Nurse the Hate: Hate Johnny Football

Everyone seems pretty worked up about the fact that Heisman trophy winning QB Johnny Manziel probably signed a bunch of autographs for cash this off season.  Due to the “purity” of college athletics, players cannot benefit financially in any way while they are playing for their college team.  This is certainly understandable because Manziel as the face of the Texas A&M football team was at least partially responsible for generating $92 million dollars.  The University was kind enough to provide him with $17,456 per year in tuition free Texas A&M education and on campus housing.  That’s a pretty good deal.  Well, for Texas A&M it is anyway…

As the face of the team and a Heisman winner, Manziel is trotted out to every fundraising event you can possibly imagine.  The NCAA and Texas A&M use him to make money all day every day.  Literally every person he is involved with is making more money than he is with the exception of the other dopey football players of course.  Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin makes $3.1 million a year.   There are another 15 or so coaches (or whatever the position of Offensive Quality Control is considered) that average $250,000+ a year.  Meanwhile this 20 year old kid is going to get hung out to dry because he sold his autograph for a few thousand bucks (which were probably later marked up by dealers ten times what they paid him). 

As the QB of a team that he led to the Cotton Bowl, Manziel got some free meals in Dallas.  The university got $3 million dollars.  Coach Sumlin made an additional $100,000 bonus.  Idiots that call sports talk radio will remark on the “free education” Manziel received as his payment.  The real “education” Manziel received was seeing how he got fucked while everyone else around him got rich.  He’s the one that can get a football career ending injury on any play.  To suggest he is there to go to school is absolutely ridiculous.  He is there as part of the NFL’s minor league slavery market where young men risk their future health without pay for the chance at an NFL golden ticket. 

The NFL is going to have to pay up for the long term injuries to its own players.  Oh, they will fight like dogs, but they’ll lose.  This concussion suit is just the beginning of a real Pandora’s box.  It’s really not asking too much for an industry which profits in the billions to pay for their ex-employees with scrambled brains and useless limbs suffered at work.  It’s just good business.  The NFL is going to pay up.  When are these college kids gonna wise up?  Sooner or later some shark lawyers will turn on the Football Factory schools when some of these ex-college football players with horrifying health issues band together in a class action lawsuit.  These colleges believe they own you for life just because they let you sit in Psychology 101 with 300 other people.  Hell, Warren Sapp is suing Miami University because they are still making money selling his college jersey.

I’m no Johnny Manziel guy.  Manziel is undoubtedly a complete douche.  There is no question.  He’s not wrong though.  If this kid got swept up in some small change scheme to make a little scratch off his signature, so be it.  The big question to me is why all this media attention is being put on the kid selling a dime bag of weed when the cartel is running wild right under their noses.  Every one of the players playing football and men’s basketball at the NCAA level should be paid at a level reflecting the revenue they generate.  Play the season.  Let the schools generate their P/L statements.  Let the players have their representatives go over the books.  Pay them their cut and move on.  Fuck these ticky tacky rules.  They are outdated and totally ignored by all the schools anyway (except when it serves their own purpose for keeping the free labor in line).  These kids should unionize and get paid.