Terrelle Pryor: The NCAA Should Share Some of the Fault for Pryor's Actions

Former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor was the latest victim or standout collegiate athlete to take on the evil empire known as – the NCAA – for his involvement of accepting improper benefits.

Not in the traditional sense of accepting money from a booster or secretly through someone in a program’s coaching staff, but exchanging memorabilia for cash. 

Life is not fair, even though life can be rewarding.  However in the world of collegiate sports, the NCAA has made life a living hell for many collegiate athletes by not allowing them to profit from the sweat off their own back. 

Sure, they earn a scholarship to attend college, which can be worth up to $100,000 (okay, laugh). 

However, for the millions of dollars collegiate athletes produce for institutions to build facilities and increase personal bank accounts is totally unfair, unlike life (don’t laugh). 

Pryor’s actions, allegedly, of exchanging goods for tattoos and cash can be somewhat justified as he and countless of other collegiate athletes are black balled by the NCAA for not making any money, while others benefit from their success. 

Due to Pryor’s allegations, the 21-year old, 6-6, 233-pound quarterback from Jeannette, Pa., decided to skip his senior season at Ohio State in hopes to further his football playing career in the NFL or CFL. 

According to the collegiate rules, Pryor broke them and the punishment of missing the first five games of the 2011 college football season was in his future if he stayed a Buckeye. 

However, due the selfishness and leeches of the NCAA, does the evil empire deserve some of the blame for Pryor’s actions, along with many others, as they refuse to compromise with the true sources of income, the collegiate athlete?

''In the best interests of my teammates, I've made the decision to forgo my senior year of football at The Ohio State University,'' Pryor said in a statement issued by Columbus lawyer Larry James.

The cars deals scandal is under investigation by the NCAA and for Pryor to have had four or eight vehicles during his tenure at Ohio State and to have allegedly taken items from the equipment room to make money by autographing them speak of Pryor’s character as being selfish, irresponsible and careless.       

Compared to other NCAA violations such as taking bribes, cheating on exams and receiving cash benefits to determine what school to play for, which are common no-no’s, Pryor exchanging memorabilia for tattoos seems petty. 

And for receiving tens of thousands of dollars, allegedly, from a Columbus businessman and freelance photographer, Dennis Talbott, by capitalizing on his own name would be somewhat understandable, but illegal in evil empire’s eye.

What Pryor did was wrong (don’t laugh) in violation of NCAA rules, which led to the resignation of former head coach Jim Tressel eight days before the former quarterback decided to forgo his senior season, is not totally the young man’s fault. 

Collegiate athletes are handcuffed to make profit while watching their sport collect millions of dollars off their talents.  If Pryor, who finished with a 31-4 record as a starter at Ohio State, would have stayed at Ohio State, there’s no telling of what would have happened between his teammates and him.      

''He did not want to be a a distraction to his teammates,'' James said of Pryor. ''This is something he came to consider after much thought.''

James is handling all of Pryor’s affairs.

''You know how sometimes you have the weight of the world on your shoulders and then something like this takes a little bit off?'' James said. ''He's still only 21.''

Let be clear here, the issue between the NCAA and collegiate athlete is money and to be honest, collegiate athletes don’t go to school for the education, which is secondary, they are allowed to attend college to play sports and generate the mighty dollar. 

And those who label the relationship between the NCAA and the collegiate athlete as modern-day slavery are foolish and immature.  First and foremost, nothing is more horrible and disgusting than slavery and nothing outside life and death can’t be compared to that magnitude.

Believe it or not, the NCAA has helped, or better yet, saved countless individuals by offering athletic scholarships to play at institutions, especially many young African-Americans who struggled through financial difficulties and lived in unsafe environments where the belief of going to college was just a dream. 

Ultimately, the NCAA has done far more good for the collegiate athlete than bad.

