College Athletics and Money

While the recent revelation that Ohio State players have been selling memorabilia may have been a shock to some, for many it's just another 'yawn' story about some athletes trying to cash in on their talents on and off the field. In particular, football and basketball have become such huge moneymakers for the major universities that it's somewhat hypocritical for coaches and schools to be too critical over players trying to exploit the situation for their benefit. With coaches at major universities in many cases earning millions of dollars a year, there's really not a lot about these college programs that are amateur or innocent.

While the NCAA has tried to address past abuses of players receiving cars, money, women, etc., it would be naive to believe that all illegal inducements have been eliminated. With competition being so fierce for the top college players in the nation, there's certainly the motivation for some to look the other way at certain "questionable" activities. With the NCAA being little more than on the job training programs for the NFL and NBA, perhaps they should start kicking in some cash for the development of the players being done at the college level. When 6'6" 245 lb. Tyrone Jackson who as it happens is also able to run a 4.2 in 40 is given a full scholarship to a major college, it's more than a little likely that he's not being recruited to solve the riddles of molecular biology, but for the money that he can bring to the university with his superb athletic skills.