In this week’s edition of ESPN’s The Magazine, former Ohio State running back, Maurice Clarett, speaks about the rampant NCAA abuses that led to his suspension this year. Deciding that he was being portrayed poorly to NFL GM’s on account of what were believed to be his wrong-doings, Clarett wanted to clear the air. What he has done is more than clear the air around his own name. Clarett also cleared the air of mystique around NCAA athletics.
Remember 1993’s The Program when Alvin Mack tells Darnell Jefferson, “As long as you don’t do anything they can’t cover you for, they’re gonna keep you eligible.” Later in the movie Alvin will take the money Darnell receives from boosters, “until you’re ready for it.” When the movie was released, it was billed as an inside look into the high-octane world of college football. What we were supposed to laugh at as little more than fictitious indulgence has turned out to be so laughable because of its degree of non-fictitious idiocy.
There is no reason to presume that every DI football program is run as poorly as Ohio State’s, but to deny that what happened is more than common would be short-sighted. If Ohio State is one of 11 teams in the Big Ten running a dirty program, would it be ridiculous to think that West Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Colorado and Oregon-that’s one school per major conference-are not playing fair either. For their parts, Georgia already had Harrick Jr.-gate, and Oregon was called out for their “use” of campus hotties on football visits. Factor in what may or may not have happened at Colorado, and Clarett’s allegations come at a horrible time in college athletics. Unless of course, you’re on the side that doesn’t care.
No matter how many blemishes the NCAA may take, the fact remains that theirs is still a remarkably sellable product, and a product it is and nothing more. As long as $15 million is given to a team playing in a BCS Bowl, a coach like Jim Tressel at Ohio State, a frickin’ state employee making $1.8 million, will be free to do what ever he can to exploit these young men. It’s wrong and it needs to stop.
