My first editorial starts with a hot topic, one that college sports fans like to debate from time to time. It is a topic that stirs strong emotions inside of anyone involved with college athletics; fan, coach, or player.
That topic is the NCAA.
For those that don't know, the NCAA stands for National Collegiate Athletics Association. It is the governing body of U.S. college athletics (including College Hockey). The job of the NCAA is to regulate collegiate athletics to ensure a fair playing field for all participating teams of all sports. In doing this, the NCAA puts out a rather large book full of rules and regulations designed to keep athletic programs honest. So, one might ask, what could be wrong with this?
Well, this fan finds a lot wrong with how the NCAA conducts it's business. First of all, their rules and regulations are often complicated, confusing, and sometimes just plain too intrusive. For example, if a coach buys one of his players a hamburger because that player is out of money and can't buy it himself, the program can be put on probation. Why? Because it is against NCAA rules to buy ANYTHING for a scholarship athlete, no matter how small and insignificant. I agree that rules are needed to prevent abuse, but tell a coach that he can't buy a hungry player something to eat is just plain stupid and shortsighted. Common sense has to have a place in these rules or they become more of a problem than a problem-solver. Another problem that I have with the NCAA is how hypocritical they are. They are always claiming that they want to preserve the "integrity" and "tradition" of college sports and maintain it's "amature purity". This is the reason that they give when they reject proposals to pay College Athletes a stipend, refuse to consider a Div.I-A football playoff system, ect. Yet they continue to rake in the cash from endorsements, TV contracts, licensed merchandise, ticket sales, ect. In other words, they claim to run college sports in the best interests of the student-athlete, while raking in the big bucks on the side. In short, college athletics has become a "quasi-business", often at the expense of the athletes and fans. And the best part of this racket is, they don't have to cough up ONE RED CENT in taxes to the IRS! That's right folks, it's all written off as "education". Remember that next time ticket prices go up in your favorite college sport.
You might be asking yourself by now: "If all of these things are so stupid and shortsighted, then why do the member schools vote for them?". That's a good question. You would think that an organization such as the NCAA, which calls it's organizational processes "democracy in action", would avoid implementing such stupid legislation. But alas, it just doesn't work that way. My personal theory is that the NCAA operates like a large corporation. In theory, a corporation is owned by the stockholders. The stockholders can't run the organization themselves, so they elect a board of directors, who in turn elects a chairman. The board and chairman conduct the day to day operations of the business, while the stockholders keep careful watch. But, some of the stockholders don't wish to become that involved in the affairs of the corporation. Mabye they don't have the time, or they just don't care. Whatever the reason, this gives the stockholders that are extensively involved a chance to get what they want, whether or not it is good for anyone else. So, as a result, you get a board of directors/chairman dominated by one or more special interest groups. Their interests get served, while everyone else suffers. Now, apply this model to the organizational structure of the NCAA. The "member institutions" pick the administrators of the NCAA, who then manage the day to day operations of College Athletics. But, some schools aren't as powerful as others. The big money schools, whose teams are on national television every weekend, always seem to get what they want at the expense of others. Why is that? Because they have the clout. Their people are in the executive offices, so what Big Money Schools want, Big Money Schools get, and TO HECK WITH EVERYONE ELSE! This is why the NCAA has developed the look and feel of a faceless, self-serving bureaucracy that only cares about it's own interests and thumbs it's nose at everyone that doesn't like it. Everything about them, from their black and gold logo, to their reasons for stupid rules, to why student-athletes rank second to lining their own pockets with money, points to this conclusion. The NCAA has become an elitist, self-serving, greedy establishment that only cares about itself, and no one else. If college athletics are to survive, the NCAA must change with the times and start looking after college athletes instead of themselves. My 2 cents. Brian.
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