Tag Archives: NCAA

How do you Solve a Problem like … the NCAA?

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NCAA HypocrisyThe nuns kicked Maria out of the abbey because she wasn’t an asset. What do we do when the bosses are the problem? That’s the NCAA for you.

For those of you not aware of the facts of the matter, the NCAA runs a big business. The business of college sports. Here’s the page for their Enforcement Arm. It’s filled with gems like Commitment to fair play is a bedrock principle of the NCAA, and The enforcement program is dedicated to creating positive student-athlete experiences by preserving the integrity of the enterprise.

This blogger is committed to calling lying sacks of garbage … wait for it … lying sacks of garbage. They are in it for the money. There is lots of money in college sports for everyone except the men and women providing the entertainment that generates all that money. The do get to go to college for free which is not a bad compensation for many of them. A four-year stint at Duke costs about $200,000.

Not bad although the head coach at Duke earns $1.7 million per year. That’s the football coach. The hoops coach, try $4.7 million. The university itself pulled in a cool $67 million in 2008 thanks to its athletic department. Athletic departments pull in huge amounts of money through television rights, game-day tickets, post-season play, jersey sales, and various other arms of fund-raising. NCAA sports is big business and the regulation arm of the NCAA is primarily concerned with keeping that revenue stream healthy, not creating positive student-athlete experiences. By the way, the term student-athlete was created by the NCAA as a legal dodge.

It’s hard to blame them. People willingly offer up their hard-earned money to wear jerseys of their favorite players, see the game, and watch it on the streaming device of their choice. College serves as a free farm system for the NBA, the NFL, NHL, and increasingly MLB. It’s a place for the stars of the game to hone their skills before the payout finally comes in professional sports. You see, the NCAA runs an amateur organization where the players aren’t tainted by being paid, conveniently forgetting that a scholarship is a form of payment. Tuition, room and board, books, no charge, but that’s not payment because we value the purity of the sport, don’t you see the difference?

The NCAA punishes players who sell game-day jerseys worn in the big game. Kids who want a little money because they aren’t allowed to have jobs while on scholarships. Kids who aren’t allowed to talk to lawyers who could actually offer them some pretty sound financial advice, lawyers called agents. Really, they can’t talk to a lawyer to advise them about their future? Can’t talk to a lawyer!? Seriously? Accused criminals are reminded they have that right. College athletes, nope, rules violation. The team gets endorsement dollars for wearing sneakers, by the team I mean the coach and the university, certainly not the players. Video games of NCAA sports, primarily football and basketball, can’t put the player names on the back of the jersey, any guess why? Is it a commitment to fair play?

Meanwhile announcers, cameramen, referees, beer vendors, radio sports broadcasters, construction companies, and countless other thousands earn a living on the backs of these athletes.

Sports is a strange beast. The draft? Yeah, that’s clearly unconstitutional. That’s not the topic today but boy, once I get started with the madness of sports I can’t stop myself. National Letters of intent that legally bind a seventeen year old to one, and only one, university or he has to forfeit a year from his scholarship? It’s all about money. It’s about collusion, the suppression of constitutional rights in the pursuit of money.

I went to the college of my choice. I could have transferred anytime I wanted. I got a job at the company that offered me the best deal. They didn’t draft me and lock me into a preset dollar amount based on the position of the pick.

What do we do? How do we solve this problem? With this much money at stake it’s not an easy solution. I doubt there is a complete solution that is viable for all parties. That being said the travesty of justice that is coaches, athletic directors, university presidents, announcers and all the rest making millions and the athletes getting a scholarship angers my Libertarian principles. Don’t kid yourself, there are thousands of broken kids, used up in college sports, who never make the pros, tens of thousands of them. They got a college education which isn’t bad, but it’s not fair compensation compared to the money they generate for other people. It’s just not.

Tomorrow I’ll offer some ideas on how to right this wrong. It won’t be ground-breaking. They are all ideas that have been vetted many times. See you then.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery novels with a Libertarian Twist
Current Release: The Sword of Water ($2.99 a bargain for 300+ pages)
Next Release: The Spear of the Hunt

NCAA – Penn State Sanctions – Justified? Legal?

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Penn State Sandusky ScandalI’ve had some time to process the penalties the NCAA meted out to Penn State over the Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno child molestation cover up and I’m going to blog about it now. My question is whether the NCAA has the authority and/or obligation to punish the football program in this instance.

I’m sure most of you don’t need a recap but for the sake of thoroughness I’ll go over the situation quickly. A Penn State football coach, Jerry Sandusky, was convicted of child molestation. A subsequent report indicated that people at the top-level of the football program and university hid evidence of these attacks and allowed Sandusky to continue to be associated with the university and assault other young boys for many years.

In full disclosure I will admit that I have a bias against the NCAA governing body and their rank hypocrisy in rulings against student athletes who generate billions in revenue for the various universities and gain a free college education in return. Said students are allowed no financial remuneration and are often suspended or kicked out of school for taking small gifts or selling their game jerseys. There is an excellent South Park episode about this particular topic worth watching.

Back to the topic at hand, does the NCAA have the right to punish Penn State in this case? A perusal of the NCAA Manual seems to indicate the organization has pretty much the right to do whatever it wants, for whatever reason, to any member school.

I can tell you that likely every university in the country has had a sex scandal covered up by someone. Trust me, the list through the link is nothing. I went to college at the University of Idaho and there was sex between coaches and athletes plenty. There was money changing hands under the table plenty. This wasn’t even a major university. I’m sure a few readers can chime in with comments about their own experience. My point isn’t that such activities are normal and fine, my point is where does the NCAA get the right to choose which acts they will punish and which they will ignore?

From the other perspective, the events at Penn State are particularly vile and the cover-up truly disgusting by any standard. If the NCAA is supposed to govern these organizations then don’t they have not only a right, but an absolute duty, to bring down powerful penalties against the school?

The penalty handed down certainly affect most greatly those completely uninvolved in the incident but can the NCAA simply use that as an excuse to not penalize? For the most part the NCAA finds out about violations after the parties involved have moved on. Do they not have to penalize the organization as a whole in order to try to force others to follow the rules?

It’s a difficult question to answer but I’m not one to shy away.

I think the NCAA is out-of-bounds on this one because the activity in question really had nothing to do with their governing authority. The NCAA is not responsible for a coach who commits vehicular manslaughter, rape, or shop-lifting. Those are illegal act and subject to the laws of the state. The NCAA hands down penalties for recruiting violations which are not illegal, just against the NCAA regulations. This is their venue.

Sandusky is in prison where he belongs. Joe Paterno’s legacy is destroyed, which it should be. The others involved in this horrific incident will soon face their day in court. It’s just not the NCAA’s job to punish this crime. By claiming that they have the right to do so they are taking on far more responsibility than to which they are legally entitled, in my opinion at least. A number of entities punished in this ruling might well have legal recourse against the NCAA and we will see how all that plays out over the coming months and years.

I think the NCAA will rue the day they decided to get involved in this case when more criminal misconduct cases arise and they are forced to make rulings on events to which they should not be involved.

I don’t think my opinion will be too popular and I welcome those who would disagree! Tell me in the comments.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist
New Release: The Hammer of Fire