Our pal Richard Ranger found a cool column by Larry Elder calling
for the elimination of the hypocrisy of amateur athletics by just paying the
players. Among other things in his article which were new to us:
Tennessee using the ADA to keep athletes eligible. Now that's innovative even by SEC standards! We're very impressed.
Anyway, there are three basic paths, it seems to us: 1) take education
seriously. 2) muddle on with the same nonsense, or 3) throw the whole business
out and start over with a different idea.
Well maybe there's a fourth - what if the shoe money went directly into a
pool for the players? The companies could negotiate with a school or what have
you, but what if the money was pooled and distributed, at the very least,
according to need, and if it were sufficient, then as income which could be
pegged to academic performance. If it were enough money, then they could
think about things like helping people who have not gotten their degrees.
If the NCAA negotiated a contract on behalf of the players, why then they
could....rein in the summer excess as part of the deal.
Wow, we have to stop eating late night burritos, we're starting to have weird
visions that the NCAA could be innovative and fresh.
No quiero Taco Bell, por favor!