'Student-athletes' learn NCAA means business

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist

DALLAS — It was almost time for the University of Hawai'i to take the court for practice in the American Airlines Center yesterday and somebody asked where the "players" were.

Big mistake.

An NCAA official shot a cold, piercing glance and, as if admonishing a child, said the "student-athletes" would be along shortly, as soon as they "executed their affidavits."

Execute? Affidavits?

The 25th-ranked Rainbows were supposed to be preparing for the basketball court and today's opening round game with No. 22 Xavier, not the Supreme Court.

The regular season might be about fun and games, but when it comes to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, behind the facade of pompons, mascots and dear old State U., it is all business where the NCAA is concerned.

And business is booming. The NCAA, sports richest non-profit cartel, will receive more than $280 million from this year's tournament, $265 million in television rights fees alone. Next year, CBS and the NCAA begin a new 11-year, $6.2 billion deal that will be worth about $545 million annually to the NCAA. That's more money than CBS has been paying the NFL.

So the NCAA zealously guards its golden goose to the point of maddening hypocrisy, pretending it is beyond the contamination of commercialism and a last bastion of purity in athletics.

All advertising, save the American Airlines name of the facility, has been removed from the building that houses the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and NHL's Dallas Stars. And none is permitted within several blocks of the facility.

Inside, heaven help the player, coach or reporter who is caught carrying a beverage in a cup or bottle without the official NCAA logo.

And, then there is the four-page, 24-question affidavit all players, oops student-athletes, must read and sign attesting that, among things, they haven't placed bets, taken bets, accepted money from gamblers, agents etc.

Failure to satisfactorily complete or sign the form means an "immediate" call to NCAA headquarters and loss of eligibility. False statements, "may subject the person ... to civil litigation by the NCAA ..." the cover sheet states.

Failure to abide by the regulation — it has to be in the Honolulu phone book-sized NCAA Manual somewhere — to refer to players in the stilted NCAA speak as "student-athletes" brings its own admonishments.

"I know I'll probably slip up sometime and say 'players,' " acknowledged Charlie Fiss, the official moderator at press conferences here. "I did it before and there were all these people shaking their heads, 'no.' "

So contrived is the expression that UH guard Mike McIntyre, a legitimate student who will leave Manoa with a degree, said, "when he (the moderator) said it, I almost laughed because this is a business."

Indeed, the coining of the term "student-athlete" was business driven. In his book, "Unsportsmanlike Conduct," Walter Byers, the first executive director of the NCAA, said he came up with the description in an attempt to help insulate the group from a workman's comp claim by an injured football player.

McIntyre says, "It is a privilege to play in this game (at the NCAA Tournament) and a privilege to play for Hawai'i. Hopefully, though, some day I can be a part of something like this."

Pro basketball? "No, the NCAA, that's where the money is."