Muller: NCAA Admits Change Is Needed. Will They Follow Through?
By Shawn Muller--
Oh boy.
The NCAA is giving me a migraine headache…and I don't even get migraines.
By now, if you have been reading my blogs over the past couple of months, you will know that I have no tolerance left for the men and women who comprise the makeup of the NCAA.
There are certain people out there who are just plain idiots when it comes to dealing with issues. You know the type of person I am talking about. They take the simplest situations and make them way harder on themselves that they need to be. You try to give these people the benefit of the doubt because, after all, they are "trying" hard to prove that they have a clue. Deep down inside, though, they make you just want to scream.
Enter Mark Emmert, the President of the NCAA.
He is exactly the type of person I am talking about.
Mr. Emmert makes anyone with a decent grasp on reality, want to ram their head through a brick wall because, of his complete idiocy. I am sure Mr. Emmert is a bright man when it comes to being "book smart," but when it comes to "street smarts"...common sense...or just plain having the ability to hold a normal conversation...the man just can't seem to adapt.
This past football season alone, we have seen parents of student athletes, "student-athletes" themselves, and "institutions of higher education," make a complete mockery of inter-collegiate athletics. If the NCAA were a circus (and I am pretty sure that it is), then Mark Emmert would be the ring-leader of the bunch.
On Thursday evening, in San Antonio, Texas, the NCAA held its annual convention. The people in attendance were blessed with hearing Mark Emmert give his first ever state-of-the association address.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall in that room!
For those of us expecting Mr. Emmert to insert his foot into his own mouth, it did not take long for him to disappoint. In a ground-breaking revelation, Mr. Emmert said that a new rule needed to be enacted so that parents cannot "shop" their children around like cattle to the highest bidder.
Emmert said, "it is wrong for parents to sell the services of their student-athletes (AKA…their own children) to a university, and we need to make sure we have rules to stop that problem. And today, we don't. We have to fix that. Student-athletes trading on their standing as star student-athletes for money or benefits is not acceptable, and we need to address it and make sure it doesn't happen."
Take a bow, Mr. Emmert! You are a pioneer!
How long did it take for you to come up with this mind-blowing epiphany? Before all of the BCS games were set to take place? Or after your organization had already cashed in on the bowl games featuring a group of "student-athletes" (Cam Newton and the Ohio State five), that shouldn't have been anywhere near the playing-field in the first place?
After the bowl games?
No! I am shocked!
Regardless of your comments, Mr. Emmert, your feeble attempt to show that your organization is capable of punishment moving forward, will be taken with a grain of salt.
You know what I mean: don't tell me you are going to do it…show me you are going to do it.
Leading the general public on to believe that the NCAA is about fair play and equality between it's member institutions has been a farce for far too long. Do you really think that the general public is going to take what you have to say seriously right now, after the damage has already been done?
The facts are simple: the NCAA handling of Cam Newton, Cecil Newton, and Auburn University was wrong. Allowing the five Ohio State players, found guilty of breaking NCAA rules to play in the Sugar Bowl, was wrong. I am sure I could go on and on with examples, but these are the most fresh in everyone's mind.
You break the rules, you suffer an immediate penalty.
It really isn't that hard is it?
No one is saying that they expect the NCAA to come down with an SMU-type "Death Penalty" any time a university and it's players are found to have committed rules violations. All people are asking for is that the NCAA ensures that the integrity of collegiate athletics is not compromised. When a "student-athlete" breaks the rules, a parent of a "student-athlete" breaks the rules, or a schools' athletic program breaks the rules, people across the country need to know that the penalties will be stiff, and the guilty parties will be dealt with swiftly.
The NCAA has managed to make a mockery of itself over the past couple of months, especially during the 2010 college football season. Get a backbone for once and show everyone surrounding collegiate athletics, from the fans to the athletic departments, that any type of wrong-doing, or alleged wrong-doing, will not be tolerated.
That is all the people want.
We just want the term "student" athlete to mean something once again.
The ball is in your court now, Mark Emmert. Help us restore our faith in college athletics.
Do you agree with Shawn? Post your comments below.
Shawn Muller has lived in Chicago for 7 years. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and just recently received his certificate in radio broadcasting in October of 2010. Sports have always been a passion of Shawn's. In his free time, Shawn enjoys spending time with his wife Melissa and 3 year old daughter Ava, catching any live sporting event, and traveling. Check out his radio show, "Grab Some Bench with Muller and Bangser" at www.blogtalkradio.com/spmuller24.
