Show Me A Bigger Hypocrite Than The NCAA. Don't Worry, I'll Wait.

Kayce Smith8/08/2018 3:23 PM

As Jack Mac pointed out yesterday, the NCAA has done another NCAA-thing and suspended 13 UNC players for selling shoes they were given on eBay.

The story is a day old, but I woke up thinking (again) about how much I hate the hypocrisy of the NCAA. I mean, I really, really hate hypocrites. And the NCAA is a prime example. Because time and time again they act like a bunch of…

Get it?

During my senior year in college, I wrote a thesis paper on why I thought college athletes should be paid. Because I think they should be. And before you start screaming at me “BUT THEY GET FREE TUITION AND I’M IN DEBT!!”, hear me out.

I’m not saying that there’s an easy answer to this. There isn’t. There are a million layers involved. I call it a “hamster wheel argument” because every time you think you’ve found the the solution, you’re flipped back down running in the same place. And of course, all of it’s a slippery slope.

HOWEVER, this latest edition of “we hate student-athletes” case by the NCAA is a perfect example of how to make it appear that they aren’t a bunch of greedy assholes and calm down the crowd of people like me who think it’s ridiculous that athletes can’t make money at the VERY least, off their own likenesses… like every other college student can.

Say you get a full music scholarship to any given university. You’re going to school for free just like scholarship athletes are. But somebody thinks you’re badass at, say, playing the piano (shout out, Francis). They hire you for a few hours to serenade a bunch of rich people. You walk out of there with an extra couple hundo and nobody – and I mean NOBODY – bats an eye.

Why? Because you’re really fucking good at what you do and you should be able to benefit from it while you’re still getting that free education. And, by the way, that that same music program where you’re studying is probably being funded by the millions of dollars that comes into the football program. Don’t tell anyone.

Every single year you see the examples of the millions and billions, with a capital B, being sifted in and out of college programs and TV networks. What’s bringing that money in? Those athletes that aren’t allowed to make any money on the side off their talents. And let’s not act like if they WERE allowed, there would be time to have a part-time job. Have you seen their schedules? That’s just crazy talk.

See what I mean by hypocrite? Mind blowing, I know.

So at the very least, student-athletes should be able to get benefits off their personas. The NCAA, conferences, schools and coaches do. It just makes too much sense.

Let these kids make money off of their autographs. It could be the last time in their lives that anyone cares to have their name on a jersey. Let them sell the gifts they were given on eBay. They were given to them. If Terrell Pryor wants to sell memorabilia for free tattoos…. WHO CARES.

So, if you can’t get behind paying athletes, fine. But we can all agree that the NCAA stinks and hates capitalism right?

PS – Jack Mac and I share the same disdain for the NCAA and he said I shouldn’t forget to add a picture of “that rat Mark Emmert.” If I was any talent with Photoshop, I’d make him into a clown a la Roger Goodell. I’d pay somebody for their services though. Unlike he would. Zing.