Final 4 Thoughts

We're down to the nitty gritty now and, as predicted, we're havin' a helluva time figurin' out who's #4, or even #3 for that matter. Good grief!!

It seemed like everything was goin' along pretty smoothly the latter part of the season for "THE 12" (this is the number of idiots they put in charge of determinin' who the Final 4's gonna be).  They got the beast of the college football world, Alabama, toolin' along at #1, the offensive freak show and bafflin' uniform colors of the Oregon Ducks snugged in there at #2, the "we're-hangin'-on-by-a-thread-every-week-against-suspect-competition-but-we're-still-undefeated" FSU Criminoles at #3, and the revolvin' door at #4! Most of the teams who paid that short visit to #4 got exposed from their early season charade as "Con-tenders" to, as then Minnesota Vikings coach Dennis Green so eloquently stated in a press conference followin' a NFL game, "They were who we thought they were" and as pertains to this group, that would be "Pre-tenders". I'm not hatin' on'em, just statin' the truth (which is not always purdy).

So now we get to the week before all the conference title games are tee in' it up  and "THE 12" decide to jump TCU from #5 to #3 after whoopin' up on a 6-6 Texas team??? And FSU, after just beatin' their in-state rival Florida (also a paltry 6-6) and to remain the only unbeaten team on the planet, drops to #4?? What about Baylor who has the identical record to TCU but beat'em head-to- head? Is Baylor gonna be the BIG 12 champ while the #2 team in the conference goes to the Final 4 ahead of'em?? Why even play these games if yer not rewarded for the results? Do you smell a rat or is it just me? There's quite a few juicy conspiracy theories one could dream up and I'm gonna share one I thought was plausible.

All one needs to do when tryin' to figger a conspiracy is follow the money (sound familiar?). There's a number of interests who stand to make alotta money if this Final 4 thing goes over; namely the NCAA, TV networks and their sponsors; and it looks like THE 12 set up a big wampum wet dream matchup scenario for the Rose and Sugar Bowls no matter what happened the last week of the season. It's almost brilliant!! Check out this line of reasonin':

THE 12 had to make a few assumptions to create options fer the Final 4 matchups when rankin'em fer the next to last time . The two main presumptions are that 'Bama and the Ducks will win their games. Not a sure thing but more sure than not. So the #1 team gets to choose their venue, the Sugar or Rose Bowl, and naturally 'Bama will choose New Orleans. Now #1 plays #4, and #2 plays #3. This means Oregon at #2 would play FSU in the Rose Bowl if the Criminoles remained #3 and either TCU, Ohio State, or Baylor at #4 would face 'Bama in the Sugar. Not a terrible Sugar Bowl in any case but the Rose would be a stinker! FSU dudn't travel well in the ACC so why'd we expect'em to throw momma and 'em in the back of the Ford F150 fer a road trip to the land of fruits and nuts!! So THE 12 slides FSU back to #4 so now momma and 'em can have that road trip to New Orleans they've always dreamed about to watch Free Shoes U play Bama in the Sugar if only Jameis and the boys can hang on one more time and win their ACC championship game.

Here, in my opinion, is where the committee snapped hook one into the housin' development across the street from the golf course and kept this thing from bein' damn brilliant. They shoulda gone ahead and put Ohio State at #3 instead of TCU. Whether Ohio State is better is not the question. THE 12's already shown their brazen enough to drop the only undefeated team down to #4 for the Sugar Bowl matchup, why not just tee up another'en and swing fer the fences while we're long ballin' it and have a deja vu Rose Bowl matchup of the BIG 10 vs  PAC 10 (or 12, or 14 or however many teams are in it now)? Of course in this scenario Ohio State would have to beat Wisconsin in the BIG 10 championship game to stay at #3 but if they did it'd be as good as it gets! Not fer you and me of course, but the networks and sponsors' d be shittin' themselves thinkin' 'bout how many Brinks trucks they're gonna need to make the deposits!

Ya see OSU fans know how to get to LA. They got used to goin' out to Pasadena near the first of the year fer the Rose Bowl long ago; and why not? I'd take any lame excuse I could find to get the hell outta Ohio, especially in the winter! But more importantly the networks got'em a university that can represent all those other non-football playin' school's fans in the Northern and Eastern part of the US of A. That'll keep a whole 'nother segment of the population engaged even it's if only fer one game.

