A couple of heartwarming amateurism stories for your edification:
- A Division III golfer writes a book about his year off between high school and college and hilarity ensues. (h/t Russ)
- “A business school student at the University of Utah, junior Britain Covey recently pursued and was offered an internship in sales. Then the NCAA told the Utes wide receiver he couldn’t accept it.” A business school student! Oh, and this: “Covey said he also can’t do something as simple as tweet a congratulatory message to his teenage cousin on the clothing line she developed, lest it be seen as promoting her brand. Nor can he promote brands on his Facebook page, like some of his business school classmates are paid to do.”
Those of you who believe the NCAA doesn’t have a choice with this stuff — honestly, I can’t imagine you’d feel the same way if it were happening to you or a child of yours.
Get The Picture 
D3 athletes don’t even get athletic scholarships!
When you hear the NCAA talk about these S-As doing something other than sports, remember this garbage about internships. A business school student without an internship today is behind the 8 ball on campus today.
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If you look at it as random bs then you’re right.
If you’re looking at it rationally, it makes sense.
How hard would it be to have a Bama signee ghost write a pamphlet that happens to sell at $25 each and moves 10,000 units?
The issue for these things isn’t to create hardship or poverty, it’s to close as many loopholes for cheaters as possible without having to spend resources trying figure out what is and what isn’t legit.
There is not one of these stories of injustice that couldn’t be exploited as an avenue for cheating.
You don’t have to be a college athlete. You can just be a student. It’s up to you. Cost/benefit analysis and whatnot.
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Derek points out the potential problems, but there are reasonable solutions. If the NCAA really cared about student athletes they could set up a division that could review, approve, and monitor such activity to preclude abuse. Yes it would cost money; maybe they could sponsor a national basketball tournament to fund it.
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How do you do that effectively and efficiently though?
Did you produce this material? (Holding up coloring book.)
Yes.
Did Saban tell you their fans buy more recruit produced material than any other schools?
I don’t recall that.
Did the fact that you could could spend 30 minutes with a coloring book and some crayolas and make 250k if you signed with Alabama effect your decision?
I’m going to need to consult with my comfort dog for a bit before answering.
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Exactly. NCAA assumes guilty until proven innocent. Put their efforts into proving something wrong instead.
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It’s only “cheating” because of the amateurism rules. If those amateurism rules are illegal (the O’Bannon case started down the path), all you’re left with is a “won’t someone think of the children” style hand-wringing.
They are not “just students” and maybe never have been. When the money really came into the system, it just made the hypocrisy of that fact more plain.
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Some people want nfl-life.
I don’t.
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I absolutely get what you are saying, but I think we’re already have NFL-lite. If what you want is true student-athletes, you should be going after admission waivers instead of after the endorsement $$$. Not to say it would disqualify all current athletes, but it sure would remove a whole lot of semi-pro only players.
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Two different problems. My issue with endorsements is cheating.
I do wish we played with students who got in like everyone else.
I think that would end a lot of the complaints that these kids are being used. It’s not untrue btw. You take a kid who has no business being on campus, give him easy classes, give him tutors, pass him no matter what, let him go if he can’t play, and then you set up rules to ensure he’s also broke? That’s not defensible system.
But it’s also mutual for some. Some don’t care to be there. They’re just doing their time because they have to and want to the rules changed to benefit them.
I just don’t see why the colleges can’t wait for these kids to qualify out of juco. At least then they’ve earned their spot and presumably want to be there.
Rather than re-inventing the wheel, I just think we should go back to first principles:
Are sports part of human development that runs parallel to other forms of education?
Should athletically gifted students, who want to represent their school, have that opportunity?
Those are more fundamental issues than Nike contracts in my view.
Selling your soul and then regulating the resultant system as a immutable reality is never going to be very convincing to me.
Stop trying to reorganize the thing after you’ve drove it over a cliff. I say turn back.
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And some people want to end the hypocrisy and do what’s fair.
Does this open the door to cheating – hey that door has been open for decades.
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Gosh, you’re right, Derek.
How can we possibly expect an organization with a ginormous rule book and enforcement staff taught to drill down to the tiniest of offenses (at least according to said rule book) to be able to adapt itself to a change in approach? I mean, it’ll be so hard to define and enforce cheating if players are paid… oh, wait.
You’re as convincing on the subject as Mark Emmert is.
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You’re saying what about the ncaa’s “enforcement staff” exactly?
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They’re motivated now and that motivation won’t change, even with the new legislation. The parameters may move, but it’s still in the NCAA’s best interests, at least as it sees them, to crack down on any who threaten the cash flow.
In other words, schools will still take as much as the law will allow them. And they’ll crack down as much as the law will allow them on any third parties.
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How does selling a book “threaten the cash flow?”
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C’mon, man, don’t insult my intelligence. It’s typical “when you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail” thinking. NCAA enforcement doesn’t do nuance and the idea that they’ll somehow be paralyzed if faced with a new NIL regime is a real stretch. Unless that’s all you’ve got to defend the status quo, that is.
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers, and divines.
It’s easier to say the answer is no regardless of the question.
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Emerson quote? It applies to our political beliefs as well.
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The fact that the NCAA didn’t even check in to make sure the D-III golfer had completed his “community service hours” is a clue as to just how bullshit their amateurism crusade is.
The organization is all about keeping the money faucet flowing to the universities and keeping the student-athletes in their place. It does precisely sod-all in terms of useful benefit for students.
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#FTMF to the NCAA, I bought the kid’s book out of principle. Excited to read it.
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