Here's a snippet from a chat (ESPN Insider subscription required to view) that the ESPN reporter who uncovered the payments to O.J. Mayo did yesterday on ESPN.com. Notice how she avoids discussing the thrust of the question and instead focuses only on his characterization that this episode is a "non-story".
shane, huntsville alabama: I like that it's perfectly allright for everyone involved in amateur athletics to make money off of it (Coaches, Universities, Conferences, the NCAA, etc) except the players. This is a nonstory.
Kelly Naqi: It's not a non-story if you're breaking NCAA rules and using a credit card that represents a sickle cell foundation charity to give clothing, meals, and electronics to a star college athlete. If you're going to play at an NCAA member institution, you must abide by the rules of the NCAA.
Not to get all Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. on everyone here, but what moral obligation do O.J. Mayo and other college athletes have to obey unjust rules? As Shane from Huntsville, Alabama points out, everyone involved in major college athletics makes money from it except for the people who matter most, the athletes themselves.
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oj mayo is no jean valjean- he's not stealing bread to feed his family. while i agree with your general sentiments about the NCAA exploiting student athletes, i do feel that as long as there are rules, they need to be adhered to.
if individuals were left to determine the justness of rules themselves, society would be utter chaos. oj mayo taking cash is not the same as rosa parks riding in the front seat. if OJ wants to channel his inner rosa, he needs to take the scholarship, go to class, and refuse to play. (one problem with this issue is that because of the NBA's stupid new rule about draftees needing one year after high school before playing, kids are forced into getting into these situations in the first place)
large universities are completely dependent on the finances of D-1 athletics now; there is no way change in the system can come from within. it needs to come from outside, either the media or *gasp* the government, with pressure to stop the corruption of student athletes by allowing them some sort of financial gain.
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