They could still get this done but since TCU laid wood to Iowa State yesterday it'd be hard to swap OSU for TCU @ #3 even though the Buckeyes domination of the Badgers was very impressive. If this happens, be sure to have a wheelbarrow handy near the committee chamber to carry their nads to the car, and that includes Condi Rice! That'd take a huge pair but stranger things have happened. I think??!!

Rotten To The Core!!

Ok seriously, when are these spinmeister, do-gooder, hypocrites that infest our post high school "processin’ units", AKA - colleges, gonna fess up to the truth and stop pissin' down our legs and tellin' us it's rainin'? Come on Pinheads, the jig is up! We're witnessin' what's goin' on with both lyin' eyes and, I'm ashamed and embarrassed to say, my alma mater, of all places, is first in line at the urinal!!

The supposed saintly, beyond reproach, pure as the wind-driven snow University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s been caught cheatin’, and for the last 20+ years so it seems!! They, UNC, actually hired a former federal prosecutor named Wainstein (sp) to investigate themselves to determine whether or not they'd been offerin’ up illegitimate classes to their students, especially the ones that participate in those revenue positive sports. So the folks in charge of the school don’t know (or don’t want to know) they’ve been butt diddlin’ the system?? Great Caesar's Ghost!! “Lack of Institutional Control” penalty here we come! Hell, this is so bad the NCAA Nazis may create another, more severe punishment category they call “Lack of Institutional Concern” penalty or “Disdainfully Shittin’ the System” penalty or maybe just “WTF Do Ya Think You’re Doin’?" penalty!!

UNC’s predicament feels eerily similar to the one in which the Reverend Robert Dimmesdale found himself in the novel, The Scarlet Letter. He's the dude who committed adultery with, and impregnated, one of his flock, Mrs. Hester Prynne, then let her go to prison for 7 years (since she wouldn't kiss and tell, 'specially ‘bout a man of the cloth). She also got paraded through town wearin' a big, red "A" to make sure everyone knew she was an A-dulteress. Hester's husband finally came home from a long road trip and figgered out the good pastor was knockin' boots with his old lady. But even when confronted Ol' Reverend Bob didn't wanna fess up. He finally did and there was a helluva public show about it. Can you stretch yer e-mage-uh-na-shun enough to see the parallel I'm tryin' to draw between the NCAA cheats and the "pure" Reverend bullshittin’ people fer 7 years then gettin’ found out and publicly humiliated? Hell, I didn't think anyone could see somethin’ like this comin’ but Nate Hawthorne called it back in 1850!

So now the first layer of this massive hypocrisy is bein’ shucked like corn right before God and everybody else...and who knew…..

.....wait for it.......

…….here it comes…..

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!!

Hard to believe, idn’t it? Who woulda thunk it was about the jing after all the proselytizin' and hand wringin’ that’s been goin' on in our University systems 'bout figgerin’ the best way to educate these poor, underprivileged, "Student-Athletes"? And now we find out all that stewin' was more 'bout how to keep'em eligible for 4 years (under rules they set up for themselves to follow!) so they can keep cashin' checks every football Saturday ...and now we know they’re so incompetent they can't even bullshit themselves!! Funny?!?

If the problems weren't so much deeper it'd be damn funny. But no, this is way worse than just a few nincompoops at a wannabe competitive University tryin' to upperdeck their own system. This is 'bout the absence of honesty and priorities of the entire University system, their athletic programs, and the ineptitude of the entire United States edgu-ma-kashun system!

That's right, the whole damn things rotten to the core. That's what you get when you let the gub'ment start runnin' shit. Arrogance, incompetence, overspendin', inefficiency, and any other impugnin' adjectives you wanna throw in (those were adjectives, weren't they? And I believe I remember somethin' 'bout not endin' a sentence with an adverb too but I still got my 16 years of satisfactory schoolin' with the documents to prove it. Albeit from a cheatin', lyin' buncha sumbitches. Now that I think about it, maybe my sheepskin ain't worth the sheep's skin it's printed on?!?).

