State of the Game - Players, Gifts, & Money

Preview 2010 - The State of the Game. Is there a difference between a player getting a $300 gift card in a bowl game gift basket and a player getting $300 in an envelope from a booster?

Preview 2010 - State of the Game

A $300 Bowl Gift vs. A $300 "Gift"

State of the Game Topics
- Is Realignment A Plus?
- The SEC & The BCS
- What If Boise Goes 12-0?
- Are You Okay With the BCS Championship Result?
- Does The AP Title Matter?
- A $300 Bowl Gift vs. a $300 Handshake
- Did Reggie Bush Do Anything Wrong?
- How Should Offending Programs Be Punished?
- If You Could Make One Radical Change ...
- If You Could Make One Slight Change ...
- What Is Excessive Celebration?
- What's Your Favorite Non-Heisman Award

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Once again, we're extremely proud to get the thoughts from some of the top voices in the college football world in our annual State of the Game piece. Along with three CFN writers, check out the opinions on the key topics going into the 2010 season from legendary play-by-play man, Verne Lundquist, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit, Ivan Maisel, Joe Schad, and Bruce Feldman, Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com, and the Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein.

7. Is there a difference between a player getting a $300 gift card in a bowl game gift basket and a player getting $300 in an envelope from a booster?

Pete Fiutak, CFN : Yeah. One is deemed acceptable because of NCAA corporate sponsorships and tie-ins, and the other has been demonized because of some childish and antiquated notion of amateurism that gets sold like some Jedi mind trick by the NCAA so it can control the money flowing in from its sponsors. Going to a bowl is like winning the Price Is Right prize package. You get an all-expenses paid trip and vacation, dinners, sightseeing, and gift baskets full of valuable merchandise including gift cards, iCrap, and a stunning array of goodies. There isn’t a reasonable or rational explanation for why a player can’t be given money, cars, or anything else a booster, agent, or marketing company wants to provide for a player. (And PLEASE don’t confuse that with the concept of players getting paid by the schools, which I don’t believe in, and please don’t come back with any sort of silly talk about how a scholarship and stipend should be enough. Tebow was worth tens of millions to Florida.) If the coaches can take money and have agents, then so should the players.

Richard Cirminiello, CFN : Absolutely. That’s like asking if there’s a difference between your physician and your dealer filling out your drug prescription. There has to be some kind of control when it comes to gifts and amateur athletes. While it clearly exists when the bowl committee puts together a basket of swag, you’ve got no idea what that booster is looking for in exchange for his $300.

Matt Zemek, CFN: Yes. The gift card can't be spent on things the person chooses to acquire for himself or his family.

Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com: Not the net result. Both acts grease palms. One, in some small way, ensures the continuation of the bowls. The other rewards the kid for playing for old State U. Other than that, one is against NCAA rules, the other is allowed by NCAA -- although don't ask me why.

Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com: Yes, because you just don't know if it’s only $300 in the envelop. Maybe his teammate who is a better player is getting $3000.

Teddy Greenstein, Chicago Tribune: Is this a math question? Or a trick question? In theory, every player -- even the scrubs -- gets the $300 gift card, while only the studs get the booster $$. And it would not be $300 unless the booster wants to get laughed off the car lot.

Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN : I see the point, but I would say yes there is a difference. As much as this seems to be a contradiction to the rule, in my opinion it is not. In the first example each and EVERY player is getting a bowl gift. Which means whether you are the Heisman Trophy winner or the 3rd string QB you are getting the same gift from the bowl. In the second example, a booster is secretively looking to reward a star player for his efforts and in doing so you are allowing an individual (the slimy booster) to feel he has some power now over that kid and over the program. So while the team is winning this booster is happy and "generous", but as soon as that player struggles or the team starts to lose, now you've got an angry and selfish guy with leverage over that player, the coach, and the entire program. Moral of the story, stay the hell away from guys that have a deal for you that seems to be too good to be real. I've got news for ya, it ain't real. RUN!!!!!!!!! Stay away from these freaks.

Verne Lundquist, CBS : There is, in my mind, no difference between a player getting a $300 gift card and an envelope, provided by a booster, filled with three hundred dollar bills. That there is deemed to be a difference only serves to underline the hypocrisy in many of the NCAA rules.

Ivan Maisel, ESPN.com: Is there a difference in a journalist getting a Christmas bonus and accepting cash from a story subject?

Joe Schad, ESPN : Fair or not, you have to play by the rules agreed to by all schools, which form the NCAA. Giving a player from a strong football program a gift card for going to a bowl doesn't have the same kind of effect in creating an imbalanced playing field as unscrupulous boosters can have for one program.