Jordans back :: essays research papers

College athletics have always been one of American's favorite pastimes. We as Americans love the thrill of hard competition. College athletics have always been at the heart of this competitive rush. They have always been something more pure than professional athletics, more than just the money. In recent years, college athletics have changed for the worse. Players have drifted away from what it used to mean to play college sports. They have fallen into illegal activities and have left fans disappointed. One of the reasons for this change is the lack of funds for the players. There are many benefits to paying college athletes. In many cases, athletes who go to school on scholarships are treated differently than academic scholarship recipients. The N.C.A.A. should not have jurisdiction over a player’s earnings outside his sports participation. The rules need to be looked at and changed. Even if each and every one of its ruler-to-the-wrist regulations was written for a sound reason, the collective impact is that the NCAA’s treatment of the student-athlete has become unnecessarily punitive and hopelessly out-of-date (McCallum, 1996). One of the biggest complaints lately from college basketball fans is that too many athletes are leaving college early to enter the draft. Some athletes are even going directly from high school to the NBA and skipping college altogether. A record number of athletes who were still eligible to play college ball entered the National Basketball Association draft. There are also plans for two new professional leagues for teen-agers, which threaten to diminish the talent pool for college teams (Blum, 1996). This upsets college fans because they don't get to see the best guys play for their school. The nation’s top high-school player, Kobe Bryant, was one of a few high school seniors who declared themselves eligible for the draft (Blum, 1996). Fans like to get to know a team and support it but at the same time, become frustrated because of players leaving. Officials of big-time basketball programs are taking a new look at their sport, arguably the NCAA, the most popular and lucrative, because of worries that it can no longer hang on to or even attract the game's biggest stars (Blum, 1996). The biggest and most obvious reason for basketball players to skip out on college and to enter into the draft is because of the big money. Many players come from poor families and run down neighborhoods.