Aug. 27, 2004
I thought the NCAA was supposed to be in the business of helping young people. Can someone please explain to me how decisions are made by the organization in the wake of the failed appeals of USC wide receiver Mike Williams and Colorado's Jeremy Bloom.
We should try to help kids and do the right thing. What has been done to Williams and Bloom is a flat-out shame. What terrible things did these kids do?
Williams entered the NFL draft because he felt it was the right thing to do at the time. After a court ruling that denied him the right to enter the 2004 NFL draft, the USC player wanted to get his collegiate eligibility reinstated. There reportedly was a checklist of things that had to be done for the receiver to return to the Trojans' lineup this fall.
I don't understand the logic of not allowing him back in a USC uniform. Williams didn't play a down in the NFL. He didn't make money in the pros. He didn't violate any basic rules ... some of the archaic rules are a joke right now anyway, and they don't make sense.
What about using common sense in making decisions? Williams should have been playing vs. Virginia Tech. The young man showed so much class, saying it was time to move on and get prepared for next year's NFL draft.
It's a shame for the college football fans who won't get a chance to see Williams put on a show for the Trojans this season.
Bloom saw his effort to keep his college eligibility get turned down when his appeal to be allowed to receive endorsements as a professional skier and still play football for Colorado was denied.
Athletes may play professionally in one sport and be eligible to play on the collegiate level in a different sport. Yet Bloom was denied the chance to play at Colorado.
I don't know where common sense is, and there were injustices involved here. That is why some people are critical of those who enforce the rules. It leaves me scratching my head.
Dick Vitale coached the Detroit Pistons and the University of Detroit in the 1970s before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in December 1979 (he has been an ESPN analyst ever since). Send a question for Vitale for possible use on ESPNEWS.
