player for his Middle Tennessee State football team.
Still, somewhere in the absurdly long, confusing and idiotic NCAA rulebook, it states that a player who doesn’t enter college within a year of graduation loses a year of eligibility if they compete in any organized sport. That’s right, you too can lose your college eligibility if they find out about your church league appearance.
Amidst the resounding backlash from the public (we all love our veterans), in a rare move the NCAA made a snappy decision to counteract its own stupid rule and granted Rhodes an immediate waiver and a full four years of eligibility. Between O’Bannon, Johnny Manziel, Penn State, concussion-related lawsuits and other recent notoriously negative moments in the press, it seems the NCAA wanted a break from being the bad guy.
I understand the association’s resistance to the idea of paying players directly. There is a certain appeal to the idea of keeping amateur athletics – well, amateur. However, the NCAA has cashed in on its athletes at every opportunity, and a majority of the billions earned has gone into the coffers of coaches, school and conference executives and others who have very little influence on the education that is supposed to be so near and dear to the NCAA’s heart.
Here’s a novel idea. Why doesn’t the NCAA contribute a significant portion of money to the deteriorating state of the American K-12 education system? After all, U.S. high schools supply a vast majority of the players suiting up for college sports. Why can’t the NCAA give a financial boost to those schools and help develop better prepared student-athletes? In a study by Education Week rating the quality of education in the U.S. by state, Maryland’s B+ grade was tops in the nation. The nationwide average was a solid C+.
If the NCAA is sincerely focused on education, why don’t they use the funds of those billion dollar TV deals to build better students instead of bigger stadiums? Spare a few of those brilliant Ph.D.s across college campuses to help high schools find a better way to educate our children.
Of course, that’s as much of a pipe dream as expecting the NCAA to get anything right on the first try. The organizational structure of college athletics is surely about to crumble under the weight of greed, scandal and lawsuits. Hopefully, the endless list of silly bylaws will be crushed under the weight of its colossal failure as we witness the emergence of genuine concern for student athletes and improving the education for all.
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