http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8990966/selling-johnny-football

It would be absolutely amazing if this opens up the NCAA and member institutions for lawsuits from their players. I think between the success of Manziel's "Johnny Football" suits and the O'Bannon lawsuit the days of collegiate athletes being blatantly exploited are numbered.

2/28/2013 1:29:42 PM

I almost read that, till I saw it was written by Rick Reilly.

2/28/2013 1:43:33 PM

Yeah, he's a piece of shit, but the article actually makes some interesting points that I hope come to fruition.

2/28/2013 2:13:50 PM

A non-Reilly piece on the O'Bannon case

http://deadspin.com/how-ed-obannons-lawsuit-would-dismantle-the-ncaa-489241635?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

5/3/2013 6:44:14 PM

Quote :

"The NCAA is reportedly investigating whether Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel received compensation for signing hundreds of autographs this past January during his trip to the Discover BCS National Championship Game. Three sources told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that the Texas A&M quarterback collected a five-figure flat fee during his stay in Miami for signing memorabilia which included photos, footballs and several other items at the request of a broker named Drew Tieman."

SEC! SEC! SEC!

8/5/2013 1:12:46 AM

what difference am I missing between Manziel/autographs and UNC BBall/mouthguards?

it has taken no time for the idea of Manziel being ineligible to get tossed around...

8/5/2013 6:28:04 AM

You don't understand how the Heisman trophy winner being ineligible after getting paid $10,000+ for autographs is a different story than UNC players wearing mouth guards they shouldn't?

8/5/2013 7:33:56 AM

I'm not talking about the magnitude of the story. I'm talking about NCAA athletes breaking rules (getting paid for autographs, appearing in commercials for mouthguards, etc).

8/5/2013 7:43:36 AM

The magnitude of the story is the answer to your question though.

Not all rule breaking is treated the same, and when football season is about to start and it involves one of the most famous current college athletes ever than its going to be a different story with different consequences suggested. Maybe on paper they shouldn't be treated different but that's not how things work in the real world.

8/5/2013 7:55:43 AM

meh fuck him, dude got a heisman for beating alabama

8/5/2013 7:56:50 AM

Five figures for signing autographs. Send in the investigation team.
Five figures in car rentals... send a gift basket and one get out of jail free card.

8/5/2013 8:23:13 AM

burn NCAA burn

8/5/2013 8:28:21 AM

Quote :

"Not all rule breaking is treated the same, and when football season is about to start and it involves one of the most famous current college athletes ever "

Sorry to be pedantic, but don't use "current" and "ever" that close together. And if you think Manziel is one of the most famous college athletes ever, you need to lay off the hyperbole.

8/5/2013 9:01:38 AM

I meant as in still currently playing. Perhaps active is a better choice instead.

With social media/freshman Heisman/scope of SEC football and football in general I think what I said is pretty accurate.

[Edited on August 5, 2013 at 9:32 AM. Reason : .]

8/5/2013 9:25:58 AM

Diction is important, kids.

8/5/2013 10:20:13 AM

Man, seriously, just fuck the NCAA right in the ear. They've never been less relevant as an institution. They don't have any control over the college football championship, if Manziel is suspended I hope and pray that Texas A&M plays him anyway and tells them to get fucked.

Massive academic scandals and boosters giving out rental cars, no biggie. Profit off of SIGNING YOUR OWN GOD DAMNED NAME, probable suspension. What kind of horseshit is that?

8/5/2013 10:56:12 AM

So stupid. Let him make money. Carry on.

8/5/2013 9:20:29 PM

^I'm not in favor of going up against Oregon and Phil Knight if he's allowed to pay each Oregon football player $100,000 for an autographed napkin every year.

Or Jordan doing the same thing at UNC.

8/5/2013 9:36:43 PM

anyways, this:

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/55962044

(props to Ovies for tweeting the link)

[Edited on August 5, 2013 at 9:46 PM. Reason : yep]

8/5/2013 9:41:43 PM

$10,000 then.

8/5/2013 9:47:10 PM

^^^

Maybe Jordan already did that

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZSJZwR9Oe8

[Edited on August 5, 2013 at 9:54 PM. Reason : .]