I’m sure at one time, before football was the cash cow it is now, universities truly wanted to field an athletic program with athletes who were competent enough in the classroom to qualify for admission just like every other Richard Cranium applicant. And there my friends, lies the true crux of the problem. I don’t hear too many discussions on yer Sports Centers or in yer NCAA Committee meetins ‘bout how admission standards for a dude that can block, tackle, run, or catch are ignored like a white crayon.

Not all, but a damn lotta these guys totin’ the mail fer these schools couldn’t get admitted if they showed up with a tow sack full of bribe money and a hand-written reference from the POTUS. Ya see, they still got this high school GPA and college entrance exam score problem keepin' a man down. Seriously, if an admissions officer got one of these applications in the mail it’d be the first one in shitter after they passed it around to give everyone a good chuckle! 

So these pompous pretenders that run the universities are tellin’ us they wanna educate these kids that can’t even read at a middle school level (refer to UNC whistleblower, Mary Willingham's comments about the readin' proficiency of some of these Gen-E-I)? Who are they kiddin’? And by the way, what does this say about our elementary thru high school programs that allow a kid that can’t perform at a minimum required level not only to pass from grade to grade but cross the stage to get handed the prerequisite diploma needed to enroll in a college for which he/she is ill prepared? Can you say, “primed for failure”? And now the college has to hide the fact their annuity… I mean athlete…I mean student-athlete...or whoever... can’t do the class work to stay eligible to help the team generate more wampum and publicity than the next 100 school fundraisin' scams …COMBINED!!!

Hell, just go ahead and pay’em. Each school should just sponsor a team, make the players employees, not students, and be done with all the BS’n ‘bout schoolin’em. The 2-3% of’em that go to the NFL’ll be set for life (or at least the next 5 years before they piss/snort/smoke it all away) and the rest of’em’ll get an extra 4 or 5 years to play ball before they start hackin’ lumber or catchin’ the backend of a drum sander fer a livin’ at the saw mill. This’d be a breath of fresh, honest air in this pig sty that’s evolved as the NCAA. 

Let's Cut To The Chase

C’mon, we all know where this Power 5 Conference thing’s gonna end up, don’t we? You gotta be kiddin’ me if you don’t think it’s gonna experience the same kinda mission creep as the Vietnam War. You know, the one where we started out sendin’ a little money and a few advisors to a conflict and ended up in a War that wouldn’t stop cause we never committed to it so as not to ruffle the feathers of a bunch of limp wrists who couldn’t handle the truth!!! (BTW, that’s a 52 word sentence I just pulled off. Maybe not a record fer me but a damn good effort).  Huh??...a little money and a few "advisors"? That sounds eerily like what’s goin’ on in Sy-Raq right now, dudn’t it?

So what in the Sam Hill does Vietnam have to do with the Power 5? In the foreseeable future, big money college football programs are gonna make these amateur student-athletes professionals and the universities'll just be the main sponsor of the team. So why not skip the mission creep, admit that's what’s goin’ on, and just cut to the damn chase?

The Power 5's at the startin' point of the progression toward professionalizin' their ball teams. So in Vietnam terms, they're at the "sendin' a little money and a few advisors" stage. These colleges are still tryin’ to fool us into believin’ they give a rip about these student-assets…uh…I mean, student-athletes, gettin’ an edge-u-ma-ca-shun at their institute of higher learnin’. I'm hearin' ghostly echoes of our gubment bullshittin' us 'bout Vietnam not bein' a war, just a little misunderstandin' we're mediatin’.

Anyhoo, since our Vietnam strategy didn’t work out so hot why don’t these universities do some history learnin’ and go ahead and admit it’s all about bringin' home the bacon, has nothin’ to do with graduatin’ these morons (most who couldn’t get within a light-year of qualifyin’ fer admission as a normal student and could care less about the schoolin’), and just turn their little revenue positive programs into the minor leagues fer the NFL? In other words, just skip the conflict part and go straight to the war! The NFL’s already got a template to follow ‘bout how to git’er done. It just needs a little tweakin’ to apply to colleges. So here’s how I see it workin’…

First, git a coupla conferences fulla football programs that agree they’re gonna go the pro route (we already know of 5 full conferences that want to but are afraid to admit it, so if we can find a coupla used spinal cords layin' around somewhere the participants should be no problem). Then the universities get their athletic departments lawyered-up so they can go recruit Harry High School while Harry gets him an agent to negotiate the contract with his high payin’ school of choice.

