I
n J
' k^hii
Jfl
Inside Stuff
Is it cheating - or
By DICK DeVENZIO
Syndicated Columnist
I'm getting tired of reading so much alllfie time
about the "cheating" that colleges do.
Clemson has been in the news a lot, now that its
NCAA punishment period is coming to an end,
and, of course, the Florida football team - one of
the top two or three in the nation last season -- was
not called the SEC champion even though the
Gators won the championship on the field. The
Gators also were deprived of going to a bowl game
-- because of cheating.
Have you ever read the fine print and considered
what Florida and Clemson and all the other schools
havedwie target fltese penalties? vHave*yag wh ?1
looked carefully at the so-called "107 NCAA violations"
of Florida or those of any other school?
The issue is important because, to some degree,
a / j - '? j ?
crK/ o^riuui uuty wnui noriaa nas done.
Let me go even one step further. I think they
should re-name this thing reporters like to call
"cheating." I think they should call it
humanitarianism.
Let's look at the violations, so you can see why
I'm willing to make such a statement. In Florida's
case (and Florida is among the most flagrant
violators in recent years) the cheating involves the
selling of tickets (often at prices higher than face
value), a $4,000 "slush fund" for players and some
alumni gifts of plane tickets to the parents of
players.
It is incredible to me that any of these things are
illegal. It is easy for a group of well-fed, threepiece-suited
men to sit around a table in Kansas City
and decide that the players aren't supposed to get
onotUinn * 1 *
cuijrtiling, wi cuunc, mcy can su oacK smugly ana
say "a rule is a rule."
But that doesn't tell the whole story.
Almost anybody who has extra tifckets to a big
game asks and gets the going rate. The going rate
for ACC Tournament tickets, for example, isn't'
$20, as everyone knows. To get those tickets, people
make big donations to the ACC schools.
Hop th?m Wlnelen-Selem mm store
ft!**
) lmimm'i
Salt ptten jpod tfcm St MMtwCwi VI? <
4
I*
'Two* Late
H?S East Forsyth's Bay Shaw
I surges past an unidentified
H Reynolds defender as Gary.
m Wadell (10) watches. UnforI
tunately for Shaw and the
Eagles, Reynolds won the
P game, 58-46, and Shaw later
injured his ankle and will not
play in this week's Central
Piedmont tournament (photo
| by Chris Mackie).
humanitarianism?
Players with two or four extras would be foolish
to ask for $20. They ask the going rate and they get
it -- $500 or $1,000 -- and why shouldn't they?
What about that 44slush fund?" You can call it
what you like, but $4,000 wouldn't even buy each
Florida football player a round-trip flight home for
Christmas. So, before you get all excited about a
word like 4'cheating," please let me know why a
player shouldn't get a flight home for Christmas.
Did you know it is even against NCAA rules for a
player to be flown home at Christmas?
You have to remember, money is all over the
place. There's enough of it to pay the track coach,
and for volleyball scholarships ? in many cases for
n2ja8Lf?2r.t?.Pro^raP1 - jw?for a11 sorts
of extra, superfluous coaches whoTiave time on
their hands to write Chris Washburn 200 letters (as
reported in Sports Illustrated).
Why should the NCAA officials be paid so well,
and have so many staff members, and why should
so many coaches earn such a good living, while the
players get nothing?
Don't fool yourself into buying the idea that a
scholarship is such a wonderful gift. It is a tiny,
tiny, totally inadequate remuneration in view of the
money the players are bringing in.
College athletes are like migrant workers: badly
exploited, but too transient and too poorly organized
to do anything about the injustice.
Their parents should all get plane tickets to see
them play, the players should all get plane tickets to
visit home occasionally, and the little spending
money they get from scalping tickets is necessary,
because many of them would have no money at all
otherwise.
You can sit back and make a passionate plea for
amateurism. But if you knew an athlete personally
who worked hard and did his best and practiced
manv hnnrc a Hav anH ctnHioH manv ^
...- J xwa >> w WilW ilkUUIVU X 11U11 J I1V7U1 3 CI UBJ "
and who didn't have any money (as a lot of them
don't) ? you would give him money too.
And you would likely consider it, if not
humanitarian, then at least mere kindness. Certainly
you would hardly think of yourself as cheating.
icYi Pay Shoes?'
V Sale. Men's casuals
for work, play
and everyday.
Ml
si 2
?...
J l am Ptan
NT! Mvi Cmk NiU?;
m ImM *?* II u Hill
7 l-?art nn Or
... ?** m?'n tlorw *trywh?f#.
w Choke. Open ggligi A opta St l-flpt
%
V
HAVE YOU
WITH YOUR
#| TEAK
nnl* McBrld*
| Davis
I | Presenting the nev
I of the Moderti Cht
I ?onyqW*?btt BotrCompI
I Com* by and/m*?t Son^
for your Downtt
I YOU'LL BE OLAI
I Winston's #1 Sales Fe
I 722-41*
I "You cant Beat a D<
Easy to get to, just oft I-40 at
I EAST WINSTOf
I SOCCER
K Vjf uf t Y^
BwMIt III fi.vK B|m
SPRING ~ APRIL 1
BOYS AND GIRLS
| REGISTER AT:
EAST WINSTON BRA
SALVATION ARMY B
AT 1922 Stadium Drive
CARVER SCHOOL
MARCH 2 and I
10 A.M. til 2
or mail the form below
THE EAST WINSTON NOON 0PTIMIS1
FEE: $12.00 PER
CALL FOR MORE INFI
Salvation Army Boys Club
East Winston Branch Library
CUP & MAI
j PLAYER'S NAME S
: ADDRESS
: street cn
: PHONE: home
: PARENTS'NAME
: Stnd check or monty ordtr (S12.00 par player) to:
: EAST WINSTON NOON OPTIMIST YOUTH SOCCEI
: P.O. BOX 1311, WINSTON-SALEM, NC 27102
DO NOT SENI
V
nicle, Thursday, February 28, 1P8S-Pag? B3
CHECKED
MOMRH
Willi#
/ Lor*nse Worthy
irett members 1
svroltt Tea mi
b*ll
r?, Ron and Curtis
?wn D*al.
> you DIDI
ict Is Downtown
Chevrolet
?1
own town Deal"
t Fourth and Broad..
BSSSESSSSS '
A FAMILY I
AFFAIR rWtMD Of TOVTMs
HRU JUNE
(AGES 6 TO 16)
NCH LIBRARY
OYS CLUB
VIARCH 9
! P.M.
' CLUB PROVIDES UNIFORMS
I ni Rvrn
i tlmicn
drmation
788-5761
727-2202
L
;ex age i
y state zip
work
* I
5 CASH
t
t