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Message: [QUOTE="reedny, post: 3118521, member: 1423"] Agree. While I have many problems with the way the NCAA does business, especially the lucre siphoned off by big money pseudo- schools, turning college sports into free agency for a relatively small number of athletes with "market value" would destroy amateur athletics. It would eviscerate the system for a few, at the expense of the vast majority of student-athletes who play for an education and the love of the sport. It's the main reason fans (like me) enjoy (legitimate) college rivalries . . . precisely because the players are [I]students[/I]. The exceptional ones use college to showcase their talents and get media exposure - so even for them it's not the one-way street that people are making it out to be - even without considering the value of a college education. The most frequently-cited claims I've heard in support of college free-agency are: 1) schools should share the revenue they "make" off athletes (without any calculation of the education they're receiving); and 2) kids are already cheating anyway. These are bogus arguments. First of all, most of the "value" is in the team - the name of the college and the fans and alums who follow it - not any one athlete outside of a few Zions every year. Second, Universities are NFP. They exist to educate our youth. They don't "make" money, at least in the sense of a for profit corporation, as proceeds from the revenue sports support title IX and (in SU's case) general educational programs. There's no PROFIT - by definition - since all the money is reinvested. Yes, coaches make money - and they're professionals, not students. So enough with the 'employee' nonsense - that has been tossed (or ignored) by every court that has considered it. As to cheating, sure, there's cheating. So STOP IT, don't make it worse by inviting even MORE money into the system. Paying for "images" is a euphemism for buying recruits. Instead, states should be strengthening their AAU/agency rules (NY has pretty good ones). And the NCAA should start clamping down on the dirty high-profile programs (we all know who they are) that are acting like semi-professional franchises. This has gone on too long. So my .02 is - clean up the NCAA and the dirty programs. Set and enforce higher accreditation standards so courses offered to student athletes are legitimate. AND clean out the wheelhouse and start punishing schools that keep athletes eligible with free A's regardless of whether gen-ed students are also advantaged. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?