The NCAA loves to espouse academics and will parade it out or hide behind it at the first sign of trouble. Truth being told when it comes to academics the graduation rates of the "student athletes" is extremely low. Especially for the players who come from the top programs. Overall and there is some debate with the statistics, but ESPN reports grad rates at 69% for Division I football. You can see where all the schools individually rank at Scout.com. For reference this year's current college #1 ranked team, Oklahoma, is at an embarrassing 45% graduation rate. When comparing the racial divide between graduation rates of whites to blacks the numbers are even worse. 59% was the graduation rate from last years champion, Auburn. However 94% of Caucasian players graduated compared to the 48% of African Americans. That's a -46% difference! So you better hope these kids have a chance at the NFL, right?? Yeah, hmmm, well at least 90% of the 2500 Division I football players that run out of eligibility never play a single down in the NFL according to this ESPN article. The article is full of NCAA hypocrisy and is a must read. NFL has been known to stand for "Not For Long" and most players don't even make it to "full career" of 5 years. If that isn't enough information for you the Huffington Post does a good job exposing some of the questionable data that NCAA puts together in its statistics about student athlete academics.
Now that we've proven the sham of NCAA Student Athlete academics. The NCAA likes to play upon most of our fond memories of college that most of us share. They constantly talk up tradition and the spirit of history. I love history! Well guess what? The NCAA could really care less with their most recent antics. They have been turning a blind eye to conference realignment for the sake billion dollar TV contracts that the players will never see a dime of. Rose Bowl champion Texas Christian University, TCU will be playing sports in the Big East Conference?!?! Texas A&M is looking to jump ship to South East Conference, SEC. Oklahoma & Oklahoma State are contemplating a jump to the already crowded PAC-12. Why? For the TV contracts of course! Guess what if you are player in one of the big powerhouse schools if you accept any form of payment or trade you are suspended or kicked out of the league. The latest (ESPN) is the star quarterback, Terrell Pryor, from Ohio State was suspended and forced to try the NFL because he received a couple hundred dollars and some tattoos for signing his own jersey of the school he plays for! Meanwhile one injury could've ended his career and his earning potential. He would have little to show for it. However the school would have made 10s of millions on TV contracts, tickets sales, video game sales, memorabilia, etc. I don't have time to rant about the coaches who make millions in the face of their unpaid players....
The more I have looked into it, the more disenfranchised I have become of big time college sports. Worse is I hate the rank hypocrisy that is thrown in your face as a sports fan. And I am a huge sports fan. I am as big of a capitalist as any out there and don't have any problem with any coach or school making money. When you use the government and "non-profit" institutions to manipulate & oppress others so they can't get the same opportunity that's when I have a problem! One of the reasons I am a sports fan and a capitalist at heart is I love competition. However there isn't a level playing field for those that risk it all, the kids/students/players. So let's call the situation what it really is: SLAVERY. South Park doesn't pull any punches when it mocks the whole sham. Enjoy and remember careful what you support when you spend your money and time watching collegiate athletics.
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