First, some news about Travis:  He and his family will be
attending the NASCAR event this Sunday in Atlanta as guests of
Maine NASCAR driver Ricky Craven.  Lee Roy used to be Craven's
crew chief and Travis did everything an 11-year-old could do to
help.  Travis will be in the pit before the race, visiting with
Craven and the other drivers, then watch the race from a suite
overlooking the track.  Craven has made Travis an honorary
crew member of both of his racing teams and has put special
designs on his cars for Travis.
 
This really has nothing to do with college hockey, but it does
involve the internet, student athletes and our favorite
people, the suits in Kansas City who think that when a kid
accepts a dime in scholarship money, he sells his soul to
them for four years.
In the current issue of Sports Illustrated, Alexander Wolff
writes about Dan Kreft.  Dan is a senior electrical engineering
major at Northwestern.  He has a sharp wit, a knack for
writing and his own WWW page.  He is, as he describes it,
"the world's only 7-foot-tall, Division I-basketball-playing
computer nerd."  He has been putting updates on his page
about the season, his thoughts and what he has been
going through.  He caught the attention of the folks at SI,
who asked him to write an article for them.
Sounds like a dream come true.
Unfortunately for "Big Dan," he is also a scholarship
athlete on Northwestern's basketball team.
So, since being paid for the article would break NC$$ rules,
he offered to do it for free.  Who wouldn't want the chance
to write for SI?
The czars at the NC$$ still said no.  According to Article
12.5.2.1, players cannot help a commercial entity sell a
product, and SI would be "exploiting" Dan because he was
an athlete.  The NC$$ ignored the fact that the magazine
wanted Dan because he could write, not because he played
basketball.  But, as Wolff says in his article, "The NCAA
was resolute:  It simply can't have athletes at its
universities writing for national magazines.  (Why, the
very idea might disabuse the public of the notion that
college jocks are illiterate.)"
Wolff goes on to say, "while the NCAA effectively tells
the people who play college sports to shut up, the
airwaves are clogged with coaches' shows and with former
coaches working as commentators.  Woe unto us if we were
deprived of their wisdom [ed note, Bobby Knight quote
coming up, you might want to hide the children]
'We put his balls in a vise, I twisted it, we stuck a red-hot
poker up his ass and poured water down his mouth, and
I told him if he promised to play well we'd quit all that,'
Indiana coach Bob Knight said on Feb. 14, when asked why
Hossier center Todd Lindeman had played so well that night
against Penn State.  Knight can spew blather like that,
and every repulsive syllable will be disseminated.
Yet, if Kreft sent us a sonnet and we published it, he'd
be drummed off his team."
Wolff continues, talking about the million dollar shoe contracts
coaches sign, the $60 jerseys for sale in sporting goods
stores and other endorsement money coaches, schools and the
NC$$ rake in each year.  He also raises the issue of the
First Amendment.  Personally, I'd like to know since when
Constitutional rights were declared null and void
when you accept a scholarship.  I've typed up
scholarship forms before, and I don't recall anything
in there about losing your freedom of speech or expression,
even in the fine print.
Luckily, the NC$$ can do nothing about Big Dan's web site,
so you can still read his work.  His address is
www.eecs.nwu.edu/~bigdan/
You can also send an email to Sam Smith.  He is the
president of Washington State, and chair of the Presidents
Commission.  His email address is
[log in to unmask]
When you mail him, be sure to explain why it is we call his
organization NC$$.
 
***  Quoted material from SI article,  ***
***  March 4, 1996 by Alexander Wolff  ***
 
John Forsyth
 
Line of the week, Ace Millett, NYA goalie:
Min     Shots    Saves    Goals   G.A.A.
00:08     1        0        1     337.50
 
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