So, the state of California decided it will take the bold first step and begin a monumental change that could lead to college athletes throughout the country being paid.
Since when did the value of a college education -- free to scholarship players -- become so worthless?
Those who keep pounding the table about paying the star football and basketball players conveniently never explain how to pay players on the women's teams that do not produce revenue. You're going to have to do that, for sure. It's called Title IX and it's the law.
I disagree strongly with anyone who says college athletes are being taken advantage of, especially players with a full-ride scholarship that includes meals, housing, and high-dollar shoes and clothing to wear casually around campus. I've long contended that college athletes who stay out of trouble and are at least partially productive as a player, benefit greatly from their notoriety. You can fill an all-star team, for example, of former Arkansas players who went to work for Walmart and Tyson Foods after college.
It is true that athletes at big-time programs help bring in millions of dollars and salaries for coaches at those schools are outrageous. But I stand with Tim Tebow, who would've profited greatly had endorsement deals been available to college athletes when he won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore at Florida in 2007.
"It changes what's special about college football," Tebow said. "We're changing it from 'us' to it's just about 'me'. We turn it into the NFL, where who has the most money, that's where you go."
I stand against Richard Sherman, who wants to blow up a long-held system that suggests college players should earn a degree, not money.
"I hope it destroys the NCAA in general because I think it's corrupt and it's a bunch of people taking advantage of kids," Sherman said.
I heard Tebow and Sherman speaking on the radio in reaction to a bill that will allow college athletes in California to sign endorsement deals and hire agents beginning in 2023. It is with great irony California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill sitting next to LeBron James, who bypassed college and went straight from high school to the NBA.
"The university would have been able to capitalize on everything that I would've been there for that year or two or whatever," James said on his podcast. "I understand what those kids are going through. I feel for those kids who've been going through it for so long, so that's why it was personal to me."
Look closely at that quote, where James says had he been in college for a "year or two." As the world's greatest basketball player, James probably didn't need a full college education. But others do and I so am thankful for the degree that allowed me to escape factory work and do a job as a sports writer I've enjoyed for 35 years.
Newsome's signature does far more than opens a can of worms for college athletics, it releases snakes on a plane and they're all headed for California, where players who receive compensation could be banned from postseason play by the NCAA.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar spoke on a variety of topics, including the pay-for-play issue, when he appeared at the University of Arkansas last year. He supports paying college athletes and suggested all the money should go into a pool where every athlete on a team receives a stipend instead of just the star players.
Perhaps that could work, I'm not sure. But I sure am tired of the belly-aching and I now favor college players who complain about being taken advantage of to go ahead and form their own league with sponsors and agents. Just go straight to the minors like in baseball and leave college sports to the student-athletes who want to be there.
Just don't play on Saturdays because the vast majority of fans will still be watching their favorite college teams and not games involving the 1.6 percent of players who'll eventually make it to the NFL.
Good luck with that, guys.
Preps Sports on 10/06/2019