Amateurism? A dumb idea by "the rich clowns in England" to keep ringers out

[jbcarol]

Why amateurism is a farce and whether college hockey model is right for hoops

LEXINGTON, Ky. — College basketball's pay-for-play scandal, exposed by an ever-widening FBI investigation, might accomplish what Yahoo! Sports columnist Dan Wetzel has been advocating for years: ending the farce of amateurism.

"There is no purity to it. It's actually a horrible concept. Somehow we've made it into a purity contest. We cling to it. But amateurism is a joke," Wetzel said on SEC Country's Kentucky podcast, Wildcat Country. "Nobody believes in it, practically, and maybe if 50 schools end up getting nailed, people will go, 'All right, you know what? If adidas wants to pay a kid $150,000 to go to one school and not another, I don't know, is that really a bad thing?' In the grand scheme of it, no, not really. Do we have to hide it? Do we have to put our coaches in prison?

"Right now, it's like the dam is just bursting over them and they're all screaming, like, 'We can put it back together.' You can pretend to, but you're not doing. it."

Wetzel, author of Sole Influence — loves to tell the story of how "amateurism" became a thing and why it is patently absurd.

"Amateurism was created in the 1800s in England when the rich people had these sports they played at the country club, where they rode the horses and jumped over the things — whatever that's called — polo, rugby, whatever, sailing. And the rich people were good at it because they had time to practice it; they lived lives of leisure. The working class worked six days a week in factories. They had no time.

"What happened was, some of these country clubs and tennis clubs started finding the really good guy who was blue-collar and they put him on their team. This is where the term 'ringer' began. So what the rich clowns in England decided was, 'Oh, no,' the way to preserve this so rich people could win these games was the concept of amateurism: you're not paid to play the game; you just play it for the love of the game.



"I don't think college basketball wants to do this," he said, "but in college hockey, you can be drafted by a team in the NHL and then go play for a college — and you can make an endorsement deal. [It would be like] if the Lakers wanted to draft Lonzo Ball a year ago and say, 'Go to UCLA for a year and we'll call you up when we're ready.' The star defenseman of the Boston Bruins, a rookie, he finished the NCAA hockey tournament with Providence College on like March 18 and was playing for the Bruins on March 22. I don't know, is that wrong? What's the problem with that?"

Wetzel floated the idea that an NBA team could draft a player, then pay for his one year (or more) of college — or put him on an "internship" — while he also earns endorsements.

"Maybe," he said, "we could just lighten up and be like college hockey and just enjoy the damn thing."

[sickboy]

The system was bound to collapse at some point. You can't act like you're an amateur system while raking in billions of dollars. Pay the players and break the programs away from the educational system and end this stupid notion of a "student-athlete". That's a made up buzzword used to perpetuate this system making huge amounts of money off the back of these athletes. Have the programs be affiliated with the schools so they can share in some of the revenues, but let the programs be what they truly are -- semi-pro ball clubs. This goes for football too.

Let's call a spade a spade. You can argue until your blue in the face that there's something pure about college sports because these kids are playing for scholarships and all that nonsense. That's just what it is. Nonsense. The kids are propping up a system where a bunch of coaches, athletic directors and white collar businessmen are taking advantage of the fact that they don't have to pay their labor force like you or I get paid to do work. It leads to this shady system we have now where shoe contracts and AAU ball are becoming black markets for white collar crimes. 

I love college sports. But I don't care if they blow the whole thing up honestly. I'd rather have a system in place that is equitable and fair for everyone involved. Especially the players. And more importantly, a system that doesn't promote bribery and racketeering.

[HawgsPolo]

College players will forever get paid. Arresting a handful of people will not stop the hundred dollar handshakes.

[BannerMountainMan]

College players will forever get paid. Arresting a handful of people will not stop the hundred dollar handshakes.

I guarantee yah the parents and kids won't want to get involved in it after this break through.

[The Hogfather]

It is very sad to me that our society has moved to a place where receiving free tuition, room, and board is now not enough to play a game for 3-4 years before going to get a job.  Truly sad.  Getting a full ride is a huge deal.  Huge!  And, nowadays, it is treated like a steaming bagoshit.

[XavierZane]

Sounds like a KY fan scared their school is about to get exposed. 

[The Hogfather]

If we're blowing it up, pay the kids according to how they produce and make them pay for all the shiz they get for free now.  We'll pay you, but you have to pay tuition, room & board, time in the weight room, coaching fees, tutors, meals, gear, marketing fees, etc.  we'll see what they have left after paying for everything they are receiving.

[sickboy]

It is very sad to me that our society has moved to a place where receiving free tuition, room, and board is now not enough to play a game for 3-4 years before going to get a job.  Truly sad.  Getting a full ride is a huge deal.  Huge!  And, nowadays, it is treated like a steaming bagoshit.

This naive and out of touch.

If we're blowing it up, pay the kids according to how they produce and make them pay for all the shiz they get for free now.  We'll pay you, but you have to pay tuition, room & board, time in the weight room, coaching fees, tutors, meals, gear, marketing fees, etc.  we'll see what they have left after paying for everything they are receiving.

This is how it should be. Minus the time in the weight room, coaching fees, gear and marketing fees, because those would all fall under the purview of running an athletic program, not playing in one.

[hogwood]

I think kids should be fully paid for living expenses, tuition, room and board, and travel expenses to see family. Only a small fraction of the students are going pro. Free education plus a reasonable stipend for living expenses and an amount of paid travel for family visits should be given to every student. All of that will add up to $50,000 at most schools, which is a pretty good payment for an 18 year old college basketball player. Professional athletes in the D League don't make much more than that. Why should an 18 year old riding the pine at Creighton, or Texas Tech, or even Kentucky?

[southarkhog06]

Use the Baseball formula. If a kid has the Talent to go pro out of high school then he/she can, If he/she needs a year he can go to CC for a year, if he/she wants the benefits of going to a 4 year school for free then they know up front that they are an amateur for 3 years.

I would add that schools should have the option to give an additional stipend at the end of the year to players that play a certain number of snaps/minutes/innings against conference foes (I added the conference foes qualifier to prevent spamming minutes for non-core players in non-con.). If schools/coaches/agents/shoe companies still don't want to play by the rules then the FBI can stay involved in college sports for the forseeable future.

[husker71]

What was the book written by a student manager that brought down the NC State program.  I think at the beginning of each season the players would get 16 pairs of basketball shoes for the season.  Of course (just like I would do if I was broke) they went into the dorms and frats and guys were waiting to buy them at top price just to have.  Then the players would save like 4 pairs and when they wore out they would show the coaches and get another pair.  Nothing wrong with this IMHO