On May 11, ESPN's Outside the Lines first made their report that one and done freshman USC point guard OJ Mayo had received tens of thousands of dollars from Rodney Guillory, who had been reportedly working as a runner for sports agency Bill Duffy Associates.
Allegedly the money, funnelled through paid airfare, meals, flat screen tvs, and other various paid expenses, had been provided to Mayo beginning when the star player was in high school.
First and foremost what should be made clear is that OJ Mayo is not the problem here. He is simply yet another in a long line of talented athletes who saw people around him (The schools, the coaches, the networks, etc.) cashing in as a result of the publicity he brought to his school by his talented play on the court, and made the conscious decision to "get his piece of the pie".
The problem in major college sports today, particularly basketball, a "billion-dollar business" (as ESPN the Magazine's Stephen A. Smith puts it) everyone involved profits big-time from the sport. That is, except for the players, without whom there would not be huge 100,000 person capacity arenas.
I see only two viable solutions to this problem. Solution A involves essentially taking the money out of the game. Get rid of the big network contracts, eliminate big NCAA Tournament or Bowl Game payoffs, abolish big coaching contracts. Yeah right, you say. That's not gonna happen. But what else can the NCAA do to preserve amateurism without appearing highly hypocritical?
Now, the revenue sharing for major college basketball, for the most part, is fair to the schools involved.
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). (Source)
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). (Source)
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. (Source)
Fair to everybody except for the athletes involved. What should be done, is either the NCAA should take the big money out of the sport, or see that everyone involved gets their share, including the student-athletes themselves.
Since the Cleveland Browns returned to the NFL for the 1999 season, the draft has held a high significance for both the team as well as for the fans in Cleveland and Browns fans far and wide.
Since that '99 season, the Browns have looked to the draft to find both key starters and reserves. That trend started with the expansion Browns' first pick in that year's draft, QB Tim Couch of Kentucky. The circumstances that caused players like Couch, as well as other highly paid draftees like Courtney Brown (1st round, 2000) and Gerard Warren (1st Round, 2001) to fail to pan out as projected in Cleveland set the team back immeasurably.
However, this season's draft has been quite different than past drafts. For starters, 2008 marked the first season in 18 years that the Browns did not have a first-round pick. 2008 was also the first NFL draft that the Browns didn't even have a pick on the draft's first day.
It is a telling sign of how much improved the Browns have become that despite such a dearth of draft picks in 2008, the team is expected to win this year and contend for a playoff berth, coming off a suprise 10-6 season a year ago.
Much credit has to go to the team's management for its ability to better assess talent in recent years than it did in the early days of the "New" Browns. Recent top draft picks such as WR Braylon Edwards (1st Round, 2005) and TE Kellen Winslow (1st Round, 2004) have more than caught on with the team, becoming elite talents in the league at their respective positions. Credit management as well for finding not just one but two possible franchise quarterbacks in Derek Anderson (Claimed off waivers from Baltimore, 9/21/05) and Brady Quinn (1st Round, 2007).
Now it just remains to be seen whether the Browns can carry their 2007 momentum into '08.
