bsat blog

College sports are great. No matter what level, the opportunity to go cheer on your fellow students, scream at the top of your lungs, paint yourself in multiple colors and drink before noon (in a socially acceptable fashion that’s not in the shower), are all some of the greatest things about your college experience. And really nothing beats being in the student section of a major D-1 program for a great game, or a thrilling upset. But college sports do come with their downside. I’m not talking about the increasingly un-amateur underbelly of shoe contracts and agents. No, I’m talking, instead, about the nut-kickingly* dense bureaucracy that governs them: The NCAA.

No matter what level sport you play (be it D-1 hoops or D-III biathlon) the NCAA is at best an incredible pain in the ass and at worst a blindly hypocritical megalith with little reasoning behind its arbitrary, draconian decisions. I mean, look at the USC football program. They “allegedly” buy Reggie Bush a house and then are left to face the consequences. Problem is, Bush is being paid to play in New Orleans and dating people famous for making sex tapes with pop singers, coach Pete Carroll is now the head coach of the Seahawks. (By the way, Carroll knows he doesn’t get to recruit players in Seattle right? He can still pay them though…) Or look at UMass where Marcus Camby was provided hookers by an agent, but by the time this was discovered he (and coach John Calipari) were long gone. Camby faced no punishment! (Well, that’s not true, he did play for the Knicks).

Meanwhile the NCAA rakes in massive amounts of money from television contracts, none of which the players see. Plus endorsements, including Vitamin Water which make a variety of flavors the majority of which will cause an athlete to fail a drug test administered by our good friends at the NCAA. So the next time you’re enjoying yourself at a pre-game tailgate, or a post-game tailgate, (or a during-the-game tailgate) just pour a little out for all those on the field who have had the misfortune of running into a brick wall of bureaucracy only rivaled by the DMV.

*Yeah, I said "nut-kickingly." Like "kick in the nuts" as an adverb. You wanna fight about it?