College, contrary to popular belief, is a lot like jail, especially for the NCAA athlete. Finally, University of North Carolina junior Rashad McCants had the courage to voice his opinion and let the world in on a dirty little secret only known to those involved in college athletics. Of all the perks of being a big-time college athlete, there are numerous drawbacks that are never taken into account. In many schools athletes are brought in for the sole purpose of winning games and their lives circulate around that: lifting in the morning, practicing in the afternoon and having team meetings at night. Sports dominate their lives, and even the kid with the biggest sweet tooth will eventually get a tummy ache.
That athletes do not get the chance to live a normal college lifestyle is rarely considered. Although their time is not completely restricted, it is obviously harder for athletes to join student clubs or expand their world beyond their team. Going abroad is something college athletes likely won’t consider until their only option to play professionally occurs outside the U.S. For all the hype and preferential treatment college athletes receive, there are drawbacks that often leave the athletes with the short end of a billion-dollar stick. Recently, the NCAA has recently been running commercials that suggest most athletes are truly in college to learn, saying that “almost all will be turning pro in something other than sports.” This seems fair enough, until you consider CBS’ $6 billion deal to show the NCAA Final Four and millions more coming from broadcasting bowl games. All of this money is based on showcasing student athletes as a product; money, it is worth noting, that will never be made available to the student athletes as payment for their services. This all makes the fact that student athletes are not allowed to have jobs that much more outrageous. Nonetheless playing for a team like North Carolina is quite an honor. Yet it carries with it the burden of being under a constant microscope: a program buried in tradition, countless adoring fans, the national media’s relentless attention and then all the aforementioned rigors of being a student-athlete. Under these circumstances it winds up being pretty hard to do as you want, like so many normal students. So although McCants’ time at Chapel Hill is probably not quite as bad as jail, it is strangely similar to a halfway house.
