I mean, what else can you say when Eric Dounn, a partner at a New York-based player agent outfit gives this kind of advice to college offensive linemen everywhere ($$)?
“But the focus should always be on the field. Don’t get tied up with what your teammates are doing in a sense of what they’re posting about or what dollars they’re making. Don’t get upset and cause possible tension in the locker room because you didn’t get that deal. Don’t be worried about a couple of dollars now. Be worried about six, seven figures later in the draft.”
Pro teams might have issues with players who can’t get along with teammates? Why, I nevah, Miz Scarlett!
But the dude who was the NCAA’s expert witness during both the Ed O’Bannon and In re: NCAA Grant-in-Aid Cap Antitrust trials (to the tune of $2300 an hour, which, considering the outcome, is some bang for the buck) tops that by insisting jealousy isn’t about offensive linemen. Nah, it’s about you and me.
Though he is no longer on the NCAA’s payroll, the 77-year-old Heckman’s support for amateurism has not waned in the intervening years, and he believes that jealousy and anecdotal fallacy have confused the country over the value of a college degree to an athlete.
And how did we do that to ourselves?
In the years since his testimony, Heckman says that he has grown increasingly “dismayed” to see the national conversation about amateurism turn on the idea that college athletes are exploited. He invokes the green-eyed monster in explaining why the country has, in his words, “lost its mind.”
“I don’t mind that some people are jealous that Nick Saban gets so much money,” Heckman said during a recent hourlong telephone interview. “I personally don’t care if he has a private plane and flies to Monte Carlo. But I do think it is misleading to cast [college sports] as a labor market and to somehow think the goal of college is to make money off these athletes. I don’t see that as the goal.”
I don’t think we’re the ones who’ve lost their minds here.
Get The Picture 
“I don’t mind someone making millions of dollars” says noted rich person. Color me shocked.
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Do these anti NIL rights folks actually believe the shit that flows from their mouth.
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“The courts have spoken.”
$2300/hr economist got smacked by Judge Wilkens. LOL
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Pres. Harry Truman is the only one who knew what he wanted in an economist. One with one arm.
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He was a real sore loser on Twitter today. Hope this embeds correctly:
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
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Mr. Heckman to be kind is clearly clueless when it comes to life today as a student athlete. The fact that he is regarded an expert witnesses speaks volumes about the morons who paid his fee. Just another arrogant out of touch with reality person who thinks they know best paid by his peers to approve their position. And the beat goes on on on……
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“individual economic behavior.”….no friggin’ way this guy gets a nobel following my sorry ass around this place called earth, I’ll tell ya, I’ve got some methods with applied theories on how spending the all mighty green back has been really fun and at times got no answer as to why I spent that much…O’Malleys comes to mind, Cheeta is another…
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It may not be “the goal” of college athletics to make money off players, but even James Heckman would have to admit it’s a pretty nice fuckin’ bonus.
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I’m sorry, but did I read that properly? $2300/hr? I know there are old jokes about expert witnesses saying whatever you want them to say so long as the check clears, but in my most unvarnished and un-indictable opinion, entirely removed from any income based reasoning*, I want to encourage the people, here today, to not fall prey to this horrible money grab by the players. They ought to be satisfied with their lots in life, regardless of the money flowing around them, because they get to wear their University’s logo on their jerseys and coast by in lay up majors with no marketable value, to play under the lights.
I simply do not understand the desire by the many to take from the few, in truly, what is a modern day occurrence of socialism, communism, fascism, buddhism, and NIMBYism, parading around as a “just cause” for these youths. I’m proud to stand in front of you today, to encourage you to continue the legacy of greatness that is the NCAA and amateur athletics way of life.
This post took me 14 hours to prepare, 6 hours of travel to reach the courtroom, 3 hours waiting on the witness slot, 1 hour on the stand, 6 hours to return home, and 2 3 star Michelin meals along the way. Where should I send the ~$50,000 invoice?
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Quarterbacks have been feeding the Oline since before I was in college, nothing will change.
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