For Sale by the NCAA: Integrity

Star athletes being treated like they are above schools, the law, and just about everything and everyone else is something that is ingrained in their heads since early on in life.

This special treatment air of invincibility has now stretched beyond the individual and has moved to the team level.

This preferred treatment to elite teams is nothing but a natural progression as top tier teams are usually, in reality, a group of superstar athletes.

While in the early stages of an athlete's life, the special treatment is expected to result in wins for a certain team.

The special treatment of entire college football programs is nothing more than the NCAA doing whatever it feels it needs to do to ensure TV ratings, ticket sales, merchandising, and whatever other way they can produce income.

Football players getting in trouble is nothing new.

During last offseason, I blasted the University of Alabama and University of Georgia for their off-the-field activities and behavior.

A few months ago, I wrote a now-pretty famous article about the Florida Gators off-the-field troubles that has been used as a source in newspapers and websites all over the world.

In reality, I could write one about a different team almost every year if I wanted to.

While I have used many of these as opportunities to make jabs at certain teams and programs, the reality of the situation is that there is a deeper problem which lies within the system and the organization.

The problem is the NCAA itself.

There seems to be no consistency or gameplan when it comes to discipline.

There seems to be no accountability for major elite programs for the actions of individual players regarding criminal matters.

What I can't understand is how the schools can't be held responsible.

I can take it back a step further and wholeheartedly agree that it is a parent's job to teach their kids right and wrong and all about accountability and responsibility.

I also feel that when a player is a member of a school's student body, especially a state school with a player on a scholarship, the school has to have some ownership of what takes place.

Instead of acknowledging what is right and wrong, there seems to be a variety of other tactics schools, their alumni, and fan bases seem to take.

The first is the alumni or fan bases justifying what their school has done by comparing it to what another school has done, always saying it wasn't as bad.

Never mind that neither actions are generally acceptable in a civilized society and are usually simply against the law.

Another tact coaches seem to take is that they have no knowledge of anything taking place. Yes, these are the same men who promise parents that they'll be watching their kids and making sure they graduate.

By the NCAA guidelines, based upon actions they have taken against lawbreakers, they seem to act as if the law is just a guideline and schools and teams have no responsibility for individuals actions who are part of a team.

So much for the old win as a team and lose as a team.

While it makes my article stale, the Florida Gators are now up to 24 arrests.

Is it Urban Meyer's fault?

Is it Ron Zook's fault?

It's obviously the players' fault, but I'm not buying that no coaches or teammates knew anything about anything. There is no way Gator Nation can spew enough spin to make or anyone else believe otherwise.

Alabama students stole textbooks. Some of the thieves were football players. Of course the majority weren't, so the team wasn't penalized.

So, basically if several people commit crimes and only a few are football players, then it makes it okay?

What makes this case more puzzling is the checkered recent past of the program and recent probation.

Stealing textbooks isn't like stealing a painting from the Louvre.

It isn't not stealing either.

Does this mean it's more okay for someone to go to the local convenience store and help himself to reasonably priced products?

According to the NCAA, it does if it rates high enough on TV and enough people are buying their T-shirts.

The Ohio State Buckeyes can't keep themselves out of the news. While their recent trouble was with a player who never was officially on the roster, once again it's head coach Jim Tressel in charge of a recruit and being a poor judge of character.

While Buckeye fans can say I have been overly harsh toward their team, and in all honesty, maybe I have, they would have a hard time saying Jim Tressel doesn't absolutely stink at judging young people's characters.

This of course in only dwarfed by Tressel's ability to keep his players in line and stay informed enough about what's going on with his players lives to actually groom them into men as he claims to.

Tressel came to Ohio State after a huge scandal at Youngstown State, where once again he failed to know anything about what was going on.

Of course, at OSU, Tressel doesn't need to worry as the NCAA searches will wind up empty, though many independent researchers seem to come up with boat loads of info.

Tressel knows full well that Ohio State fans travel some of the best of any fans in the country. They spend money when they travel and keep everyone from scalpers to buffets in business in every town the Buckeyes play.

USC's football program has been under investigation for a few years now. While the Trojan's basketball program seems to be falling like a house of cards, their more successful football program seems to be that third pig's house built of bricks.

Although there are houses, cars, and tons of witnesses, there aren't a lot of West Coast powers these days in the college football world, so the fall of the Trojans could prove devastating to TV viewership in the United States second-largest TV market.

Is this just a coincidence?

Tough to believe.

Joe Paterno recently said that Bobby Bowden shouldn't lose wins that are being taken away from Florida State for an academic scandal involving Bowden's players.

Paterno said that there isn't a coach in the country who can claim that every player that walks in the door is clean.

While I'm on the fence, regarding Bowden's wins and the ruling, what I can't understand is how cheating on a test is worse for a program than selling drugs to a federal agent.

What I also can't understand is that cheating on a test is worse than bribery, drug possession, and assault, just to name a few of the recent activities of today's college football players.

Not only are the programs not being penalized, the players are getting nothing more than a game or two suspension as punishment. I would hardly think that the average working person like you or I would get off so easy.

It's time for the NCAA to step up and clean up the sport. In a time when the economy is failing, when millions of people are out of work, where life savings have evaporated, the NCAA is feeling their own belt tighten.

Fans will find it harder and harder to fork over the inflated ticket prices. Sponsors will have a lot fewer extra dollars to throw around for commercial time or other advertising.

The NCAA is sure to feel the pinch and is taking the easy way out. Maybe the biggest problem is that for the NCAA to ask the schools and players to have accountability they would have to take on some themselves.

This is obviously something they aren't willing to do.

Visit Mitch anytime at The Sports Chat Place