Why I can’t be mad at A.J. Green
I’ll be honest. My first reaction when I heard of A.J. Green’s four-game suspension was one of anger.
And it wasn’t because Green owes any of us anything. I want to see the guy play because he’s a great player. And when there is a big game like Saturday’s between Georgia and South Carolina I want both teams to have all of their weapons. I love college football and I want to see great players play. And we’ve got too many guys who are not playing right now because of NCAA rules violations.
No, I was angry at A.J. because it seems so unnecessary. Early next year A.J. Green is going to be a very wealthy man because he is going to turn pro. So the money was coming. A.J. is a smart kid and he knew that there is no level where selling his jersey for a lousy $1,000 bucks was not a rules violation. The risk/reward/punishment equation for doing this just didn’t add up.
If this NCAA ruling stands (three more games on suspension), and it shouldn’t because it’s excessive, what should be an unforgettable junior season for Green will be forever tainted with “Yeah, he was good but he missed four games.” That made me sad and, at first, angry.
But I learned a long time ago that it’s easy for us adults to wag our fingers and say “Hey, those are the rules. You gotta follow them.” We’re not in the kid’s shoes. We don’t have to watch while the schools fill the stadiums, accept millions from television and make more millions from selling his jersey (with his name on it) while the system pats us on the head and assures us that our day is coming if we’ll only be patient. We really only learn that kind of patience as an adult. Youth, by its very defintion, is not patient.
Understand that the NCAA makes these rules not to regulate what actually happens, like one kid selling a jersey for $1,000. The rules are in place to control what COULD happen–like a kid selling 500 jerseys (provided to him by an agent) for $1,000 each. The NCAA punishes the nickle and dime stuff in hopes of preventing something really big and bad from happening.
When Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant lied to investigators about his relationship with Deion Sanders, the NCAA banned him for the rest of his junior season. Bryant was not truthful but was his lie REALLY that bad? Well, no but the move sent a chilling message to other athletes: Lie to NCAA investigators and you’re done. That message was received and understood. Now before every interview with the NCAA the kid has the fear of God put in him. That was by design.
Yes, the financial end of college athletics is certainly to the benefit of the schools. It’s all one big double standard, we know that. But certain things are just a blatant slap in the face to these guys. The fact that A.J. Green may lose a third of his junior season for selling a jersey while the University Bookstore sells a bunch of them is a double slap. It’s the establishment telling these kids: We can make money off your talent and fame in every damn way we please. If you try it, though, we’ll use the rules to take you out and to keep you in line.
The NCAA enforcement people have been working overtime this summer trying to keep a lid on a bunch of these issues from Agent Gate to Hotel Gate. At the core of all of them is a system where the athletes realize on a daily basis that they are getting a raw deal. They get to the point where they don’t care any more. It’s “hey, if they catch me they catch me but I’m not taking this any more.”
We as fans wonder where the loyalty is to the institution. But through the eyes of a young kid from modest or poor circumstances, that loyalty street seems to only run one way.
I don’t have a lot of answers for you this morning but I would suggest this: A school like Georgia should be able to sell all of the No. 8 jerseys it wants. The jersey and the number belong to the school.
But when some schools–and I am told that Georgia is not one of them–start putting name on the back on the jersey then you have crossed an ethical line. What the kid did on the field made that jersey more valuable than a generic one. He created that extra value and cannot share in it. So the school shouldn’t share in it either.
So let’s just end that practice. Is it a little thing in the grand scheme of things? Absolutely. But it would be one less slap in the face to a group of people who are getting tired of being pushed around.
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847 comments Add your comment
Greg
September 9th, 2010
8:55 am
Yeah, right, 85dawg – an Independance Bowl jersey is worth $1000.
That’s hilarious.
Alphare
September 9th, 2010
8:58 am
I think NCAA should slap UGA with an “Institutional Control”.
Look, the players are ignoring the messages told to them times and times again. So the institution is not in control.
