NCAA investigating Cam Newton

Some of the economics literature I have read argues that sports unions, led by the more senior players, have the incentive to keep entering players' salaries down. Hence slotting systems, etc. Not my bailiwick, not my theory, but there's at least a consistency to the logic. Bans on (or career timeouts for) players who made themselves ineligible would, it would seem to me, further that dynamic.

 

It's really quite simple: The rule ensures that boosters can't pay off family while the kid merely shrugs his shoulders and goes, "I had no clue my dad accepted $180,000 from boosters under the table." If the kid could plead ignorance every time something like this arises, you wouldn't see a single NCAA sanction from here to eternity.

 

The union will not agree to this. For one thing, the percentage of its members who are guilty of violating NCAA rules is likely considerable. It's like giving management a reason to take away your salary at any time. Neither have the colleges thought this through. It would then become in the NFL's interests, or some owners' interests, to detect and inform on cheating.
The honest method would be for the NFL to pay the kids to play college ball, since it's a free development (and publicity) program for them.

 

http://bit.ly/bP6Dw3

 

Or more directly:

 

I still don't like it. You're trying to put the genie back in the bottle while the air around you escapes.

You are putting the "integrity of the system" as the paramount interest, right? Okay, but at what cost? They are telling athletes that you, the 17-18 yr old with the more than likely less than average GPA, you are responsible for policing everyone of your below middle-class relatives (stereotype). These are people who cannot afford to travel 300 miles, let alone 50, to go see their kids play, a conference game, let alone the Fiesta bowl.

Now think about why this is a problem. Its a problem because these kids are worth huge $$$ which far outweigh the $40k scholarship. Yes they get free gear, books and dorm food. What else? Meanwhile, Cam Newton has brought how much to Auburn University this year? You expect the athletes to look at that and say, okay? This is ridiculous.

The current system of big time college athletics needs to be revamped immediately.

 

It's not about the kid policing relatives. It's about taking away one tried-and-true way dirty programs would get around the rules. You don't give the kid money directly, you hide it with relatives in distant places, maybe the local church. This takes away the go-betweens intended to circumvent the rules. And really, you're not giving these kids enough credit. They know what's going on.

Aside from tuition that could exceed $200,000 over four years, free gear, free books (and reimbursement for those books), free dorm food, free training table food, free wings and beer from restaurants/bars friendly to student-athletes, cushy jobs from boosters, free tutors, free academic resources not available to regular students and the hero worship from every co-ed on campus, yeah, what do they get?

 

The point isn't that they don't get paid in goods and services for playing ball, Oz, it's that they don't get paid what they are worth compared to the revenue they generate for the school that employs/admits them.

 

How do you determine the worth of Cam Newton vs. the worth of a third-string deep snapper, within the context of the revenue they generate for the school? And every player on the roster, including those not on scholarship, who contributes nonetheless, taking a Rudy-esque pounding at practice for six months to help Cam look good?

 

How do you determine the worth of a lab student within the context of the grant money the research projects they work on generates for a school? Those kids don't get paid either.

 

Exactly.

Oh, and Armchair, about Les Miles ... as I told a friend who used to post here: He's luckier than a two-dicked dog.

 

Students get paid for extracurricular activities all the time, and that's what football allegedly is, too. My freshman year at Wesleyan we had the country's top four recruits in their discipline, and a fine string quartet they were. They were free to get paid to play music as much as they could.
Graduate students on research projects, BTW, do get paid. They get paid squat, but they get paid.