Myrr remains on ignore for the most part, so I really won't comment on his response..
Baker, on other hand, raises several interesting points, many of which I also agree with, but....
I have no problem at all, and in fact, actually go beyond seriously encouraging requirements that athletes in lower levels (K-12 schools) be required to meet minimum academic standards in order to be eligible to play. I don't even have a problem in continuing that same general theme into the College years. The issue becomes one where athletes are being used by the colleges and universities, and no attempt by the likes of Miles Brand will change that.
The athletes are used by the colleges, but they also use the colleges and universities. They get valuable time and space in those institutions, and they could be taking up space and money that might be better used for those academic scholarships Baker and I might prefer. I understand that, and wish that were the case, but I'm also a realist and know that as an example if the Basketball program at a place like University of Maryland at College Park is successful, it is able to generate revenues that helps provide for many other sports, and much more beyond the sporting world. If a university or college has a successful Football and Basketball program, then it generates large sums of money for that institution, and that money is used in countless ways within that system.
Getting back to my original point, much like many liberal ideas, ones where someone spots an obvious problem, and tries to institute a solution to the problem through regulation and reform, the solution that is being tried here seems wrong to me. If the scholarships were converted to academic ones, that would be great in my book, but in reality the scholarships are going to be gone completely, with the institutions crying that they can't service the deserving targets that the money was designated for. They'll say that the money was donated by individuals that specified that the funds go only to athletic programs, or use similar excuses and continue to ignore the needs of students.
I know a lot of cheating goes on in the student athletic world. Cheating by the institutions, by the students/athletes, and more. Mostly because of the pile of money that is involved. It's sad and disgusting, but it's what happens when there is a profit motive for the institutions.
Circling back around, I just don't see the proposed solution that the NCAA is headed towards really fixing the problem. Instead, I think it will just make things worse all around, as eventually it lowers the quality of the athletics, which will draw down support of those programs, which sucks money away from the schools, etc. The law of unintended consequences will eventually catch up here and show these proposed solutions as the frauds they are.