All considered, NCAA should slap Green with a 6-game suspension with UGA’s appeal instead of the 4-game suspension currently imposed.
thetoastedhead
September 9th, 2010
8:59 am
Gator229,
Why does it have to be at KFC….you racist B#@s*&d…
LarryDawg1
September 9th, 2010
8:59 am
5IML, the only thing that you have listed that the kid get for personal use is $300 a month. You probably didn’t pay your tuition out of pocket (if you went to college, no insult intended), And, if you are like the rest of us you had a little job (which is a violation for these athletes). Even if all your bills were paid, you STILL couldn’t live on $300 dollars a month. By the way, I’ve seen a lot of statistics about what athletes get from the schools today, I have yet to see any ACCURATE figures on how much the school makes from football in just one season. Please! And you all are feeling sorry for the school? WOW!
Aiken Chicken
September 9th, 2010
9:00 am
Tony, you are a true homer, but at least you are consistent. Basically, the kid did nothing wrong it’s the systems fault. I disagree. Also, if Mark Richt would stop appealing these decisions, stop rushing kids back into games after stealing cars and getting arrested, he might get his team back. The hot seat makes even the nobliest men make bad decisions.
Flo-Ri-Duh!
September 9th, 2010
9:00 am
All signed contracts should be honored – period. Coaches (like Saban) should honor the contracts they sign but the colleges let them off. Players sign contracts with the colleges and should give four years of service – or stay at least four years to receive payment for their college but the NFL accepts guys that have been in school three years. The NFL is out for themselves. They don’t care about the colleges or the players. The colleges are out for themselves as are most of the coaches. Greed is what it all is and greed is one of the deadly sins. It’s all about money and lawyers and agents are the parasites that suck the blood out of what was a good system. Now ESPN is scheduling high school games and money, lawyers and agents will corrupt that level also. Eventually the fans, who are fortunate if they have a job, will get fed up with the whole mess and find something else to do and all this greed will end. That will be fine with me.
Dawgboy
September 9th, 2010
9:01 am
USCe is going to win I’m afraid-with or without #8. Dawgs need to get their head out of the toilet and see it’s time for USCe’s long suffering fans. Book it.
5IML
September 9th, 2010
9:02 am
Can we all put this behind us and move on? There are some outstanding match-ups this week. I’m eager to watch the Miss St/Aub game tonight. It will be a good gauge for both teams.
joe
September 9th, 2010
9:03 am
Someone needs to tell AJ the UGA has already clinched the Fulmer Cup…oh, wait, guess he figured he’d get the ball rolling for next year…
dean
September 9th, 2010
9:04 am
To those who say the players get this, that and the other, I say this. You have either never paid the price in sweat and blood on a football field or your are extremely jealous of their success. You know that 99% of these players are never going to see the NFL except in their dreams. Can they get a job for extra money? Sure. But explain to me when they will have time to something like,uh, sleep.
The current rules stink. They need to be tweaked somehow. One thing to do might be that once a player leaves the university, he gets a royalty for anything sold with his likeness/name on it. Sounds fair to me.
LarryDawg1
September 9th, 2010
9:04 am
Alphare, have you ever taken anything from your job that wasn’t yours? And you are only looking at one institution. Every school has trouble with these issues, they just don’t tell you in the same way that you seem to not mind airing your own dirty laundry. You guys really make me laugh! As if UGA id the only school that has problems with their student athletes. But you all don’t have a problem with ruining people’s lives anyway. Its a way of life for you! Sleep well!
I am not going to be the head coach at Alabama. I am the head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
September 9th, 2010
9:05 am
As usual, I love the article, with one exception. The reference to a “raw deal” for the athletes. A “raw deal”???? Even for the majority of players who will not be drafted by the NFL, are getting a free education. An opportunity to follow their academic skills and pursue a career of their interest. While their fellow HS peers that they left behind in their hometown are making $8.00/hr flipping burgers, working in a factory, or busting their hump to pay for their own education.
While the institutions do indeed make money, and lots of it, on athletes (football primarily), the athlete is far from getting a “raw deal”.
