ESPN.com has a list of dumb sports rules. My favorite is the following:
Amateurism in College Sports
We live in a free society. We believe in free markets. Should we subject some of our best and brightest athletes to an outdated, bunkum philosophy that runs contrary to both?Amateurism began as a myth, concocted by snooty English aristocrats who didn't want to dirty their hands -- let alone get their keisters kicked -- by competing against working-class opponents. It persists as a way to keep athletic departments rich while student-athletes rely on under-the-table booster handouts -- handouts that would be legal in any other context.
Since when is it a crime to accept a bill-stuffed envelope from someone dumb enough to give it to you?
Law students intern at local firms. Accounting majors work at banks. Physical education students appear in Playboy's "Girls of the Pac-10" issue. Athletes get the shaft. In a 1995 book, former NCAA executive director Walter Byers wrote that amateurism in college sports amounted to "economic tyranny." We couldn't agree more.
I'll second that, but especially for men's basketball and football (and in some select schools, women's basketball and baseball). For those programs, the players generate a lot of income for the schools, but they do not get the spoils. It's a travesty.