There’s an idea that’s managed to whisper its way deep into the consciousness of the fans and media who attend so closely to the victories and defeats of our autumn Saturdays. It’s crept in there to convince us that things are too far gone with collegiate athletics to ever be fixed. The proponents of this idea argue that “the entire thing would need to be scrapped,” or that notions of winning in major college athletics without cheating are both “noble” and “novel.” But the idea that college athletics have been flung so far afield from the ideals of the NCAA that expectations of programs vying to win without cheating have become trite and quaint is simply a convenient excuse.

It’s convenient for the coaches who would compile a list of “minor infractions” over their career. If it’s accepted that cheating is rampant and uncontrollable, then a coach’s personal rap sheet of minor infractions can probably get excused by the adoring public with a few folksy witticisms and just enough “aww shucks” attitude that people may suspect that, while you’ve managed to revolutionize an entire offensive system, you just might be too stupid to play by all of the rules all of the time.

It’s convenient for the players who need a little footing of rationalization to stand tall while taking benefits expressly forbidden by the rules. Who can blame the “poor players” who might take a little extra cash in return for their services on the field of play? Who cares that the entire idea of scholarship collegiate athletics is to enable young men and women to pursue a path to a better future by way of academic accomplishments accompanied by athletic endeavors? Never mind that most families today wonder how the hell they’ll ever finance the college educations of their children given rocketing tuition costs and deteriorated credit markets. Our student-athletes need to be able to take a gal out on a date. In a really nice car. Damn the rules that they signed up to play by and pass the syringe!

It’s convenient for the columnists. Unfortunately for the John Saunders and Mitch Alboms of the world, something truly affecting and tragic only happens within the world of sports that could translate to the world-at-large about once or twice a year, so “crafting” enough words to fill a weekly column can get tough. But if you can find a cash cow like the epidemic of cheating within amateur student athletics, well, sir, you’ve got enough material to make Jack Van Impe green with envy. Whenever the fresh springs of controversey or tradgedy run dry, just step on back to the old, faithful well of chronic cheating and declare your right-sized outrage; Just enough to get the readers hooked, not enough to push the public into any action that might kill the cow.

It’s convenient for the journalists. And, regrettably, most real to them too. Some of the public spent a lot of time in “The Tebow Era” wondering just why it is that the sports media spent so much time adoring Tim Tebow. Granted, the guy’s a swell guy, but the reputation not only preceded him, but eclipsed any rational levels of humanity by his senior year. And it now seems obvious that it’s because the media members who regularly cover national collegiate athletics feel so surrounded by cheating and immorality, that Tim practically radiated blue and orange light to their cynical eyes. Sometimes things are too good to believe because the beliefs of the people are completely out of whack. But also, if it is accepted that the entire system is a wreck, then the observers of that system, the journalists, are left without blame for not exposing the scandals more regularly. After all, how can you pick out a piece of mud from all that murk unless it’s truly foul? And if you go around, poking your nose where it might not ought to be, giving everything a sniff test, who could blame you for worrying about losing your access (and thus job) in times like these?







And it’s convenient for the fans. For the fans of programs already exposed as frauds, telling eachother on message boards and over beers that “everyone’s cheating, it’s just a matter of who’s caught and who’s not,” quickly sweeps away any sense of regret one might carry for supporting the fraud, spending money on the fraud, and getting into stupid internet-arguments in defense of the fraud. And, because sports always, inevitably, serve as a metaphor for life, the sense that “everyone cheats” in sports serves as a cushy little bed for the fans as they place every failure and every disappointment in the file labeled “external locus of control.” Suffering from a sense of victim-hood gets so much easier if everyone’s cheating. All of the time.

There’s no denying that cheating is a problem for the NCAA. Even the NCAA has managed to notice it’s a problem, and that’s saying something. The Southern Cals and Ohio States of the world have managed to awaken the sleeping, lumbering, lazy giant of bureaucracy. So maybe that’s a start. But there’s absolutely no hope of the problem being solved until people begin to demand that the programs they support play by the rules. And there’s no hope of that happening until fans, players, media members, and coaches stop letting themselves believe the convenient lie.

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