Thursday, April 30, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 3
Commentary
NCAA lets athletes have jobs
Student-athletes work at practice but not for pay
By Kurt Caywood The Associated Press
TOPEKA — The NCAA board of directors is putting more young people to work than the Ameri-Corps program. Unfortunately, it also is giving rise to more controversy than the Clinton White House.
Beginning in August, student-athletes will have the right to be student-athlete-employees during the school year, with the power to earn as much as $2,000.
Beginning in August, someone like T.J. Pugh or Michael Bishop can get a job at the Concock station, pump gas after school for 10 hours a week and, each Friday, beam with pride as he picks up his hard-earned paycheck in the amount of about $50.
Except that is not how it will work.
Virtually no one involved in Division I athletics has 10 more hours to carve out of his or her week to hold down a part-time job. No one would really want to if it were possible.
This is why the NCAA is allowing athletic department officials and boosters to help procure suitable employment, which, in most cases will mean jobs that pay well and demand little.
All of a sudden the playing field is not so level. There are a lot more high-pay, low-work jobs in cities and on the coasts than there are in Manhattan and Lawrence. UCLA has a better shot than Kansas of setting up its basketball players as $500-a-day movie extras.
Won't these jobs become just another recruiting inducement, you ask. Yes, I answer.
The mere fact that boosters are written back into NCAA rules is astounding. Defending the new policy, David Berst, head of the NCAA's enforcement department, said boosters would do what
coaches told them and coaches would not just turn a blind eye as they did in the olden days.
I wonder, will this happen because coaches today are so much better as people or because there is so much less pressure to win nowadays than there used to be?
Come on.
While they were in their chicken-in-every-pot mood, the NCAA lifted the five-year limit on restricted earnings coaches. Or maybe they just saw the writing on the wall, since they are in position to lose a judgment that could amount to more than $100 million for trying to restrict coaches' earnings.
Either way, it is good news. Schools are going to need that extra, experienced hand to help ride herd on these working players and the layers of bureaucracy they will create.
More and more, the NCAA appears an anachronism.
Sadly, the board of directors tried to do the right thing in allowing jocks to get jobs. These kids really
do need some spending money.
But the action was that of a body either out of touch with reality or unwilling to accept it. Allowing student-athletes to have jobs treats the symptom without addressing the real issue, which cuts to the heart of the organization.
Student-athletes already have jobs. They are students and athletes. Those involved in football and basketball generate billions of dollars for their schools and the NCAA. By now it is cliche to suggest they should share in the booty, but it needs to be suggested again.
Pay players.
Not a lot. A hundred bucks a month. That is enough. They are too busy to spend more than that. Too expensive? Tough. Make it work.
Providing a standard stipend as part of a student-athlete's grant-in- aid would keep boosters out of the equation and eliminate geographical biases that will skew recruiting.
But best of all, it would be an admission that the NCAA is as much about money as it is competition. It would be honest.
Buyers promise no extra charges
Royals buyout should not affect local utility bills
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — So, you open your morning paper and see that attendance at the Kansas City Royals' games is in free fall.
Then, when you open your electric bill, it shows a $5.50 per month increase to make up for the baseball team's losses.
Is this possible, considering the regional utility, Western Resources Inc., has teamed with Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt in order to buy the Royals?
Not a chance, says Western Resources chairman and chief executive John E. Hayes Jr., who says no utility customers
will be affected.
Westar Capital, the company that would co-own the Royals with Hunt, is a subsidiary separate from Western's utilities, Hayes has. He also said Westar has a separate financial system.
However, Western's shareholders — who would share any ownership stake in the baseball team — may fare differently.
"They will realize the losses, yes," Hayes said.
But the purchase of the Royals would be a relatively small investment for a company as big as Western, he added.
"It will not have a meaningful impact on our shareowners," he said.
Hayes said what is more important to shareholders, electric customers and everyone else in Kansas City is to keep the area economically viable.
"Sports teams create a focal point for what people perceive to be the quality of life in a community," he said.
The two groups joined forces in an effort to split the costs and the risks of owning the team, which has struggled on the field and lost millions of dollars in recent years.
Although he was not in position to offer much comment, American League president Gene Budig was delighted that strong ownership possibilities that could keep the Royals in Kansas City had emerged. Budig, when he was chancellor at the University of Kansas, was a close friend of the late Ewing Kauffman, the Royals' founder, and once served on the team's board of directors.
"The American League is encouraged that there are several groups actively interested in acquiring the Royals and keeping them in Kansas City," Budig said from his office in New York. "We hope Mr. Kauffman's wish will become reality in the months ahead. The league will have no comment until the Royals' board of directors has made a decision on the bidder."
One problem the Hunt/Western Resources team might encounter is their plan to have each partner own 50 percent. That has proven a problem with sports franchises in the past, and baseball has not approved such an arrangement since 1986 when the New York Mets restructured their ownership to give Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday 50 percent each.
Hunt, who plans to be the managing partner, probably would be asked to have at least 50.1 percent of the ownership. However, Budig declined to confirm this.
Accidents attract NASCAR race fans
The Associated Press
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Boby Labonte knows what a track like Talladge Superspeedway can do to a driver.
Although he was lucky enough to avoid a 20-car wreck in the DieHard 500 and win the race, he has not forgotten the perils of running on the world's biggest oval track — a place where it is every man for himself.
"You spend 29 races a year trying to be nice to everybody," he said. "If you're in the way, you move out of the way, and if you're faster, guys move out of the way for you. Here, it's just the opposite. It's kind of hard to have friends."
Those thoughts were echoed in much stronger terms by almost every driver whose car was towed, pushed or scraped off the first turn after the fiery wreck put more than half the field out of contention last Sunday.
