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Welcome to Groundhog Day
Here we go again. As if we need any more evidence that the term “student-athlete” belongs on George Carlin’s list of laughable oxymorons, today ESPN once again brings us ESPNU’s National Signing Day Special, a full 10 hours dedicated to trumpeting the exploits of three-, four- and five-star college football prospects with nary a mention of GPAs, class ranks, and SAT and ACT scores.
We’re not typically eager to rain on the parade of the over-hyped neophytes, but media events such as this only deepen the chasm between the stated missions of the institutions the athletes will attend, the role that revenue sports play in supporting those institutions, and the often thoroughly ridiculous NCAA rules by which the schools and athletes must abide in order to maintain some level of compliance.
In January, the students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism proved the absurdity of some of these regulations with an online quiz that would threaten the eligibility of Mother Teresa. Many of the rules are just plain goofy, but the charade continues on an endless loop, much like the timely movie with Bill Murray. If athletic conferences and individual schools are going to either operate their own networks or sign mega-million-dollar deals with national broadcast partners, it only seems fair that the athletes who provide the entertainment value should be compensated in some fashion, rather than penalized with suspensions and loss of eligibility for infractions that seem oddly out of balance within the bigger picture that is big-time college sports.
With all the fanfare surrounding these high school athletes and their mini-versions of “The Decision”, it’s no wonder that so many of them make poor choices once the Klieg lights go out and they’re left with barely two nickels to rub together.