Ref: BanditRef
It is hard to put into words the difference in how people feel about the NCAA from this year to last. Last year most college sports fans feared the NCAA. You never wanted the NCAA to be on your schools campus. The thought was the NCAA was a hard master, and that if you got their attention you could expect to pay for it. Any team who had previously fought the NCAA only made punishment worse for themselves. Any player who fought them risked not only just a season but an education and a career. We took for granted what this state of worry and fear brought with it. College sports have never been clean. Never. However, there was a solid belief that if you cheated sooner or later it would catch up to you. This belief is what drove schools to sit players and report themselves to the NCAA. Scandals came and scandals went, the judgments and punishments were not always equal. But judgments and punishments came.
So what is college sports fans current opinion of the NCAA? It is a joke. Most believe that the NCAA is the puppet of the conferences and the BCS. They think that they amount of money a school can provide for the BCS and NCAA plays a large role in how they are treated. And they are not wrong. They feel the NCAA's judgments are full of flaws in logic. They're rulings are simply construed and changed to suit the outcome those who stand to make a profit would prefer. This is 180 degrees from where we were a a few months ago. What changed? How can an opinion change that much in such a short time? Heck, not even a year, this opinion changed from September to December.
In September the NCAA was moving as usual. Coming down on North Carolina causing them to sit 12 players for the LSU game. Several players were even removed from the team. Georgia's A.J. Green was found to have sold a jersey and had to sit out 4 games at the start of the season. Alabama's defensive end Marcell Dareus, MVP of last years BCS Championship game was suspended for the first two games of the season. Business as usual. Teams found players and coaches breaking rules. Teams reported it to the NCAA. Teams and the NCAA made decisions on punishment; the season moved along.
Then something happened. On November 1, 2010 Mark Emmert assumed his duties as president of the NCAA. Mark has only been the president of the NCAA for two and a half months. In that short time he has managed to do more damage to the NCAA, and college football than any other person in recent memory. The only modern equivalent would be Reggie Bush. But USC was punished for the Bush fiasco by the NCAA. So as much damage as Bush did, it is somewhat contained by the fact that in the end his cheating didn't help anyone. It certainly didn't help USC who is now on probation and been stripped of titles and wins. Since the beginning of his reign Mark Emmert has worked hard at pushing aside all those unprofitable ideals like morality, right and wrong, and fair play. He has focused on more attainable goals like money, profitbality, and public relations.
On November 4, 2010 the Cam Newton saga began. Over the course of the next few weeks we learned that Cecil Newton, Cam's father, had asked Mississippi State boosters for $180,000 for his son. We also learned that with Cam Newton Auburn was a great football team and had a real shot at a national title. The NCAA ruled that Cam could continue to play based on the fact that he claims he had no knowledge of his fathers actions. Most people were shocked. If that wasn't a violation what was? If you are unfamiliar with what happened in the Cam Newton case find out more at The Cam Newton Saga Timeline. Although we don't know how anyone could be unfamiliar with what happened.
In December things continued a downward spiral. Five Ohio State players including Star Quarterback Terrell Pryor were found to have sold various items of memorabilia. Including gold pants charms, awarded to Ohio State players for beating Michigan, and ironically Pryor's Good Sportsmanship Trophy. The players told the NCAA that they had sold the items but didn't know it was wrong to do so. This, after the NCAA had earlier this same season suspended A.J. Green for selling a jersey. Ohio state with the largest compliance department in the country had apparently forgotten to let them know that was wrong. So the NCAA suspended the players for 5 games. The first 5 of next season. Allowing them to play in their bowl game, a BCS bowl against Arkansas. Some of these players are juniors and will inevitably enter the draft. We don't care what Jim Tressel says about it , its going to happen. They will escape any punishment. Ohio State, who apparently doesn't inform their players of much, will receive no punishment at all. Sports writers, fans, and coaches were shocked by this development.
Oh but Mark isn't done yet. On January 8, 2011 Enes Kanter of the Kentucky Wildcats was ruled permanently ineligible. He was a kid from Turkey who had played professionally for a time in Turkey. He was however highly recruited here in the states. There is some question as to whether or not he could be termed a real professional. As most of the money he made in Turkey went to paying for his education. Kenutcky argued this along with that fact, and this is important, that Kanter didn't know the rules when he was in Turkey. Based on recent NCAA decisions you would expect a ruling that Kanter would have to sit out a certain amount of games, and then could play. But no, he is ruled PERMANENTLY ineligible. So what was the major diffrence in this case? Perhaps it was that Kanter originally commited to the University of Washington. Mark Emmert's school, and where he was president before coming to the NCAA. It seems where you pick plays a role in descions too. Read more on this joke of a ruling and Emmert's hissy fit reaction here.
If you are thinking to yourself that perhaps Emmert simply doesn't know whats going on. Perhaps he is just an idiot. We encourage you to read this article. Emmert knows what he is doing all too well. He is destroying the NCAA from the inside out.
So why is this a crisis? Sure, its a bad thing that the NCAA is being ruined, but what is the big deal? Aside from the obvious affects it will have on college sports. The universities that comprise the NCAA receive tax payer dollars. The NCAA is a non-profit organization. If the NCAA is more focused on the well fare of the BCS and the conferences than the well fare of the student athletes then we have a problem. The NCAA says its rulings are for the benefit of the athletes first. They are not. If the NCAA wanted to be fair to the athletes first it would hold everyone to the same standard. By changing the rules to help the certain conferences and universities make money they are in effect hurting the other schools in the NCAA. To help only some hurts the others. The NCAA was created to keep the big guys from taking advantage of the little guys. It has now become a tool of the big guys against the little guys. And this tool not only doesn't pay any taxes. It receives money from Universities that are supported with our tax dollars.
So what can anyone do about it? Well a lawyer named Joe Shell Jr. has gone to congress about the NCAA. Link He wants congress to look at the guarantees the NCAA made in 2004. Stating they would be fair and impartial. He wants congress to remove their tax exempt status. So what can you do? We have created an online petition. If you follow the link and sign the petition it will help let congress know where we as college football fans and Americans stand on this issue. Lets not sit back and watch the big guys destroy our college athletics system. Sign the petition and tell congress to listen and investigate.
SIGN THE PETITION
No comments:
Post a Comment