Double-A Zone

Pay for play, bicycle valet service and student-athlete hits lottery

2008-08-08T11:30:29Z

In case you've missed the 8-8-08 Olympic marketing campaign over the last several months, the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing take place today. I'm a big Olympics fan, but honestly, my biggest complaint is that there are too many events to follow. Couple this with the time difference and it will be a little tricky to be a dedicated viewer. Here is a cheat sheet on all the sports that could help you keep everything straight.

National anthems are one of the many great traditions of the Olympics. I'm sure there's nothing more emotional for an Olympic athlete than standing on the medal podium and hearing your country's anthem. Each song is so unique and encompasses a great deal of history, which makes it an interesting topic to explore. Listen to this story on NPR about the world's patriotic tunes.

Yesterday, NCAA President Myles Brand wrote about "pay for play" on the Huffington Post and we republished it on the Double-A Zone. The issue of paying student-athletes is a fascinating one and the NCAA has always taken a strong stance against it in order to preserve the amateurism of intercollegiate athletics. If you want more information about why the NCAA has this policy, hopefully this "Behind the Blue Disk" answers your questions. Other hot topics, such as academic reform and basketball issues, can be found in other "Behind the Blue Disks."

Colorado is doing its part to help out the environment by setting up a large scale recycling project during its home football games. The school is striving for "zero waste," and it should be commended for its efforts. Here is where it gets a little weird...the athletics department also announced a valet parking option for bicycles at the games. All of these "going green" projects will be operated by volunteer students, so kudos to the CU athletics department and the Boulder community for this initiative.

When we hear that a student-athlete is hoping to be a part of the lottery, it is usually referring to being drafted in the top 14 picks in the NBA Draft. Well, the lottery involving college sports has been given a whole new meaning after Ohio football student-athlete Mike Eynon won $250,000 in Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing. After taxes, Eynon's take-home sum will be $172,500.

The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) and the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) announced that, beginning in 2010, the two Division III conferences will take part in a two-year "PAC-MAC Football Challenge Series." While this might receive little attention in the national landscape, we have taken an interest in this because of the endless possibilities of creative names that could be given to this football series. A couple of our ideas are the "PAC-MAC Smack Series" and the "PAC and MAC Attack." Any other ideas?

Cullen Jones works to promote minority water safety

2008-08-08T11:00:00Z

Cullen Jones nearly drowned at a water park when he was 5. Today, he's one of only three African-American swimmers to ever qualify for the Olympics. Jones will compete in the 400-meter freestyle relay (where he's part of the world-record holding team) and the 400-meter medley relay.

The swimmer is using his new-found celebrity to advocate for water safety in minority communities through USA Swimming's Make a Splash campaign. Make a Splash was created to lower drowning rates and recruit more African-Americans to the sport.

According to a study commissioned by USA Swimming, nearly six out of 10 African-American and Hispanic children do not know how to swim. African-American children ages five to 14 are three times more likely to drown than white children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

USA Swimming also found that children from non-swimming households are eight times more likely to be at risk of drowning. While about one-third of white children from non-swimming families go on to learn to swim, less than 10 percent of children in non-swimming, African-American families do.

For many, Jones has become what Tiger Woods is to golf--a unique face in an otherwise homogeneous sport. It's tough to know why there are so few African-Americans in swimming. Perhaps swimming, like golf, suffers the residual impact of segregation. Maybe the "No Blacks Allowed" signs that barred an entire generation from public pools have created a cultural barrier that is not easily overcome.

Long-held stereotypes may also contribute to the problem. "I know there's a big stigma -- in the U.S. black people don't swim," Jones told TODAYshow.com. "But if you go to the Caribbean, it's unheard of for people not to know how to swim. If you go to Africa, black people do know how to swim. But it's just a big stereotype here. And that's one thing that I want to work and change."

Swimming isn't the only sport to suffer from a lack of diversity, but it is the only one played in an environment with potentially deadly consequences. Children, regardless of race, should feel confident in the water.

Good luck in Beijing, Cullen Jones. You're a world-class athlete and a world-class role model.

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Father struggles with pay for play

2008-08-07T18:56:25Z

This guest blog was sent by "Ted" in response to NCAA President Myles Brand's post Why The Capitalism Argument on Pay for Play Doesn't Work.

Mr. Brand, You're right. Many schools don't make money on sports, and many football and basketball programs don't generate revenue that would allow them to pay athletes. Many do make enormous profits and those profits do go to funding many things on their campuses. I'll look forward to your views on that.

