GP1

All you have done is define the current state of affairs that isn't working. 1. The life is not fair argument so swallow the crap you are fed because the rules are such you can't change them is not working and hasn't worked for decades...if ever. 2. The rules are being broken every day. We now have a system where a kid has to understand a 400+ page compliance manual from the ncaa in order to keep from breaking the rules. More rules aren't the answer. More bureaucracy isn't the answer. More compliance officers are not the answer. More ncaa enforcement officers is not the answer. 3. I think the public is coming around to the fact the ncaa needs massive change to reform itself. If it doesn't, others are going to step in and do so. When a kid goes to college, aren't we asking that person to expand their mind by asking questions? If I was poor kid playing college football, the following questions would enter my mind: 1. How much money does the school make off of my likeness? 2. How much money does the school make off of the tickets sold to watch me play? 3. How much are they making in alumni donations because of me? 4. Is the value of my scholarship in proportion to the amount of money they are making off of me? 5. Why can't I just have a job? These are just a few of the questions. The problem with the ncaa is the rules applied to the student athletes are not there to lift that person up. They are there to keep that person down. Let's have rules that lift a person up in lieu of keeping them down.

What if your family needs the money to pay for rent and food?

Wow, that $16,000 is almost to the poverty level!!! A guy can live it up on that. This mentality is completely void of any understanding of where a lot of the kids come from and is really the 1950s mentality I like to make fun of. Most people in this country have zero idea how poor many of the families the kids playing college football really are. Many players would have to take that $16,000 and give a lot of it to maybe his single mother on welfare so she can take care of her other children. Any kid who loved his mother and fellow siblings would do everything he could to help her. To pretend otherwise is silly. Again, the answer isn't to pay the kid. The answer is to allow him to make a legal income as long as he keeps up with the most important thing in his life....football, and second....school work. As long as he is fulfilling those obligations in that order, he should be allowed to have a job.

The big schools already have an unfair advantage in recruiting. You don't think $100 handshakes are discussed with recruits and their player/host during their recruiting visit? You don't think that tosu is better able to line up more attractive girls for guys on visits than Akron? You don't think they are all being offered more money to go to tosu than say Akron? You don't think that a recruit walking into a 100,000 seat stadium in Ann Arbor is more impressed than one walking into InfoCision? Please, please, please stop creating illusions for yourself. They get the tatoos because they are forced into a type of black market that forces them to break antiquated ncaa rules in order to get what they need or want. When they break the ncaa rules by taking money under the table, they are also breaking real tax laws. How is that good for college football and the players playing. If people really wanted to protect the players, they would allow them to make money in the open in a legal manner.

Necessary? haha, do you see what you did there? He doesn't or he wouldn't keep making those types of statements. The ncaa is a complete racket. Anyone who thinks bcs level college football is about being a student first is kidding himself. It is about the money and has always been about the money.

Article Great article on why the BCS and NCAA is a monopoly. This gets back to one of the points I always make. The ncaa needs to reform itself before the government does. It would not be out of bounds for the government to regulate the ncaa as interstate commerce. When the government determines there is a monopoly, they frequently make the monopoly break up. I'd love for the ncaa to be broken up. It would be the best thing for college athletics. Multiple leagues and organizations could be more creative in how they go to market. It would be much more interesting than the single minded ncaa. The ncaa needs to reform itself by adding levels within college football that allow the BCS schools to basically enter the sunshine and come out as the professional organizations they all are. If not, every off season is going to be filled with talk of one school who badly broke the rules. This year it is tosu. Last year it was usc. Next year it will be another school. How is that good for college football? I realize it has been entertaining making fun of tosu the past few months, but it isn't a good story for college football.

Since when has college football been about student athletes? College football isn't about professional organizations and the employees who play for them? Wait a minute. They are completely professional organizations making money off of a labor force that doesn't get paid. Professional football has a higher moral standing because the player actually get paid for making millions for their organization. The players in college football are forced into illegal, under the table incomes that force them into criminal actions while in college. Your argument comes back to schools paying players. I don't think the schools should pay the players. The players should be able to have any form of legal income they wish. I really don't see the problem with a human being earning a legal income.

What if the rules are unjust to the point of being immoral?

