In a message dated 2/4/2002 9:52:25 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> And I thought Lincoln freed the slaves. Actually it was Pierre Eliot Trudeau
> and Lincoln only freed the slaves in the states that were in rebellion.

The fact is the "letter of intent rule" is designed to prevent a greater evil
and that is the inducement to leave a school and/or renege on a commitment.
Unfortunately those who constantly decry the NCAA on this list do not have
any suggestions for what would be better. Read any of life long NCAA critic
IU prof Murray Sperber's books and you will see that the flip side is the
elimination of D1 college sports and scholarships. The players are no
different than minor league players or in the case of hockey junior a. We all
enjoy college sports and I guess we all choose to overlook the hypocrisy of
"student athletes" and the big money nature of college sports. It is a
business with many schools having one AD for revenue sports (really a pr
finance guy) and a real PE who runs the non-revenue sports. Hockey is the
bottom rung of revenue sports at most schools (exception where it is the only
D1 sport). Does a basketball team need four assistant coaches?