The college football season kicks off this weekend, and fans of reigning Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel shouldn’t worry about tuning in late for today’s game between Manziel’s Texas A&M and Rice.
That’s because Manziel won’t play until the second half. In the wacky world of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, this is called “sending a tough message.”
Despite multiple media reports that the star quarterback violated NCAA regulations by autographing massive amounts of sports memorabilia in exchange for money, the NCAA says it was unable to produce any real evidence. In fact, as the probe continued, the NCAA ended up looking more guilty because it rakes in millions off the names and images of college athletes while harassing players for doing the same.
Whether it was because it had no evidence or was embarrassed by where the investigation was going, the NCAA cleared Manziel of receiving payments for his autographs but found him guilty of allowing his name to be used for commercial purposes. Hence the half-game suspension agreed to by the Aggies and the NCAA.
None of it makes sense. Why should Manziel be punished at all if there’s no real evidence he profited off signing memorabilia? And if he is to be punished, isn’t a 30-minute suspension a joke?
The bigger problem here is something we’ve pointed to before: Amateur college athletics has become an industry in which everyone — the schools, the coaches and the NCAA — makes a fortune except for the players. The case of Johnny Football is a symptom of a much larger problem.