PAY ME!!!

The NCAA is a bunch of pimps. Yeah, I said it. And I'll say it again. They are pimps.

This time next week you or somebody that you know will be filling out their NCAA Basketball Tournament Brackets. There may be an office pool in your office so that people can gamble to see who may come away with the earnings by being the person who can correctly guess the most teams that will be left standing at the end of the tournament. The NCAA doesn't "encourage" gambling. They probably don't encourage it because they can't pimp that.

The Division I Men's Basketball tournament is the only NCAA championship tournament (officially, the BCS Football Championship is not an NCAA event) where the NCAA does not keep the profits. Instead, the money from the multi-billion-dollar television contract is divided among the Division I basketball playing schools and conferences as follows:

• 1/6 of the money goes directly to the schools based on how many sports they play (one "share" for each sport starting with 14, which is the minimum needed for Division I membership).
• 1/3 of the money goes directly to the schools based on how many scholarships they give out (one share for each of the first 50, two for each of the next 50, ten for each of the next 50, and 20 for each scholarship above 150).
• 1/2 of the money goes to the conferences based on how well they did in the six previous men's basketball tournaments (counting each year separately, one share for each team getting in, and one share for each win except in the Play-in game and the Final Four). In 2007, based on the 2001 through 2006 tournaments, the Big East received over $14.85 million, while the eight conferences that did not win a first-round game in those six years received slightly more than $1 million each.

As for football, schools can make $15 million to go to a BCS bowl game. There are nearly 115 Division 1 Schools. And nearly another 65 Division 1-AA schools. Every school, even the ones that don't play in bowl games have enough money to fund scholarships and facilities. That said...as you can see...there's a LOT of money in college athletics. Everybody is making money. The conferences, the schools, the coaches, etc. Everybody is making money...except the athletes. According to the NCAA (aka pimps), no "student-athlete" is to be compensated for playing in amateur collegiate athletics. So the student-athlete (more on that word later) is the one who gets the short end of the stick. Some say that student athletes are being compensated because their tuition is being paid for . That is their pay. I say BS! Pay em! Athletes should be paid. How much? That would be determined on their sport. But they should be paid. The NCAA and everybody else is getting a piece of the pie except the athletes. That's like me going into the woods to find food. I find food, kill it, and bringing it back to be eaten by all but I don't get to eat.

That word student athlete is one of the biggest misconceptions in the world. Especially when you consider that most athletes train year around. They can't work and be paid during their "off-season". You are an athletic student. Most coaches aren't worried about you getting your education...they are merely worried about you remaining eligible to compete in your sport. That's it. As long as the athlete is eligible to play and compete, the better the chances are that they'll team will be successful and playing for a championship. Its the pimp game at its finest. The athletes do most of the work but everybody else reaps the benefits.

As some of you may know, I played college football for 4 yrs. I played at South Carolina State University...a historically black college in Orangeburg, SC. We won a black college national championship when I was playing. Even my school has benefited financially off the success that we had. I'm not some old washed up bitter athlete. I'm just calling it the way that I see it. I think that athletes SHOULD be paid to play. BOTTOM LINE! As you can see, there is a lotta money floating around but the kids should get some money. If you're gonna pimp me, the least that you can do would be to compensate me for a job well done.