The contract’ll be a 4-year deal that’ll resemble an NFL’er and you can bet an “I won’t embarrass the university or will be cut immediately” behavioral clause’ll be in every player’s contract. Teams aren’t allowed to contact or tamper with other teams players while they're under contract (yeah, right. Here's nightmare #1). The only way a player can get out of his contract is to be cut by his team (this, of course, can be negotiated 'tween the schools lawyers and Harry or his agent if Harry wants out). At this point, the player's eligible to be signed by another team.

If a player decides to hang it up or quit fer any reason, he's still considered under contract with the team he quit on til they release'em; therefore, Harry can't quit and go to another team just 'cause they’re promisin’ em more cash, girls, and cocktails than his current team. Harry'll also not get paid unless he shows up to work (that's a novel concept)!

A university can cut you at any time and there are no restrictions on how many players a team may have on their roster at any one time; in other words, buy all you can afford. If a player gets hurt and can't play, his contract remains in force, including all pay and benefits, for the full 4 years. There'll also be a clause in each Harry’s contract as to the percentage Harry and the school share from usin’ his likeness in ads, jersey sales, etc, etc…and Harry and his agent can make their own side deals with Nike, Depends Undergarments, Playtex Tampons, or any other company willin' to give Harry the money to endorse their goods or services. A player is only minor league eligible fer 5 years beginnin' the year he was s'posed to gra-gee-ate high school. That way, the team can, but idn't obligated to, sign'em fer one extra year if he gets hurt (kinda like yer current red shirt season).

Now, fer those stellar young men who’d also like to put forth the effort to earn a college education at one of these honorable institutions, APPLY JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!! If you can get in, then you can either pay fer it outta the ball money yer earnin’ or negotiate it into yer contract. Either way is fine but you don’t get the “exception” admission to the school just 'cause yer playin’ ball. HELL NO! This is a business now and yer there to make money fer you and yer employer and attend the NFL interview every Saturday afternoon. Anything else you wanna stick yer snout in is up to you.

Now that I think about it, this approach would be refreshin’ and liberatin’ fer darn near everyone! Universities’ll no longer have to pretend to be concerned about or falsely keep their football players academically eligible, football players’ll no longer have to waste their time goin’ to classes they could care less about, coaches can just coach'em up and not have to babysit'em, and we can have a big ol’ playoff scrum at the end of the season (ya think 64 teams is enough?) since none of these nincompoops are gonna have final exams to get in the way of'em playin' some extra games. Also, 'cause the 64 team playoff'll start the week after the end of the regular season, us fans won't have that November lull to deal with havin' to wait fer the start of those 1400 bowl games! Oh yeah, and Harry’s gettin' paid for the NFL audition he's comin’ fer in the first place!

One last positive consequence is fer those alumni who actually applied to, were accepted at, and gra-gee-ated from said institution; they'll no longer be subjected to the embarrassment and humiliation of their school gettin’ caught fer illegally payin’ players, offerin’ bogus classes, or havin’ tutors write papers fer these money-spinners to keep’em eligible. It's a Win (School), Win (Alumni), Win (Fans), Win (Harry)!!

Oh yeah, good luck makin’ it in the NFL, Harry. Only ‘bout 2.5% of you’ll make it and the average career there is 3-4 years. I'd suggest the 97.5% of you that ain't gonna make it save the cash from yer stint in the minors to pay fer some more learnin' at a technical school or college that'll let you in; otherwise, yer just another 23 year old high school gra-gee-ate interviewin’ fer a job on the loadin’ dock down at the Food City warehouse!

 

(Parenthetical) Thoughts About Power-5 Conferences Autonomy

By Ben Kercheval , Featured Columnist &

(Whitecorner, Parenthetical Columnist. Those’ll be the ones in parentheses! Get it?)

