Are you not entertained? Well if you’re a college football fan, you should be.
During the fall, you pack massive stadiums to the brim-stadiums that seat 80,000. 90,000. 100,000.
You spend millions of dollars each year on jerseys, merchandise and concessions. You give out handfuls of cash to school fan clubs and season tickets.
You tune in to ESPN and ABC-or if you’re a Notre Dame fan, even NBC.
You (and I) have turned college football into a business.
But don’t tell the players that. Because if this is a money-making business, someone’s getting cheated-and it ain’t us.
We’re not the ones doing all the work. Nor are the athletic directors and promoters and advertisers and boosters who make so much money on college sports.
It’s the players, silly.
Or should I say, student athletes.
As privileged as college athletes are often portrayed to be, any one of them will tell you it isn’t all fun and games. Unless, of course, you consider a full day of classes, weight-lifting, meetings, playbooks, homework and practice “fun and games.” I know I don’t.
The fact is, the system of college football takes advantage of the very people who make it so successful. They treat their players like gladiators, second-class citizens who perform for our enjoyment, while those on the top of the mountain collect all the winnings.
These people risk life and limb every bit as much as anyone in the NFL, NBA, NHL-you name it. They play the same games and endure the same injuries. They deal with the same pressures. And with classes and homework thrown into the equation, they are every bit as busy-or even busier-than their professional counterparts.
And yet these college kids reap very few of the benefits.
Isn’t there something wrong with that picture?
These kids aren’t even allowed to have separate jobs-and with all the time they spend in the classroom and on the field, most of them wouldn’t have time for outside work anyway.
Yes, most student-athletes are on scholarship. Yes, they, as major financial contributors to their respective schools, often get special advantages and privileges. I’ll give you that.
But if I were busting my ass every day of the week in the weight room, the practice field, the classroom, the library-mostly to the school’s advantage-well, that’s worth a lot more than a free education, if you ask me.
Paying college athletes is the only fair thing to do-and with the glut of illegal activity that has blemished the images of countless players and universities over the last couple of decades, the time is overdue.
A fair number of college athletes don’t exactly come from rich families. A fair number of them are downright poor. Aside from their scholarships, housing and food stipend, they have no money.
What if they want to go out on a date one night? What if they want to go on a road trip with their friends? What if someone’s transmission breaks down and he can’t afford a new one?
Hell, the U football team had a guy who couldn’t even afford a $10 box of condoms.
As far as I’m concerned, if you can’t even afford to have safe sex, something’s wrong.
Not paying student-athletes causes far more problems than it prevents.
For years, the corruption in college athletics has been well known. Players find envelopes full of cash stuffed in their locker or their campus mailbox. Players get offered money. They get offered cars. They get offered whatever their hearts desire.
That’s quite a temptation for a 19-year-old. If you were bombarded with that for four years of college, would you be able to resist? I wonder if anyone could.
When they do get caught, players often get the shaft while the schools that perpetuate such illegal activity wash their hands of it and deny, deny, deny.
Just ask Maurice Clarett.
Just ask Peter Warrick and Laveranues Coles.
Just ask Chris Webber and the rest of the Fab Five.
I’m not asking for much-just give them a little weekly stipend. Just enough to get by with a little bit more financial freedom and independence. It wouldn’t stop the corruption, nor would it create a balance between those who earn the money and those who collect it.
But it may make players think twice when offered money. It may make players think twice before abandoning college and going straight to the pros.
Hey-it may even prevent herpes.