NCAA needs a life
Ted Fox
Fox Sports ... Almost
Get a life.
If I could sit down and tell the collective body known as the NCAA three words, those would be them.
St. John's men's head basketball coach Mike Jarvis Sr. went a little more in depth on Sunday: "I hope and pray I see the day when there is no NCAA and we are guided by the values system with which we were brought up on, that we fight for everyday in this country ... Enough is enough. It's time for a change."
What could cause a head coach to make such an uncharacteristic attack on the sport's governing body?
A ludicrous suspension, that's what.
Sophomore St. John's point guard Erick Barkley, the team's leading scorer with 17.1 points per game, has to serve a three-game suspension because, in the words of espn.com writer Andy Katz, he took an "extra benefit."
This "extra benefit" amounted to him trading his Jeep Grand Cherokee to a family friend he's known since high school in return for the friend's older Ford Expedition. No money was involved.
So let's get this straight: Barkley and a friend each owned a used car.
Apparently, each liked the other's car more than he liked his own. So Barkley said something to the effect of "Hey, even though your car's older than mine, I'd be willing to trade you because I want a bigger car."
And for that Erick Barkley needs to miss three of the remaining eight games.
Sound dumb? It is.
The NCAA's contention is that the friend could be acting as an agent for Barkley or that he got some sort of special privileges because he's an athlete, both violations of NCAA rules. Neither of these suspicions has been confirmed.
Furthermore, even if it could be established that a family friend —someone like your Uncle John or your trusted next door neighbor — was helping you look out for your future after college basketball, what's wrong with that?
If you're not an athlete, companies come right on campus in (gasp!) broad daylight and try to convince you to sign with them when you get out of college. I've even heard of seniors getting job offers (oh no!) during their senior year and signing to work with that company while they're still students.
Of course, the NCAA was set up to protect the players from people banging down their doors, trying to manipulate them and trying to manipulate amateur sports with money. Indeed, this is a noble goal and one for which the NCAA does serve a useful purpose.
However, we're not talking about point-shaving or giving guys a sack filled with money.
Heck, I want to be a professional sports writer someday. What if, for some reason, Troy Murphy and I order a pizza, and when it comes, he realizes he doesn't have enough cash on him to split the $10 tab. So I say, "Don't worry about it, you can get the next one," and pay for his pizza.
Am I a "friend of the program" now?
Am I helping to secure my sports-writing future by buying Troy Murphy pizza so he will be inclined to do an interview with me as opposed to someone else in a few years?
You may laugh, but the NCAA would probably say yes and slap Murphy with a suspension for taking an "extra benefit," just as a restaurant giving a player a complimentary meal is one of these deadly sins.
So to the NCAA: Don't punish friends for looking out for friends or people for doing what they please with their own property. Use some common sense and stop actions that threaten the integrity of the game and the players.
If you forget who you're there to serve, that's the true violation of the agreement.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not
necessarily those of The Observer.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, February 9, 2000
