Those poor college athletes

Every so often I hear some ex-jock or an ass-kissing media member decrying "the system" that takes advantage of those poor college athletes, especially those in D-I revenue-producing programs. The argument always includes some tale of woe about how a 340-pound defensive tackle can't afford to take his girlfriend out for a burger and fries, while the greedy university president is lighting his Padilla Miamis with $100 bills gleaned from the sale of said defensive tackle's replica jersey.

These "kids," so the argument goes, are being used by the system, and they deserve to be paid like the professional athletes that they are. Of course, the ex-jock or ass-kissing media member conveniently skips over the part about the athlete getting free room and board for up to five years, a bill that could top $200,000 at many of our finer institutions of higher learning.

Anybody who's ever attended a D-I university can tell stories of these "poor athletes" driving around campus in tricked-out Hummers and wearing the latest bling and fashions, so let's put to rest the argument that these guys don't have cash on hand. Either they're working summer jobs for some serious dough or they've got a booster handing them cash under the table. Either way, I'm not buying the "too poor for Burger King" stories.

And now, we get the latest tale of conspicuous consumption by our poor, mistreated, abused college athletes -- a list of booty that players receive for participating at the various bowl games that dot the December and January landscape like so many patches of black ice. Among the gift packages:

• Rose Bowl, a Sony Bravia surround-sound system, Sony headphones, a Fossil watch, an Under Armour backpack and a New Era cap
• BCS championship game, a Nintendo Wii, three games including “Madden NFL 08,” a fleece pullover and a New Era cap.
• Holiday and Alamo Bowls: also handing out the Wii
• Insight Bowl, a Microsoft Xbox 360 and the “NCAA 08 Football” game and a Bulova watch and a hat
• Las Vegas Bowl, an Apple iPod Touch, an Under Armour Aero sackpack, a cap and a one-year subscription to ESPN the Magazine.

And the list goes on and on. It seems that the NCAA is OK with all of this, as long as the retail value of the gift package is less than $500.

Read the whole article -- it'll make you see red if you think, as I do, that these pampered princes are already getting more than their share of booty while the rest of the student body -- you know, the people who are there to get an education -- are getting $9.50 an hour for scrubbing pots and pans in the dorm cafeteria.

And as the author of this article points out, these kids are already getting a free education, but hey, let's give them something they can actually use.