Want to make a legitimate, potentially persuasive argument for the BCS bowl system? Start it with a college football player on Bourbon Street.
View full sizeAutographs, goodies for the players and a holiday trip to an exotic location is Ohio State's reward for being in the Sugar Bowl this BCS season.NEW ORLEANS -- Want to make a legitimate, potentially persuasive argument for the BCS bowl system? Start it with a college football player on Bourbon Street.
And call it what this really is -- Saving the Vacation.
In light of the emphasis on preserving the Sugar Bowl after the delayed suspensions of six Ohio State players, this Ohio State-Arkansas Sugar Bowl IS the bowl system -- either in its most pure or most corrupt form.
What is basically a postseason exhibition was given the ultimate priority for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with the game on the field. Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan all backed the idea of allowing the OSU players to participate because this bowl means that much.
Terrelle Pryor, DeVier Posey and others will miss a chunk of next season. But they'll play in the Sugar Bowl, even though bowls -- unlike every game of the regular season as BCS backers always remind us -- have no effect on determining a national champion. But for about 230 players and team staff, nearly 300 cheerleaders and band members and around 125 Ohio State faculty and staff, not to mention the tens of thousands of fans on both sides, this experience took precedent.
"That's valuable," Smith said, "no question about it."
With the Big Ten bowl agreements that are in place, Ohio State budgets about a $2.1 million bowl profit each year. Big Ten teams get that piece of the bowl pie whether they play in a bowl game or not. Otherwise, teams get an expense allowance to cover the costs of their trip, which for Ohio State is usually around $2 million. The Buckeyes spend it, in the past years typically coming in a little over budget when things like the six comp tickets that all scholarship players are given are included.
The Buckeyes want to make sure everyone has a good time, without going crazy. Why? Because Smith, who is in favor of giving scholarship athletes a stipend, sees it as a reward for everyone involved, from the players to the staff to the coaches' wives.
"We're trying to be responsible, but we don't want to sacrifice things for the kids or the coaches or their families," Smith said. "We try to make sure we build in enough where they can have an enjoyable experience."
And they do. The current players may not admit it, but former Buckeye Malcolm Jenkins said this week that he was more relaxed on his bowl trips when he wasn't playing in a title game, as he did after the 2006 and 2007 seasons. When it matters, there's more focus and less fun.
So if you like the system the way it is now, really, you're Saving the Vacation.
Here's how it broke down this year:
• Six Ohio State players were forced for pay $7,555 for their NCAA violations that include selling memorabilia and accepting discounted tattoos. They're suspended, but allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl. Pryor has the most to pay back -- $2,500.
• To get to the Sugar Bowl, the players were given a flight allowance of more than $1,200, as allowed by the NCAA. Realistically, plane tickets from Columbus cost less than half that, so most players pocketed at least $700. Plus, they could pick out $500 worth of gifts offered by the bowl. That's also allowed by the NCAA. Then the players were given $71 a day for food on the trip, though that was lessened on days when they were provided other meals. Over a week, that's maybe another $300.
• Combined, that's more than $2,000, more than the average of what the suspended Ohio State players have to pay back, the players who aren't suspended for this game in part to -- Save the Vacation.
"It's part of the experience, part of the reward process," Smith said. "We have a great season and you get to play in a bowl game and see a city that you otherwise would not have enjoyed."
In programs where the football program supports many other sports teams, and where rules say you can't directly pay football players, maybe a reward like this is the perfect solution.
It's almost like using the bowls as the middle men for a payout. In accepting bowl bids, schools commit to buying more than $2 million in tickets from the bowls, whether the schools can sell the tickets or not, helping the bowls make a lot of money. The bowl, in turn, provides the players gifts and a vacation spot. The NCAA allows players to make money on the plane tickets. Then everyone goes on vacation.
"I had catfish last night," OSU senior linebacker Ross Homan said two days after he arrived in New Orleans. "I would say catfish is horrible, but the jambalaya and turtle soup was pretty good."
That's what the No. 3 through No. 8 or No. 12 or No. 16 teams in the country get instead of a playoff.
Maybe you like it. Maybe you don't. But if you support the bowl system, instead of talking about tradition or preserving the regular season, be honest about it -- and make your argument from Bourbon Street.
Arsenal Oscars The FA World Cup 2018 US constitution and civil liberties State pensions
No comments:
Post a Comment