But ALL the money made and spent developing players is in college. Best facilities. Best coaches. All of it. That's like saying "If you don't want to pay tuition to become an engineer, go learn it by yourself." Eventually you're going to begrudgingly take out the student loan. College football, in particular, has a…

1.) Fairness does not belong in this argument. It is defined differently for each person based on that individual's point of view and nothing else.

So the market value of each and every full-ride collegiate athlete is precisely no more and no less than a scholarship and attendant benefits? Johnny Football and a moderately recruited A&M linebacker are being adequately rewarded for their contributions to the A&M programme and to the NCAA product by being…

There it is; the most semi-sane argument. We're going to subvert all sense of economic fairness and keep the entertainers the only ones not getting a cut in an entertainment industry, just so fans can feel like there's a level playing field. I'll actually entertain this momentarily, recognizing that competitive…

Aside from noting that it was also done by Drexel University, the idea that they get enough with those other things is misguided. When a job requires someone to get training or travel, the employee is paid for those things and for the things that you wouldn't pay someone for, it's illegal to pay someone in perks.

My argument isn't about whether the athletes have value, though. It's that the position of amateurism is hopelessly naive and unsustainable. Unsustainable because athletic department budgets have doubled or in some cases tripled in the past decade and only 16 made money last year. Naive for reasons Barry points out in…

(how fucking appropriate, shield protecting The Shield)

And now we know Tim Burke was a professor — I guess it doesn't surprise me?

There's nothing a D-3 coach hates more than hearing a kid wants to be an engineer. If the kid isn't a sure thing to get into the school, most will be pushed towards a CJ or similar type major to avoid denied admission to the school. Once they (barely) get in the students are given the extra help, but in reality most…

I was a professor at a Division III college for four years, served on athletics committees, & even served as an NCAA liason. The reality is many, many, many of our students were enrolled to continue their high school sports careers. That's true for football, softball, soccer, anything. Kids who were big fish in small…

On the upside, Michael Lewis has already agreed to write a book about Hitner.

The man has his own wine, of course he had a few. He's Spurrier he can do whatever he wants and you better fuck'in like it.

I had a number of TNMT figures, including Pizzaface. But my favorite TMNT toy, and one of my favorite toys, period, was this guy:

For reasons I could not fathom, after the LA Riots in 1992, many African American folks came into the bookstore where I worked asking for William Cooper's Behold A Pale Horse . We didn't ever carry it while I was there but much later I glanced at it and learned more about its author. For no clear reason the book has…

Check out Destination: Planet Negro!, a satire of 1950's sci-fi films directed by Kevin Willmott (who also directed the alt-history Sundance hit and io9 fave CSA: Confederate States of America.) It's on the film-festival circuit now.

This isn't about a prescription, it's about formal approval from the league office. People shift medications all the time, and the idea that he would switch from one ADHD medication to another due to ineffectiveness isn't ludicrous. Getting a new prescription and then forgetting to file the paperwork with the league…

Schadenfreude ist die shönste freude.

Should I hate him? There's just something about him. Something around the eyes, I don't know, reminds me of... me.

Goddamnit. Somebody is going to pay for this. Not the NCAA or colleges, obviously, but somebody...