When people think about college athletes testing positive for use of banned substances everyone thinks about performance-enhancing drugs or illegal substances such as cocaine or methamphetamines. The fact is, however, that the NCAA has a long list of banned substances that include things no one would consider as being a problem.
About two decades ago, a tall man with an identifiable nasal twang was holding court at Gallagher’s Steak House one afternoon as he lifted a martini with a shaking hand to his mouth. The septuagenarian with a bad wig was standing near the slabs of meat that were hanging at the steak house and in a crescendo was complaining about the world of sports. The empty room began filling up as the man pontificated.
Thomas Palaima has an interesting article in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education dealing with the NCAA regulation—or lack of such—of its member institutions in the way in which they prepare student-athletes for life after college.
An even sadder NCAA story exists today than the recent news that university athletic departments are still playing games – “Gender Games” – with women’s athletics to circumvent Title IX.
Embattled Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt held a press conference in New York City on April 28 after meeting with Major League Baseball officials over MLB’s takeover on April 21 of the day-to-day operations of the franchise. This step was taken by Commissioner Bud Selig after he concluded that the Dodgers were in financial difficulties as a result of the continuing uncertainty over the outcome of McCourt’s divorce case with his wife, Jamie.
Tonight the NFL draft gets underway in New York. This is the last vestige of the now abandoned labor agreement between the players and owners. In 2006 when the last agreement was signed both sides agreed that even if the owners opted out of the agreement after the 2010 season (they did) and even if there was a lockout (there was) the draft would go on as scheduled. This is also highly ironic in that the draft is a restraint of trade and yet no one ever talks about it and everyone agrees to let the draft continue on.
This blog has previously posted an article about Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and his failure to pass on information for almost nine months that he possessed concerning impermissible benefits received by 6 of his football players.
After a litany of high-profile investigations in the summer and fall of 2010, Division I is focused on regulating how sports agents mix with elite student-athletes.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been grappling for over 50 years with the minimum requirements for first-year student-athletes who want to compete in big-time college sports. Part of this struggle has involved efforts to avoid complaints that standards were unfairly penalizing minority student-athletes. In its ongoing efforts to ensure that student-athletes enroll in college with the necessary academic background needed to successfully complete college coursework the NCAA has vacillated between lowering and raising its standards.
When Title IX was first passed by the U. S. Congress in 1972 there were fewer than 30,000 women competing on varsity sports teams on college campuses across the country. This past academic year there were some 186,000 women competing at all levels for NCAA member schools.