8/5/2013 9:54:41 PM

Fuck him. I've said it all along

8/5/2013 10:48:48 PM

I say let them all get whatever they can and remove all scholarships. Will be great to see the system collapse because of the greed of the few.

Fuck any 18 year old, no matter how good he can pass, who thinks a quarter million spent on him over 4 years isn't enough. Fuck them so hard.

8/6/2013 2:07:43 PM

I realize that you're trolling pretty hard, because that's what you get off on

but

you do realize that a whole hell of a lot of those 18 year olds bring in a fuckton more than a quarter million dollars, right?

8/6/2013 9:33:13 PM

Pay the athletes. The worst that can happen is that the schools who can afford it will always be good.

Which is exactly what we have currently, only now they don't have to pay them anything.

8/6/2013 9:42:35 PM

Can you imagine the ramifications though? Tennessee will be playing womens bball players more than their football players, since they're a womens bball school

8/6/2013 9:55:13 PM

Quote :

"only now they don't have to pay them anything."

Finally SEC football players and ACC basketball players will start getting paid. Wait...

8/6/2013 10:03:40 PM

so if Manziel gets to keep the money, how much does he have to kick back to ESPN for all their hype work on him?

8/6/2013 10:04:02 PM

When you sign on to play for an NCAA school, you agree to the NCAA rules. Look at the national platform you can have as a D1 athlete. Without college, the earning potential of guys like Manziel would be much less. While the NCAA is certainly flawed, the players need the NCAA as much as the NCAA needs the players. And if you sign on, you have to follow the rules.

And if what the reports are saying are true, Manziel knowingly, blatantly broke the rules. And he did so to buy new rims on his car, so don't give me this starving college student crap. He's been sitting courtside at NBA games and taking posting twitter pics of him and wads of money.

Does the NCAA need to have some sort of revenue sharing plan or something, probably, but that shouldn't be the story here. The story is an arrogant prick who is selfishly cheating instead of focusing on improving his game and helping his team.

8/6/2013 10:42:02 PM

how is he cheating?

[Edited on August 6, 2013 at 11:00 PM. Reason : and why am I responding to that drivel?]

8/6/2013 10:56:52 PM

Jay Bilas is ripping the NCAA on twitter right now.

8/6/2013 11:19:54 PM

Knowingly breaking the rules = cheating. Just like accepting free mouthguards or rental cars is cheating. When you sign on to be an amateur athlete, accepting benefits is cheating.

If you get caught after the fact, it is a cop out to say the rules aren't fair. You knew the rules, you signed up agreeing to follow them.

8/6/2013 11:31:05 PM

what advantage was gained by him allegedly accepting the money?

8/7/2013 12:10:23 AM

Teams that don't enforce NCAA rules will have an advantage in recruiting over teams that do

8/7/2013 12:14:39 AM

what else could Texas A&M have done in this situation?

this certainly doesn't help them in any way seeing as how most of the money was going to a memorabilia dealer as opposed to the school (which is usually where all of the money goes)

this case is doing an excellent job of shedding light on the absurdity that is the NCAA and their "amateurism"

it's also doing a hell of a job of letting us all know how many predatory creeps are out there making money (and spending money) on sports memorabilia

[Edited on August 7, 2013 at 12:22 AM. Reason : 20k to sit at a table with the kid]

8/7/2013 12:21:29 AM

This is clearly a Manziel problem, not something Texas A&M is to blame for.

But it's a slippery slope when you let amateurism go. If you allow him to sell autographs, then schools with rabid fan bases are going to have an advantage as players can make more there.

Manziel has to be ineligible if this is true. Yes, that will hurt Texas A&M, but they should blame him, not the NCAA.

8/7/2013 12:48:13 AM

Quote :

"If you allow him to sell autographs, then schools with rabid fan bases are going to have an advantage as players can make more there."

That's not any different than the way it is now.

But without amateurism rules, schools don't have to worry about whether they provide cream cheese with their bagels. That bunch of cream cheese eaters should be suspended too, am I right?

8/7/2013 6:44:08 AM

I still dont understand why are we suppose to be fascinated about what the hell this kid is and is not doing.

8/7/2013 7:46:41 AM

I just want to watch him play football this year and will be pissed if the most exciting college player isn't playing for being an idiot. And you think you get over coverage of this, living in Dallas it is all we hear about along with how shitty the cowgirls are going to be.

