NCAA Violations for Pryor?

[Spence]

They don't let them have actual tickets because they want the names of the individuals who are receiving them. That is why it is will call. Athletes are not legally allowed to sell their tickets, but of course they can sell them as long as they don't sell them to someone they don't know - it would be hard to catch them.

Pryor and Evege were going to post a question on twitter and award it to who they deemed had the best answer - so as long as they didn't know who won, it would be random - athough in the form of a contest. And they can't just give them to charity, they have to clear compliance - meaning they have to clear the NCAA. If they clear, they can do what they want. It looks like the Make a wish tickets are going to be awarded. The others are stopped dead.

[ktffan]

Read the article. I don't see the problem. Seemed like good sense to me. It's the "randomness" of the "contest" that causes the problem. The tickets COULD go anywhere and that's a problem OSU didn't want to get into, so they stopped it. What's the beef?

[Spence]

Read the article. I don't see the problem. Seemed like good sense to me. It's the "randomness" of the "contest" that causes the problem. The tickets COULD go anywhere and that's a problem OSU didn't want to get into, so they stopped it. What's the beef?

The beef is how silly the NCAA can be. If he gave them away, for no gain, it shouldn't be an issue to the NCAA anyway. Ohio State's compliance office are an extention of the NCAA in how they work. They are paid by the school, but report only to the NCAA independent of the school. It is a fail safe so compliance has no incentive to cheat. It is good and bad, the good is that if the find something wrong they can immediately report to the NCAA and punish the offending body. It keeps Ohio State from getting in deep trouble with the NCAA. The bad is that every little meaningless thing that someone runs through them is cause for action.

A few years ago a coach bought a kid lunch at Wendy's because he didn't have cash on him. The coach got in trouble and the player had to sit. The total bill was under $10 dollars. That is silly. It is the whole zero tolerance society that removes common sense from the equation. The NCAA looks at a $6 lunch at a fast food joint the same as a $200 dinner at Mortons as the same. They certainally aren't the same. No one with any sense views a hamburger and some fries as a special benefit or even an action that makes a player beholden to anyone.

[donovan]

The beef also is the spirit and original intent of athletes getting tickets. It was, I assume, so family and friends could watch them play, It made them affordable..which is a real issue, free and made them available which in some situations is a bigger issue. It costs schools a lot of money to give tickets to athletes. They loose revenue at a much greater price than student tickets. So...when athletes decide the tickets are theirs to do with whatever they want, that is not the case nor the original intent. With as most things today, the legalism of it all destroys the spirit. I refer you to the Pharisees and Sadducees of years gone by.

[Spence]

The beef also is the spirit and original intent of athletes getting tickets. It was, I assume, so family and friends could watch them play, It made them affordable..which is a real issue, free and made them available which in some situations is a bigger issue. It costs schools a lot of money to give tickets to athletes. They loose revenue at a much greater price than student tickets. So...when athletes decide the tickets are theirs to do with whatever they want, that is not the case nor the original intent. With as most things today, the legalism of it all destroys the spirit. I refer you to the Pharisees and Sadducees of years gone by.

I agree. It does cost the school lots of money to give tickets to athletes. I think, though, that the athletes earn the tickets, most go above and beyond the call of duty. They get an education and a degree that can be worth lots of money, I know, but so does a kid with an art scholarship and they are allowed to make money while in school.

[RazorHawk]

My feeling on this would be against the Ohio State Compliance department, unless they actually consulted the NCAA and the NCAA told them to not allow this to happen. If however, they just surmised that the NCAA would not allow this and took it upon themselves to just stop it, then they would be the target of my wrath.

I know it is easier to vent anger towards the NCAA as opposed to your own athletic department.

[Spence]

The Ohio State compliance office is filled with NCAA people. That is actually why Ohio State put them there, the bad thing is they act just like NCAA people.

[..fanatic]

That is just crazy. The NCAA is run by a bunch of imbeciles.

Yep - and still a huge percentage want those same imbeciles to run a college football playoff for the big boys.

[billybud]

But, heck, the compliance folks were right.

Despite Spence's claim, the process was absolutely not random. The players had total control of who to pick from those that submitted (nothing like random where you have no control). Those that submitted made a "presentation" and the athletes would review those presentations and award tickets to those that they liked.

With that control, you can award tickets to high school athletes who's presentation was "I want to be a Buckeye in the future".

If they had just said..."we will donate our tickets to the Make a Wish Foundation"...everything would have been hunky dory.

[Spence]

But, heck, the compliance folks were right.

Despite Spence's claim, the process was absolutely not random. The players had total control of who to pick from those that submitted (nothing like random where you have no control). Those that submitted made a "presentation" and the athletes would review those presentations and award tickets to those that they liked.

With that control, you can award tickets to high school athletes who's presentation was "I want to be a Buckeye in the future".

If they had just said..."we will donate our tickets to the Make a Wish Foundation"...everything would have been hunky dory.

No contest is absolutely random then.

[Spence]

That is just crazy. The NCAA is run by a bunch of imbeciles.

Yep - and still a huge percentage want those same imbeciles to run a college football playoff for the big boys.

That is all we need.

[billybud]

Spence...you have random and you have "random" as would be used in a statistical study.

But anytime humans make a decision based totally on their own internal basis, it is as far from random as you can get. If the kids had said that they would collect entries and put them in a barrell and draw, that, at least, has some aspect of randomness to it.

But with the kids selecting personally based on their reaction to a presentation, nothing keeps a presentation from being "Hi...I'm a Buckeye fan who would love to go to the game. I have a week in my condo at Disney that I'd be glad to trade." And who would know?

That was the problem...too many opportunities for non compliance.

[Spence]

I understand what you are saying, but there is a difference between what these kids were trying to do and the spirit of the rule. Sure they could give it to a kid who was being recruited, sure they could give it to an active booster, but they weren't doing any of that. Just giving away some tickets to fans. The problem with the NCAA is they can't take things on an individual basis, it is the all or nothing lawyer mentality. That is what makes a good idea like the NCAA and turns it into the mess they have today. We want to make sure no one can sue when some other kid decides to push the limit on the rules.

[billybud]

How do you know what they were doing?

How do you know they wouldn't give a ticket to a possible recruit? How do you know they would turn down an offer for a trade of something of value?

You have know idea other then what they might have said,,,,and the road to hell is paved, etc. etc.

[billybud]

The compliance office was correct in their action. I give kudos to folks who do their job even when it is sure to draw public criticism.