Last Saturday night, I watched in awe and admiration of the effort put up by the UNC Tar Heel football team against a foe (LSU) who I thought was already the more talented team out there. They stood tall against LSU with thirteen of their best players suspended and almost capped off a miraculous comeback to win the game. Of course, we can debate Les Miles and LSU's philosophy on this all day, but that is not the point. Just imagine if UNC had even some of its players for that game. Could they have won? Sure they could have. Yet, we will never know.
This weekend, South Carolina and Georgia will battle it out in Columbia in what should be another fierce duel between these rivals. Besides trying to unseat Florida in the East, these two schools have something else in common. They are both waitng for rulings by the NCAA that will determine the eligibility of some
of their players. Understand, especially in the case of A.J. Green for Georgia, these players being on the field could make or break the Eastern division race this year.
While the A.J. Green story seems to have shifted to the illegal selling of a jersey, it all started with the infamous party in Miami to determine whether or not he was there. This is the same agent-party that cost UNC, hurt Alabama, and is keeping South Carolina on hold. Also, Florida is still waitng to hear back on Maurkice Pouncy and his issue. Combine this with Reggie Bush and other other related issues, and we have a serious problem. That problem involves AGENTS, or to use a "Sabanism," "pimps."
However you want to spell it out, we have a problem with these kids and agents. No matter how hard schools try, agents and runners still get though to these athletes. It not only costs the athlete, but the whole team and university for many years to come as USC just found out in the harshest fashion. So, it naturally begs the question: "What can be done to halt this?"
My solution is rather simple. The NFL and NBA need to step it up and help the universities with this problem. If they won't voluntarily do it, then the NCAA needs to make them. Nick Saban and Urban Meyer had the right idea: ban scouts from practice. Yet, this does not work on a school-by-school basis. In fact, it hurts recruiting. However, the NCAA could make it nationwide and apply to all schools like so many other rules. That would accomplish something I am sure.
Still, the big steps are going to have to be taken by the NFL and NBA. They need to realize that they have something to lose here and that it is within their best interests to help these kids. To me, a good place to start would be fining all of the players who cause schools to have punishments levied against them. I think a million dollars sent to the school for every game retroactively forfeited would help. To use the Reggie Bush example, he would owe USC about fourteen or fifteen million dollars as punishment or risk being banned from the NFL in every way. I think that would get the attention of both NFL and NBA players. Hitting people in the wallets always works.
Now, the harshest punishment should be reserved for the agents and runners who are responsible for initiating all of this crap. I think a lifetime ban from those respective leagues would serve as a just punishment for breaking the rules. In other professions, people would lose their ability to practice for such infractions and unethical behavior.
Either way you look at it, the NFL and NBA will have to step up here. This should not fall soley on the kids and universities. I feel bad for USC players in basketball and football now. Most were still in middle school and early high school when all of this went down. Now they can't even go to postseason for two years because of what Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo did. Hell, I would fine Reggie Bush anyway because it appears his biggest concern is losing the Heisman, not the feelings and devastation felt by all those players and coaches he let down.
So what do you think? What can be done on this issue?
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