Amateur status is bullshit

1–2 minutes

May 5, 2006

Mike Beacon writes:

My solution is simple: Allow college players to sign limited endorsements for companies that meet certain criteria. That way, the university and the NCAA can keep a firm grasp on the pot of gold they’re already making from these kids, and Madison Avenue can help someone like Reggie Bush live the life he’s entitled to.

There is no question that USC takes care of its “student-athletes”, but why can’t its players make money from other sources?

Amateur Athletes Aren’t Indentured Servants [AlterNet]

16 responses to “Amateur status is bullshit”

Sean

May 5, 2006 at 9:32 pm

Hey, thats a great idea. And heck, while we’re at it, why should we even make them go to class? Well, maybe they should have to go to one class… ballroom dancing perhaps?

We don’t need to turn the rest of college football into the semi-professional sleaze factory USC has become.

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pezman

May 5, 2006 at 9:53 pm

You or spanky over at alternet ever heard of Title IX? It’s only been the law of the land for 30+ years.

Have fun with that can of worms. Your beloved Trojan programs won’t have to worry about relatively minor NCAA infractions plausibly outside their control. No. Now they’ll have to worry about circuit courts, DOE and pro-bono civil rights lawyers filing injunctions for retaliatory and discriminatory practices because Suzy Cooze on the curling team has to work at Mickey D’s while your next golden boy is getting endorsement royalties mailed to his *wink* *wink* PR agent.

Yes, faster please. Let’s have more of that.

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Joey

May 6, 2006 at 4:09 pm

While the rules might have been slightly bent, there is no question most schools reward their players somehow. Well for instance, how do you think Notre Dame recruits its players? You think those athletes make the grades? F NO !! There are reward systems built into every school, thats how they get star commits to stay around.

Amateur status has always been questioned. Only God knows how much money Bush, Leinart, and SC generated for not only USC, but for the NCAA. Everyone loved USC like they were a PRO team and because Leinart’s dad helps his son pay for a more expensive apartment with Dwayne Jarret, all of a sudden its added benefits. Its bullcrap. There is no excuse for what is going on at USC, but in the future there needs to be changes definitely.

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pezman

May 6, 2006 at 5:16 pm

Why not drop the snide insinuation and tell us exactly how Notre Dame recruits its athletes. I’m sure the coaching staffs at USC, Miami, Texas, Penn State, and a dozen others would love to know the inside dope. Not to mention the ADs at Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Auburn, and others who got nailed for rules violations in the last 20 years. Or the hundred thousand high schoolers who might miss out on their Bigger-Better-Deal. It is all about the children, right?

All this bullshit with emotional appeals is all well and good if you want to sell some pitchforks to a mob but it won’t result in anything substantial. If anyone wants to talk about money and college sports and DOESN’T address Title IX then they aren’t worth listening to. You can piss and moan about the evil, money-grubbing NCAA and state schools til you get a pity blowjob from the peanut gallery but it won’t move the debate one bit.

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Domer

May 7, 2006 at 6:26 pm

Take a little look at the GPAs and test scores of Notre Dame recruits, as well as the graduation rate for football players and their majors. No kinesiology, event planning, or 60% graduation here. Having been in classes with student athletes of many different teams including football, I can tell you that Notre Dame football players bust their asses to make the grade in their classes, and don’t get to hide in ballroom dancing or classes on football like USC and Ohio State.

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Sean

May 7, 2006 at 10:48 pm

Don’t forget USC’s “pop culture” major. I’ll never understand how 40% of Trojan football players fail to graduate when the bar is set so low.

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Joey

May 7, 2006 at 11:20 pm

Domer, you are absolutely right. I bet they do bust their asses. Thats why Notre Dame hasn’t won a bowl game since like 1993. They can only recruit athletes that want to go there and make the grades in order to play. They didn’t have the athletes because Notre Dame was too hard for them. There is no coincidence that Notre Dame’s horrible losing streak before last season was related to athlete’s preceived difficulty. The days of bringing in the nation’s best athletes just because of the name Notre Dame are long gone, which is why they hired Charlie “Buffet” Weis. Notre Dame in my opinion sold out their tradition and stature by firing a good-hearted coach just so they could get BCS dollars.

