Unfortunately, we now live in an age where if your last name is on the back of a shirt you are immediately entitled to enough money to afford a Lambo. And apparently, the word 'amateur' is used to describe 12-16 year olds exclusively. With the recent COA article, I just needed to take a moment to #rant.

First and foremost, I consider myself to be in the heavy minority regarding the issue. Having taken countless hours of Sports Law and administration classes, it was made very apparent early to me that player payment cases are a total sham. I also find it amazing how college degrees are becoming more and more of a requirement in the working society today, and that you could never tell by looking at collegiate athletes. Call me old school, or call me jealous, whatever. THE KIDS ARE DOING ALRIGHT.

I may be young, but I'm a realist. The more money you give players, the more opportunities you give them to screw up. You know who wouldn't be a part of a bar fight/drug incident/legal scuffle/etc.? The kid who doesn't have any money, has to study for his biology exam that day, and be prepared for two-a-days tomorrow morning. Give players free housing, food, and everything it takes to pass classes, and that is what you owe them. Financially, that accounts for over $1,000 per month, per player. And doesn't even begin to account for student debt and the opportunity cost not lost by the player for receiving a great job upon graduation. To ask for anything more, via the player's union, would just be irresponsible and selfish.

I'll never forget what one of my sport-law professors said on the very first day of the semester, near ver batum: "When dealing with athletes just remember, they are pompous, they are entitled, and they're not used to hearing no." There were UNC basketball players sitting in the front row feeling some glares. But she was right, the only reason that the COA is even an issue is because Ed O'Bannon saw his mediocre ass in a video game and didn't understand the meaning of appropriation. Ed did nothing to help make that video game, did nothing to write the code or create the physics engine, but requests money. Why? Because he was the subject of a money-making product. IMO he shouldn't be entitled to shit. In the art world, that's called appropriation. And people have been making millions in this way for a longgg time. See anything that Andy Warhol ever did, you think he had to pay Campbell Soup? Shit no!! It was free advertising! 

Some players claim that D1 football is a full-time job that deserves pay. So that's not supposed to include you living for free and being a campus rockstar? Would you just be laying on the couch 24/7 if it weren't for football?? Look, nobody is doubting the commitment it takes to keep afloat in a D1 program. But it's also pretty hard to get by as a regular college student, paying your own way and working two jobs to do so. And like I said before, where would these kids be if it weren't for collegiate athletics?? It's doubtful they would have the same support system and resources to be successful throughout life. The structure and (again, honest) the occupation of time that athletics provides takes away a lot of the opportunities kids have to ruin their lives. Why do they need an extra $500 a month to spend on things that no regular college student has, when they're already going to school for free? (Well because the NCAA didn't plan on collegiate football becoming a billion dollar industry.)

Now the players are doing the programs more of a favor by going there than the schools are doing for the players. It's completely backwards from what the founding idea behind collegiate athletics was. The programs are supposed to be rewarding the players, not the other way around. Perception now has it that players are rewarding the programs with their services, provoking the development of an even more entitled mindset. The NCAA needs to put their foot down and standardize this shit before it gets out of hand. I don't even really wanna discuss the issues that program autonomy give rise to. It's bad enough on the player-institution level, much less on an inter-institutional level.

Maybe this wouldn't personally bother me as much if I weren't a recent college student who became used to living on $200 a month (substances included).

But the whole situation is just... fucky.