As a father who has raised two Division I scholarship athletes, I've seen how hard they work and how much stress they manage to maintain both their academic standings and their standing on their teams. The athletic programs have all the leverage over the athlete with only one-year-at-a-time contracts.

I've seen two full-scholarship athletes on the same team lead distinctly different lives because of the wealth (or lack of) their parents. An athlete who comes from a wealthy family drives great cars, has a fine apartment, has a wonderful wardrobe, has tons of money in his pocket or on his credit card, eats well every day, and in general, has everything he wants.

An athlete who comes from a poor family is putting out the same full day of three to six hour workouts, a full day of classes ending with study time. The monthly stipend barely pays for the monthly basics of rent, food and transportation--if at all. I've often "caught" my own son eating peanut butter sandwiches because he ran out of money and didn't want to ask for more. This is an AA athlete playing in a nationally respected, top-notch program.

I don't care if they are "paid to play," per se, but I do care if they are being provided with the right amounts to live on so they are comfortable. In some markets the rents are so high in and around universities that nearly the entire stipend simply goes for rent, and the apartments I'm thinking of are hardly palaces.

Many people like to say, "The athletes are getting an education." Yes, but the life of an athlete, especially in these times is one of huge pressures to workout ALL YEAR LONG, to invest heavily in year-long training, to maintain academics and athletics as no non-athletic student has to do.

It is time to provide athletes with, at the very least, a living stipend so they can live in a decent place, eat a decent meal, have some money left over for monthly living expenses so at least they have some peace of mind. They do provide revenue to their schools, and they do provide school pride, encourage donations, etc.

They deserve more than having to live like paupers. Their intense schedules don't allow them to hold down a part time job. Take some pressure off these athletes by increasing their stipends.

Featured Comment 8-7-08

2008-08-07T15:48:22Z

These people have spent their entire lives training for one event. If their lung capacity is affected by the quality of air in Beijing...then they are only exercising common sense.

Meaningful graduation ceremony, Bowden's comments and Pac-10 office

2008-08-07T14:54:09Z

Krystal Vaught, a WNBA player and former VCU student-athlete, missed her college graduation ceremony in mid-May when her Washington Mystics team had their opening night game in Indianapolis. As Vaught tells the Washington Post, the graduation ceremony was a big deal to her: "Not many people thought I would graduate from college. Not many people thought I would make it out of high school, flat out. So many people gave up on me, and talked bad, saying, 'Oh, she'll never make it out of here.' And I did." Well, Vaught ultimately received the graduation ceremony she deserved a week later. During a surprise ceremony during the team's home opener, 40 of her closest friends and family members were in attendance and VCU Coach Beth Cunningham presented Vaught with her diploma. What a great story and best of luck to Krystal in the WNBA.

We always love to hear about student-athletes helping out in the community, and a recent example involves 14 SAAC representatives from the Horizon League. Along with an advisor and some league staff members, the student-athletes took part in an event with kids from the Forest Manor Multi-Service Center in Indianapolis. We love to hear about similar community events around the country, so feel free to email us with the details at hssmith@ncaa.org or mhlawrence@ncaa.org.

In June, a 25-year agreement was signed between the NCAA and the city of Omaha to keep the College World Series in the city for the next three decades. As part of the plan, Omaha will build a new downtown ballpark that is planning to be opened in 2011, and architectural firms are getting set to begin designing the 24,000 seat stadium. In a recent Mondays with Myles, Dr. Brand discussed the NCAA's relationship with Omaha and why the College World Series doesn't travel to different cities like most other NCAA championships.

As Florida State's Bobby Bowden gets ready for his 33rd season as head coach in Tallahassee, he recently said that his team has "got to do better or I'm going to have to get out of here." Coming off a 7-6 season after years of 10-win seasons and contending for national championships, I can understand the frustration with his program's mediocre success over the last few years. Do you have any problem with Bowden going public with these comments?

The Pacific-10 Conference headquarters are located in Walnut Creek, California, but don't ask many of the conference's big-name coaches for driving directions to the office. Interestingly enough, soon-retiring commissioner Tom Hansen claims that many of the conference's coaches have never been to the office. This is because the majority of the conference's meetings take place in nearby San Francisco, which makes travel in and out much easier for coaches and administrators. Before 1975, the conference office was located in San Francisco, but when rent got too expensive, the office moved to then-commissioner Wiles Hallock's hometown of Walnut Creek. You would think that the conference is now in the financial position to move back to San Francisco if they wanted, but it seems like everybody is happy in Walnut Creek.

