OT: Jay Bilas Calls Out NCAA

Submitted by TheFrigz on

If this is too off topic for NO OT season then feel free to delete, but it is about the NCAA and college football so I think it fits.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/23040941/did-you-see-what-jay-bilas-did-to-the-shopncaasportscom-search-engine

Basically, Bilas called the NCAA out on its own hypocrisy, and as a result, the NCAA disabled the search function on its online shop.  Pretty hilarious stuff if you ask me.

CAESAR VII

August 6th, 2013 at 8:16 PM ^

Leave your email bellow, I have Nebraska Indiana Akron central left.. Me and a group of 5 other people are selling our tickets... So up to 5 each game! With exception ND and osu are not for sale!
Leave your email and i will contact you within 30 min.

The2nd_JEH

August 6th, 2013 at 8:17 PM ^

This is one of the VERY few times where Jay Bilas' trolling actually was awesome. The fact that he single handedly made them disable their search function blew my mind.

Blue in Yarmouth

August 7th, 2013 at 9:43 AM ^

but I think part of the problem is there are so many rules that most people really have no idea that many of the rules exist until they are broken and subsequently passed along to the public via the media. 

Now I know some times it happens that a well known rule is fine with everyone until one day their favorite player breaks it and everyone has a stroke, but often times it's a rule no one has ever heard of that gets broken so people objecting in those instances (which I think are far more prominent than the other instances I mentioned) are fair play IMHE.

wlubd

August 6th, 2013 at 8:21 PM ^

My favourite part was that you didn't even need to pull up the player's name necessarily. Typing in 'Shoelace' put a Michigan #16 jersey at 3rd or 4th in the search results...

NOLA Wolverine

August 6th, 2013 at 8:21 PM ^

This was hilarious to watch unfold. I love that the NCAA's solution was to remove the search function. Still down now as some intern has probably been tasked with cleaning out every name mention on merchandise. 

BlueDragon

August 6th, 2013 at 8:22 PM ^

In a nutshell:

...it's possible to go into the search engine of ShopNCAASports.com, type the name "Johnny Manziel" and end up on a page filled with items connected to Texas A&M and Manziel's jersey number despite the NCAA's long insistence that specific jerseys for sale aren't connected to specific players.

gwkrlghl

August 6th, 2013 at 8:44 PM ^

I always thought the NCAA and college athletics in general were insane for denying that they're selling a specific players jersey. Even at Michigan, the jerseys CANNOT EVER HAVE NAMES ON THEM but I saw a lot of #7 jerseys being sold from 2005-2008, a lot of #5 jerseys sold in 2009 and a heck of a lot of #16 jerseys on display from 2010-2012. Seems like a craaazy coincidence there!

Bryan

August 6th, 2013 at 8:28 PM ^

But couldn't the NCAA license/use a proprietary search engine that simply draws from relevant search topics of the main search engine? Seems like an easy way around this issue.

DirkMcGurk

August 6th, 2013 at 8:55 PM ^

Pay the kids and see the other 20 sports that don't make money go away. Lets watch college tuition sky rocket to pay for these kids because once the can of worms has been opened they will want more money.

The sad fact as with most things in life the crybabies have only themselves to blame. If you allow athletes to be compensated for autographs then boosters will start righting large checks for a pic with a signature.

You will also see these kids fall to the wayside fast and the college game we love will suffer. Mo Money Mo Problems

Rick's American Cafe

August 6th, 2013 at 9:26 PM ^

Please explain how Johnny Manziel accepting money from boosters, or from selling autographs, will impact other sports.  I'd love to hear this explanation...

 

Or are you saying that schools directly paying players will affect other sports?  Schools have been paying MILLIONS to coaches and the corrupt bowl system for years.  Maybe they could just "re-direct" some of that money.  To, you know, the people who actually generate it... 

MichiganTeacher

August 6th, 2013 at 9:45 PM ^

Newsflash: tuitions have already skyrocketed, and it wasn't because schools were sharing athletic profits with their athletes.

