NCAA president Charlie Baker said Monday he was "up for anything" when asked about the idea of a commission on collegiate athletics, an idea proposed by President Donald Trump.
www.espn.com
I know some of you will disagree with me, but I think this is BS.
“I’m up for anything that can help get us somewhere.” Says the President of a Multi, Multi Million Dollar organization. Aren’t you the perso. supposed to “get us somewhere”?
And Jim Phillips, our outstanding former Athletic Director, really misses the mark:
“National Standard in Name, Image, and Likeness” - Other than a Federal Minimum Wage what earthly reason is there for Congress or some agency to create eligibility of compensation standards? There is none.
“A piecemeal project that has undermined college sports” - You mean the piecemeal project of doing everything possible to not admit what has been blatantly obvious for decades: Roster members of revenue college sports teams are employees in an extraordinarily large and lucrative business.”
“A race to the bottom” - I have no earthly idea what that means. The only thing that has been a race is all of our consciousness realizing just how dramatically underpaid players wearing college jerseys have been in recent decades.
“We need some legal protection.” - Why? What the hell? Compensate your employees through individual or collectively bargained agreements in conformance with the existing labor laws. What is so hard about that?
“A reaffirmation that these are student-athletes” - If you are reading this board, you know of Taylor Branch’s fine work illuminating the history of this phrase. Saying something (and demanding your corporate media partners say the same thing) does not make it a legally binding term.
I totally get it. I enjoyed college sports for seeing individuals matriculate to my beloved alma mater, grow into adults, become better players before our eyes, and graduate…forging a bond recognized over time and location.
But, let us recognize that long before players started getting compensated, it was the adults…university administrators, who determined that this was a big business and chasing revenue was the goal. Full stop.
The current predicament we are in bears a direct relationship to those decisions made consistently, constantly toward revenue maximization over multiple decades.
Spare me the anguish for the lost romance of old-timey college sports