The accident was not surprising, nor was the reaction from officials at NASCAR's most dangerous track. They are already looking forward to their next race in October.
"Quite frankly, in my opinion, this is the most exciting race track in the world," said Talladega president Grant Lynch. "You see guys here racing side by side, lap after lap. Nobody in the stands sits down. They didn't leave their seats for 140 laps, until we had the mishap."
Because the accident did not cause any serious injuries, the day turned out almost perfect from the track's standpoint. About 125,000 people showed up. The race was decided, as usual, on the last lap.
Every complaint by a driver also seemed to serve as testimony to why racing fans love the track.
"As long as people want to see 40 cars going nose to tail, you're not going to change," said Jimmy Makar, Labonte's crew chief. "As long as they keep us bunched, I'd say, yeah, you're going to see stuff like that."
So the second-guessing will continue, mostly from inside the garage.
They will blame it on speed-limiting carburetor restrictor plates. They will blame it on jittery drivers. They will complain about 43 cars racing within a fuel filter's distance of each other at speeds of more than 190 mph.
"I feel really awful about it," said Ward Burton, whose innocent bump of Dale Earnhardt triggered the chain reaction. "Of course, it's nothing I would do on purpose by any means, particularly the three car. I will say I think I caused it, and I know a lot of people in the past have speculated and speculated and nobody has taken the blame for it."
A nice gesture, but not enough to make up for a week's worth of lost work by drivers like Earnhardt, Bill Elliott and Mark Martin. The hopes of all three ended in the wreck.
"Sometimes you wonder if cars have outgrown this race track," said Martin, who believes the accident-free race he won last year at Talladega was a fluke. "That might have been the case when they were running unrestricted here at 190. It's surely the case now that they're running restricted at 190 and really want to go 230."
Lynch does not know if the track was built to handle a specific maximum speed. He does know, however, that the 2.66-mile layout is not going anywhere. In fact, they keep adding seats, a sure message for drivers to get used to the idea of coming back despite the hazards.
"As a driver, to finish a restrictor-plate race is a bonus," Labonte said. "To win one is even more of a bonus."
Those thoughts were shared by Winston Cup points leader Rusty Wallace, who finished 12th, but avoided the crash and seemed only slightly less satisfied than the winner.
"I guess it's inevitable when you're running that close with the speeds we're running," he said. "There's a lot to be said just for surviving."
Olympic track stars could race as part of Goodwill Games
Michael Johnson demands track and strong competition
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The ballyhooed match race between Michael Johnson and Donovan Bailey, which proved a bust last year, could be held again this summer as part of the Good will Games in New York.
Harvey Schiller, president of Turner Sports, which will televisie the Goodwill Games, said there was a good possibility of a rematch of the 150-meter showdown at Toronto, where Johnson pulled up injured after 70 meters.
Schiller said while there are
many details to be arranged, the race could be set in a few weeks.
"Both are competitive people and they like the excitement of it," Schiller said. "I don't think there's a downside. Both are running very fast."
Johnson is the 1996 Olympic 200-meter and 400-meter champion and 200-meter world record-holder. Bailey is the 1996 gold medalist in the 100-meter and world record-holder.
The track and field portion of the Goodwill Games will be held from July 19 to July 22 in Long Island, with Johnson trying to duplicate his Olympic double in the 200-meter and 400-meter and Bailey running in the 100-meter. Schiller said the rematch probably would be held near Aug. 2 and the end of the games.
He said Mitchel Field in Long
Island and Times Square were being considered as sites.
Brad Hunt, Johnson's agent, and Ray Flynn, Bailey's agent, are enthusiastic about the rematch, with the logical distance again 150 meters.
Hunt, however, said Johnson would not consider a two-man race nor a race on a temporary track.
"If they want to put on a race, he would have to have the best guys in the world, about four or five, or even fill the (eight) lanes," Hunt said.
"How can you have a race without Ato Boldon, Maurice Greene or Frankie Fredericks? If they want a race at this point in time that has meaning, you have to include those guys. If it's two men, it's two men other than Michael Johnson."
Boldon is the world 200 champion and has run the 100 this year in
9.86 seconds,
only .02 seconds off Bailey's record of
9.84 set at
A t l a n t a.
Greene won
the world 100-meter title last year, also at
9.86, and Fredericks was ranked No. 1 in the world in the 100-meter in 1997.
Johnson: Might compete for the right money, location, competitors
"Michael needs all the legitimacy of a real track," Hunt said.
He said Johnson would not compete on a temporary surface over a road or on concrete.
"I would like to see anything happen that TV embraces and showcases track and field," Hunt added.
"Last year's race delivered higher ratings than most sports events."
ratings than most. Flynn said Bailey would be absolutely agreeable to a rematch if the money is right.
Last year, Johnson and Bailey were guaranteed $500,000 apiece, with the winner at SkyDome getting an additional $1 million. A Toronto developer, Edward Cogan, had to step in at the last minute to rescue the race billed as the One to One Challenge of Champions after the meet promoter failed to produce enough money.
"I think the Goodwill Games would be a great podium to do the rematch," Flynn said. "It would stir up a lot of interest. It caught everyone's attention even though there was criticism because Michael pulled up and that was the worst thing that could have happened.
Goodwill Games representative Mike Lewellen emphasized that such elements as money, location and competitors must be in place before the race can go forward.
He said the athletes would have to be paid at least as much as they were in Toronto. He added that the Long Island venue would make the most sense from a purely running standpoint but a straightaway dash — unlike the curve in Toronto — in Times Square in Manhattan would be more exciting.
"But I think we would have a terrific race with the two biggest names in track and field. It would be the right matchup to put the global stamp on these games."
"So if we don't solve all the variables, it won't happen," he said.
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Sidewalk Sale Wed., April 29 Thurs., April 30 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
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864-4640
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