Corn Flakes: Cheating Pays And Change Is Coming

Big 12 media days kicked off and Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowsly had plenty to say about the current state of college athletics. Bottom line - cheating pays and change is coming.

Neither of these are particularly earth-shattering comments.

That change is coming is obvious beyond the fact that the Power Five conferences will gain more autonomy in the near future. There is a near-constant clamor for college football and basketball players to see some of the income they bring into schools because of the popularity of the sport and the increasing size of the television contracts. Nations tend to tip over when the income distribution becomes overwhelming top-heavy; there is no reason to expect anything different from collegiate sports.

It's clear between the Big Ten Presidents' recent comments and Bowlsby's that non-revenue sports will take the greatest hit if the system moves to paying players. As our own Andy Ketterson said less than a month ago:

Translation: I know we sound like we're playing nice, but we are not going to jack with our bottom lines. Cross country and swimming will go before our profits will.

I'd like to think that we would support all college athletes regardless of sport, but that's not true. The only time you really give a damn about women's gymnastics is if it's your kid that might get a scholarship in the sport, and as Bowlsby points out, administrators and/or coaches are not going to take pay cuts to save women's softball. (I really want you to remember that line by Ketterson because it speaks volumes about what's going on here.)

The "cheating pays" comment is a shot at the credibility of the NCAA. It's a known quantity that the NCAA enforcement division is overwhelmed and that for years they've relied on universities self-reporting, whistle blowers or the regular media outlets doing expose' stories.

So many arcane rules make it difficult to wade through self-reporting in order to find anything that really matters and the regular media isn't so keen on ruining their relationships with athletic departments when they're fighting for their own survival. That leaves whistleblowers, rare as honest men, and again, with rules stacked upon rules stacked upon rules, who even knows who's being honest anymore?

Where is all this going?

It's going someplace you and I can't see yet. Perhaps the internet with it's millions of variations will have a champion who 10 years from now will point out that they saw it all coming.

I will agree with Bowlsby in that I don't think we're going to like what happens. It will occur slowly, like everything involving bureaucracy, but I can't help but feeling that in five years we're going to be wondering what the hell happened to the collegiate sports we loved so much.

Bob Bowlsby, Big 12 commissioner, says 'cheating pays' in NCAA, 'enforcement broken' - ESPN

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby says "cheating pays" in the NCAA these days and doesn't foresee things getting much better in the future. During his annual state-of-the-league address from Big 12 media days Monday, Bowlsby slammed the NCAA, notably the enforcement wing of college sports' governing body.

Big 12's Bowlsby rips NCAA enforcement, says 'cheating pays' - CBSSports.com

"I am really not very far of being of the mind that some form of federal statute is not a good idea," he said. "You could say it's against the law to influence where a student athlete would go to school, influence the outcome of a contest, to provide a benefit that is outside of the rules."

Someone want to suggest what the federal government does well besides collecting taxes and paying their employees? Can you imagine the US government trying to handle NCAA enforcement? (If you're thinking the NSA could help, you're correct, but... uh, wow.) This has to be one of the stupidest suggestions I've heard, but not completely surprising coming from someone in the public sector.

Government doesn't work, let's get more government.

Big 12 Commish's Dire Warning About Pending Change - NYTimes.com

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby had a dire warning Monday for anyone who likes intercollegiate athletics the way they are now. "You're going to hate it going forward," Bowlsby said. "There's a lot of change coming."

Alabama Fan Sucker Punches Titans Quarterback After Friend Yells, "Roll Tide!" | FOX Sports

Alabama fans continue to distinguish themselves.

What is with people sucking punching other people these days?

The University of Minnesota and The Daily Gopher Remember Bob McNamara - The Daily Gopher

We remember a Gopher legend both on the field and off the field for his fundraising achievements that saved three Gopher sports, brought us TCF Bank Stadium, and continues to endow athletic scholarships to this date.

Gary Pinkel wants Missouri to play Kansas - College Football - SI.com
Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said during an appearance on ESPN's SportsCenter Monday that the Tigers want to play Kansas again. After being a member of some incarnation of the Big 12 — including the Big Eight — since 1907, Missouri moved to the SEC in 2012. The conference swap effectively ended the Kansas-Missouri rivalry, which has roots in the mid-19th century and is known as the Border War.

9 Reasons Why the NCAA Needs to Legalize the Fumblerooski - Lost Lettermen

Sadly, college kids today weren't even alive when the trick play to end all trick plays - in which a quarterback fumbles the ball on the center exchange and a guard picks it up and takes off - was outlawed in 1992 with a rule that states:

"A player may not advance a planned loose ball in the vicinity of the snapper. "
I present 9 reasons why it's time to legalize the Fumblerooski again.

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Nebrasketball extended an offer to a 2015 Shooting Guard last week. Who was it?

Watch Kliff Kingsbury physically become Charlie Weis in new PSA | FOX Sports
The Big 12 released a new PSA video today, and it's pretty cool. Except for this awkward transition from Kliff Kingsbury to Charlie Weis.