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Scarlet tape Clarett's outburst was human; NCAA rules are the problemPosted: Monday December 30, 2002 7:52 PMUpdated: Monday December 30, 2002 11:24 PM
PHOENIX -- In the world of college football, Maurice Clarett is seemingly larger than life. His picture graces the front of magazines; 100,000 Ohio State fans chant his name. To the NCAA, though, Clarett is a piece of paperwork. You read a story nearly every week about a college athlete being jerked around by the NCAA’s bureaucracy. Maybe you roll your eyes for moment at the sheer idiocy of the thing before moving on. What you don’t fully comprehend, though, until you see it with your own eyes is that beneath the rules and the committees and the mumbo jumbo, there is a human being involved. A teenage human being, getting one heck of a harsh reality lesson. Clarett didn’t mean to touch off a media firestorm Monday by publicly complaining about getting the runaround in his attempt to fly home for the funeral of childhood friend Juaquin A. Bell, who was shot and killed in Youngstown, Ohio. He didn’t mean to cause a “distraction” or disrupt his team’s “focus” from the national championship game.
He was being human. He’s an 18-year-old kid who just found out one of his closest childhood friends is dead. Naturally, he’s devastated. And compounding it, he’s confused as to why he couldn’t take a simple trip home for the funeral, returning in plenty of time for the game. That confusion manifested itself in his startling comments, which when first uttered led reporters to believe that Ohio State simply didn’t want him leaving the bowl site. "I guess football's more important than a person's life to them," he said. If only it were that simple. Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel insists Clarett had full permission from him to return home. Athletic director Andy Geiger concurs. But to do so required … well, let’s let Geiger explain it. “The [NCAA] rule is that if a student athlete has demonstrated need in terms of paperwork that’s on file, then you can use the NCAA's special assistance fund to fly someone home. It does not necessarily have to be a family member. In this case, he didn’t have the paperwork. We told Maurice that if he could buy a ticket home and back, we could reimburse him, once the paperwork is filed. He elected not to do that, or said he couldn't afford to do that or said there was nobody in his family who could do that. So we were stuck.” A perfectly reasonable explanation to those of us familiar with the NCAA’s ways. But try explaining it to an 18-year-old kid. Better yet, try explaining it to an 18-year-old kid who’s sitting in a ballroom in a posh hotel, answering questions about a game that will generate millions of dollars for his school -- which probably wouldn’t be here without him. Sorry, we can’t give you this plane ticket to go mourn the loss of your friend because of paperwork. You should have come from a richer family. Moments like this make you wonder how much longer the players will put up with it. The “pay-for-play” debate has persisted for years, and it’s not going to go away anytime soon. Not when the money being generated by their performances keeps skyrocketing. Certainly nobody wants to see college athletics turn into an all-out pro sport, with agents and signing bonuses and contract holdouts. But would it be so bad for a kid who leads his team to a $13 million bowl game to be able to afford a plane ride home? “We're being exploited," said Buckeyes offensive lineman Shane Olivea. "I can't blame a guy wanting to leave [early for the NFL] anymore. When that rent check is up and you still have two weeks to wait until your next rent check, what are you supposed to do? When you put your hand in your pocket and you feel your leg, that's not a happy feeling." In the vacuum that is bowl week, the Clarett story likely will continue to play out all week. Monday was about the news itself. Tuesday and Wednesday will be about whether it’s become a distraction. By Friday night, when the game is played, Clarett will be either the inspired hero or the agonized victim. Just try to remember that beneath the frenzy there is still an 18-year-old kid. He may be blessed with talent none of us could ever dream of. He’s probably headed toward fortunes none of us can imagine. But right now he’s grieving, the same way any of us would. “The human experience,” said Geiger, “is not put on hold just because we're playing in the Fiesta Bowl.” Stewart Mandel covers college football for CNNSI.com. Got a comment, question or scoop for Stewart? Click here. |
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