The "other" side of the NCAA

If you've been reading this blog fairly regularly over the few months that I've been diligently posting, you'll know that one of my recurrant themes is a strong level of cyncism with regards to the NCAA, mainly relating to what would be termed as the "cash cow" sports, that being major college football and basketball. I feel like that cynicism is pretty well supported by the facts, and I've stated as much on many instances.

That being said, those sports constitute only 2 of the sports and only one of the 88 championships that the NCAA sanctions on a yearly basis. However, unless you have a connection to a lower division school with a solid athletic program, you've probably never really encountered the NCAA at the lower levels. For all my cynicism about major college athletics, I've been exceedingly quick to spout praise for the "real" student-athletes of the lower NCAA divisions in the past.

And for all the evils I see in the NCAA in the cash cow sports, I see so much good resulting at the lower levels and the more obscure sports. I've traveled to 3 men's and 2 women's Division III soccer final fours as a fan, 1 Division III field hockey Final Four as a fan/brother of a player, and seen countless other soccer, field hockey, and basketball playoff games over the last decade. And what I've consistently seen at each step of the road is the NCAA providing a first rate championship experience for these student-athletes whom I have so much respect for.

When people think of NCAA sports, they think of the money making machines that are the NCAA basketball tournament, and college football. And yet the reality is those two sports are just a small piece of the puzzle. Virtually ever other championship the NCAA runs operates at a relatively steep loss. That of course, is made possible by the money that comes in from the cash cows. I've certainly had my complaints for the NCAA regarding D-III tournaments in the past, as occasionally financial considerations clearly do stand in the way of what's truly best for the competition. However, I accept the reality of that, and also see them continuing to make strides to limit those kind of situations. I see, for the most part, a truly geninue effort to reward these athletes for the kind of effort they lay out over their seasons, which, in many cases isn't that much less than their D-I counterparts.

So, while you won't ever see me forgive the NCAA for what I see as fairly dramatic abuses at the highest levels, you can know that I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater by condemning the entire organization as corrupt and money driven. It's become clear to me through the years that the NCAA system benefits far more athletes than it exploits. This, of course, is not a justification for the exploitation, because I'm relatively certain that the students that are currently benefiting from the system could still reap those benefits without the exploitation of the few. It does, however, bring a little bit of balance to the discussion that I often appear to be so one-sided on.