College Sports Rules, Enforcement Fall Short

I don't particularly agree with the way that college athletics sets and enforces its rules for schools, student athletes, and their supporters in the community. Not only are the rules unfair in and of themselves, but they are also enforced in an almost arbitrary and retroactive manner.

Considering the enormous amount of revenue that major college sports like football and basketball generate for their school, community businesses, and the local and national media, combined with the hefty salaries given to coaches and athletic directors, it is unbelievably outrageous to me, in this day and age, for the athletes who are actually playing the sports to be prohibited from receiving any money or material compensation for their efforts. No, they aren't being forced into playing, the way that ancient slaves were conscripted into being gladiators. And yes, most of them receive academic scholarships, something that carries with it some financial value and at least the hope of a better future after leaving college. But that simply isn't good enough, considering the enormous amount of economic value that these players generate. They should all be paid, above and beyond any scholarships. After all, very few of them are going to be paid professional players after leaving college, so this is their chance in life to use their enormous athletic talents to set up a future for themselves.

I also have problems with the way that some colleges are allowed to violate the standing rules willy-nilly until, after several years of this, a big scandal erupts and penalties are retroactively imposed, including title and game forfeitures. A couple of years ago this happened with Southern Cal, and now the University of Miami is being rocked with a scandal for improperly paying as many as 70 of its players from 2002-2010. In 2003, Florida played UM, no doubt against some of these players. Having built up a 33-10 lead, though, Florida fell to a furious Miami comeback and lost 38-33. This loss in a nationally televised game also did enormous damage to Ron Zook's reputation as an effective coach for Florida. Now if some of Miami's players had been played in violation of the same rules that Florida had to abide by, shouldn't that game be forfeited? I think so, but only if Florida also gets credited with a win. And Zook should also get credit for a career head coaching victory. Unfortunately, when these retroactive forfeitures are imposed, they are only against the offending school and don't help those schools they victimized by their violations. This to me is wrong of the rule enforcers.

Of course, it also gets a bit problematic to go too far into retroactively altering the outcomes of games and seasons, anyway. The argument could be made that, as is the case in pro football, all game and season outcomes should be final and any needed penalties would affect the future, not rewrite the past. After all, fans want to believe that the game that they just invested time and possible expense to watch, either at the stadium or through TV, is significant, not some cloudy thing that can be tweaked around sometime in the future. On the other hand, maybe this is just what these people need: a wake-up call to reality, to just get up and do something productive instead of wallowing in vicarious passivity!