Some people are so disgusted by double standards that they would
rather go back and eliminate all the standards.
This is the case with academics in the college sports world.
The NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate is the most recent
evidence showing how college athletic programs have a number of
student-athletes who don’t excel in the classroom. Why do I
think the NCAA’s findings come as no surprise to anyone
““ not the fans, not the coaches or players, and certainly not
the NCAA?
The APR produced a list of 68 colleges that failed to pass the
academic standards the NCAA has put in place for each respective
sport. But not one of the major players in college sports has been
hit. No prominent football program was reprimanded, and DePaul was
the most notable basketball team that lost scholarships due to poor
grades.
It’s a lot like Major League Baseball’s steroid
policy sans the Rafael Palmeiro embarrassment. There hasn’t
been a brand name tagged for punishment. Only a child would believe
there isn’t some dirty laundry at every college, but these
new academic standards haven’t found out anything the old
ones didn’t.
So the NCAA looks like a joke, and critics would rather see
honest sports competition than NCAA Tournaments and bowl games
corrupted by boosters and egomaniacal coaches.
But what can be done? NCAA President Myles Branc is trying to
clean things up. There are tens of millions of dollars riding on
each Sweet 16 appearance or Rose Bowl bid. It’s not just wins
and losses. It’s the television deals The Walt Disney Company
has scored for ABC and ESPN. It’s the marketability of Ben
Howland.
Legendary sportswriter Frank Deford came up with a solution. He
thinks college athletes should be allowed to major in their sports.
His argument: It can’t make college sports any more of a
shame, and at least we can all be honest ““ with ourselves and
the athletes.
“Why don’t we make honest men of college
athletes,” Deford writes. “Some just aren’t
capable of regular college work.
“Music students are allowed to major in music, art
students in art. Let football players major in football and
basketball players major in basketball. We’ll all feel much
better that way.”
With all due respect to Mr. Deford, one of the true giants of
sports journalism, this is a myopic dream for college sports. Not
only that, it places such little trust in the student-athlete who
comes to college as a jock but has the opportunity to wrestle with
bigger concepts than the zone blitz or the pick ‘n’
roll.
Yes, there are plenty of college athletes who get lost in their
celebrity status on campus and forget they are at school. But there
are always those true student-athletes who, thankfully, defy
everything the system stands for.
Deford’s idea cannot be dismissed as a joke though. He
represents a fair number of sports fans who fancy themselves as
pseudo-intellectuals with an appreciation for athletic excellence.
It is these highbrow sports fans who know that college sports are
all about money, and they’re not upset to admit it. And they
have an important message to share with athletic directors across
the country: Don’t treat us like we are morons.
There’s nothing more insulting than being told that it is
all about creating strong young adults who use their God-given
abilities to get a topnotch education. In this God-fearing land of
ours, college sports start and end with that smirk on Benjamin
Franklin’s face. And when we pretend this is not true, the
student-athletes are the ones to suffer.
These are young men and women, barely out of high school, who
get blamed for the moneymaking schemes of the colleges. Why should
they be singled out? If athletes think they are only at college to
win games, it’s because that’s what everyone is telling
them to do.