Saturday, May 31, 2003

There's an interesting article in the online edition of the New Haven Register about the state of big time college athletics, especially in light of this whole ACC/Big East squabble. In it is an interesting quote from John Spagnola, a former Philadelphia Eagles tight end who also happened to have gone to Yale:  "Every part of college football at the Division I-A level, I believe, is wrong," Spagnola said. "In terms of when they start the season, in terms of how many games they play, in terms of allowing freshmen to play. All of it, I think, is wrong. And this (the ACC attempt to splinter the Big East) is just sort of heaping that on. You start with a bad model and you say, ‘OK, let’s build on it.’ How can you expect fundamental change?" If they called big time college athletics what it really is, minor-league football and minor-league basketball, and removed the ficticious "association" with the local alma mater, would it still be such a draw? I say, since they're all a bunch of hypocrites anyway, pay the players. Why should the coaches make big bucks off of sneaker endorsements and the players get nothing? And don't give me that "scholarship" crap. Hell, after 4 years they don't even have a "college" education. File under From The Sports Desk. 2:46:48 PM