This week, I'm all about hating the NCAA.
The NCAA is constantly promoting itself as the protector of true sports, emphasizing that unlike professional athletes, their athletes play to win and nothing else. Sadly however, instead of guarding against greed, the NCAA has promoted it, being rightfully criticized for hypocrisy and the inflexibility of its rules over the past decade.
One great example of the NCAA's idiocy took place in Utah. When Utah basketball coach Rick Majerus supposedly took his players out for meals on up to 20 occasions to discuss personal matters in their lives, such as the death of one of his player's fathers and the upcoming mission trip of of another player, the NCAA was there to put the Utes on probation for three years, a period in which they lost three scholarships. Even though each meal only cost about $10 and was a great way for Majerus to get to know his players and promote team unity, the NCAA decided to play the role of the Grinch and punish Utah.
The NCAA has even made its rounds in Georgetown recently; freshman Moses Ayegba was suspended for nine games when the NCAA found that someone who was not a part of his immediate family paid for his plane ticket from Nigeria to the United States. The man who paid for the ticket however, Joseph Boncore, had been one of Ayegba's coaches, was essentially Ayegba's caretaker and had been given authorization by Ayegba's mother to help make decisions for him. The NCAA said it was a no-no though, because God forbid that people try to help one another in times of need.
Of course, had punishing the people involved in the aforementioned situations lost the NCAA money, you could be sure that guys like Majerus and Ayegba would not have been bothered. Just take Ohio State's recent scandal for instance. In late December 2010, five Ohio State Buckeyes including star QB Terrelle Pryor were punished by the NCAA for selling memorabilia including championship rings, jerseys and awards for both money and tattoos. The players were suspended for five games ... next season.
Wait a minute. Something is not right here. Didn't the Buckeyes have a BCS bowl game (the Sugar Bowl) after the evidence was found and after the suspensions were made. That seems like that would have been a pretty opportune time to install discipline, especially being that the Sugar Bowl would be the first game following the findings. But of course, that type of suspension would have probably lost the NCAA money, as a Pryor-less Sugar Bowl would not attract many viewers. So what did the NCAA decide to do? It suspended the guilty Buckeyes for games against Akron, Toledo, Miami, Colorado and Michigan State (teams that had a combined record of 31-31 last year), four of which are at home and only one of which is against a conference opponent, so that they won't be missing out on any important Big Ten games - the games where there is moola to be made. Does not sound like justice is being served here.
In addition to serving as the crooked policeman who comes down hard on minor offenses, but turns the other way if you give it a couple of bucks, the NCAA is also inconsistent. If those same meals that Majerus had bought for some of his athletes were made at his home, delivered to his home or even brought back from the restaurant and served at his home, the NCAA would have been fine with it. The NCAA needs to either ease up on some of their ridiculous, arbitrary rules or tighten up and actually become consistent with their rulings.
Recently, the NCAA has made it quite clear that it comes money first and discipline second. If the NCAA wants to be the protector of amateurism then so be it, but that means that it to has to follow the rules. Instead of penalizing the people that are merely lending a bit of a hand to these amateur athletes, the NCAA should be after the guys that are doing the wrong things, like boosters giving thousands under the table, or student-athletes that knowingly and egregiously violate the rules. Maybe with the constant hypocrisy and greed surrounding the NCAA constantly, the NCAA should think about suspending itself before it suspends anyone else.
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