The NCAA has finally woken up

All my life I have debated whether or not college athletes should be paid. I have argued both sides of the spectrum and, in my humble opinion, I don't think that NCAA players should be paid, but rather they should be able to use their name, image, and likeness (NIL) in order to receive compensation for their effort towards collegiate athletics.

Think about it, over 460,000 athletes across all sports in all three divisions of collegiate competition... there is no way to prove how much each individual athlete's salary would be and a good way to justify it. Let's face the facts, some sports are in the red at the end of the season. Other than football or basketball at most schools, it is true that the majority of the other teams don't generate a profit for the school. So seeing how much a 2007 Tim Tebow would make versus a random college rower... doesn't make sense. One player generated potentially millions of dollars for the sport, while one costed the university money in terms of travel, uniforms, etc. I am not saying that Tim Tebow tried harder than a college athlete who doesn't compete in basketball or football, I am just saying the reality is that fans watch football and basketball, and other than relatives of athletes, I have never heard of anyone attending the NCAA Rowing championships...

Now, on the other hand, we have all heard the stories of athletes who were allowed to accept a Bagel from a donor or a coach but not allowed to accept the cream cheese because that is illegal in the eyes of the NCAA. Imagine this: T. Boone Pickens offers you a Bagel and cream cheese, and Mark Emmert suspends you for 6 games of your season because it violates the rules. WHAT A J O K E. It seriously makes no sense. EVEN IF THE DAMN CREAM CHEESE DOESN'T MAKE IT TO YOUR TASTEBUDS IT WAS ILLEGAL. It makes absolutely zero sense. You go out there and put on an amazing performance in the NCAA Playoff or the NCAA tournament while Mark Emmert sits, watches, and collects millions of dollars that should be yours, and he takes cream cheese away from you? Horse shit.

Today is a good day for the NCAA. They finally allow for student athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness. Not to be too heavy on Oklahoma State examples today, but lets take a look at the number one college basketball prospect last season in Cade Cunningham. An athlete like this made my university millions of dollars. Shit, there was probably a kid who was such a big Cade Cunningham or basketball fan that he literally made his college decision on following Cade Cunningham so he could watch him for one season. Cade was a great athlete on a semi-decent team, and as said previously, generated millions of dollars in viewership throughout the season and definitely throughout the NCAA tournament. What did he get? Some cool social media posts? Some free shirts that have Pistol Pete on them.... Someone who is about to get drafted number one overall and sign a multi million dollar contract isn't enticed or excited about a free pair of sweat pants.

Imagine all of the cool stuff that could've previously come from college athletes if they were allowed to make money off of NIL.

What if Johnny Manziel had a podcast that talked about what it was like being a sex and drug addicted number one athlete in the most popular sport in the NCAA?

What if Zion Williamson had custom Nikes (that didn't completely break on him during the game)?

What if Deion Sanders was able to go on a radio show once a week and talk about what it is like to literally dominate any WR in the late 80s and get paid to do it?

All these questions could've been answered and thankfully, our children will know how cool it is to posses a college basketball/football uniform that has a player's name on the back of it... something we couldn't previously have.

Mark Emmert, you son of a gun, you made me write a blog that was positive about you.