The Farce Goes Both Ways: You Can Have Your Rules, As Long As You Hold Up Your Half of the Bargain

Most people know I'm a rules stickler on a lot of subjects.

However, there's one catch, as a lot of those people know:

The people upholding the rules have to also uphold their end of the bargain.

I have an example of how the NCAA is not seeming to do the job.

It's been a long-held thought process that the scholarships provided to athletes are a full ride.

Chris Kluwe would like to have words with you.

On Deadspin last week, a discussion surfaced as to the one-paragraph "paper" that a North Carolina "student"-athlete (and we really need to stop using that term in any event) submitted on Rosa Parks (in a class designed just for athletes, no less!!!).  The paper received an A-, probably because the paper was only partially-legible.  Had it been completely illegible, chances are it'd have gotten the full A.

That said, Chris Kluwe replied in a very eloquent manner, admitting the following:

• That he wrote papers for his team, at $10/page.  As anyone should know who's attended any college, that would be grounds for expulsion on the charge of academic misconduct -- if this weren't UCLA, one of the many universities (and it's even more true for most high schools) which only exist for the purposes of their athletic programs.
• For the purposes of this article, however, it's the "WHY?" that's more important...

Kluwe:

"I made 10$ a page writing papers for teammates who didn't know how to forge a coherent argument for whatever bullshit class it was they were taking at the time, and since rent at UCLA was almost $150 a month more than what my scholarship check covered (with a roommate), I was happy to do it, mainly so I could buy food, and take my future wife out on a date every now and then.

Was I helping guys cheat the system (and themselves)? You betcha, because eating is important (as is getting laid), and the $780 a month the NCAA so graciously provided for my full athletic scholarship does approximately jack shit for living expenses in certain parts of the country (mainly NY and LA, though there are others). Not to mention the fact that I wasn't exactly writing Mensa applications for these guys, but they were there to play football, nothing more, and all they cared about was staying eligible. We all knew it, and that's what the school encouraged (as every functioning college with a football program does).

(Oh! And at the time, I wasn't allowed to hold a job to cover the difference in rent, because that would've violated my "amateurism" (though where I would've found the free time to do that around the football practice schedule I have no idea), soooooo, yeah. I still don't know how walk-ons do it. Those guys will always have my respect.)"

So if people want me to throw up my hands and talk about violations of NCAA rules and that everybody who he wrote papers for should be tossed, I'm all for that...

Once you explain to me how a person on an athletic scholarship needs to get by in LA on $780/month.

In fact, once you explain to me anybody can get by in LA on $780/month and not live as a homeless guy on it's streets!

The facts are simple:

• Most of these schools, as going concerns, take significant damage (if not die outright, in at least some cases) without their athletic programs.
• Not true in all cases, but almost certainly true in many cases:  Because of the above, many of the athletes have no business in college.  They were passed through the system for the dual purpose of the bucks for the education budgets for their home school districts and the glory they gave their communities on the athletic fields.  Nothing more.
• The NCAA exists for the benefit of two parties:  The media which cover the sports, and the NCAA itself.  To say the NCAA exists for the schools would be a misnomer:  Most every school loses money on their athletics, with only the big-conference schools possibly making it.
• And when the NCAA is called on this, they basically state that the conferences are making money, so the schools have to be, right?

Kluwe is not alone.

Lonnie White recently died at the age of 49.  He worked for the Los Angeles Times for two decades as a reporter, with assignments including the Clippers, the Kings, UCLA, USC, high school sports, and other athletic articles.  He wrote a definitive book on the 75-year history of USC vs. UCLA.

White admitted receiving illegal benefits in the amount of $14,000 in exchange for the four season tickets he received as a USC football player on scholarship.

Again, it's the "WHY?".  From the obituary article linked from the Los Angeles Times:

"To this day, it's something I'm ashamed about," White wrote. "Rent was overdue, and my household bills were delinquent. I needed the money to live. So accepting the $14,000 in different forms of 'benefits' over my college years three decades ago was an act of survival."

So, of course, now the question has to be asked:  Were the season tickets actually part of the scholarship?

As sad as it is, I only say that partly in jest