Larry
September 9th, 2010
9:05 am
AJ knew this could cause problems and potentially hurt his junior year stats, but he did it anyway. If the system is so bad why don’t the superstars just not go to college and see how high they get drafted 3 years after high school. I agree the NCAA is messed up but kids can either get a free education or go to school for 3 years and get free training for an NFL career that will make them wealthy. If AJ gave a damn about Georgia he wouldn’t be in this situation !!!
5IML
September 9th, 2010
9:06 am
Flo ri duh,
Athletic scholarships are annual agreements. When a high school athlete signs to attend a college, he/she is signing for the following year. All scholarship athletes must resign every spring for the following year.
LarryDawg1
September 9th, 2010
9:08 am
Dawgboy, no real Dawg Fan would predict a loss! Crawl back into that fake hole you came out of and take off that fake red and black. You’re beginning to fade.
St. Richt
September 9th, 2010
9:08 am
Well, surprise, surprise- Barnhart taking Georgia and AJ Green’s side. Some things never change… Its all the system’s fault and boys will be boys. Give me a break. I say we wait until more facts come out and they will now that Georgia has appealed the suspension. There has to be a valid reason why he got 4 games as compared to Dareus’ 2 games. But leave it to Barnhart to take a shot at the NCAA because his dogs can do no wrong- except lead the nation in offseason player arrests.
bigdawg88
September 9th, 2010
9:08 am
First of all, most you seem to forget why the NCAA has such strict rules in the first place, and why they try to prevent things like this Jersey sale. Imagine if they decided to let things like this slide. Then suddenly boosters would be buying $1k jerseys from every top recruit in the nation. Imagine how many jerseys someone like T. Boone Pickens could afford to buy. All the players at Okie State would be millionaires from the sales. The NCAA has to be so strict to keep things from sliding into pay for play. The players know they don’t get paid (directly) in college, but they do get an education and lots of love from the fans. It’s not fair, but that’s the only way to keep things honest. All it takes is a little crack and some booster or agent out there will bust it wide open. If everybody were honest we wouldn’t need rules, or laws.
I am very concerned that this thing runs deeper than a jersey sell. Why sell a jersey for $1000 knowing it could threaten your eligibility? Either Green is a little stupid or there is a lot more to this that hasn’t come out. You sell out to an agent for a grand?!? C’mon! If i was going to do something like that I’d want at least a hundred grand or a house or car. AJ must be pretty dumb to only take a grand… or pretty smart to get away with only a four game suspension. And I particularly DO NOT like the fact that Richt and UGA seem to be apologizing for his behavior and are fighting the length of the suspension. If the jersey really is the only thing he ought to serve out four games for stupidity. Taking a chance on losing all your eligibility (and forfeiting some games) for a grand? Better nip that in the bud now Richt; just like with those damned rings.
Now go out there a kick the chicken **** out of some poultry ***es!!
GATA!!
dawgster
September 9th, 2010
9:09 am
LarryDawg1..Agree with you about the fare weather dawg fans…they support and cheer for this young man, but when he makes a silly or stupid if you like mistake they jump off the bandwagon…I’m not condoning what he did, whether others are doing it or not, still he broke one of the NCAA’s many, many rules..The point i think here is that the schools make tons of money off these atheletes…Yea the case can be made that they get an free education out of it and this is true, but remembering my days at college, it is very, very difficult when you see alot of the students doing things because they have a little pocket money…Alot of these kids come from homes where the families cannot afford to help them with some extra pocket money…Some come from very poor backgrounds and yet you fare weather fans that haven’t been in their shoes find it very easy to sit behind your computer and bash a young man as if you have been in their shoes…As of today, we don’t know excactly what AJ knew about the person he sold the Jersey to, or what this person angle was..But AJ did and yes he probably knew it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but again, someone is flashing a $1000.00 in his face…How many of you given the same circumstances would not consider doing that…At that point you probably don’t really consider the consequences of your actions…I know that myself and even my children have made decisions without considering the consequences but what i didn’t have to do was face the overwhelming negative remarks for making a mistake…I hope some you can sit back and take a look at yourselves and try to put yourself in the same position as AJ and these other atheletes around the country…Be honest with yourself, could it have been you in that position…I’m sure i will be called a homer by some of the classless fans that support other teams, but i could care less what you think…I will continue to support AJ and the dawgs…Tony, very good article and i like some of your ideas…Dawg fans its ok to be disappointed with the whole issue and to be disappointed in AJ, but don’t abandon the kid and some of the stuff on here is heartbreaking and sad that so many on here show little compassion…Go dawgs and good luck AJ and to other athelets who get preyed on by self-serving people..