Aug 8, 2014

Saying that major college athletics is about to change forever is no longer a hyperbolic statement. Rather, such change is far closer to reality than it's ever been. (WOW, what a revelation!)
On Thursday, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted 16-2 in favor of a new governance model that would give the so-called power-five conferences—the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC—an unprecedented level of legislative autonomy. (So it looks like the inmates are gonna start runnin’ the asylum! Yer Power 5 conferences, aka – the schools with all the walkin’ around money, are gonna start makin’ their own rules so that payin’ players above and beyond the traditional scholarship is now legal. This way they won’t have to go to such lengths to cover up pay’em under the table! You know?...this could be a good thing. Think about how much more time’ll be spent coachin’ football than tryin’ to figure out how to not get caught transferin' the $5,000 from Terd Ferguson’s Chevy dealership into the account of the daddy, preacher, uncle, or cousin of yer future Heisman trophy winner who, BTW, hadn’t pissed a drop in a college football practice, much less a game!)

Thought I was kiddin' about Terd Ferguson, didn'tcha?

NCAA President Mark Emmert expressed his satisfaction with the vote in a statement: “I am immensely proud of the work done by the membership. The new governance model represents a compromise on all sides that will better serve our members and, most importantly, our student-athletes. These changes will help all our schools better support the young people who come to college to play sports while earning a degree”. (What the hell else is Emmert gonna say? He’s as impotent and powerless as the current President of the United States and sounds exactly like’em when he says crap that, no matter what the outcome, sounds like it was just the result he was lookin’ for! The Power 5 coulda voted to move to Ethopia and Emmert woulda made it sound like it was his idea! Good grief!) Should it pass a veto period, new legislation could be put into place in time for the 2015-16 academic year. What does it all mean? Here are some initial takeaways from Thursday's monumental news.

1. This Is Only the First Step

As mentioned above, the vote is subject to a 60-day veto period before the new governance model can become official. Per John Infante of AthleticScholarships.net, "75 override requests would trigger the override process while 125 would table the proposal and keep it from becoming effective while that process goes on."According to Dan Wolken of USA Today, "It is not expected enough schools will submit an override to put the legislation in jeopardy." (What school or group of schools is stoopid enough to disagree with the Power 5 mafia? They know if they do, someone's gonna end up sportin' a pair of those proverbial cement slippers at the bottom of the East River or cut up in a garbage bag in the Okeefeenokee swamp!)

Still, the road to autonomy is not completely paved. Among the items on the agenda (via Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com) are full cost of attendance, expenses and benefits, insurance and eligibility. Figuring out cost of attendance, widely considered to be the front-burner issue of autonomy, is still in its early stages, according to Wolken. Furthermore, it's guaranteed that there will be disagreement among power-five members about how to calculate it. (NO SHIT! That is priceless! I never woulda thunk that Texas, Alabama, LSU, and the like are gonna disagree on some paltry sum to pay their athletes… I mean, student athletes?? This just means yer Power 5 get a $5000 no harm, no foul card while the rest of the money their young scholars'll be receivin'll have to be transferred the old fashioned way… through Terd Ferguson’s Chevy dealership. Can you say bye, bye NCAA and hello NPAA, National Professional Athletic Association?)

A key addition—"Any amendment is subject to approval by a five-conference presidential group before consideration by the full voting group"—could make passing legislation complicated. In an interview with Jon Solomon of CBSSports.com, Nathan Hatch, Division I board chairman and president at Wake Forest, said the process for introducing legislation could take months: 

Now comes the heavy lifting. The next step is the five major conferences creating a process for them to introduce and vet their own legislation. The Power 5 will submit their own legislation for consideration by Oct. 1 that could be adopted at the January NCAA convention for 2015-16. There will be two ways to pass new rules: Get 60 percent of all the votes from 65 school representatives and 15 athletes plus a simple majority from three of the Power 5 conferences; or get 51 percent of the votes and a simple majority from four of the five Power 5 conferences.

So while autonomy essentially splits Division I in half, the steps that tend to slow the NCAA legislation process are still very much at play. That could lead to apprehension even within power-five conferences to go forward with it. (These last coupla paragraphs are s’posed to make us feel like the Power 5 boys are reinin’ themselves in, like they’re the paradigm of self-discipline; all while their ridin’ high in the irons and goin’ to the whip down the back stretch.)

