The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 14, 1991, Page 13, Image 13
NCAA mak
Heavy-hitting changes in NCAA
rules and formats this past week at
the NCAA convention in Nashville
have made it no secret that college
athletics will take a backseat to
academics in the future. Strong reforms
from the NCAA Presidents
Commission seem to have declared
a mission to save the "student" in
the word student athlete.
Among the reforms that were
passed in Nashville:
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limited to only four hours a day,
20 hours a week.
-By August 1996, all athletic
dorms must be eliminated.
?In the fourth year of schooling,
athletes must have completed 50
percent of their degree requirements
to be eligible to play.
-As of August 1993, Division I
athletic scholarships will be cut by
10 percent.
It seems the NCAA has curbed,
to some degree, the star status of
being an athlete by reducing him
to a normal college student. No
more will luxury dorms be awaiting
athletes who are in the midst
of a failing semester. The times
are gone when athletes spend more
time in the gym than in the classroom.
Cost-cutting measures have
finally made their way into the
sporting life.
I applaud these long-awaited reforms
de-emphasizing the importance
of athletics. In recent years,
shocking scandals and illegal activities
have sent college sports
into turmoil. These atrocities have
turned it into the soap opera of the
daily sports page. College athletics
used to have innocent goals: revive
school spirit, keep members of the
student body active and raise mo
1992 F tb II
/ ??? 1111111111 /V/ B??1? BBS, s A AU ? * ' < s
HOME AWAY
Arkansas Alabama
East Carolina Ciemson
Georgia Florida
Mississippi State Kentucky
Tennessee Vanderbilt
West Virginia
; : . .1. -Ci:
Ride with a sober driver.
JUST DO
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es hard-hittii
ney for the university.
Nowadays, the importance of
athletics has forced the athlete and
the administration into a tailwind
of pressure. The athlete wants to
attend a college with exposure so
that he will perform at his peak
level in order to attract the profes- L
sional ranks and earn some
megabucks. t
The administration, by the same i
token, wants the eager athlete, c
promising him that College U. will
suit him best. They lure the aspir- ?
ing professional with bait by offer- t
ing quality dorms, a program that i
will improve because of his impact t
arrival ana great exposure for tne c
pros.
Hopefully, by doing this, the administration
will have brought in a t
quality prospect, produce a na- i
tional champion or at best a win- (
ning team, and rake in television t
revenue and a reputation. ?
But alas, while trying to earn the c
bowl bid or the NCAA tourney
birth, many times the sports administration
fails to keep the gradua- n
tion rate above the Mendoza line.
Often, the unheralded athletes who
quietly miss making the pros are
left out in the cold realities of life ^
without a degree on their .
shoulders.
Don't get me wrong. Athletic ?
revenues provide a major boost to (
the universities and, yes, many stu- P
dent athletes fulfill their intentions u
to earn a quality education with
impressive grades. But, athletics t)
must be able to find its niche behind
the goals of education. j
As of this past week's conventir\n
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importance of academics have r]
made lasting imprints on college a
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with cpu
our opportunities
ahe endless
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fik For more information, please cor
the CPU Office, on the 2nd floor
Russell House, room 209 or c
CPU activities are paid for, in
H by Student Activities Fees.
Calling all Electric Sliders, Hamm
Leave your dancing shoei
Come spend an evenin
Grammy-winning Blues
'OVjN lOACDa.
SUNDAy, jANUARy 20,
8:00 p.m.
Russell loo use T\^ec\z\
xd1ss10n: $2 UIlTh CISC
$6 q n ral
you by the Contemporary Sounds Con
ig changes
Patrick Villegas
Pep Talk
ithletic departments. Universit
presidents have taken comolet
control and are not about to stop.
The days of sheltering colleg
ithletes in secluded dorms, lettin,
hem slide by in school, and over
ising their athletic talent instead o
heir academic talent seem to b
>ver.
Many coaches have expresses
heir displeasure that the cutdown
n scholarships and interminglinj
>f athletes in the student popula
ion will bring in less quality play
;rs and disturb the players' con
-entration during the big games.
I find it hard to believe tha
omments like these are evei
riade. Understandably, college
ports is a solid money maker, ant
itaybe the coaches feel the quality
f play will decrease, thus lower
lg attendance level. But little dc
rey realize that their athletes are
ttending college, an institution foi
naming and discovering new asects
of life, not just doing pushps
and wind sprints day after day.
Perhaps, by the end of the cen
ury, graduation rates wilj finally
revail as the showcase of univer
lties, and athletics will find itf
lace solely as great weekend enirtainment,
instead as an ugly scai
uining the minds of talented
thletes.
Nobody reads <
\dvertise in The Gamecock and gc
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CAROLINA F
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ai 777-7130- \
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?These activities
Ex-football st
"i By The Associated Press
Former Heisman Trophy winner
George Rogers, charged
with cocaine and marijuana possession,
will enter a pre-trial intervention
program and avoid a
J criminal record.