KR
September 9th, 2010
9:09 am
5IML: Good idea!
I didn’t get to see the Miss State game last week, but it looks like their offense is clicking pretty well. Hard to tell much about their defense.
Auburn’s defense didn’t look very much improved over last year, which is troublesome. Auburn’s offense was very “quick strike” last week, which doesn’t lead to sustained drives that eat up the clock. Look for the AU defense to be on the field a lot.
It will probably be a fairly high scoring game, but I don’t really have a feel for who comes out on top. You know where my loyalties lie…
WAR EAGLE!
Tech Buzz
September 9th, 2010
9:09 am
Richt and UGA shouldn’t have tried to cover everything up and he probably would have only got a 1 game deal. UgA needs to come clean about all these payoffs or they will be in big trouble.
jbeggs
September 9th, 2010
9:11 am
I don’t dispute anything you wrote but you said it all when you stated that AJ was a smart kid and knew seeling the jersey was a violation – no need to go any further. He chose to violate the rules and now he and teammates pay the price. It’s a binary scenario – it’s right or it’s wrong and no making excuses after the fact.
Old Dawg
September 9th, 2010
9:12 am
Paying players isn’t an option. Please remember, based on Title IX rules, anything provided to one program must also be given to other programs. Also remember, most college athletic programs are not on the solid financial foundation that UGA is. In fact, many of them are deep in the hole because of Title IX. I’m not against the legislation per se, but it isn’t based on financial realities, something everyone faces in the real world.
ATL XMAN
September 9th, 2010
9:13 am
SOGDAWG said:
“AJ Green owes his teamates, coaches and fans another year at UGA. If he goes pro in January, (which I am sure he will), he has no character whatsoever.”
How pathetic can one UGA fan be.
5IML
September 9th, 2010
9:13 am
LarryDawg,
I paid for my undergrad education at BAMA through students loans (in my name). I had work-study jobs and worked at the Boys and Girls Club while in school. I thought I was athletically gifted (in track) until I got to BAMA. If the track coach had offered me a scholarship in exchange for following the rules and not working, I would have taken it in a New York Minute.
The rules are the rules.
82Dawg
September 9th, 2010
9:13 am
I think there should be an association that all “sports agents” should have to be members of. If they are having contact of any kind with under class men and are caught they too should have to pay some kind of fine or something. They need to be held just as responsible as the player. They are the ones dangling the freebies to the players. It is not right for them to get off with nothing and the player misses several games.
Go Dawgs
September 9th, 2010
9:14 am
Tony, I agree with your sentiment, but UGA is not allowed to put the name “Green” on any #8 jersey that it sells. NCAA rules prohibit the use of the name, but obviously, the school only seems to sell the numbers of star players each year. You know who the jersey belongs to, it just doesn’t have a name on it. It’s the same reason why the EA Sports College Football video games have the players named “QB 11″ and “WR 8″. You can change the names manually, but they’re not allowed to use the athlete names.
BG
September 9th, 2010
9:14 am
The NCAA should reduce the suspension! 4 games is extreme!
LarryDawg1
September 9th, 2010
9:15 am
I am not going to be the head coach at Alabama. I am the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, (if that is a name) you just admitted that the schools are making lots and lots of money off the student athlete and you don’t care. WOW! Don’t be confused about these kids flipping burgers or doing whatever they have to do back home. That would include most of us. We are not less than because of what we do. And the student is not more because we watch them on TV. They are just kids! So, you can’t enjoy their talent, and put them on a pedestal and then knock them down when you don’t agree with their ecisions. They are KIDS!