Why The Capitalism Argument on Pay for Play Doesn't Work

2008-08-07T14:24:16Z

This blog originally appeared on the Huffington Post.

"This is America! Of course student-athletes should be paid for playing sports. They are the ones who sweat out the wins and the losses. They are the ones who produce all the labor. Did you ever hear of capitalism, for crying out loud? The laborer should be paid for his work."

That is the more strident version of the capitalism argument for why student-athletes in intercollegiate athletics should be paid, and pay for play is one of the most frequently asked questions I encounter from audiences during speaking engagements. There are other arguments for pay for play (the fairness issue is one I'll take up in another posting), but capitalism is usually the first one.

It has merit.

This is America, and we do believe in capitalism. We see it as the best and fairest way to generate consumer product. We are convinced it promotes hard work, competition, innovation and quality of life. And it does. It has its flaws. It has a tendency to produce large gaps between the haves and the have-nots; but it does encourage a strong work ethic, and I wouldn't trade capitalism for any other economic model as a structure in which business operates.

But it isn't a workable approach for every aspect of American life. We don't apply it, for example, to churches or charities. And we don't use capitalism as the model for how education works. With some few exceptions, American higher education does not function within a capitalistic structure.

It isn't that money is not important to higher education. It is; even big money. It's not uncommon for large state universities with hospitals for teaching future doctors to have annual budgets in the $3 to $4 billion range. It takes a lot of money to run a large university and provide a quality education. But they do not operate within a capitalistic structure. They are purpose driven; not profit driven.

If they were profit driven, campuses would have to give up many courses of study that are essential to a university education, including (God forbid!) my discipline -- philosophy. Why would they have to give up some studies? Because they are "loss units" that have to be subsidized from other revenue-generating courses of study or other services, and that isn't a sound capitalistic approach.

Higher education offers a comprehensive range of study because its purpose is to educate a population of future leaders who will enhance society as a whole based on a broad body of knowledge and skills. There is educational value to offering even that which is not profitable.

The same is true of intercollegiate athletics. Football and men's basketball are the only two college sports that consistently have revenues that exceed expenses; and even then, not all football or men's basketball programs generate enough revenue to cover costs. All the other sports have to be subsidized. And all but about 20 Division I universities have to subsidize from their general funds because athletics doesn't generate enough to cover expenses.

That flies in the face of the popularly held perception that intercollegiate athletics -- think of all those television contracts, all that bowl money, all the merchandizing -- are awash is excess revenue. It just isn't so.

The money from football and men's basketball (and only 60 to 70 percent of those programs actually cover their own costs) are helping pay the way for the other sports. Adding a budget line for salaries in those two sports would undoubtedly mean cutting sports -- first for men and then for women.

So what! Why worry about the other sports?

Here is the answer and the critical point: Because there is educational value in participating in sports. Athletics is one of the essential co-curricular activities that teaches important life skills -- team work and hard work, persistence and resilience, self-sacrifice and self-discipline and pursuit of excellence in life. Those are skills that are important to the individual and to society at large. We want to maximize the number of students who learn these skills, not cut programs in order to pay salaries to a few.

So, the capitalism argument doesn't work for a variety of reasons. It favors the few over the broader interests of the many. It is based on a false perception that there is sufficient revenue to pay student-athletes even in football and men's basketball to play the sports. And most importantly, it tries to impose an economic structure on higher education and intercollegiate athletics that runs contrary to the way in which they do business.

The critic will respond, "But it just isn't fair. What about everyone who is making money?"
That's the topic for the next post.

Read what a father of two Division I student-athletes has to say about pay for play.

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Featured Comment 8-6-08

2008-08-06T19:13:39Z

This is a HUGE problem for black colleges. Because they are limited in broadcasting contracts and corporate sponsorships, they often go years of running in the red.

Former California all-American, U.S. Olympic softball player Vicky Galindo

2008-08-06T16:05:54Z

As the Olympics get set to begin later this week in Beijing, we continue our Olympic focus on the Double-A Zone by talking with American softball player Vicky Galindo.

Galindo was a 2006 graduate at California, where she led the Bears to three Women's College World Series appearances. The third baseman also was a two-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association all-American during her collegiate career. Since her graduation, in addition to playing on the U.S. National Team and for the National Pro Fastball's Chicago Bandits, Galindo served as an assistant coach at San Jose State in 2007.