Ali G Bomaye

August 7th, 2013 at 12:18 PM ^

Right now star players are effectively forced to donate their sizable earnings potential to the university to subsidize the athletic department.  I'm more comfortable leaning more heavily on voluntary alumni donations or (gasp!) reducing the profitability of the athletic department than forcing a 20-year-old kid to forego 100% of his earnings to pay for the cost of club volleyball teams.

LSAClassOf2000

August 6th, 2013 at 8:57 PM ^

What's particularly interesting here is that, in their rather strenuous disagreement with the class action suit about likeness currently ongoing, you can find this:

"The fact remains -- the NCAA is not exploiting current or former student-athletes but instead provides enormous benefit to them and the public. "

I have this image of Donald Remy, their  head of Legal, saying this as the credibility is burning to the ground...

DISCUSS Man

August 6th, 2013 at 8:59 PM ^

It's coming guys. 

The end is near for the NCAA. 

I have a dream that one day, jerseys will be sold with players names on the back, and those kids will get a cut of the revenue. That EA NCAA College Football video games will already have all of the accurate information on the rosters just like the NFL game. And that players can get as much as they want at training table on their bagel. 

Cream cheese at last, cream cheese at last, Thank God almighty cream cheese at last!

bronxblue

August 6th, 2013 at 9:26 PM ^

Good stuff.  I always found it hilarious that the NCAA acted as if the name on the front of the jersey was all they cared about, not the one on the back.  I get that this is a huge issue with lots of nuances, but for once Bilas's complaining about hypocrisy hits right.

TruBluMich

August 6th, 2013 at 9:46 PM ^

Texas A&M freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel took the SEC by storm last year as he lead the Aggies to a 11-2 record and won the Cotton Bowl. Topping things off, Manziel became the first freshman to ever win the Heisman trophy in the history of the NCAA. Celebrate #2 and his historical first year by sporting this No Heisman Without the Man T-shirt. This adidas tee features “No Heisman Without the Man” lettering printed on the front with a Heisman Trophy graphic and a Texas A&M wordmark printed on the front. Make sure everyone knows that Manziel is the man with this tee!

http://www.shopncaasports.com/NCAASports_Texas_A_And_M_Aggies/adidas_Te…

 

Also of interest, other NCAA outlets like CBS Sports are just as guilty, interesting part is the high profile players have had thier search tags removed, but not all of them...


http://shop.cbssports.com/search/Devin%20Gardner

 

WolvinLA2

August 6th, 2013 at 9:56 PM ^

For everyone on Bilas's side - what is your proposal for players to get paid? Lots of people like the "they deserve it!" argument, but what's the plan here? People are against Terrelle Pryor getting a corvette, but they're OK if he gets a corvette in exchange for his autograph? Doesn't sound corrupt to me.

johnvand

August 7th, 2013 at 8:47 AM ^

This.  Let them hire agents.  Hell, let the universities be these kids' agents.  Hey Adidas, you want to sell #16 jerseys?  Well Denard gets a cut.

Desmond Howard shouldn't be in this absurd legal battle over who owns the rights to Desmond Howard.

It is estimated that Johnny Manziel has brought a boost of $38 million to Ta&m...  Pretty sure that $100k schollarship aint cutting it as far as compensation goes.

The NCAA likes to sit on their high horse and proclaim that athletes shouldn't be allowed any benefit that regular students aren't allowed.  Well I'm pretty sure that John Q Engineer is allowed to make money off of his name, should there be a market demanding it.

funkywolve

August 7th, 2013 at 9:01 AM ^

That could open a huge can of worms.  Could you imagine Phil Knight and Oregon?  They could start bank rolling players.  Then what happens with recruiting?  Coaches come in and start laying down spreadsheets of how much the average player and the top players make at their universities?

maize-blue

August 7th, 2013 at 11:01 AM ^

Yes, there are already too many have and have nots in college football. 

You cannot go down the paying players road.

If people really want to open it up for the players then someone should create a semi professional/minor league and then have at it.