And so far they are on the right track by recruiting top notch athletes, but don’t forget those athletes are the same that go to SC, Texas, Ohio State, and there will always be stuff that goes on behind closed doors. And that stuff includes grades, benefits, and yes even ballroom dancing classes. Even at your ethical, Catholic, beloved Notre Dame.

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Domer

May 8, 2006 at 6:54 pm

Notre Dame has always graduated its players. There are no ballroom dancing classes (at least for credit), and in several instances top players have been told that they need to improve their grades (which were already above the NCAA requirement unlike certain USC recruits) before they could receive a scholarship offer. As for Ty, the team’s GPA is higher this semester than it ever was under Willingham. It has nothing to do with being Catholic, and it has everything to do with not throwing players under the bus.

Your attitude that the only athletes good enough to win championships are too dumb or lazy to work hard in the classroom is why USC has to become a thug program with a sham of academics to win. I seem to recall a certain team of athletes who weren’t good enough to go places where they are allowed to slide through coming within one illegal play of beating your team of braindead minimum-qualifying score dancers.

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Joey

May 9, 2006 at 2:11 am

A thug program? By whose standards? A complete football team consists of more than 60 players, coaches, and other staff members. With the exception of a few mistakes by a few players, it has all of a sudden become a “thug program”. Did anyone ever accuse Notre Dame of becoming a “rapist program” a few years ago when they had their share of incidents.

YOUR perception of a successful, NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP winning program is the reason USC is still stealing the spotlight. Everything is larger on the surface when the sports world is staring down on you. So go ahead and jump on board the USC HATER bandwagon and throw down profanities everytime COLLEGE kids in the city of Los Angeles party, have a good time, and make mistakes like college kids do. Just think of it as a “thug program in a thug city with thug agents eating lunch with thug players.”

And I do recall those braindead, ballroom dancing players dancing and behaving “thuggishly” all over those overrated Catholic boys wearing ugly poop green jerseys in their hometown of Nothing, Indiana. Just for the record, in Marco’s dialogue, “Notre Dame fans please clear the field so Leinart could work his magic and Irish fans could bitch and moan until their next ass whipping “

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Domer

May 9, 2006 at 4:43 am

Firstly, I did not at any point use profanity.

Secondly, Notre Dame’s “share of incidents” was one incident, three coaching staffs ago.

http://bluegraysky.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_bluegraysky_archive.html#114658576972848123

Yeah, just some regular college students having some fun in LA, making those little mistakes like assaulting people, breaking teammate’s jaws, and keeping hundreds of pills of drugs in their rooms…

You’ve earned the spotlight, on the field. But you’ve done it with a definition of a sucessful program that will never be acceptable at Notre Dame. Players with felony charges are allowed back on the team with no punishment except extra laps in practice. Notre Dame players are suspended indefinitely (and then never reinstated) for midemeanors. Players don’t manage to qualify for academically qualify for two consecutive years, despite having no declared major and receiving credit for football.

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pezman

May 9, 2006 at 10:54 am

So which is it, Joey? Are the domers just like every other program in the country…

“Well for instance, how do you think Notre Dame recruits its players? You think those athletes make the grades? F NO !! There are reward systems built into every school, thats how they get star commits to stay around.”

or are they different and therefore damned to BCS insignificance?

“Thats why Notre Dame hasn’t won a bowl game since like 1993. They can only recruit athletes that want to go there and make the grades in order to play. They didn’t have the athletes because Notre Dame was too hard for them.”

Be patient…homeritis isn’t chronic. Nice job stating a point emphatically only to contradict yourself 1 post later.