Galindo has enjoyed an incredibly successful stint with the U.S. National Team, including gold medals at the 2006 and 2007 World Cups of Softball and the 2007 Pan American Games. Galindo is one of the stars who hopes to lead the American squad to another gold medal in the Olympics.

This will be Galindo's first Olympics as a player, although she has experienced the Olympics once before. In 1996, Galindo's mother wrote a letter for a radio station contest that explained why Vicky deserved to carry the Olympic torch on its way to Atlanta. Vicky ended up being selected, and at the age of 12, she had her first taste of the Olympics. As Vicky told us, "That's actually when I really starting thinking, 'well, maybe I can play softball in the Olympics.' "

In our conversation, Galindo discusses her student-athlete experience at California, the challenges of being a coach and player, and the U.S. National Team's expectations and pressure in Beijing.

Get connected with Vicky Galindo.

Click here for the USA Softball Web site.

Josh Centor leaves NCAA

2008-08-06T15:45:50Z

This is the last post Josh Centor will write as the NCAA coordinator of new media. Josh, we will miss your regular insightful commentary and enthusiasm, but look forward to engaging you in conversations on the Double-A Zone for years to come. Don't forget, you can always be a guest blogger.

For the past month, I have written limited words on the Double-A Zone. If you were worried about my fingers, don't be - they're just fine. Actually, they're a little more bruised and battered than usual, as I've been using my hands to pack boxes and move furniture instead of sharing thoughts on the wonderful world of intercollegiate athletics.

Today is my final day working at the NCAA, and hence, my final post on the Double-A Zone. After nearly three years, 2,000 posts and almost 120 editions of Mondays With Myles, I have hung up my keyboard and accepted a position as assistant director of athletics at Carnegie Mellon University, where I will oversee the budget, rules compliance, athletics communication and work closely with fund-raising and development.

If you're a regular Double-A Zone reader, you'll know that Division III has always had a special place in my heart and I am beyond thrilled to continue my career at that level of college sports. Carnegie Mellon competes in the University Athletic Association, the same conference as Brandeis, my alma mater. The university is located in Pittsburgh, so I am moving about 375 miles closer to my hometown of New York. These are all good things.

As excited as I am about the transition, I leave the national office with some trepidation, largely because the Double-A Zone has become a special part of my daily routine, something I have enjoyed more and more since we launched in November 2005. Together, we have created a home for erudite conversations about intercollegiate athletics, higher education and hot topics across the world of sports. While I will certainly be a daily reader, I will miss the first-hand participation in those conversations.

During the past three years, I have met hundreds of passionate sports fans from all over the country and we have engaged in spirited conversations on a regular basis. I am grateful for each of those relationships and look forward to continuing our friendships offline, but also hope to engage all of you in discussion as a commenter as the Double-A Zone continues to progress.

When we created the Double-A Zone in 2005, I was 23-years-old and had a lot to learn. We did it together and to me, that's what makes this blog such a tremendous asset for college sports. We talk about the important issues in this forum, and we learn from one another. I am thankful Myles Brand and the other leaders at the NCAA had the foresight to see the value in developing this type of communication vehicle. We have a loyal and intelligent base of visitors and I would put the quality of our conversations up against any that happen about intercollegiate athletics on the Web.

I am not bidding farewell because I will continue to be a constant presence on this blog; I can't imagine going a single day without getting my morning coffee with the Double-A Zone.

So I'm off to Pittsburgh, where I will get back on a college campus, which is probably the most enjoyable place one can imagine. It is my hope to play a small role in the success of Carnegie Mellon, Division III and NCAA student-athletes, as they complement their academic experience with an intercollegiate athletics career. What could be better than that?

Thanks to all for making the past three years so much fun. Keep blogging!

For information on how to contribute guest blogs, contact Associate Director of New Media Marta Lawrence (mhlawrence@ncaa.org).

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Sickle cell trait, golf as an Olympic sport and this date in NCAA history

2008-08-06T15:24:42Z

On Friday, the family of late Central Florida football student-athlete Ereck Plancher announced that it plans to file a wrongful death claim against the school. Plancher, who had previously been diagnosed with sickle cell trait, died in March after collapsing during football conditioning drills. The 19-year-old was the sixth football student-athlete to die from sickle cell trait in the last eight years. What many people don't realize is that sickle cell trait affects one in every 12 African Americans. Kenny Berkowitz of Training and Conditioning explains what exactly sickle cell trait does to the body: "But with strenuous exercise and overexertion, the trait can cause red blood cells to become crescent-shaped, decreasing the flow of oxygenated blood to the heart and leading to explosive rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown), which can then lead to heart dysrhythmia and death." Plancher's condition was known and he had been cleared to play by the medical staff. What are your feelings about Plancher and the other football student-athletes who have unfortunately passed away from sickle cell trait?