2. Yes, There's a Recruiting Benefit; Yes, That Already Existed
NO SHIT, AGAIN! Refer to Terd Ferguson’s Chevy/Money Launderin' operation above!

A common point about autonomy is that it will widen the gap between the so-called "haves" and "have-nots" of college athletics. If power-five schools can provide their players with additional money every month, you can bet that's going to be a recruiting boost. This is all true, but that gap already existed. (NO SHIT, NUMERO TRES! See Terd’s Chevy yet again. Ya know, we may wanna think about buyin’ a Silverado LTZ Crew Cab 4x4 from Ol’ Terd. He’s gonna need some extra cabbage to grease all these young, money-cravin’ hard-ons and keep his 50 yard line seats in Doak Campbell)

According to the 247Sports.com composite rankings, only three teams not currently in a power-five conference finished with a top-50 recruiting class over the past five years: BYU (2010), Cincinnati (2011) and South Florida (2014).

A glance through USA Today's annual list of college athletic finances show plenty of familiar, blue-blood names at the top: Texas, Alabama, Michigan, Oregon and so on. With roughly $64.5 million in revenue in 2013, UNLV is the highest rated "Group of Five" program at No. 46 (Who woulda thunk UNLV coulda come up with that kinda cake in the middle of a desert? Amazin'!)

Many power programs have resources (aka – Terd’s Chevy Laundry) other programs don't. It's just the way the (under the table) setup is. If autonomy passes, power-five programs will vote on legislation that they feel more directly applies to them. The recruits who go there will benefit. (NS, like these teenage, boneheads weren’t gettin’ paid before? I’m just gonna abbreviate NO SHIT from now on since it seems to be appropriate commentary after all the profundities we’re bein’ treated to by Mr. Kercheval!)

3. Athletes Will Have a Slightly Bigger Voice (HAHA!!)

A driving factor behind Northwestern players pushing for unionization this spring was that they didn't feel their voices were being heard. A union would be compartmentalized—Northwestern's union applied to scholarship players at a private university—and tough to get trending nationally because of right-to-work states, but it also pushed the conversation of player rights forward. (As usual, the gutless NCAA knuckles under with just the threat of havin’ to deal with that little band of Chicago, Jimmy Hoffa, college football, union thugs. This Association is on the way to extinction of their own volition as long as they continue backpedalin' every time some bully draws a little line in the school yard sand.)

Before that, players didn't have much of a voice. That will change under the new NCAA governance structure, albeit ever so slightly. The new board will include the chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. That at least means student-athletes will have a voice at the table. (That’s one player representative voice, so they still don’t have a say. At least they’ll believe somebody’s representin’ so maybe that’ll shut’em up for a while so they can go back to playin’ ball and maybe attend a class or two.)

How influential that voice is remains to be seen (It’ll have ZERO influence. Saban’ll have a little chat with said player rep in the coat closet before the first meetin’ and that, as they say, u’ll be that.) In the long term, this may not change much as far as athletes driving the conversation about topics like compensation and player safety (NSS, that’s Sherlock on the end this time, just to change it up.) The new governance structure would feature a 24-member board, only one member of which would represent student-athletes. (That’s 1 outta 24 Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., Congrats on yer seat at the conference tableau!)

Is it an improvement? Absolutely (What Jim Jones flavora kool-aid are you drinkin'?  Improved what?? The ease with which the first $5K gets expedited into a kids pocket? Have Nick and his SEC boys already had "the talk" with ya?) Will the lawsuits over concussions and money end? It depends on whether the NCAA makes players feel like their voices are heard as loudly as they should be. (The answer is a big, “HELL NO” to lawsuits bein' over as long as there's money to be made and lawyers prowl the earth.) 

4. This is Not a Precursor to Splitting From the NCAA
(PUHLEESE! This is such an obvious trial run! It’s as if the Power 5 were datin’ other women with the wife’s permission with her knowin’ all the while she’s just one good date away from gettin’ dumped for the next hottie in the fish nets, mini skirt, and CFM pumps!)