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Joey

May 9, 2006 at 11:53 am

Yeah, Pezman, that rape was like “3 coahing staffs ago” and no one gave a crap because Notre Dame sucked ass. Now the spotlight is on USC and mistakes by players are blown out of proportion. I have a question for you guys? How come you panzies aren’t on Bruinsnation, A UCLA web log dedicated to a kicker who drove drunk, crashed his car, left his half paralyzed passenger in the truck and fled the scene. Only to be suspended for one game. Or the most recent felony assault case down at UCLA last week, where Dorrel hasn’t made a move. Their program is just as “thuggish” as ours, why all the HATING at Southern Cal?

I am still confused at to whether everyone here is pissed off because USC is THE PREMIER football program and Notre Dame isn’t or…I am getting confused myself. Mualuaga got into a fight out of frustration from his dad’s death. Eric Wright no longer attends USC because of his misbehavior. Mark Sanchez was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, and HASN”T been charged with anything. Steve Smith and Dominique Byrd got into a scuffle over a video game and one guy got his jaw broken, which might happen when you have 2 guys that are over 6ft tall, weighing over 200 lbs throwing blows. Maybe this won’t be acceptable at Notre Dame, thats up to your administration to decide. But Notre Dame will get its share of incidents in the future and you’ll see it is no different than any other program.It probably won’t because they have the fortune of playing USC over the next few years where Pete Carrol will probably own them again. These types of problems come with the territory of winning national championships, being in a distracting city, and being as dominant as USC is, something Notre Dame wouldn’t know a damn thing about. And might I mention, USC 34 Irish Fags 31 FINAL SCORE…boo yah!!

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pezman

May 9, 2006 at 1:19 pm

Take a breath, Joey. You brought up Notre Dame in the first place. Maybe if you were consistent or at the very least somewhat rational you wouldn’t have gotten reamed on your opinions. I couldn’t care less about Notre Dame and would have never said word one about them had you not made yourself into the proverbial ass. I didn’t defend Notre Dame or attack USC in my post. I only laughed at you for saying in effect “Notre Dame is just like everyone else” then “Notre Dame is unlike everyone else and that’s why THEY SUCK!!!111oneone” Maybe you should try putting aside your Domer fetish before going online and mashing your keyboard.

I’m not on Bruinsnation(whatever that is) because I’m not a Bruins’ fan. I’m more a fan of the game rather than a specific school. If it’s on TV I’ll watch it. I only singled out USC and Texas because of the BCS(another reason to hate it). Now I’m back to liking all programs equally. You should try it sometime.

Now for your decent opinion…I agree with you that all the crap at USC is blown out of proportion. I don’t think I’ve ever posted here saying differently. And why you took a mocking of you as an attack on USC I’ll probably never understand.

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Domer

May 9, 2006 at 2:59 pm

Your use of “Fag” istantly took you from boorish hypocrite to ignorant boorish hypocrite.

Also, did Rey’s dad’s illness have anything to do with his ownership of the police?

We aren’t on Bruinsnation because they aren’t posting about why they should be allowed to pay their players. (more than they already do, I guess)

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Dick Tingle

May 9, 2006 at 4:16 pm

I dont think this write-up argued for universities to pay players; but rather for Nike, Addidas, and Gatorade to pay players (which by the way has nothing to do with Title IX since those companies arent federally funded).

Right now a player cant even tell people he likes Gatorade without incurring an infraction from the NCAA. God forbid if he tries to make a living by taking money to say that he likes Gatorade.

If the premium players (USC has a virtual lock on most candidates) were allowed to take endorsement deals, it would take pressure off the universities, players (and their families), and cut-down the crying from all those that think these guys should stay in school to get an education.

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Baldy

August 18, 2006 at 12:48 pm

Unfortunately, I can tell you how Notre Dame graduates it’s student athletes. They don’t go to class. I’m a chemistry major at Notre Dame and while I will not name names, I can tell you for a fact that I have several Notre Dame football players in classes with myself. They showed up for class maybe once a month during the entire football season. Now I love my Irish, but they do not deserve the royal treatment they get. It’s sad to have to admit that my college is just as dirty as everyone else, including Ohio State, Michigan, USC, Texas, Auburn, etc.

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