It's impossible to open the college sports pages of a newspaper without being confronted by some new incident that has the NCAA and sports fans reeling.
Whether the scandal involves players behaving badly, coaches using "innovative" recruiting techniques or teachers granting special academic exceptions to players, it's easy to question the integrity of sports in college.
As sad as it seems, American society expects scandal and inappropriate behavior from professional athletes. They're experienced and hardened athletes who have more money than they know how to spend. Because professional athletes have become celebrities, society has formed a truce with them by allowing them to behave similarly to actors and other rich people in exchange for athletic entertainment.
Entertainment. That is what professional sports have become. It seems rare to find a football player or basketball player who plays the game for pure enjoyment. Even more rare is to find a player devoted to his team, family and local town.
And that's reflected in the way the sport is played. Basketball games are like a show, not a sports match. Really, who would sit eight stories high to watch a basketball game if there wasn't something else to see besides players who appear to be a centimeter tall?
Despite efforts by the NCAA, college sports have become the same.
The NCAA requires athletes to maintain a certain number of academic credits each semester while maintaining a certain GPA. Athletes are prohibited from accepting endorsements in attempts to prevent them from being motivated by money or influenced by commercial interests.
However, these attempts are failing.
As demonstrated by Maurice Clarett, grades aren't a priority when getting into the NFL is a future possibility. For many athletes like Clarett, there is no reason to learn anything at school when millions await them in the NBA, although statistics show that the chances of making it big are slim for most athletes. Still, however, education comes only in the form of athletic training, which is intended to serve as a steppingstone to something bigger and better.
People like Emeka Okafor are heralded as a saint for actually earning good grades while being one of the best players in college basketball. It's a shame that players like Okafor are the minority of college basketball, not the standard.
But, when money is involved, it's not a surprise that colleges and universities allow these problems to persist. The only difference between college and professional sports is that the athletic departments earn the money in college, not the individual athletes.
Why else would Texas Tech hire and keep head basketball coach Bobby Knight? Knight not only brings Tech's basketball team a winning record, but he also brings the school over $10 million, according to a Feb. 8 New York Times article. It's no wonder Knight can get into a fight with the school's chancellor and escape punishment that would have resulted in the firing of a professor.
It's clear that college athletics have become professional sports for kids.
College players no longer play for the love of the game. Instead, they are out for profit. They know that if they make the school money now, they have a chance to make their own money later. Where rowers and runners compete at the collegiate level to support themselves through school, basketball and football players play to make it to the next level, where their dreams truly lie.
This trend takes away from enjoyment of the sport for many. Who really wants to watch spoiled kids run around a field or court, trying to act like their older role models?
Who could blame the St. John's basketball players for visiting a strip club and then taking a girl home with them? The stripper says the boys raped her. As a result six players have been punished. One player, with a prior instance of assaulting a female, has been expelled from school. Two players have been suspended, with expulsion a possibility. Two have been suspended from the team and only one player, a freshmen reserve, is still allowed to play.
It's almost a sigh of relief to see the boys punished quickly and severely. No slap on the wrist, no coddling. They're gone.
Still, it's hard to blame them after watching Kobe Bryant's trial and knowing so many professionals get away with that type of behavior everyday.
Many have said they watch college sports because they're more exciting than professional sports. Players have yet to develop fully and as a result the play isn't quite as sophisticated and planned. This makes games more exciting and less routine. Many stopped watching UConn women's basketball because the team was always expected to win. Not surprisingly, since their dominance has been threatened, more people are watching again.
It's fun to watch a game, not a show. For that, head to the movie theater.
In college sports, at least for now, it tends to be less obvious that players are competing for money and show. However, if the trend continues, viewers may need to turn to high school sports for a true game.
When money defines the goals of a team, it's obvious something is missing from the sport. Instead of competing to learn about integrity and sportsmanship, players are pressured to win so the school can win television endorsements and airtime. If a team wins, the school wins.
While this money does help schools and athletic departments, there comes a time when enough really needs to be enough. The future of athletes needs to be a priority, not the future of athletic departments.
The NCAA has a huge job ahead if it wishes to keep college sports what they were intended to be-an opportunity to play a sport while earning an education.
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