It's Time to Pay the Athletes

The best-selling item in the Texas A&M online shop is a replica white #2 jersey.

It looks familiar. The normal college football fan sees it every Saturday on the field in College Station, A&M's home. The team's athletic director sees it every day in a financial report alongside dollar signs.

The 20-year-old wearing the jersey, Heisman winner and star quarterback Johnny Manziel, sees nothing. Of the hefty $54.98 price tag, Manziel sees not a penny.

And if he takes even a fraction of one jersey sale, from anyone, the world of college football cries out in disgust. 'What a disgrace.' 'Greedy kid.' 'Never let him play another down.'

This is a system that we, as sports fans, have become accustomed to, and it needs to change. Athletic departments make tens of millions of dollars every season (A&M made over $44 million in 2011-12), but the athletes who play the game work for free. It's big business.

Only in college athletics does this happen. If a company uses a musician's song in a commercial without permission, a hefty lawsuit is on its way.

But if a University sells one, or a hundred, or a thousand Manziel jerseys, and Johnny says anything about it, we remind him of his role in the NCAA.

This role is backwards. Players like Manziel are expected to be in two places at once: on the field leading their teams to wins and in class getting an education.

The wins equal big money for the schools. A team who wins the BCS National Championship in college football benefits huge financially. In 2012, Alabama received a payout of $21.2 million for winning it all.

The education, on the other hand, is given for free to the athletes who lead these teams to championships. Supporters of the current system say this counts as compensation.

But it can't. The athletes, who are required to attend practice multiple times per day, aren't encouraged to go to class. No one pushes them. And they are given preferential treatment on assignments. The University of Auburn was caught giving student athletes boosted grades earlier this year.

Is this education?

No. It's like giving your grandmother a computer and not teaching her how to use it. Does she really benefit from having the computer?

Therein lays the problem. The free education is unattainable, but the fame and the lights of big time college football aren't, as long as the school is raking in the big bucks.

Take the story of Dasmine Cathey, a former football player for the University of Missouri. In 2012, he was reading at a first grade level as a 23-year-old fifth-year senior.

But man, could he play football.

"You don't see many guys his height who can run a 4.6 forty," a former coach said about him.

Cathey was illiterate. The man couldn't read. Some argue that college athlete graduation rates are on the rise, but it doesn't matter, even if that is the case 99 percent of the time. If one college student is illiterate and still playing football, there is a major systematic problem.

How do you fix it?

It's not as simple as paying every student athlete a stipend. You would have to pay the swimming team and the chess club, and quite frankly, those sports aren't the moneymakers.

First, you change the hierarchy.

You have to start at the top with the ones with the heavy wallets – the coaches, athletic directors and presidents. Alabama head coach Nick Saban made $5.5 million in 2013, and the athletic director brought in over $600,000. If either took pay cuts, the money could be put to better use.

Take the money and put it into hiring personal mentors for student athletes. It's the first step in encouraging them to go to class; making them feel like someone wants them to be there.

Then, you change the rulebook.

College athletes should be allowed to accept money from outside means, whether it's from boosters, jobs or autograph sales. That way, the most talented players, the ones who bring in the most money for their programs, are rewarded fairly. Some will get more money than others, yes, but is it any worse than restricting everyone from the opportunity? No. And removing some of the employment guidelines is a no-brainer. Let them work minimum wage jobs. Students with academic scholarships are allowed to.

Initiatives like these barely scrape the surface of the problem, but it would be a step in the right direction. Athletes like Manziel are being exploited by big-money programs that have room to negotiate.

They'll never stop selling the jerseys.

But they can stop selling the nonsense.

Peduto kicks off election season with campaign party

On Sept. 28, Bill Peduto stood on the same stage he stood on five months earlier when he celebrated his primary win over Jack Wagner.

This time, business was less casual, as Peduto and his team told hundreds of supporters their plan of action to win the Pittsburgh mayoral election on Nov. 5.

The supporters gathered at Peduto's campaign kickoff party at the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers in South Side. Peduto, the Democratic candidate for mayor, will face Republican Josh Wander and independent Les Ludwig to fill the spot left by current mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

At the party, Peduto circled the room to talk casually with his supporters and take questions.

"There's a lot of people in that room that put their neck out for me, and I'd like to hang out with them and see them," Peduto said. "Not only I hope they are getting a little bit fired up, it gets me fired up too."



With the election in less than a month, Peduto is heavily favored to win the race, according to many supporters attending the party. Wander is overseas in Israel and hopes to attend the upcoming mayoral forums, he said on Twitter. The 80-year-old Ludwig is running for the seventh time.

Even though he is favored to win, Peduto said he plans to "put together the strongest campaign we can put together."

"It doesn't matter who the opponent is," Peduto said. "It's putting together your campaign. It's sort of like the difference between a regular thoroughbred horse race where you're competing against the other horses and a steeple chase where you want to run the course the best you can."

Eric Hagarty, Peduto's campaign manager, said he thinks the campaign will be successful if "we execute like we need to."

"There's still a number of yard signs to put out," Hagarty said. "You still knock on the same number of doors."

There will be two forums in October where voters can hear all three candidates speak. Tomorrow, a "Meet the Candidates" event is set at the Lincoln Place Presbyterian Church, and the next evening, the three will appear at the Hazelwood Initiative Candidates Forum on 5344 Second Avenue.

Peduto and Wander are scheduled to speak alone to the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs on Wednesday about their education at the school. The race's issues will not be discussed.

Even though the events are scheduled, Wander cannot confirm he will be present at any of them.

The final televised debate before the election, the WTAE Candidate Forum on Oct. 29, was cancelled yesterday because Wander could not guarantee to the station he would be back from Israel.

Ludwig started his campaign at the Peduto kickoff, wearing a sign around his neck and handing out flyers. He said he has "a responsibility to look at the corruption" during his campaign.

"I don't dislike Bill...but he has $1.3 million in his [campaign]," Ludwig said. "That means that he owes favors to people and he can't just walk away."

At the party, supporters could eat free food, listen to folk music from a live band and watch the Pirates game on a projector screen. In spirit of Pirates baseball, Peduto's team handed out Pittsburgh baseball t-shirts with "Peduto 13" on the back in exchange for a pledge of support and service.

Attendees gathered around the stage at the end of the event to hear Peduto speak. Peduto talked about the campaign and recalled standing on the same stage in May.

"We sort of turned the political world of Pittsburgh upside down.”

My Goodbye to Baseball