However, to hang the free education excuses over the collegiate athlete’s head, while producing millions of dollars off their backs for the college sports business (mainly football and basketball) and not receiving physical funds in their hands, is wrong. 

Instead of stating the treatment of the NCAA toward the collegiate athlete as modern slavery, it is more of an unstable relationship where neither side trusts each other. 

According to a report done by HBO’s hit investigative series Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, the NCAA has a waiver for each collegiate athlete to sign that would allow the evil empire (in terms of fairness to their athletes) to own his or her rights – forever – and if they refuse to sign, they are not allow to play.

This eliminates any possibility for collegiate athletes to benefit financially from their names and highlights.  Many collegiate athletes will accept cash benefits from other outside influences because they will not receive any physical funds, in their hands, from the NCAA.

The NCAA has monopolized the college sports industry, as they are the only association of its kind to control collegiate athletics.

Collegiate athletes don’t have the choice to play for other associations, such as the college football league or the college basketball league, in order to receive other benefits because those associations do not exist.

The NCAA can help eliminate the actions of a Pryor, but they refuse to.  And the Olympic committee gives the NCAA no excuse to not paying their players.

Amateur Western Olympians have sponsors, but their earnings are placed into a trust fund.  A trust fund would be great for each individual collegiate athlete because not everyone will play professionally, but they all could benefit mightily when they graduate and take their first steps into real life.

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier stated a solid plan to help pay collegiate athletes, but believes his plan would not passed anyway.

“A bunch of us coaches felt so strongly about it that we would be willing to pay it—70 guys, 300 bucks a game," said Spurrier, according to Jacksonville.com.  "That's only $21,000 a game. I doubt it will get passed, but as coaches in the SEC, we make all the money—as do universities, television — and we need to get more to our players.

"We would like to make that happen. Probably won't, but we'd love to do it."

This situation is similar to telling a child not to play with the electrical socket, when someone could just place a socket cap on it to eliminate the temptation. 

The temptation for collegiate athletes to take money will always be around for them to cash in, but by putting a socket cap on the situation, the NCAA should allow them to be compensated to lessen the opportunities for players to get burned.

What Pryor did, according to the NCAA rules, was wrong.  However, the actions of the former Ohio State quarterback caused him to leave school earlier without totally improving his craft, a respected head coach resigned and the suspension of several players for the team’s first five games in 2011 is petty, due to a barter system of which the NCAA disapproves.

Handing out athletic scholarships for athletes is cute in comparison of the billions of dollars they rack up for the NCAA and institutions, collectively.  

Moreover, in this unstable relationship between the NCAA and the collegiate athlete for players to accept improper benefits are peanuts in relation to the violations of the human rights caused by NCAA for violating the freedom of speech rights and Title IX.

Until changes are made by the NCAA to truly play fair with the collegiate athlete in this current unstable relationship, the Pryors of the college sports world will continue to find a way to make money off the sweat of their own backs...and the evil empire have to sustain some of the blame.

UPDATED INFORMATION:

Pryor and his newly hired super agent Drew Rosenhaus had a press conference on June 14.  Pryor apologize to Buckeye Nation and Tressel,  while Rosenhaus spoke highly of his new client.

"In terms of Ohio State, I'd like to sorry to the coaching staff, say sorry to my teammates, say sorry to all Buckeye Nation and all the Buckeyes fans across the country.  I never meant to hurt anybody directly or indirectly with my conduct off the field and I am truly sorry.  In terms of Jim Tressel, I'm sorry for what all went down.  I apologize with all my heart. I love you just like a father. You taught me a lot. I apologize for putting you in a situation and taking you out of a job and a place that you love to be. I regret the fact that you're not there anymore, and I regret the fact I'm not there anymore."

- - Terrelle Pryor

"The reason that I signed him as a player despite all of the prognostications and whatnot is I am a firm believer after 25 years of experience that Terrelle Pryor will be a great – not a good quarterback – a great quarterback in the National Football League."

- - Drew Rosenhaus