I remember taking a undergraduate calculus for management class at Georgia Tech to pad my GPA one quarter in grad school - About a third of the class was football players I recognized.
I went out for a hamburger with one of the players. He wasn't allowed to have a job and didn't have a rich family so he didn't have much money. I picked up the check without thinking about it.
So we are sitting having coffee after the meal and he asks why I never come to class but get good grades. When he finds out that I'm in grad school, its no big deal but when he finds out my undergraduate was at Georgia Tech - that makes me an alumni.
I thought he was gonna have a heart attack right there - he couldn't breath - he was saying that an alumni giving a scholarship athlete something worth money (even a meal at Steak and Shake) made me a "booster" and would cost him his scholarship.
That's not a fair burden to put on a student. Everybody else his age can associate with whom they want and get a job that will get them experience and let them buy their own hamburgers.
BTW, He paid me back every cent but he was still nervous about it all quarter.
Can you imagine the reaction if some group or organization wanted to boycott Massachusetts because homosexual marriage is legal there?
This selective outrage in our culture gets old pretty quickly.
Boycotts and actions in support of politically correct causes are ok, whereas you would be pilloried if you were against the gay agenda and suggested boycotting Massachusetts for that reason.
You are ever so flippin' right. I'm sick of the NCAA doing this to kids. It is viciously illegal and unconstitutional. It also makes alumni boosters co-conspirators because they adhere to this mindless pap. Get rid of the NCAA, pay athletes, bring back the AAU or something. Colleges make MILLIONS off of poor young recruits and BAN them from taking a red cent from anyone. OUTRAGEOUS!!!