NCAA Should Admit Its March Madness Players Are Professionals

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Marc,
Great article. I just wrote about the same issue and advocated giving college athletes the option to major in a sport or its coaching.
http://shortfirstparagraphs.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-college-majors-basketball-football.html
I plan to write a post that will advocate for paying them too and is based on some data I've compiled. Good job.

Tate of DC 6:31PM March 22, 2010

Marc hits the point 100%. It is a cruel and sick joke to call the NCAA anything but a professional league. Need proof? Look to the billions of dollars in revenues, the marketing agents, the NCAA games, the bowl games, and it goes on. The worst part is it is an organization of hypocrites who arbitrarily enforce rules without due process. It enacts laws in states for its own purposes. I need operations from college injuries and last spring walked across the field with 2 coaches who could hardly walk-injuries from college and neither played Pro. The responsibility rests with the NCAA.
http://twitter.com/RalphCindrich

Ralph E. Cindrich of PA 12:20PM March 18, 2010

And I use the term loosely. I agree with Marc. I heard some friends recently decrying the example at the University of Tennessee where several football players were arrested for robbery. "A disgrace" they said. "They're getting a free education" they cried. All true, but many of these kids, especially at Division I football and basketball powerhouses are recruited off the mean streets of America's cities. They arrive often in an idyllic setting foreign to them, trying to blend into the overall student body. It sounds good, but how do some of them go out for a pizza on Friday night? How can they take a friend to the movies? Or even get home for Thanksgiving? I don't defend repugnant behavior, legal or otherwise, but I can understand the frustration of college athletes who don't have even a subsistence level for daily life. They collectively bring in billions of dollars to their respective instituions and a mere pittance, crumbs as it were, are tossed their way. I suggest that each athlete be means-tested each year, much the same as those applying for financial aid, and at certain levels they should receive a stipend in order to had a chance at a 'normal' student life.

Walter Lamkin of MO 12:53PM March 16, 2010

I applaud Marc Isenberg for having the courage to suggest major changes to big-time college sports without resorting to the much more common holier-than-thou, it-has-to-be-pure perspective. Isenberg's point of view stems from a realistic assessment of the situation and a sincere attempt to protect the people who are most exploited by football and basketball factories that pay lip service to higher education. Isenberg's opinion and solution may not be the most popular, but it may be the most honest.

Brad Herzog of CA 3:42AM March 16, 2010