College Football is a Privilege, Not a Right

Let me summarize the coverage and ‘analysis’ of the Ohio State scandal: “I am absolutely outraged that the NCAA is not suspending these players for the Sugar Bowl, this shows the NCAA is only about money!  And by the way, why shouldn’t these players be able to receive some kind of compensation, the universities are obviously making money off of them!” 

Mark May even went as far as to suggest that in a dictionary they should add ‘(NCAA)’ next to their entry for hypocrisy.  Might I humbly suggest adding ‘(ESPN)’ as well?  Nah, there’s nothing hypocritical about spending so much energy condemning the BCS, which they also spend so much time and money trying to sell us, that’s just business, and there’s nothing wrong with business… unless you’re the NCAA.

I actually wrote about why we shouldn’t pay college athletes, I encourage you to read it as it is one of my better thought out entries (as opposed to this crap).  Obviously these players violated the letter of the law and should not play in the Sugar Bowl, but where the fuck was this outrage with Cam Newton?  That blew over pretty quickly.  In fact the running joke throughout ESPN’s programming was ‘they should’ve said their dad did it,’ well I’m glad we can joke about that now.

What actually upsets me is this painting of college athletes as victims who need to resort to breaking the rules to ‘help their families.’  Did Terrelle Pryor’s mom really need a tattoo for her son?  These cookie-cutter analysts insist there should be a way for players to be compensated, arguing at the unfairness of Ohio State receiving royalties from selling player likenesses.  They couldn’t be more wrong!

Playing College Football is a privilege, not a right.  If players don’t feel a full scholarship is fair compensation for their services, then don’t fucking play.  It is the National Football League that requires players to be two and a half years out of High School to be eligible to play, not the NCAA.  If players don’t find that fair, maybe they can sue the NFL, it worked wonders for Maurice Clarett.

College Football Predictions – Bowl Season

Pro Football Predictions – Week 16

-Kanan