Comments on: "The NCAA makes its own rules and can do what it wants to do"

By: The NCAA may rethink their preposterous rules regarding amateurs and agents | HardballTalk

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 18:07:20 +0000

[...] the NCAA was going to get reamed — the settlement was hastily reached. More recently was the case of James Paxton and the University of Kentucky, where Paxton’s advisor was told by the UK athletic director [...]

By: Bob R.

Bob R. — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 07:00:50 +0000

I cannot imagine how any agency can legally prohibit someone from seeking professional advice. No matter the reason, it is unconscionable to tell someone he will be questioned but cannot know why or with what possible consequences and cannot be assisted by anyone as to his rights or responsibilities.
I also have some tangential and probably nitpicky questions:
1. What if the student’s parents are lawyers or agents? Must he avoid meeting with them or be suspended from the team?
2. What if a student’s parents hire a lawyer or agent to advise them, and the student never meets with the lawyer or agent?
3. What if the student’s parents have a lawyer on retainer for general issues unrelated to sports eligibility or signings but in their private consultations discuss such issues?
One can go on and on. And perhaps the rules are specific as to what constitutes a violation in such a way that these questions are irrelevant. But regardless, the NCAA is truly evil, and what makes it worse is that they claim the high ground of protecting the integrity of the programs while being willing to limit or even ruin individual’s careers in the interest of maintaining the money flow.

By: JERRY TARKANIAN THE SHARK

JERRY TARKANIAN THE SHARK — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:57:05 +0000

I BET IF THE AGENTS AND LAWYERS GAVE THE NCAA SOME
MONEY THEY WOULD LET THEM TALK TO THE PLAYERS……….

By: JK

JK — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:43:34 +0000

I think the sad part is that this and the Oliver case are not more public. It’s sad the only place you hear about these stories (outside of probably local markets) is through blogs. How many student athletes will continue to be pushed around, because they haven’t heard of either of these cases?

By: Richie

Richie — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:41:50 +0000

Keep up the lawyerin’ talk, Craig! You really have a niche there and can provide insight that other baseball insiders can’t!

By: Ross

Ross — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:32:49 +0000

Idealistic view: Many of those “sports agents” are really just con artists, and the NCAA is protecting the students from the seedier elements of the sports agent business.
Cynical view: As you mentioned, they don’t want the agents crawling around campus taking their players and generally inconveniencing the schools sources of revenue.
Realistic view: Somewhere in the middle lies the truth. The schools’ major source of revenue is sports, and they have to protect that (and the BCS should still die in a fire, but I digress). At the same time, some of these kids get taken to the cleaners by liars and cheats, but there shouldn’t be any issue with consulting 2-3 respected (and unbiased, if that’s possible) lawyers/agents to try and get a realistic view of what the future holds. They’re still kids when it comes to these kinds of matters. They can understand money in the every day sense, but this is potential millions with all the good and bad that comes with that. *Someone* with experience should be counselling these guys about their futures and help them explain their options. The NCAA’s rules are not generally written in the best interests of the students.

By: Craig Calcaterra

Craig Calcaterra — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:32:19 +0000

TCM: I have no idea. I’m convinced that the NCAA is simply pathological when it comes to these things. They’ve always said This is So, so it shall always be. More cynical answer: they worry that student athletes talking to lawyers is the first step towards student athletes organizing and maybe challenging the NCAA in other matters one day, and they simply can’t have that.
Matt: You can take the boy out of the law, but you can’t take the law out of the boy.

By: Matt @ Fack Youk

Matt @ Fack Youk — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:28:03 +0000

And I thought you were done with your lawyering Craig.
“Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in!”

By: The Common Man

The Common Man — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:15:48 +0000

Also, Craig, do you have any insight into why the NCAA is willing to go to bat for this policy? Maybe this is obvious and I’m missing it, but what is the harm to the NCAA in allowing players to talk to agents? Assuming the NCAA doesn’t want agents crawling around campuses and competing for clients, could a provision preventing players from talking to agents during the season or on a college campus fly? I’m just trying to understand the intransigence here.

By: The Common Man

The Common Man — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:09:11 +0000

You know, for as little as I like the star culture surrounding athletes and athletics at almost all levels of competition, I think we always have to remind ourselves that most of these young athletes are basically still kids, particularly in comparison to the pro sports executives, agents, lawyers, and “amateur” governing bodies who attempt to bargain with, manipulate, and bully them.
May a plague of locusts befall the NCAA headquarters for their strong-arming tactics against very young men who they won’t allow to have the legal counsel our laws say they are entitled to. Shame on the NCAA.

By: themarksmith

themarksmith — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:42:10 +0000

As a Wildcat, I just don’t know what to say. But I’d like to take the time to blame the Toronto Blue Jays for being the morons who passed on signing Paxton in the first place. If they had just done the intelligent thing, none of this needed to happen.