[Letter to Mike Bianchi at Orlando Sentinel who wrote, "If you're going to prosecute the pimp, you better prosecute the prostitute."] emphasis added
Dear Mr. Bianchi:
Since the last shall come first, your clever turn of recent phrase--really love alliteration and rhyme in non-fiction and forgive me in advance for stealing it--conflated a biz transaction deemed illegal while latter boils down to 1st amendment issue since NCAA an ASSOCIATION rather than legally constituted state authority, witness the BCS Congressional hearings.
Real hypocrisy in college athletics lies in colleges raking in $billions--Billions, BILLIONS!!!--off money sports and pretending revenue funds all sports, and athletes should endure sainted status of "amateur."
People literally kill themselves pursuing their sports dreams and I enable it idly watching my bread and circuses while comparatively young men die and have autopsy evidence of chronic brain trauma. Pee Wee, Pop Warner, junior and senior high school, college, and then pro football combine to kill or infirm, see Telander's columns at Chicago Sun-Times.
In 1983, a friend of mine pitching for UCF against Rollins for 9 innings lost 1-0 and could not the next day raise a beer to his lips with his pitching arm and soon after coach Jay Bergman ran him off, took his scholarship.
Where lies the prostitution there?
Or rather than a society deemed criminal case, should we look to whom the Massa and whom the slave?
Look, while not judging you for "working"--writing--to feed your family, even I, an addict of sports, know WE feed the beast.
Question remains; do you?
Sincerely:
Dan Hill
empireofdirt77@gmail.com
PS: Go Cubbies; HEY, ANY TEAM CAN HAVE A BAD 2 CENTURIES!!!
PPS: If 1st amendment reference unclear, anyone free to stuff $ in my pocket--please shop for back to school supplies with blog button for Amazon at my humble little empireofdirt--but NCAA rules--not LAWS-prohibit same with athletes.
PPPS: Will publish this and your full article without permission under Fair Use Doctrine on my humble little blog and double dog dare you and Trib to sue me. Hey, if twitter dude can make bank, maybe my lone voice howling in the wind could prove remunerative.
PPPPS: From your column: "If you're going to prosecute the pimp, you better prosecute the prostitute."
PPPPP: [HOOVER, Ala. – Here we go again.
The requisite defiance.
The obligatory indignation.
The necessary deniability.
The first day of Southeastern Conference Media Days predictably turned into a forum for coaches such as Florida's Urban Meyer and Alabama's Nick Saban to stand up and rail against these evil, unscrupulous sports agents preying upon their poor, naïve players.
Gag.
Meyer referred to the agents as "predators" and "piranhas preying on our kids."
"It's ridiculous and it's entrapment of young people," Saban said. "… Agents that do this, I hate to say this, but how are they any better than a pimp? I have no respect for people who do that to young people, none. I mean, none. How would you feel if they did it to your child?"
Question for Saban: If the agents are pimps, doesn't that make prostitutes out of the players who knowingly take the illicit cash and gifts? And, by the way, Nick, isn't there something a little hypocritical about a $4 million-a-year college football coach essentially referring to agents as blood-sucking parasites?
As you probably know by now, both Florida and Alabama, the big dogs of the SEC, are not only fighting for league supremacy; they are battling over who is has a more embarrassing agent controversy.
The Gators are investigating allegations that former star offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey received $100,000 from a sports agent before last season ended. Pouncey has vehemently denied the allegations as did his twin brother Mike here Wednesday. Meanwhile, Alabama is investigating whether one of its current stars — junior defensive end Marcell Dareus — attended an agent-related party in South Florida over the summer.
And, as has become customary, everybody is being held accountable for the agent problem in college football except the most guilty people of all – the players themselves.
Can we stop painting these players as the innocent victims when really they are the culpable villains?
Let's make this clear: We don't know whether Pouncey is guilty of taking $100,000 from a sports agents as has been alleged, but if he did, don't give me this garbage about how he was victim of entrapment. Good grief, the guy is a 21-year-old junior in college. He knows how the game works. He has been lectured ad nauseum about the evils of taking money from a sports agent. He knows it is wrong to take $100,000 in cash.
These players know exactly what they're doing when they have their hands out taking money from any agent who will give it to them. And why shouldn't they when there are no ramifications for their actions.
Alabama's Dareus is a perfect case study. I can almost guarantee this is how his "punishment" will go down because this is how it always goes down: He will be ruled ineligible at some point in the next few days, but Alabama will then immediately apply to the NCAA have his eligibility restored. Translation: Dareus may be suspended for a game or two, but you better believe he'll be on the field when the Tide reaches the meat of their schedule.
Saban can talk all he wants about how players need to be held responsible, but what player isn't going to take free money when all he's risking is a two-game suspension? I've been writing this for more than a decade: If you want to stop players from taking handouts from agents then expel them from the team and ban them from NCAA competition permanently. Put their NFL futures in jeopardy – and you will quickly get their attention.
These players are intentionally breaking the rules. They know they are jeopardizing their school's stature, image and future. Yet, still, they suffer no meaningful repercussions.
Look at what Reggie Bush cost Southern Cal. He destroyed the school's reputation. He caused coaches and administrators to get fired. He got massive NCAA penalties levied against the school.
Everybody got punished for Reggie Bush's actions except Reggie Bush. He jetted off and made millions in the NFL while the USC program and the players left in it now have to deal with the monumental fallout.
It's time for coaches, administrators and, yes, law enforcement officials to start getting tough on players. Ask yourself this: Why is there is a state law in Florida making it illegal for agents to pay college players, but it's not illegal for college players to accept money from agents?
The bottom line is this:
If you're going to prosecute the pimp, you better prosecute the prostitute.] emphasis added
Read Mike Bianchi's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/openmike and listen to him every weekday at 9:30 a.m. on ESPN-1080 AM. You can e-mail him at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com.
Enter to win $5,000 from OrlandoSentinel.com
No comments:
Post a Comment