Two days before leaving ofy
fice this past week, former Solie
citor James Anders agreed to
put Rogers in the program. Roe
gers will have his record erased
? and he will avoid jail by performing
community service,
f Rogers, who won the Heis*
man in 1980 while playing for
South Carolina, was charged in
^ April with possession of COrninf1
anH mariinana intont
s to distribute.
^ Anders refused in September
to put Rogers in the pre-trial
program because Rogers had
previously admitted being involved
with drugs. Anders said
t he changed his mind this past
i Monday after Richland County
; Sheriff Allen Sloan had recom1
mended allowing Rogers to enf
ter the program.
"My decision was based sol)
ely on the sheriff's recommendation,"
Anders said,
r
Braves coming to
From staff reports
The fourth annual Atlanta
' Braves Caravan will be held at
6:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, Janu
ui j uui a i otawtii 5 jx^aui U1 <1111
on the South Carolina State Fairgrounds.
Tickets are $4 each and
1 are available at Columbia area
baseball card shops.
The banquet will feature former
Gamecock ads!
But you just did.
>t results! Call 777-4249 for details.
MP
'ROGRAM UNION
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Vednesday, January 23, 1991
Russell House room 327
7:30 p.m.
formational meeting about CPU
our nine committees. Join us!
Food will be served.
r more information call 777-7130
paid for, in part, by Student Activities Fe
ar Rogers avo
Sloan had also initially reip.rtP/i
Rnaprc' annliration for
j ?~o -rr ?
the program. Sloan said Rogers
deserved another chance because
he had undergone drug
rehabilitation two months ago.
Also, Rogers has avoided trouble
since his arrest. Rogers has
previous drug arrests.
"There was no favoritism. He
is doing everything he can do to
turn his life around, and that is
what the program is for," Sloan
said.
Rogers will be working with
youths in a late-night basketball
league, Sloan said.
Rogers could have faced up
' to 15 years in prison if he had
been convicted on the charges.
The former football star
played professional football
from 1981 to 1988 ? first for
the New Orleans Saints and later
for the Washington
Redskins.
Rogers' drug problem first
surfaced nine years ago when
he admitted that he had used'
cocaine "recreationally" in
1981, his rookie season with the
Saints. He spent three days in a
Columbia
Brave pitching great Phil Niekro as
well as active Brave stars Greg Olson
and John Smoltz.
Prior to the banquet, Niekro, Olson
and Smoltz will be visiting patients
at the Baptist Medical Center
in Columbia. All proceeds from
the banquet will benefit the Baptist
Medical Center Foundation.
. ...w
Gain valuable ex- |
perience working for Jk
The Gamecock! All
majors welcome. Call ^
777-7726 or come by |S
Russell House room pjj
321
PUUWALAf
JM 5
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?nd miseries
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.ond Block h 9
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T,rfoSo?n
Fo*?f'Ce ?
on Thursday"
I at8:o6p^ua,>2'<
I ADMISSION _ us,
I Tkh? ? -aiiaUeT^l
The CAROLINA PROGR
Golden Spur Programs, Cont<
And Ideas and Issues Corr
Bariy Dr
4b 4?><a> ?
and The
A Multi-media
F ride
January 2
* ^ A ^
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in th
GOLDEI
1 Admission is FREE to all I
$3.00 for the G
I 2nd Floor. Russell Hoi
:es.
ids sentencing
drug-abuse clinic.
By 1986, Rogers appeared to
be over the problem. He earned
his bachelor's degree from
South Carolina in May 1989.
Narcotics investigators arrested
Rogers during a drug raid
April 7 in a suburban Columbia
apartment.
Investigators have said Rogers
admitted in a taped statement
given after his arrest he
smoked marijuana and snorted
cocaine in the apartment. They
said they found marijuana in
Rogers' car and both marijuana
and cocaine in the apartment.
A mural of Rogers' likeness
is painted on the side of the
Booker T. Washington Center
near the USC campus. Rogers
also has a street that runs near
Williams-Brice Stadium named
after him.
After the arrest, the USC suspended
Rogers from his
$25,000-a-year job as a fundraiser
for USC's College of Applied
Professional Sciences. A
university spokeswoman said
Sunday she knew of no change
in Rogers' job status.
You won't notice
any difference,
but your country will.
The five minutes you
spend registering with
Selective Service at the post
office won't change you.
But it will make a difference
to your country. So when
you turn 18, register with
Selective Service. It's quick.
It's easy. And it's the law.
OArtjWfiTEF
Presents I
^T?wy Novated
Broadway Musical I
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AM UNION,'
smporary Sounds,
imittees Present
ake
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Presentation
jy I
!5,1991 I
i SPUR I
J.S.C. Students with I.D.
General Public
jse. Next to Pizza Hut