Because there is a demand for their services. If a non athlete could make $1,250/hour, why shouldn't they be allowed to? It's called a free country. It would be terrible for college football to have a viable minor league football system. There would be a huge decline in the quality of play across the board. The talent makes the game entertaining, not the game itself. If you think the MAC is bad now.....yikes. The reason players don't do the arena league or whatever league is out there is they aren't realistic methods of showing off their talents.

Here is an example. Jock sniffing car dealer in Columbus pays a player $5,000 to sign autographs for four hours on one Saturday, or however often he wants to sign. Player would have to work 500 hours at $10/hr to make that kind of money. They would have jobs unlike most students, but it is a free country after all.

This is the reason why student athletes should be able to hold a job while in school. Allowinig it to happens brings all of the money into the open and requiring laws to be followed. As it stands now, schools are taking 18-23 year old people and turning them into criminals before most ever get into the working world. The ncaa is run by despicable people and even more despicable people (the universities themselves) pay their salaries. They are allowed to hold a job. What makes you think they can't? It is against NCAA rules for a player to hold a job during the spring and fall semesters. They should be allowed to hold a job year around. They should be allowed to legally make money.

I got a good laugh out of that as well. Last January, one would have thought tosu won the national championship when they beat a fifth place, middling SEC program in a meaningless bowl game.

This is the reason why student athletes should be able to hold a job while in school. Allowinig it to happens brings all of the money into the open and requiring laws to be followed. As it stands now, schools are taking 18-23 year old people and turning them into criminals before most ever get into the working world. The ncaa is run by despicable people and even more despicable people (the universities themselves) pay their salaries.

Are you saying people say it is one way, but it's the other way? I'm personally shocked that would be the case.....NOT.

I agree. I'm not sure where we have more exposure other than in football. That exposure comes at the expense of playing on Tuesday nights in front of 95% empty stadiums in late Oct and Nov. That's exactly the kind of exposure we don't need. Maybe nobody else wants the job.

My prediction is the ncaa will never hand out the death penalty again after what happened to smu after they received it. Wow.. great prediction. That would be impressive had it been BEFORE the NCAA said it would never again hand out a death penalty. We're both wrong. Two schools received the death penalty since smu in lower divisions. Actually Doug, I was only wrong once. You were wrong twice. Congrats, you win.

My prediction is the ncaa will never hand out the death penalty again after what happened to smu after they received it.

This is going to be the other shoe and lots of people in Columbus know it. The corruption at tosu goes far beyond the football program it is only getting started. The car dealership is going to be much bigger than Tatgate.

There is some argument as to which vest Tressel will be wearing to work this fall. There is no question....The name badge clearly says "James" on it. It's his.

What part of the SI article has been debunked?

Terry Pluto gets opinion from his favorite loveable loser. How did Pluto not get laughed out of the editors room when he handed in this story?

I think that a lot of people look at tOSU fans in almost a sympathetic way...I don't, but some may. For ten years tOSU fans, when they weren't packing on a pound of fat a day, made fools of themselves telling everyone how great the program was because of the Big Ten Championships, beating Michigan and BCS appearances. As it turns out, all of those "accomplishments" are hollow. Accomplishments made meaningless because of a lying, cheating scumbag of a coach heading up a dirty football program in a dirty Athletic Department. Having been made a fool of can't sit well with tOSU fans. Having been made a fool of by a THUG con artist of a coach must be upsetting for the fans. Fans knowing that the tainted and hollow accomplishments of the past decade must be upsetting. Everything tOSU did over the past ten years should have the following symbol next to it..... *. Instead of a mascot wearing a nut on his head, he should have to wear a * on his head. It would be the most fitting symbol of the past ten years. How does it feel to be duped?

They can do this right after they cut the league back to 10-11 teams.

Interesting stats DrZ. Thanks for posting. I'm surprised Getsy had the most touchdowns in a season & game. Maybe not a season because they played one more game in 2005 compared to 2003, but Owens had teams that scored a lot. I'm shocked Frye isn't at the top of those two. I like the touchdown in a season & game statistic Getsy has. Charlie has a lot of records that come with starting four years. Charlie also has a lot that look good, but aren't near the top of things you want your QB to do. For example, completions in a game are nice only if you win the game or they turn into TDs. Charlie played in an offense that flooded the field with WRs and he picked the open one. Not hard to do compared to the pro style offense Getsy played. Getsy got run out of town, but when he was on, he was deadly. Just ask NIU.

I'll never forget the Marshall punter fumbling a snap from center. It was exactly the kind of thing that normally happens to the Zips.