[NU Sports] Define your terms

[Dennis W. Brandt]

<Are you kidding me ???  

No, Harry, I'm quite serious.  I'm an historian.  I need evidence that the problem you allege is unique to, or especially egrigious in, college sports.  Anecdotes, unless accumulated in large quantites, are not definitive evidence.  I also need to see proof that the NCAA or individual institutions are sweeping known scandals under the carpet.

<How about Chris Webber getting paid $350 K under the table to play at Michigan ?

Chris Webber paid a penalty for breaking the law, and Michigan did as well.  Obviously their behavior was unacceptable to authorities.  You may recall that Maurice Clarett did not get away with his underhanded doings either, and neither did several Northwestern athletes.

<How about having atheletes never show up for class and have their exams taken buy someone else ? 

You mean no English major ever paid another student to take an exam or complete a project for him?  Please tell us the extent of this problem in college sports today.

<How about altering high school transcripts?

No chemistry major ever did that?  Are you accusing universities of having a general policy of altering transcripts to get athletes on their teams?  Do you believe that any university official caught doing such a thing would not be immediately fired and prosecuted?

<How about atheletes who break all kinds of laws and social mores being given a pass because of their athletic abilities?

Lord, man, you live in a city where breaking social mores and heaping incredible abuse on Judeo-Christian religions and the U.S. military (to name just two) is an every-minute experience.  The passes athletes seem to get for bad behavior frequently extend back to a player's Pop Warner and high school days.  As I recall, Joe Paterno cleaned out Austin Carr's locker the moment he heard the rape allegations and did not wait for the court decision.  If you are saying that mankind sometimes gives in to temptation, you're right.  If people had indomitable wills, rock stars would live sober, celibate lives, and San Francisco would be a conservative town.