Despite the popular narrative, autonomy doesn't mean that the NCAA is limping into the woods to die. (The NCAA as it currently exists?… means exactly that! They may be dead already and no one's bothered to tell'em.) SEC Commissioner Mike Slive pushed that narrative when threatening to abandon the NCAA in favor of a "Division 4" model if autonomy didn't pass. Obviously, that would be a moot point if autonomy survives the veto period, but as Wolken tweets, it's also impractical: 

As much as college football's power brokers lament the current system publicly, they've shown before they couldn't stand to live without it. In January 2013, the NCAA adopted numerous proposals designed to deregulate recruiting rules—with Emmert's backing—that were generally viewed as unenforceable. Less than a month later, Big Ten coaches and athletic directors issued a statement asking that a few of the proposals be re-examined. 

Sure enough, the pushback put the proposals under further consideration, much to Emmert's dismay. 

The point being, no matter how much the NCAA membership attempts to change the rules, or the process for developing the rules, the fact of the matter is that they need the rules. (It’s gonna be fun to watch this train wreck. The short of it is the Power 5 are draggin’ the NCAA kickin’ & screamin’ into the professional sports world while continuin' to hide behind the “Student-Athlete” label. Their still gonna pay whatever they wanna pay’em, but now some of it’ll be “legal” accordin’ to the Power 5 rule book. Simple as that.)

Could autonomy lead to another split down the road, either by power conferences or non-power conferences? (Yer damn skippy, it's gonna happen!) According to Infante, an NCAA expert, that's absolutely possible. (NS) When and how that would happen is unpredictable. (NS, but I’m bettin’ sooner than later) But breaking away from the NCAA simply isn't an option. (HUH?? Who are you kiddin’?)


This was just a little warmup session to get you semi Edge-U-Mah-Cated about this “Power 5” power grab. I’ve got another angle they may wanna try. I'll post it in my next blog.

Dear Mr. McCants

 Dear Rashad:

     I'm a Tar Heel alum like you and wanted to express my concerns 'bout your recent, sudden appearances in the media. I understand you've been in LA takin' actin' lessons so maybe this is yer feeble attempt at a live audition. If it is, go to the actin' school and ask for a refund. But I believe after yer fall from NBA grace to hoopin’ it up for Uberlandia Tenis Clube of the NBB (that'll be yer Novo Basquete Brasil league) looks suspiciously like you're tryin' to become somewhat relevant again by goin' on every radio and TV show that'll have you and blame the lack of education you didn't acquire on someone other than yerself. Gettin' an education is kinda like eatin' at a buffet. You actually have to scoop somethin' up and put it on yer plate to eat it. It dudn't come with a Nanny and a bottle.

     It seems as though you and all the other self-indulged, crybaby athletes of the 21^st Century have been watchin’ too much politics on yer IPads and aren't gonna let a “good crisis go to waste”. I get that by today's world standard it's in vogue to extort money from one group of folks by another group of folks by blamin' the extortees for the extorters problems. You know, the poor blamin' the rich, the illegal immigrants blamin' legal citizens, those who don't wanna pay for contraception blamin' those who pay for it, etc, etc... And I’m sure you were thinkin’ 'bout how you were gonna disguise this as bein' the next Martin Luther King, Jr. or some other civil rights icon but it’s as obvious as the tattoos all over yer arms that yer more focused on notoriety and blackmail than actually fixin’ any NCAA exploitation “problems” you think exist.

     You mighta been able to gin up some believers if you coulda gotten ANY of yer North Carolina teammates to back up yer blabberin’, but NOT ONE of'em took the bait and now you just keep gettin’ more and more unbelievable every time you open yer piehole!

     I saw where you hopped back on Sirius radio and, in an interview with Mark Packer, said UNC was gonna cut you a personal check for $10 million and the NCAA was gonna pony up $300 million simoleons cause of how badly both of'em felt about exploitin’ you while an undergrad at Chapel Hill! Do you know how STOOPID that sounds?!??? Actually, stoopid or not, I hope you get it cause I’ll be first in line to collect my ransom check (which should include a good 30 years of interest)!!

