Mike Garrett wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times about how to keep agents off of the practice field.  I was trying to come up with a proper analogy.  The first thing that came to mind was the thought of George W. Bush writing an op-ed about how to fix New Orleans but that would be trivializing what happened in 2005. Then I thought it would be like Bobby Knight writing a memoir about keeping one's cool in tense moments but that wasn't enough.  I settled for Loyalty and Integrity:  The Life of a Coach by Bobby Petrino.  That summed up my reaction to Mike Garrett's op-ed pretty nicely. 

While agents may pose an issue with regard to the recruitment of young men in football and basketball, they are by no means the problem.  As with many problems in our society, to find the source I usually abide by one rule:  Follow the money.  The upper echelon of agents may make more than comfortable livings, but even if we only examine said upper echelon, the money we're talking about is nothing in comparison with the billions of dollars made by the universities and the NCAA. 

Mike Garrett's trying to cleanse his soul by waxing poetic about agents on practice fields was hypocritical to the point of being comical.  How much money did he, USC, and the NCAA make during the Pete Carroll years?  How much will they continue to make in the next decade with the expansion of the Pac-10 and the new television deals?  To give you an idea, ESPN pays over $125 million a year for a few bowl games.  CBS signed a deal for $10.8 billion to have March Madness for the next decade.  That is not a misprint.  Billion with a "B."  $10.8 billion.  Wrap your mind around that for a second.  How hypocritical is it for a bunch a movers and shakers in a multi-billion dollar industry to come down on players like Reggie Bush?  Reggie allegedly took a few hundred thousand dollars in benefits.  The Pac-10 commissioner could use that kind of money as toilet paper if he wanted to.  Then there was Dez Bryant.  He had a meeting and then fibbed about it.  Yes, let's punish him.  Shame on Dez.  What a joke this system is. 

Here's a fun hypothetical:  A booster buys a "Insert Player Here" jersey at the school's student store for $75.  The booster finds the player and gives him the jersey.  What happens next?  Improper benefit.  Suspension.  Yes, the school can use the player's likeness to make money but that same player can not accept a shirt with his own likeness as a gift.  Remind me again why this system works for anyone other than the universities and the NCAA.

We live in a capitalist society.  If a person generates the kind of money that these kids do, they deserve to be compensated.  They earned that money.  Reggie Bush generates revenue.  Dez Bryant generates revenue.  All those players at North Carolina generate revenue.  This list goes on and on and on and we're on to Cam Newton right now.  Everybody turns a blind eye because it is in everybody's interest.  What are we teaching these kids when we indirectly tell them that under the table benefits are ok and that the only people allowed to make the money legitimately are the people in charge?  Should we be shocked that none of these kids know how to manage their money?  Or that some of them can't toe the fine line between proper and improper conduct when they're set loose into the pro ball world where everybody wants a piece?  If the NCAA and the universities truly cared about their players, they would teach them how to be professionals, treat them as such, and pay them as such.  And I don't want to hear the field hockey captain whine to me that he's not getting paid when the starting QB gets a share of the money he generates.  You want money?  Attract 100,000 people paying an arm and a leg for a ticket to your game. 

I just can't take the B.S. moral authority that our schools and governing boards expouse.  They have a system in place that makes them filthy rich.  They are absolutely using these kids.  Many of them come from walks of life where there isn't much money.  So they'll take what they can get to provide for their families and communities.  We're supposed to blame them?  Like that kid at Clemson who wasn't allowed to care for his little brother or so much as accept rides and dinners from his coach's family?  What kind of lesson are we teaching?  I know.  We have to follow the rules that are being enforced.  The rules that nobody enforces because the lack of enforcement generates money?  Eh. 

This may have seemed like a Random Thoughts column and that might not be a bad thing.  Because there are far too many instances of improper benefits garnered by those at the NCAA who accuse teenagers of getting a jacket from a friend.  They need a boogie man so they found Jerry Maguire.  If they want to cure the problem, they should stop pretending like they care about amateurism or the kids and spread the wealth.  Or, actually care about amateurism and take the money out of play for everyone involved.  I just laughed, sort of like my reaction to Mike Garrett's column.

WEEK 9 PICKS

Buffalo +3 vs. Chicago (in Toronto)
San Diego -3 at Houston
New Orleans -7 at Carolina
Minnesota -7.5 vs. Arizona
Tampa Bay +8.5 at Atlanta
Detroit +5 vs. New York Jets
Miami +5 at Baltimore
New England -4.5 at Cleveland
New York Giants -7 at Seattle
Oakland -1 vs. Kansas City
Indianapolis +3 at Philadelphia
Dallas +7 at Green Bay
Pittsburgh -5 at Cincinnati

Last Week:  7-6
Season:      59-53-1