Will Blazer's Comments Get Any Traction (about Bama football)?

NationalTitles18

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Another solution: NBA and NFL create a "minor league" that HS players can go straight into, just like baseball. I may be wrong but, you don't hear about this stuff in college baseball. Probably because the top prospects are not forced to go to college if they don't want too, they can jump right into the minors and earn some money (not much, I know but, it's something).

As longs as college football and basketball are a road block to the pros, you are going to have pay for play scandals. There is too much money to be made and these players are too valuable for "amateur" sports.
I agree with players being allowed to go straight to the pros but that is a pro rule (though the colleges love and likely pushed for those rules).

That's pandora's box though.

Amateurism will not and can not end entirely. From little kids, to high school, amateur sports have to exist because almost all are not in any way profitable. They can't pay these kids to do something that isn't worth any money, that in fact requires outside money.

Alabama athletics had something like 30 million donated to it for the last year I saw. How much did any professional franchise get donated to it? I'm guessing nothing like that. If you break down the amateur model and then replace it with a professional one, you'll find that the entire enterprise is on shaky footing. It will have less funding (because who after all donates money to professionals), and yet be spending more money. Then you are getting closer to the same semi-pro model that sunk every football league that's tried it since the 60s.

It might make sense by itself, but it's a round hole square peg scenario. Once you get into the details it becomes one big giant mess, and could basically destroy the sport entirely (I know some Big 10 people are on record as saying they'd drop sports before they did this).

I think more should be provided for the athletes, I'm good with that. Stipends and such, in fact the total money spent on them already rivals what semi-pros make. But there's a chemistry at this point that is very delicate.

It also needs to be mentioned that a lot of college programs are losing money as it is...
Just let them make money off their own name and likeness. It really is that simple.


If you look up the history of amateurism it is not a pretty picture. This "noble" thing called amateurism was never noble from the start. It was, in large part, begun to keep out certain types.

A stipend and the ability to make money off your own likeness would do.

Scholars are allowed to both get stipends and to make money in their field while in school. This is an important point because athletes are singled out against the rest of the student body and are prohibited from doing what any other student can do. This is not in any way fair when student-athletes are supposedly no different (we all know they are different in any case).

Athletes also cannot work a part time job to make a few bucks. I'm not sure if it's outright against any rule but realistically it's not possible anyway. Their time and effort devoted to athletics should be compensated if the money is there. For the big schools, it is there. The small school can keep up the charade or fold their tents. I really don't care. It's entirely up to them.

When I talk about being paid I'm talking about a stipend similar to what a scholarshipped student might receive for teaching a class or just for being on scholarship. If it's good enough for the student body at large, it's good enough for athletes.

Same goes for making money on their likeness. Bonus: NCAA Football comes back from the dead with this rule. Make a deal for a flat fee for every athlete. Allow them to run a youtube channel or sell their autograph. I could have done any of this as a student at Alabama. I'd still be just as poor, but I could have done it without penalty.

None of this would mean the end of college athletics as we know it, but college athletics would be more open and honest than today.

Former Bama assistant Yasir Rosemond was also on tape today making similar comments. Not great.
Ugh.
 

crimsonaudio

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Since the bball story first broke on this about a year ago I've been borderline giddy about it - if things keep coming out as I anticipate, the NCAA will have to either completely ignore it and hope people just forget or they've have to essentially self immolate. IOW, admit they're enforcement is a farce or do what the rules say and destroy themselves in the process.

Those who know me know I'm hoping for the latter but realize that since they make 90% of their money off college bball, they won't really harm it too much. And if they go after the football programs, the schools might just decide they've had enough and do what they should've done 30 years ago and start their own thing, sans NCAA.

Either way, this hurts the NCAA, which pleases me to no end. The Boz was right.
 
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RTR91

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Since the bball story first broke on this about a year ago I've been borderline giddy about it - if things keep coming out as I anticipate, the NCAA will have to either completely ignore it and hope people just forget or they've have to essentially self immolate. IOW, admit they're enforcement is a farce or do what the rules say and destroy themselves in the process.

Those who know me know I'm hoping for the latter but realize that since they make 90% of their money off college bball, they won't really harm it too much. And if they go after the football programs, the schools might just decide they've had enough and do what they should've done 30 years ago and start their own thing, sans NCAA.

Either way, this hurts the NCAA, which pleases me to no end. The Boz was right.
As more comes out, I don't expect the NCAA to punish the programs. Maybe the coaches, but they can't punish all of the programs because this is including even the mid-majors.

*But* if they punish the coaches, they will end up punishing the schools, too.
 

crimsonaudio

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As more comes out, I don't expect the NCAA to punish the programs. Maybe the coaches, but they can't punish all of the programs because this is including even the mid-majors.

*But* if they punish the coaches, they will end up punishing the schools, too.
Yah, I just don't think they will unless they can prove there is a direct connection - coaching staff helping, etc.

Beyond that, basketball is the golden calf for the NCAA, accounting for some 90% of their annual revenue. They might take on one or two schools, but that's about it. They don't want to mess up a $900 million per year cash cow.
 

bamaga

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Former Bama assistant Yasir Rosemond was also on tape today making similar comments. Not great.
True, it’s not good, but he didn’t implicate the football program like Steve Smith of Clemson.

According to Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, who is also covering the trial, Rosemond was videotaped at a meeting in Las Vegas telling Dawkins and Blazer “whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it,” in terms of recruiting resources. Rosemond did not receive any money at the meeting, per Wetzel’s report.
 

Tideflyer

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IMHO, the longer this stays at or near the top of the message boards the greater the chances that the NCAA will begin to feel that they`ll just have to start digging. Somewhere.
 

KrAzY3

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IMHO, the longer this stays at or near the top of the message boards the greater the chances that the NCAA will begin to feel that they`ll just have to start digging. Somewhere.
The NCAA has their hands full with this. They have coaches openly admitting to paying players. If they don't figure out how to make this all go away they'll start there.

In the past the NCAA spent a lot of money to go after specific programs. Now? We're seeing Alabama, USC, Clemson, Notre Dame, UNC, Duke (huge basketball brands, which is the NCAA's main source of revenue), we're seeing the biggest names being brought up. The NCAA is probably going to end up making this about the coaches, and they should. This shouldn't be about players who in some cases didn't even get any money (families being paid) or outside people not even associated with the university, the guys the NCAA can go after are the coaches involved in this, and they're not going to want to try to destroy some of their most valuable brands. So, coaches are going to be the easy targets here.

This doesn't mean Alabama isn't going to get caught up in all of this, but Alabama isn't like Auburn or LSU where they kind of stonewalled the NCAA. Alabama complied, and hasn't been implicated in the most damaging aspects. The NCAA will know where to start, but even programs like LSU probably get off light, but the coaches might find it is years before they're allowed to coach college ball again.
 
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