Wednesday, September 8, 2010
NCAA punishments, fair or unfair?
Last weekend, while watching the opening weekend of college football, the issue of boosters and alumni giving improper benefits to players was brought the fore front during the USC vs. Hawaii game. This is an issue that is close to my heart because the same type of thing happened to a member of my family and it hurt his reputation badly. In the case of USC, I found it particularly unfair the way the NCAA athletic committee gave out punishment to the school. And when you think about it, the whole system really doesn’t make sense. Most of you have heard of Reggie Bush, a former USC running back and current NFL player. While attending USC, it is alleged he had a house rented for his family by a man representing a NFL sports agent. The alleged deal was that Reggie would then sign with that agent when he joined the NFL in return for the house and other benefits. It has been 5 years since Reggie Bush left USC and now the punishment has come down. USC, a perennial postseason contender, is banned from postseason play for the next two seasons, and will have to forfeit ten football scholarships for the next three years. How can this be fair? Reggie is now a multi-millionaire and NFL superstar, as well as the head coach from that time, Pete Carroll who is also now a NFL head coach. The agent and his representative besides having their reputations hurt have had no consequences either. Why does the NCAA let these kinds of people get so close to college athletes without punishment? Reggie did eventually have his Heisman trophy and all the wins from that year forfeited also, but everyone knows who won those games that season. These types of boosters and agents don’t care about the future of that young man; they are just looking for the ticket to be the next big thing. Every college has a compliance team to try to inform college athletes about these issues but it isn’t enough. I know the decision is always on the athlete, but there should be consequences to these people who try to persuade broke college kids with money, cars, and anything they want.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think the rules are somewhat fair but the punishment is not. The idea that players on the USC football team now, who weren’t there when Reggie Bush was there, are punished in 2010 because of his actions in 2005 is crazy. If you want to punish Bush, then take away his Heisman. I haven’t been following this story closely, but I know that people are talking about that as a distinct possibility. But why punish the team now? One can argue that the school agrees to these rules and therefore has to enforce them. I understand and agree with that. Fine the school, take away awards or titles, figure out some way to punish the guilty party/parties without punishing innocent students who happen to be there now. The problem here is that the allegations and facts don’t come out for years after the event happened. It’s a very precarious situation and any stance will ultimately irritate one group of people or another.
ReplyDeleteI’ve also had personal experience with the NCAA rules. My grandfather happens to be friends with the basketball coach of the University of Maryland, Gary Williams. (I’m originally from Maryland) He goes to practices and gets to know the players. The year after they won the national championship, I accompanied him and one of the players out to lunch. My grandfather paid for his lunch, my lunch and the players’ lunch. A few days later, my Grandfather got a call from Debbie Yow, the athletic director at the time, warning him not to pay for anything for any player again, or certain actions would be taken by the university.
It’s also interesting that the NCAA is so strict about things like lunches, but not about a player’s likeness being used in video games. I love video games. I play them too much. If you played NCAA football, the players have the same numbers on their jerseys that they wear in the game, the same build, skin color, etc. They just don’t have names. I like pro football more than college, and therefore I play Madden. In Madden 2010, I was doing a draft for my franchise in franchise mode. I noticed a name that was familiar. It said, “QB Tim Trebow #15 Florida”. I wonder who that was based off of. Yet the NCAA seems have no problem with this, but God forbid that my grandfather bought a player lunch one day.
Crazy.