College athletes are slaves

The hubbub around Jim Tressels's failure to report that a few of his players sold memorabilia to get a tattoo illustrates the insanity that are NCAA rules. Coaches, administrators, and TV executives make millions of dollars by selling the talents of college athletes. The athletes get nothing. Yes, they get nothing. They use some of the crap they get for playing in a bowl game to get a tattoo and all hell breaks loose. They're not allowed to work during the school year. What are they supposed to do for money?

I know their tuition, room, and board are provided in exchange for their athletic skills, but they're not getting an education. The football and basketball teams that you see playing on TV are essentially minor league pro teams. Those players are not at school to get an education. They're there to perform on the field/court for full stadiums and living room big screens. They register for classes because the NCAA wants to preserve the pretext that they're "student-athletes." That charade undermines the mission of a university, assuming the university is about learning and education. If the school is interested in making money, then supporting minor league professional teams to bring in TV revenue makes perfect sense.

Schools like Ohio State are modern day gladiator schools. Gladiators were provided training, room, and board for the glory they brought their houses. Gladiators were also slaves. College athletes are modern day gladiators. They're also slaves. They willingly subject themselves to the arbitrary rule and whimsy of the NCAA in exchange for the opportunity to audition for a spot on a professional football or basketball team. A few make it big in the pros and make millions of dollars, but most end up right back where they started with lots of stories about the time the played on TV or in a famous bowl game. No degree, no prospects, nothing but stories of past athletic glories.

Of course, I'm writing this with the Big Sky conference championship game on TV. I have nothing against college athletics. Let's just drop the amateur pretense and admit that these kids are at Montana or Duke to play their sport first, party second, and attend classes third. Let them major in their sport and find a way to get them some money for their services.