Gutter Talk: The Big 10 "Living Expenses"; Proposal

The Big 10 Conference has proposed a plan to pay scholarship athletes an additional $2000 to $5000 for "living expenses," which has the support of NCAA leadership and is estimated to cost at least $300,000 a year for each school to cover football and basketball alone.

What do you think?

"It's about time we got paid. I have had to resort to drinking Milwaukee's Best from a can, while other students are able to afford bottled imports. Plus, how else are we supposed to come up with bail money? Our coaches keep us too busy to work for like three months a year!"  Joshua C.- Football Practice Player on a Full Ride.

"I don't like it. Things are so much easier when we can just give it to them under the table and avoid all that boring paperwork. Will we still be able to hand it to them as a wad of $100 bills? It would be a shame if that tradition couldn't be carried on."  Harold L.- Athletic Booster Club President.

"I think this is a good thing. We just have to convince the NCAA to drop the minimum number of sports teams we carry down to two. If I can cut 14 of our 16 teams we could potentially compete with the schools in the major conferences." Robert H.- Mid-Major Athletic Director.

"Ummm... did the definition of 'amateur' change without a formal announcement?"Merriam W.-Librarian and Dictionary Enthusiast

"If they really have that much money to spend, shouldn't it go toward creating more athletic opportunities rather than fattening up the limited opportunities that are out there? You can't have it both ways: so many schools are saying they can't afford to support swimming programs but all of a sudden they can afford something like this?" Shawn K.- A guy who still naively believes in the NCAA is supposed to be about creating educational opportunities through athletics and who still believes non-revenue sports have value.