NCAA
sports needs to get with times
From
the bench
Karl Peterson
Many
people wonder how a star athlete like Maurice
Clarett can be so ungrateful. He is given
a scholarship to Ohio State University,
an opportunity to play a sport that he undoubtedly
loves on a grand stage and then turns around
and embarrass the university by being charged
with falsely reporting items stolen from
his car, trying to earn an extra buck.
The
fact is that he should be making millions
of dollars for his craft of playing running
back better than anyone in the nation and
he does ... for Ohio State University. Nearly
every Saturday in the fall OSU fills Ohio
Stadium to near its 101,568 capacity, the
university sells T-shirts, caps, jackets,
mugs, shot glasses, underwear and anything
else that can fit the OSU label. The successful
athletic program must also draw potential
students from throughout the nation, but
Clarett as well as student athletes from
coast to coast are not paid.
Sure
most athletes receive a scholarship and
monthly stipend, but this is nothing compared
to revenue and exposure they produce for
their respective universities. This money
can cover room, board and tuition for the
semester, but as most of us know more money
is needed to live the normal life of a college
student.
The
NCAA has time and again refused the athletes
a paycheck for their hard work yet the organization
will not allow the student athlete to work.
The editorial staff of the On-line Forty-Niner
is paid, members of the Associated Students
Inc. are paid and the student athletes who
spend more time than the average student
can imagine practicing, playing and traveling
are not.
The
men's water polo team traveled to Croatia
the week before school started, went through
the hectic first week of classes then jumped
on a plane for Maryland for a tournament
last weekend, not to mention the daily practices
and preparation between classes during the
week.
The
NCAA is clinging to this old school principle
that college athletics is some hallowed
ground where competition comes first and
the money is secondary. This idea of pure
competition is nice, but in today's sport
climate it is about as useful as the Apple
IIE computer.
If
the NCAA continues to deny student-athletes
what is rightly theirs, players will continue
to skirt the rules to get the advantages
they deserve and college athletics will
go the way of college basketball where competition
has steadily declined because of early entries
to the NBA. This is America where capitalism
reigns, and if you are one of the top performers
in a lucrative craft you should be paid
as one.
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