NCAA, Heisman Trust Put Heads in Sand

Before I get to why I titled this post the way I did, first I must give a slight lecture on economics. I apologize, but it is critical and I’ll be brief.

One of the more basic concepts in all of economics that holds true a frighteningly large percentage of the time is the concept of supply and demand. It’s pretty simple, if there are ten of something and two people, then the price is probably going to be low due to the high supply and low demand (let’s assume that each person only wants one of these items). Imagine that it was reversed; two items and ten people. All of a sudden a bidding war can break out and the price that the consumer ends up paying for that item ends up being a lot higher.

Many things can affect the actual supply and demand and greatly affect the price of a good and I’m not going to go into all of those save one and that one is the government. One of the things that the government can do is they can set a price floor or a price ceiling and for this example, let’s focus on a price ceiling.

First of all, imagine a graph with two lines on it that form an X. The line that slopes from the upper left to the lower right is the demand curve, the other line sloping upwards to the right is the supply curve. The X-axis represents the quantity of a good and the Y-axis is the price of a good. Where the two lines meet is called the equilibrium point, where supply equals demand (it’s actually quantity supplied and quantity demanded but that’s the last time I get technical). At this point there is no shortage of goods or excess of goods; the consumers are happy and the producers are happy.

Now, let’s put a price ceiling on a good. To do that, all you do is put a horizontal line below the equilibrium point. Not too hard… however, now we have a problem. The demand is sky high and the supply is extremely short but because of our handy dandy price ceiling, the price of this good is fixed.

The problem with certain applications of price floors and price ceilings is they can lead to the development of the black market. Let’s stick with this price ceiling example. Eventually you’re going to get consumers that are desperate to have an item and they’ll pay any price and eventually you’re going to have a producer of that good that doesn’t care what the government will do to them, they want to sell this good at a higher price. When that happens, a black market has developed.

This, my friends, is exactly the situation that the NCAA has to contend with.

THE ILLUSION

Now this is when you are rewarded for reading my little economics lecture and I bring all the dots together. First of all, put the NCAA where the government was in this example. Amateur athletes are the producers; I know it sounds strange but they have the goods and services that people want. They have the ability to throw a football 75 yards, run a 4.3 40, have a 50” vertical leap, so on and so forth. Because they want to maintain the illusion that these truly are amateur athletes, they set a price ceiling on the services that these players provide; 0.

I know I know, it’s not exactly zero. Schools can offer football players scholarships but more or less, the price ceiling is zero.

Now we have everything set up for disaster to strike. This is actually an interesting example because it usually is not the direct consumer that goes outside the law because we rarely hear about the schools themselves giving these players “gifts” worth tens of thousands of dollars. Instead, it’s boosters or agents or famous alumni that want to see the football team do well and so they provide money to the producer so they will produce for a particular consumer (their school of choice).

Now we have a system where a black market is almost guaranteed to form and flourish and sure enough, it’s difficult to get through an entire NCAA basketball or football season without hearing about someone somewhere that accepted gifts that he shouldn’t have.

What’s the solution? Unfortunately, I don’t have one other than to start paying the players. I know that it’s a little ridiculous, especially when you consider that these young men are in college to get an education first (right…) and play sports second (and if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you…).

REGGIE BUSH

All of this meandering thought brings us back to the moment; a few hours after the news broke that Reggie Bush would be returning his Heisman Trophy because he supposedly was paid enormous sums of money (enormous for college anyways) while he played football at USC. This is just the latest blow that has come down from the NCAA centered on Bush’s tenure in Los Angeles. Already wins have been vacated, a national championship has been erased from the record books, and now there is no official Heisman Trophy winner in 2005. The question is, should all that have happened?

The single part that I understand the least from this whole saga is that they actually delete things (wins, awards, etc.) from the record books as if it never happened. The problem is it did happen, I was there (figuratively) for it happening. I watched Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush lead an amazing drive at Notre Dame with their perfect record and their national title dreams hanging in the balance. In that game, Bush rushed 15 times for an absurd 160 yards. Nope, not anymore.