8/7/2013 8:14:55 AM

^ This. I don't know if I like him or not...but I really want to see if he can make SEC defenses look like little girls again this year. He's fucking fun to watch and fuck the NCAA if they try and keep us from watching him. Also interested to see how much of his success last year was his offensive line.

8/7/2013 9:20:47 AM

"Hey kid, I will pay you $50,000 to autograph a jersey next year.

As long as it is an Alabama jersey and it has your number on it"

8/7/2013 9:49:03 AM

I'm sorry, but if you don't see how morally wrong it is to make literally billions of dollars off of the work of a very, very few people, claim to have rights to their likeness in perpetuity, and let everyone except the individual player grab as much cash as possible then you're just a moron.

These young men put their health at risk for pennies on the dollar compared to what they could make if professional leagues and colleges weren't colluding to keep the free minor league system that we have now in place. The fact that the NCAA continues to trot out the absurd notion of the "student athlete" as opposed to operating on a rational definition of amateurism just makes this even worse. If you know anything about how the "student athlete" thing came to be you'd be pretty disgusted. Grad students get stipends, can work, and are paid employees with the rights that come with it. Student athletes are stuck in some half baked limbo between indentured servitude and professional athlete.

The whole system is ridiculous.

8/7/2013 10:55:13 AM

they can go get a normal job like anyone else if they don't want to play by the rules to be on a college team in the national spotlight

8/7/2013 11:14:25 AM

Tons of kids have made money from going to the NFL, from connections they've made in college, or even the rare occurrence of actually using their degree. It's not a perfect system, but lets not try and act like kids don't take advantage of it as well (not to mention free room/board/pussy they get while in school).

8/7/2013 11:19:35 AM

I'll be a happy dude the day people stop with the ridiculous "but free room AND board" argument

it's insulting

8/7/2013 11:28:34 AM

In this day and age when kids are graduating with tons of debt and shitty job options, it actually has a decent amount of merit. Sorry you can't see that.

8/7/2013 11:33:51 AM

^^that's simply your opinion, man. other people have different opinions.

athletes choose to be collegiate athletes. they get free room and board and an education for playing a sport. and they get the prestige of playing for the college team. most other students don't get the amenities they get. it's not a bad deal. they don't have to play sports, it's their choice. they could choose to pay for their education out of their pocket.

yeah, it's a shame that other people make tons of money off of them, and I wish that some of the money could somehow be removed from college athletics, but that doesn't mean that collegiate athletes should be paid.

[Edited on August 7, 2013 at 11:38 AM. Reason : ]

8/7/2013 11:37:03 AM

why is that argument only ok when it's about college kids who happen to play sports?

"we all know that you are beyond exceptional at this one skill, but you should probably try something else if you want to get paid. and if you still want to give this a go, it's at your own risk. and oh yeah, we're gonna make bank off of you. but maybe you'll luck out and stay healthy and make it to the next level. but if not, that's not on us"

it's absurd

have you not been following what Jay Bilas has been doing since yesterday? it's brilliant.

[Edited on August 7, 2013 at 11:53 AM. Reason : it's a multi-billion dollar industry in which the workforce gets none of.]

8/7/2013 11:51:44 AM

Except if you want to be a pro athlete in a sport like football or basketball you pretty much don't have a choice but to go the college route. The only other option would be to play overseas and that isn't really an option for football players. They just need to stop hiding behind the veil of student athlete considering plenty of those athletes couldn't give a damn about the student part. But hey, it is a great scheme they have worked up, get these kids to risk their health for basically no pay and reap billions in return. Can't say I am not jealous.

8/7/2013 11:54:34 AM

Im not saying its a perfect system, but lets not act like the kids don't get anything out of it. Did you know any athletes at State? I won't say they had it easy...but school wasn't exactly difficult. The worst part was the extreme athletic demands...but hell, I would have given my left nutt to be able to play collegiate sports and workout a lot in exchange for an unlimited meal plan, pimp housing, and pussy that I didn't have to work for.

The shitty thing is that schools and the NCAA are making money off of them while they can't make any money of their own (they have to wait). What kind of lifestyles/advantages did athletes have back in the day when the schools and NCAA weren't making bank off of them?

8/7/2013 12:00:15 PM