NCAA: Where Clownish Actions Continue To Be The Norm.

Ah yes, you smell that? Why it’s time for young Puma to go insane on some hypocrisy being spewed by the NCAA. So sit back and hold on to your butts because this is about to get real. There is nothing in this world that angers me more than the NCAA. And by this I refer solely to the governing body of college athletics and not the games themselves. For years they have pimped the athletic exploits of teenagers to the tune of billions of dollars under the guise of “amateur” status and providing the kids an education. When in actuality the only thing amateur is clowns running the show and they do provide a very valuable education in that life isn’t fair. 

This isn’t a written to say pay college athletes, I have written that before. This is written just to show you the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of the NCAA. They love to spout the tales of the student-athlete and have even exploited cases of exceptional young people as an example that their way is the best way (see: Ray Ray McElrathbey). What they fail to mention is a lot of times in what is becoming the norm for the NCAA, they screw the kid over.

Let’s look at the tale of Jonathan Benjamin, a basketball player for University of Richmond who has long held the dream of creating the next Nike who has been deemed ineligible for attempting to follow his dream. You see after a class project to start his own company he expanded on the project and sunk his birthday money into it and began to actively pursue his own business with the advice of his professor. The NCAA found out about it and deemed him ineligible because: “A student-athlete may establish his or her own business, provided the student-athlete's name, photograph, appearance or athletics reputation are not used to promote the business.” Yep. Work hard for us, sell our merchandise, but the moment you try and do it for yourself which in no way conflicts with your NCAA obligations get the hell out of here.

"Working hard for yourself? Violates the NCAA spirit. Excuse me while I collect my 1.7 million dollar salary."

"Not to sound arrogant, but the football team won a national championship my freshman year, conference championship my sophomore year. The basketball team made the Sweet 16. We helped the school get publicity. Meanwhile, the academic side is telling us that this is a place to grow and spread your wings. Only we can't do that fully. And some of us were studying marketing!” Benjamin said.

Earlier this year Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said fans don’t come to see the names on the back, they come to see the names on the front. That’s true when it comes to watching a game, when it comes to selling merchandise however the name on the back matters very much. Don’t believe me? 

The NCAA owns Muhammad. 

Even disgraced players can't get their names back.

The NCAA owns the name Clowney.

The NCAA owns the name Manziel.

And it’s not just about money, sometimes the NCAA does things that are just heartbreaking or cringe worthy. Take the case of Kerwin Okoro, an Iowa State basketball player who is transferring to Rutgers University. Usually a player has to sit for a year, even though coaches can move from school to school with no waiting but that’s another tale, there is a hardship provision that waives that year long wait. Now I don’t know what constitutes a hardship but I would venture a guess that losing your older brother to colon cancer and your father to a stroke and moving back to be close to your mother should be an acceptable reason to seek that provision. Not according to the NCAA. You can move back to take care of sick family members but damn it if they have passed away they could care less. Hasn’t this kid been through enough?

And these aren’t the only stories that will make you blood boil. Hell the NCAA tried to block a former marine from playing football because he played in a rec league while SERVING HIS COUNTRY! If anybody deserves to play football it’s the guy who put his damn life on the line ensuring the freedom of this ridiculous ass institution to block him from playing a game which that same ridiculous ass institution will turn around and sell his jersey and profit from his on the field play.

What a swell group of guys. How could you not defend these guys? Excuse me while I vomit.