On the surface, this one isn’t about the NFL. But because it relates to the lingering problem of college football players not getting a fair piece of the ever-growing multibillion-dollar pie, it relates to a situation that eventually will hit the fan and force pro football to adjust and react.
Lost in the shared national enjoyment of the new college football final four formula is the fact that the football players on the millions of flat screens from sea to shining sea are performing -- and taking real physical risks -- for the wholesale cost of education, books, a dorm room, and food bought in bulk. It’s a controversy that receives some attention from February through July, but that becomes forgotten from August through January.
Because it’s hard to fully enjoy college football while feeling pangs of guilt about the exploitation of the athletes who play it.
At the heart of this heartless approach toward 18, 19, 20, and 21-year-old kids is ESPN, which has purchased the rights for the big-ticket games and, undoubtedly, is generating a lot more in profit via subscription fees, advertising, and the overall hype that has resulted in nearly the entire Bristol campus relocating to Dallas in advance of Monday night’s championship game.
Enter Oregon receiver Darren Carrinton. He can’t play in the game because he tested positive for smoking something that college kids routinely smoke. College football players routinely smoke it, too, and many of them fail drug tests imposed by their schools -- with little or no real consequences. But Carrington drew the short straw for an NCAA-mandated urine sample, and now he’s prevented from playing football for free on the stage propped up and paid for by ESPN.
Carrington is receiving heavy criticism for his transgression, with some on ESPN acting like he was caught on Friday morning bubbling a bong in Mark Emmert’s private washroom. The date of the drug test isn’t known; it surely didn’t happen this week. But that isn’t stopping folks from linking the timing of Carrington’s suspension to the timing of the underlying behavior.
It’s understandable that ESPN is upset that a key player won’t be able to play for something unrelated to skill or injury. But maybe ESPN should take that concern up with the NCAA, which includes in its many nonsensical rules a prohibition on smoking a substance that doesn’t enhance performance and that is currently legal in two of the states where NCAA institutions operate.
And maybe the NCAA should spend less time worrying about marijuana use and more time trying to come up with a way to fairly compensate the kids who play a game that generates staggering amounts of revenue. If the NCAA doesn’t figure this out on its own, Congress or the courts eventually will.