On every Friday night before its Saturday games, Division II Abilene Christian's football student-athletes and coaches take part in a spiritual discussion that seems to have a significant impact on everyone involved. Chris Thomsen, the school's football coach, explains the tradition: "Our athletic department does an exit interview with all of our seniors at the end of the year and almost all our seniors to a man commented to our athletic director that the 'real manhood' stuff really changed their perspective on what a real man is and what a man's role in society is and what it should be." Regardless of your religious affiliations, you have to respect Abilene Christian's efforts that go beyond the football field and positively impact the lives of their student-athletes.

Congratulations to Division III Stevens Institute of Technology, which has been named the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Jostens Institution of the Year. The ECAC - which includes 321 Division I, II, and III colleges and universities - is the nation's largest conference in the country, although most institutions have other conference affiliations as well. The two previous winners of the award were University Athletic Association schools - NYU in 2006 and Brandeis in 2007.

Can you imagine getting ready to participate in the biggest race of your life, but for the 30 minutes beforehand, you have to sit next to your fellow competitors? If you can't take that kind of pressure, don't become an Olympic swimmer. Athletes are required to report to the ready-room before every race. Most have developed their own routine; for instance, Michael Phelps blasts music on his headphones, while other swimmers have been known to stare down their competition. What would you do to occupy yourself with your 30 minutes?

Yesterday, golfer Phil Mickelson advocated for a new Olympic sport. "Having golf an Olympic sport is exponentially more important to the game of golf than the majors," he said. That's a bold statement from the world's number two golfer. It's interesting when you take a step back and think about what sports have made the Olympic cut and what sports are left out. For instance, why is tennis an Olympic sport, while golf isn't? Do you think golf will ever become an Olympic sport?

On this day in 1973, a mere 35 years ago, the NCAA membership voted to reorganize itself into the three division structure that we see today. Also, on that same day in 1973, legendary humanitarian and baseball player Roberto Clemente was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame after being tragically killed in an airplane crash on his way to help earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

Ad revenue is big issue for athletics departments

2008-08-05T19:33:57Z

The University of Texas is one of the nation's few self-sufficient athletics departments, thanks largely to investments like the new $176 million stadium expansion. The renovation will increase seating capacity to 94,000, and the school plans to use its multi-million dollar 135-by-55 foot Jumbotron to fuel the school's ever-advancing advertising revenue, which has increased by 1,600 percent since 1993.

Texas is clearly one of the fortunate few that are able to stay in the black, but how can other (less-financially flush) institutions keep their heads above water? Most non-Division I FBS schools aren't bringing in enough revenue to even make the football program profitable, much less use its revenues to fund the rest of the athletics department (like Texas does). Is this a case of needing money to make money?

Chris Plonsky, Texas' women's athletics director, explains this successful advertising strategy to the Daily Texan: "There aren't many ways you can get the direct exposure you get by advertising to a stadium with 94,000 people in it. Plus, college students are a wheelhouse for many of these companies that are trying to attract them as future employees once they graduate."

While other high-profile Division I schools are able to take on these large-scale investments, few see the immediate financial success like Texas (hence only about 20 athletics departments have positive cash flow). While the reasoning for this probably goes much deeper than advertising revenues in the football stadium, it would be interesting to see if other schools have witnessed similar increases thanks to advertising over the last decade and a half. What does this say about the school's brand? Is the brand inherently valuable to advertisers, and if so, what makes certain brands more popular than others? Do lower-profile Division I schools and Divisions II and III institutions have any prayer of tapping into the advertising coffers?

Maybe a better question is, does an athletics department need to demonstrate concrete financial benefits to be valuable to the institution?

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Featured Comment 8-5-2008

2008-08-05T19:00:30Z

What about losing gracefully and accepting the fact that there are better players than you in the US? And abiding by that decision? Instead, she goes and finds a loophole.

