Upon reading my inspired and emotional column from last week, a friend of mine simply shrugged and said “excuse me for not being moved by this.”
For those of you that chose (unwisely) to forgo reading my previous entry, in it, I detailed all that is great about college football. I made note of the purity of the game, and the unique bond that grows between the students and players. I discussed how the truly great moments at that level have the ability to rise above anything else in sports today.
When pride surpasses money in terms of athletic motivation, it creates special circumstances.
Now, I’m almost positive that anyone who consistently cries at the end of “Rudy” (which is everyone, right?) knows exactly what I’m talking about. It’s a fairly moving phenomenon. In fact, I’m kind of choked up just thinking about it.
Although, to be fair, I think I’m still emotionally vulnerable after devoting eight straight hours to Amanda Knox coverage on Monday. Not kidding. You go, girl. Welcome home.
Anyway, moving on… is said friend a cynic in nature? Well, yes. And, am I, for lack of a better word, a jerk?
Undoubtedly. However, his response was not at all based on either of our pre-established personalities.
My column struck a chord with my not-so-eloquent friend for one reason, and one reason only: he’s a University of Miami fan.
For those of you who aren’t aware, over the last few months, reports have arisen that the Miami boosters have been doing their best SMU impression for quite some time. As a result, there have been some “missteps” on the players’ part over the years. Actually, let me rephrase that. For the last 15 years or so, the Hurricane football players have been treating the Coral Gables campus like it’s the set of “Scarface.”
Testimony from booster (and convicted Ponzi schemer) Nevin Shapiro is laced with tales of cash payments, yachts, strip clubs and financial bounties on opposing players. Basically, until this year, playing football at “the U” was a Ludacris-cameo short of living in a Jermaine Dupri video.
Now, in an ideal world, this type of thing would be isolated to Miami. In that case, we could just chalk it up to being a typical South Florida thing. After all, it has already been established that when athletes bring their talents to South Beach, they lose their soul. Or, in Lebron’s case, their jump shot.
However, these allegations have sadly become commonplace in college football.
Before Miami began their inevitable perp walk down NCAA’s death row, there was hardly a shortage of dirty programs throughout the country.
Just weeks before the Miami allegations, the hammer had come down on Ohio State University and head coach Jim Tressel. Right under Tressel’s nose, Buckeye players had been receiving lavish payments and free tattoos in exchange for memorabilia and practice gear. Additionally, they had access to cars from local dealerships, and received paychecks from part time jobs at which they did not work on a regular basis.
Obviously, these infractions don’t have quite the same shock value as the ones leveled at the Canes. Although, seeing as how OSU is in Ohio, this should surprise exactly no one. Unlike the players at Miami, the Buckeyes don’t need to dole out their cash payments on hookers and blow for their weekend yachting excursions. That’s a far more expensive lifestyle to maintain.
Yes, this is all pretty funny, I know. I’m hilarious, and the situation is ridiculous. However, it is also blatant evidence of an epidemic that is seemingly leaving no powerhouse program, or star player, untouched.
In June, the University of Southern California was retroactively stripped of its 2004 national championship because star running back Reggie Bush received improper benefits that included, among other things, a house.
Last fall, several University of North Carolina players were forced to sit out the entire season for violations ranging from academic cheating to improper relationships with professional agents. Or, in other words, completely disregarding both parts of the phrase “student-athlete.”
During Auburn University’s national championship run last year, Mississippi State University officials claimed that prior to his commitment to the Tigers, Cam Newton had been shopped around for $180,000 by his own father. He would go on to win the Heisman Trophy, as well as become the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Clearly, he learned a valuable lesson about breaking the rules.
Look, no one is naïve enough to think that this is recently developed behavior. For as long as there has been money in college athletics, people have found ways to cheat and twist the system to their benefit. The problem is that it is, without a doubt, getting worse.
In the past, the answer to this behavior was simple: suspend the players, punish the program, and make a public mockery of the school.
However, today’s college football is most certainly not your father’s college football.
For instance, the SEC has a TV deal with ESPN worth $2.2 billion dollars. This, unbelievably, is in addition to an $825 million dollar deal with CBS.
Both the University of Texas and the University of Notre Dame have their own TV network.
The BCS pays out over $174 million dollars to the 10 schools that play in the 5 BCS bowl games.
To put all this simply, NCAA football has evolved from a college sport into big-time business. American capitalism at its finest.
There is a scene in “Jerry Maguire” when the arrogant, but underpaid, star wide receiver Rod Tidwell pleads his case to his exasperated agent.
“Jerry Rice, Andre Reed, Cris Carter… I smell all these fools,” he says. “They are making the big sweet dollars. They are making the quan.”
This, in a nutshell, is what is going on today in college football. Everyone, from the school presidents to the coaches, has their hands out, ready to stuff their pockets full of cash.
The ones providing the on-the-field product see this. And now, more than ever, they feel that they should be compensated accordingly.
Can you blame them? At the end of the day, they’re just looking for a taste of the quan.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
