In the town of Dillon, Texas, when Friday night rolls around, everything but the high school is closed. If you’re not in the stands of the football field, then you’re either in cleats and shoulder pads or laying in the hospital dying. As a matter of fact, the same goes on Saturdays for almost the whole state of Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, or any state that takes pride in their college football teams. There are over two hundred division 1 college football teams in the United States, about 15,400 starting divisional football players, and not one of them gets paid to play.
When my friend Hunter was growing up, every Saturday he’d watch the Texas Tech football games and dream of being just like Zach Thomas. He went on to be a Miami Dolphins fan when Mr. Thomas was drafted and will always be a fan of him and the teams he played for. Now, Hunter is an assistant coach at a high school and will make a career of it. Someday, maybe his son will even go on to play ball for Texas Tech. Mr. Thomas was a role model to him and many others, possibly even more than many NFL players at the time. J.J Redick was named best athlete in just about everybody’s book while he was playing basketball at Duke. His Wikipedia has about twice the amount of information and statistics under College Career than it does under Professional Career. Some of the information is that he was the all time scoringnleader at Duke and the thirteenth player to have his number retired at Duke. College is one of the most universal achievable dreams out there for kids. Athletics are the one thing that you can grow up watching from a college. Kids can go to games, but they can’t go to a science lab or dance class.
Up until June of this year, Reggie Bush, the 2005 Heisman Trophy Winner, and the University of Southern California were a very positive influence on many people. After a four year investigation, the NCAA imposed a public humiliation against the school and the Heisman Trophy winner. The school lost thirty football scholarships over three years, two year eligibility for post-season games, and all of Reggie Bush’s wins, including what would have been the school’s seventh Heisman winner. This all occurred because of people who the NCAA call “boosters.” Boosters are people who give gifts such as cars, payments, or other material items to college athletes. The Booster club organization is usually made up of parents or alumni who attended a college and pay the athletes to go to their school. Many boosters start contacting students in high school and in a way act as ‘recruiters’ for their school. It is a violation of NCAA rules for any athlete to receive anything from anybody such as a booster. Not only did USC lose all of their titles and awards, but they have lost so much money because of this one silly rule. They will have lost money from the bowl games that they would have attended, prospective students who are scared to attend, prospective athletes who can’t afford the tuition, plus anybody who is no longer a fan who will stop buying tickets, memorabilia, and merchandise. If you think about it, the Booster Club Organization is just like a scholarship program. Anybody can receive an academic scholarship or grants and use them for tuition or cost of living expenses, so why can’t athletes? Mr. Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy are two of the most kind hearted people there are. In 2004, they adopted Micheal Oher and took him in like their own son. The NCAA made them out to be monsters. When Oher was in high school he played football and by the time he was a senior he had recuiters at the Touhy’s door from all over the country. He met with every college, but when he decided to choose Ole Miss, the NCAA investigated. The Touhy’s were alumni of Ole Miss and Hugh Freeze, the head coach of Oher’s high school team, was hired by Ole Miss twenty days after Oher signed his letter of agreement. Eventually they concluded that the Touhy’s had not violated any NCAA rules, but they did penalize Mr. Freeze. Micheal Oher’s story is truly remarkable and the only thing I could see coming out of an investigation would be trying to put a negative spin on everything positive. Nothing good came out of Mr. Bush’s situation and nothing will ever be positive about an athlete being punished for accepting gifts. It doesn’t solve any problems, it is a problem that could easily go away if only college athletes were paid.
When you go to a college sporting event, you pay for your ticket, you might buy a hot dog and a soda, maybe your favorite player’s jersey, and probably a program. Do you know where all of that money is going? Well you’d think that at least some of the ticket cost and jersey profit would go to the athletes right? You bought Tim Tebow’s jersey, so the profit goes to him. Think again. An average ticket to a Texas Longhorns game is $75.00. The seating capacity at their stadium is 100,000 people. So, every year the Texas Longhorns bring in about $90,000,000 just in ticket sales! The head coach Mack Brown makes about $5,100,000. It makes absolutely no sense that if they bring in money for their school that they’re not allowed to have any of it. People argue that the athletes are in fact students first, and athletes second. But I would have to differ. As a matter of fact, athletes have to get to school early to register to make sure that their classes don’t interfere with their practices. Then, for a whole month before school even starts, they are in practice. Once classes start, their whole life is school and football. They have classes, practices, and meetings during the week. Then if they’re lucky the game is home on Saturday. If not, they have to travel too. They don’t get holidays off like other students. Most other students have time to manage at least a part time job, but athletes have no other source of income.
There is no reason why college athletes shouldn’t be paid. Logically, it just makes more sense for them to receive something for all of their hard work. They give back to the community every day. I don’t know where my friend Hunter would be right now, if Zach Thomas couldn’t afford to go to college and play football.
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