Posted on 09/17/2006 9:34:57 AM PDT by Sam Hill
If the NCAA REALLY wanted to clean up college athletics, they'd make the scholarship players work study students, paid at the same rate as other work study students on campus, and limited to twenty hours per week total participation in the sports program (including games.) According to the University of Texas, when I was a student there, it was impractical to expect a student carrying a full-time course load to be able to work more than twenty hours a week and maintain their academic standing.
Of course, it would also make sense if student athletes also would have to be eligible for academic entry into the colleges they attend. Most people today know that the majority of big time athletic programs are semi-pro teams with only economic ties to their university. College baseball has been relatively unscathed because anyone good enough to make money playing generally goes to a minor league professional team.
"..voting based on how such sanctions would affect their team." Please tell us how sanctions against Bush/USC would affect any team from UT, WY, ID, ND, SD, CO, KS, NE, NM, MT, MO, IL, MS, MN, NC, SC and other green states. Your "reasonable explanation" is nothing of the sort.
I was having a hard time putting my thoughts into words. Your post did it.
Actually there is a precedence for taking away a NCAA team title for using an ineligible player. In 1999, the UCLA softball team used an Australian player named Tanya Harding (same name as the skater/criminal, hard to believe, but true). She was the Bruin's No. 1 pitcher in a pitcher-dominated sport. UCLA beat Arizona for the NCAA Title. Afterwards, it was found that Harding, who was enrolled for only one semester, had never even attended class at UCLA. The NCAA stripped UCLA of the title, but did not award Arizona with the championship.
The national champions ship is national, which means:
1. If USC were stripped of the title, their teams moves up one notch for that season. That's minor.
2. More significantly, if USC is sanctioned that will make them a weaker team and give teams in most of the green states a better shot at the national championship. They'd also get a better shot at recruits who are considering USC.
Flyover country just hates USC because they're jealous.
Not surprising in the least! That said, imagine the uproar from the West coast and the Northeast if this were an SEC team instead. There would be daily articles in the NY Slimes, SF Chronicle, and other rags denouncing the players, teams, fans, schools, and heck, even their dogs.
I guess the rules are different when you belong to protected conferences like the PAC-10.
Ping
Bush was not paid by USC to attend the school
Bush was not paid by an NFL franchise to collude in the draft.
The agents are now suing Bush saying he promised they would represent him, proving that they were only in this to extort money from him.
It was clear from age 10 that Reggie Bush would be one of the greatest athletes in history. Why shouldn't he benefit from his talents. NO ONE WAS HURT by the agents greedy (and foolish, since they didn't get his business) largesse.
Oh stop being such a paintywaist. Leave Bush alone to pursue his brilliant career, and leave USC alone to enjoy its legacy. The time to deal with this was at the time. Not now. Reggie Bush didn't do anything wrong. He is an athlete. That is his job. He does it brilliantly. Only a jealous wimp would cry about this trivial matter after the fact.
Please clarify:
The version of the story I heard, is that at some earlier time, Thorpe had been paid $5 to participate in a baseball game, which was not an Olympic sport.
Finally, some sense. This stupid brouhaha reminds me of the goody goody tattletale kids in school that everyone (rightly) detested. Most of those kids had no talent themselves and grew up to be IRS agents or Patrick Fitzgerald.
"Oh stop being such a paintywaist. Leave Bush alone to pursue his brilliant career, and leave USC alone to enjoy its legacy. The time to deal with this was at the time. Not now. Reggie Bush didn't do anything wrong. He is an athlete. That is his job. He does it brilliantly. Only a jealous wimp would cry about this trivial matter after the fact."
Get a grip. I don't know Reggie Bush from Adam.
I think the poll represents a divide in a way of thinking. Perhaps that is too subtle for you.
Here is my nuance.
Bush should give up the Heisman.
No sanctions against USC unless complicity is shown.
Sanctions against USC is like reparations against all white men for slavery. It is stupid.
I just hope that USC sues both agent groups involved in this thing. First of all, it's a great public relations move for the school, because these guys were perfectly willing to break the rules and put everyone in jeopardy. Second, this would serve as a disincentive for similar situations to occur in the future. The start-up group New Era Marketing may not have assets, but that slimeball Ornstein will certainly have assets and he should be pummelled.
Heisman goes to the best college player.
If Bush received a lot of cash, that would make him closer to being a pro than an amateur. If he receives something minor (like Luke Walton who received a plane ticket from his dad but still illegal because his dad is affiliated with the NBA.), then he is still an amateur (Walton was suspended for 1 college game for the plane ticket).
How much is too much ? I don't know.
Yes the rules are different. The SEC schools are generally inferior in their emphasis on education than the Big 10, ACC, Pac-10. Just check out the test scores.
This also applies to SEC graduation rates of their athletes in general.
So yes, a person who has a relatively clean record gets a lighter sentence than someone with a checkered past would get for the same crime.
Would you like a poll that read, "If President Bush lied about WMD in Iraq, should he be impeached?"
"Would you like a poll that read, "If President Bush lied about WMD in Iraq, should he be impeached?""
Who said I liked the poll?
I was just interested in the geographical breakdown of the respondents.
I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition.
Whatever happened to intelligent discourse and analysis? Sheesh.
"The great liberal dream is a life without consequences."
Plus no judgement of anything done by a liberal or a liberal person of so called color.
Of course conservatives of all colors are guilty of hate crimes for asking for consequences and judgement of what is against the laws and rules.
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