Essay questioning the NCAA and its policies such as title IX and the BCS system.

Essay by JohnnyComeLatelyCollege, UndergraduateB+, November 2003

download word file, 6 pages 4.2

As a collegiate athlete, the NCAA has a direct effect on my life. It tells me, with respect to athletics, what I can and cannot do. If I were a division one athlete, the limitations would be far greater. I could not, for example, work certain jobs, or accept money for being good at what I do. When something has this much say over a part of my life, I take notice at what they do, and I feel that the NCAA is not serving its purpose.

In what historians have declared the first American intercollegiate contest, Yale took on Harvard in a boating race. The year was 1852- well before any corruption of collegiate athletics, right? Wrong- the whole even was underwritten by railroad company which saw the commercial and entertainment possibilities of such a contest. All on the railroad's bill, both teams were transported to a resort at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, housed in a fine hotel and wined and dined for a week.

Amenities at the training table included ale brandy and cigars (Smith).

That was 150 years ago, and the NCAA has changed nothing: collegiate sports are as corrupt as ever.

According to the NCAA website, its purposes include:

Promote student-athletes and college sports through public awareness

Protect student-athletes through standards of fairness and integrity

Prepare student-athletes for lifetime leadership

Provide student-athletes and college sports with the funding to help meet these goals.

While the NCAA does attempt to fulfill these goals, many of the ways it attempts to do so are unfair or no longer relevant.

For example, the NCAA's refusal to adopt a playoff system displays the flaws of the organization. The NCAA says they do not want to keep students from classes any longer. This does not make sense because D2 and...