I didn’t watch the game live but I watched the highlights of the last time that Fresno State was competing on the national stage. In the end, the scoreboard read 50-42 and Fresno State never recovered from that loss. Bush carried the ball 23 times in that game, the most he would have until the next week against UCLA. Those 23 carries covered 294 yards and he scored 2 touchdowns. He also caught three passes for 68 yards, returned 7 kicks for 135 yards and a punt for 16 yards. All told: 34 touches, 513 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Before I go any further, I’ve had video game lines that weren’t that gaudy.

This game also provided what many would say was the signature moment of his Heisman campaign and I’ll let the video speak for itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwS5x920i8A

But wait, now, it never happened. Well, actually, it DID. I really hope that some of you out there are feeling my pain right about now.

BASEBALL

Major League Baseball is in a very interesting position right now and it will be nothing short of fascinating to see the eventual outcome. We are on the tail end of what will always be known as the “Steroids Era” and there’s nothing we can do about that. Before we got any further, I also realize that I’m comparing a $6.5 billion industry to amateur athletes but you’ll see what I’m getting at in a few moments.

Since pretty much forever, baseball players, watchers, and historians have been obsessed with numbers and statistics and I count myself among that crowd. Until recently we were also willing to do nearly everything to protect the sanctity of those records. In my opinion, one of the greatest travesties in baseball history was committed with exactly that purpose in mind. For 34 years, the legendary Babe Ruth held the single season home run record at 60. In the summer of 1961, Roger Maris ultimately hit 61, capping his amazing season with the record breaking home run on the last day of the season.

In order to preserve Ruth’s spot in the record books, commissioner Ford Frick ordered that both records be listed and that Maris’ mark be accompanied by an asterisk because he played 163 games where Babe Ruth played only 154.

Ultimately, the correct decision was made and the asterisk was removed from the record books and Maris got his due. Now we fast forward to the present day. It is now suspected that 4 of the top 10 home runs hitters of all time cheated by using steroids and also the top six home runs seasons of all time were done by suspected cheaters.

So what’s the solution? Do we bury our head in the sand and say that those things never happened? Say that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa didn’t actually hit 70 and 66 home runs, respectively, in the magical summer of 1998 which helped lead baseball back from the abyss of the 1994 players strike? Do we say that Barry Bonds didn’t turn 73 unfortunate baseballs into souvenirs just 3 years later?

Absolutely not, it happened, I watched all three of them. At the time I didn’t want Barry Bonds to break the record because I didn’t like Bonds as a person. As a player he is the best hitter that I have ever seen play and I dare you to argue that point and if you say steroids one time, I’m out. I’ve never seen anybody who was able to take sixteen pitches over four at-bats and absolutely demolish the one that was in the strike zone. Bonds was able to maintain his focus for every single pitch and if you threw one near the plate, duck and cover.

My point is that it happened. Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, and potentially Alex Rodriguez will all get their comeuppance when their names start appearing on Hall of Fame ballots. Baseball history will reflect their accomplishments whether they cheated to get them or not. It’s a part of the history of the sport and just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean you can just hit the delete button.

CONCLUSION

Reggie Bush happened. Deleting his contributions to the USC football program do little to make people forget that he was there on the field, making eleven guys in jerseys different from his cry for their mothers.

In the end, deleting his contributions from the record book don’t hurt him at all; he rode that Heisman wave to the number two overall selection and a very lucrative contract. They hurt USC plenty as these deletions came along with penalties for allowing all of this to go on.

The only thing that really changes is whether or not Vince Young gets awarded his own Heisman Trophy and the number of “official” wins that USC can claim when comparing their football program to the likes of Michigan and Notre Dame. As to the former; sure, give him a trophy. As to the latter, who cares?

History happened; we can’t pick and choose what we want to acknowledge.