While We All Want A Playoff, What About the Kids

With bowl season upon us one thing we can all agree on is that the BCS
isn’t the fairest system in sports. However, similar to the NFL the
BCS and NCAA in tandem have found a way to consistently generate
attention. For good or bad, you make sure to take time out of your
Saturday to watch your favorite school and a team that ISN’T your alma
mater. From 11 am Saturday to 2 am Sunday you can watch as much
college football as your significant other will allow. But lost in the
lure of tradition, pads thumping and bands playing is the wear and
tear on the kids.

While many will bang their own drum advocating for a playoff system in
hopes of declaring a true champion, the student athletes are the ones
who will get the short side of the stick. If a playoff system was
instituted it would take up much if not all of the kids winter break.
Remember, those same student athletes who don’t get any tangible
payments for playing college football. Those same student athletes who
can’t work, allow a booster to buy them dinner, or even sell their own
memorabilia.

Even if we all agree that the notion of student athlete is a farce,
the fact still remains you want these athletes to play more games with
the same amount of compensation. In what other realm of
society/business is it ok for people to do more work and not get
compensated accordingly? Save the argument that they get a free
education, you can’t spend the knowledge you would get from your 7
ideas course. How about a little pocket money; nothing extravagant,
just enough to make them think before they accept something from
people who are offering them that could get them in trouble. Don’t you
think if they had a modest amount to rely on they wouldn’t be so
tempted to take illegal benefits?

However we want them to unwillingly forgo their vacation, play more
games and still not get paid. Sounds like fans are the selfish ones in
this equation. At this point having a playoff system matters none to
me. Until the players are compensated more and coaches are held to the
same standard to honor their contract the same way student athletes
are when it comes to them honoring their scholarship, I don’t care.
Now before you are so quick to speak about how unfair the BCS system
is, just remember the student athletes who have to deal with the short
sighted NCAA and think about all the study time they would lose out on
if a playoff was to come to fruition.