     Really? No, REALLY??? Who’s zoomin’ who here? You went to college to audition for the NBA and North Carolina's a helluva place to do that! Don’t get me wrong, yer a pretty good player and spent some time in the show so you’ve got some game. But that narcissistic, otherworldy attitude you brung with you, the one everyone’s gettin’ a first-hand peek at now that you just can’t seem to shut the hell up, shortened yer career to an unremarkable 4 years. If the Timberwolves wouldnt've invested a 14^th round draft choice and the money that goes along with it you'da been gone a lot sooner. Oh well, as usual, I digress.

     So we, the idiotic public, are s'posed to believe:
1) You went to Carolina for an education, which just happen to include the NBA audition, and somehow you weren’t involved in decidin’ what classes to take?
2) And now, upon reflection,  yer just figgerin' out how upset you shoulda been about whata waste of yer time it was to have taken all those “paper” AFAM classes and whatever else Roy Williams and his henchmen mandated?
3) And somehow it was an exploitation of yer classroom talents 'cause the Facists in the basketball office made you turn in papers written for you by a tutor?

     WHOA, I guess you were right when you paraphrased Jalen Rose’s statement about his feelin' like an “indentured servant” durin' his time at Michigan. Oh yeah, I also read where you related yer college years as feelin' like you were in “jail”. Man, that sucks for you! And BTW, there's alotta YOU goin' on here, ain't it?

      WOW!! You were seriously bein' exploited! Not havin’ a say 'bout what classes to take, never havin’ to go to the classes they made you take, havin’ tutors plagiarize yer essays for you, and all the while UNC has you locked up in a 5 x 7 cell and is cashin’ checks they could only earn with you in attendance.

     Listen Jackwagon, first of all, and most importantly, no one made YOU or anybody else play basketball or any other sport at any NCAA institution. You weren’t an indentured servant or an inmate. You coulda slinkedl yer sorry ass back under the rock from which you crawled and gone back to doin' whatever you wanted to do, at any time, with no penalty. Now that I think about it, you didn’t have to go at all. You coulda gone straight from high school to the NBA or just skipped the b'ball sabbatical and gone straight into McDonald's French Fryin' Legion as a non-commissioned officer! So save the suggestion of slavery until it actually applies cause yer devaluin’ the meanin’ of a bad practice that many folks have fought against, and some have died, to abolish.

     Secondly, if you wanted an education then, as badly as you are tellin’ us now, you had every opportunity to decide what classes to take (and, BTW, attend) to pursue yer degree of choice. I’m willin’ to bet even Ol’ Roy and his corrupt gang of coaches weren’t gonna keep you from gettin' that pre-med degree you’ve always dreamed about!

     So, why didn’t you go to class? And why did you allow someone else to write yer papers for you? You can blow smoke up my ass about bein’ young and naïve but that’s no excuse. You were old enough to vote for the President of the United States and, in return, he could send yer ass to Afghanistan, or Iraq, or wherever the war du jour happens to be. Am I also s'posed to believe you were mature enough to cash NBA checks but not mature enough to decide what major to pursue, attend the classes, and make the effort to do the work??? PUH-LEESE!!

     We all know what’s goin’ on here pretty boy. You’ve become insignificant and can’t stand to be outta the limelight. You are a Dennis Rodman in the makin’. My bet is we're gettin' ready to have a ringside seat to watch you digress into this inconsequential, tattooed, pierced, ballin’ with a communist dictator piece of human debris. Or maybe you'll become the savior of all the innocent, naïve college kids who attend these NCAA Gulags at the expense of bein' exploited. I’ll be interested to see where they erect the statue in your honor. Probably rename the Dean Dome, the Rashad McCants Center for Fairness.

     The bullet-point bottom line is this:

-        - The NCAA has a monopoly on college sports right now. If you want to join their Country Club, you play by their shitty rules. If you don’t want to join their Club, don’t. Just don’t join for the NBA audition, stay there until you’re draftable, and then cry about it 10 years after it’s over because you crave attention and money.

- If you want to create yer own Club with yer own shitty rules, do it. There’s a free market out there and if there’s anyone who believes the bullshit that’s freely flowin' outta yer mouth even half as much as you, it should be a snap to have it up and runnin’ in no time.

Now either bring forward somethin’ more than accusations so we can collect OUR money and YOU can save the college athletics world, or just shut up and quit makin’ an ass outta YERSELF!

                                                                                                  Yours Truly,
                                                                                                  
                                                                                                   WC