Pay for Play??

By Joe Buckner
This past season in college sports saw some major scandals. Miami, Ohio State and several other major college programs were hit with sanctions for violating NCAA regulations. 

As a former college athlete my views on this will be much different than say the average person so bear with me. Big time college athletes deserve to be paid to play. Simple.

College sports at the Division 1 level is BIG business. These schools are raking in the dough based on the efforts of kids who go out there and compete for the hopes that one day they will get the ultimate job (for them) and play professional sports. So why shouldn't they get paid?

"THE" Ohio State University, as the players so affectionately call it when introduced on Monday Night Football, earned $117,953,712 just from their football program!!! $100 million!!! None of that money gets passed down to the Terrell Pryors who go out and win games and put butts in the seats. Knowing this it's hard to blame a kid for trading memorabilia for a few tattoos or for taking free trips on boats to party with wealthy people. Shoot I'll take advantage of any of those things right now.

There is a famous story about Chris Webber and Mitch Albom. During his time with the Fab Five at Michigan Chris Webber and his freshmen teammates set the world on fire. They forever changed basketball and sports. Their swagger and showmanship had never been seen before but can now be seen in the games of Kobe Bryan, LeBron James, Dewayne Wade and any other major basketball star. The baggy shorts, bald heads and black socks rearranged dress codes for all sports.

So one day after losing their second straight NCAA title game, this time to North Carolina, Chris Webber- a two time all-American and Naismith player of the year finalist, also easily the most popular and best player for Michigan; was walking with Mitch Albom on campus and stopped in for some chicken. After he ordered he realized he didn't have enough money to pay for his meal. He was about $5 short. He asked Mitch Albom if he could borrow the money and Mitch said "no that would be a violation of NCAA rules." So Chris Webber asked them to take some of the food back and paid for what he could afford. As soon as they left the restaurant he walked past the book store and saw that they were selling #4 Chris Webber jerseys for $50 apiece. Mike Lupica has been quoted as saying that it was at that exact moment that he knew Chris Webber would not be returning to Michigan and sure enough he didn't. He entered 1993 NBA Draft; Webber became the first sophomore since Magic Johnson to be the first overall selection. He later was found to be involved in a scandal where he received money and gifts while at Michigan. Shame, shame...NOT!

The easiest way to stop this is to allow players to receive some sort of monetary compensation from the hundreds of millions they are bringing in to the school. Otherwise how do you tell a 19 year old kid who sees his jersey on half of the 30,000 people in the stands (or 100,000 at a Michigan football game) that he should be happy about the fact that he doesn't even have $5 to go to KFC?!?!  A large number of these kids come from the inner city and have little to nothing to begin with. So how do you ask them to say no, when some nice Booster wants to give them $500 and a car to drive for the summer?? You can't and it will continue to go on until these kids are paid for what they bring to the schools.  
I can hear you now America. “But Joe they get to go to school for free. What makes them any different than the kid on an academic scholarship?" Simple, when’s the last time 100,000 person painted their face and packed into a stadium to watch that kid take a science exam?? The answer is never.

I'm not saying the kids need to get paid a million dollars but they deserve something. Until that happens we can continue to watch college sports suffer as kids jump ship at the first chance they get to go to the League and get paid. Some have even compared the NCAA to modern day slavery. Schools make millions and the kids see none of it. Sad but true.
It's not about who's right and who's wrong. It's about what's right and what's wrong.

 Mr. Joe Buckner Jr.
 When you have self-discipline you can achieve. When you achieve you gain 
confidence. With self-confidence you can become anything or anyone you 
choose.