Hammon faces U.S. squad, typhoons in China and work/life balance

2008-08-05T14:01:34Z

Remember American basketball player Becky Hammon and her controversial decision to play for the Russian national team in the Olympics? Well, yesterday, her Russian squad matched up with the U.S. in the FIBA Diamond Ball tournament, a tune-up for the upcoming Olympics. Hammon scored 10 points for the Russians, but it was not nearly enough as the Americans ran away with a 93-58 win. After reading the post-game quotes, it seems like the players are more focused on basketball than the Hammon issue, which is a good thing for all parties involved.

There was another earthquake in the Sichuan province of China this morning. Today's earthquake measured 6.0 and early reports say there is one dead, five wounded.

In other bad news for China, the forecast this week is calling for typhoons. Yes, you heard it correctly...weather forecasters are saying that a one to two day typhoon could hit the Chinese coast, which would bring heavy rainfall and the realistic possibility of disturbing the Olympic action. Hopefully the skies take it easy on China over the next few weeks or it could make for a messy time in Beijing and the other host cities.

A healthy work/life balance should be important to everyone, but the demands of high-level athletics don't always make that possible. During the U.S. Olympic Softball Team's 25-state, five month pre-Olympic tour, three mothers on the team -- Jennie Finch, Stacey Nuveman and Lisa Fernandez -- found a creative way to keep work and family balanced. The three players traveled on a separate motor home with their children, which was a motivating factor in getting the women to play on the team in the first place. How difficult do you think it would be to train for the Olympics while being a parent at the same time?

A new study claims college students are more likely to behave poorly than peers who don't attend college, which is contrary to the results that one might expect. Patrick Seffrin, the study's primary researcher from Bowling Green University, explains: "College attendance is commonly associated with self-improvement and upward mobility. Yet this research suggests that college may actually encourage, rather than deter, social deviance and risk-taking.'' Do you buy the study's findings?

Legendary Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt will donate $600,000 to the women's basketball programs to be split by the Tennessee campuses at Knoxville and Martin. Summitt played basketball and volleyball at Tennessee-Martin during her undergraduate days.

Do you agree with Wie?

2008-08-04T17:44:38Z

Golfer Michelle Wie teed it up again with the men last week, and for the eighth straight time in a PGA Tour event, she missed the cut. Frankly, her 73-80 at the Reno-Tahoe Open is a respectable score for any 18-year-old on a PGA Tour golf course. I don't have a problem at all with her competing in the occasional men's professional tournament, but instead, I think she was mishandled much earlier in her career when she passed on the thought of playing golf in college.

Wie currently has no status on the LPGA Tour, which means she can only play in a limited number of tournaments with the women. Since she (or her parents) made a decision to forego her collegiate eligibility over two years ago - a decision that I disagree with - Wie is left with few options.

At this point, her best choice would be to try and qualify for the LPGA next season. If that is unsuccessful, she could play on the Futures Tour (the minor league for women's golf).

I agree with the critics that say she needs to go to a place where she can be a winner, but that debate is beside the point. No matter where she decides to play in the future, I don't have a problem with her occasionally teeing it up with the men at this point in her career.

Is she good enough to play with the world's best male players? Absolutely not. But why should that stop her? It's a great learning experience to play with people who are better than you, regardless of the sport. In that sense, I think these experiences will ultimately benefit her down the road.

The argument that you frequently hear against Wie's entry into the men's tournaments is that she is taking a spot from a worthy male professional in the field. OK, let's clear up this issue right now. Every PGA Tournament has sponsors that get to invite a few players to participate in the field. They can choose whomever they wish - often deciding on local professionals, interesting characters, amateurs, or young teenagers - because they are paying the big bucks to support the tournament and these selections help draw additional interest in the event. You never hear any griping when a tournament gives John Daly his millionth chance or the Sony Open in Hawaii chooses local 17-year-old Tadd Fujikawa to participate. So why all the bickering for Wie's selections? Is it because she's a girl?

The other criticism you often hear about Wie is that her parents are too controlling. While this might be the case, it doesn't lessen my current opinions about Wie in any way. Assuming she wants to be playing on the PGA Tour, and from all indications she does, then I don't see how her parents should have anything to do with anyone's current feelings toward her.

So next time Wie gets invited to a PGA Tour tournament and she misses the cut, let's not rip her on her decision to tee it up with the men. Perhaps we should be getting on her and her parents for letting her turn professional at such a young age, which made her give up her collegiate eligibility before she was 16 years old. This is the true issue I have with Wie and her parents, and unfortunately, that decision is long behind her.

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Featured Comment 8-4-08

2008-08-04T15:45:15Z

Let her be. She has suffered the shame of having to give up her medals, humiliation of the whole situation.