82Dawg
September 9th, 2010
9:16 am
Tech Buzz …what makes you think they are hiding anything…..STUPID comment. go back and read your Tech blog please.
RxDawg
September 9th, 2010
9:18 am
Jason
September 9th, 2010
8:27 am
That was a really good post actually.
Spike
September 9th, 2010
9:19 am
You morons raggin’ on AJ are funny. He will be a multi-millionaire in a few months starring in the NFL, and you losers will still be choppin’ cotton. He will be laughing all the way to the bank.
JF McNamara
September 9th, 2010
9:20 am
This is absolutely not capitalism. In capitalism, you reap the rewards of your work. This is closer to mandated slavery. They give kids, many time with no chance at actually graduating college, a ONE year scholarship. This scholarship can be taken at any time for non-performance. That’s all they can take. If they want to change schools to boost their value since pro sports is the big carrot, they have to sit out a year. How is that fair? Get hurt, bye, bye pro career.
In the meantime, everyone else is making millions. Just for the right to buy season tickets, UGA collect $23M. Not the tickets, just the right to buy the ticket. That alone is $274K PER PLAYER which is 10X the scholarship (for out of state). Then you add in jersey sales, actual ticket sales, video games, and TV revenue for the schools. The value of a football factory player is in the neighborhood of $1M per player per year.
If I had an “apprenticeship” where they were making $1M off me, I think I’d quit and go pro. Oh yeah, I forgot, they are barred from doing so for three years to keep the collegiate system intact.
College athletics were not meant to be huge cash generators. They were meant to be extracurricular activities, but they are clearly more than that now. They need to establish a system that saves some of the money generated by these young men that pays out after their playing days are done. At minimum, they need to guarantee a degree or a 6 year scholarship to these players since they spend so much time practicing taking away from studies. At least you are guaranteeing the player something for his effort.
jarvis
September 9th, 2010
9:20 am
I’m pretty sick of the bullsh*t. It would be nice to turn on my computer and read about the football games. I can’t even remember what that was like.
Everytime I look up it’s another story about someone at UGA screwing up. I’m totally fed up. This isn’t enjoyable. I pay an a$$load of money every year for my donation, tickets, parking…..the list goes on.
I’d like to be able to enjoy the investment, but instead I can’t even sit a squat with the paper without having to avoid the Georgia pages of the sports section.
I don’t have a solution other than to personally stop donating to the scholly fund, so at least I won’t feel like I’m paying money to pi$$ myself off.
I still love my school. I’m beginning to think I’d be better off contributing more to the Georgia Fund and less to the Hartman Fund.
chpatt
September 9th, 2010
9:21 am
This is one of the worst written articles I have ever read on ajc.com. It’s okay to have an opinion, but at least make it sound somewhat educated. I felt like I was reading something a middle schooler wrote.
5IML
September 9th, 2010
9:21 am
For anyone clamoring for student-athletes to be paid, there are two things that should be understood:
1. Per the new NCAA report (http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/REV_EXP_2010.pdf) only 14 Div 1A athletics departments actually make money.
2. Per NCAA rules, if athletes in one sport are paid, all athletes would have to be paid.
Do the math (or the logic).
TheTaxJacket
September 9th, 2010
9:22 am
AJ GREED is a punk!!! Should have given him the DEZ BRYANT treatment!!!!!!!!
((( 45 – 42 )))
Glory, glory to the Jackets, their truth is marching on!!!!!!
LarryDawg1
September 9th, 2010
9:23 am
5IML, so you’re saying that the system GAVE you the up front money for school, and then you got a job, (rules violation) to take care of your other (and their were other) expenses. That is very commendable. These student athletes don’t have that as an option. I am simply pointing out that they don’t have that option. Oh and if you had been at practice, you wouldn’t have been at work. I thought I had talent in football, but colleges didn’t share my view, but that is why I have an appreciation for what the student athlete goes through. I’m working on a Master’s Degree, and its hard with a job and a family. What if there was some rules restriction that keep me from exercising my right to better myself financially, but someone else one has not caught one pass can make thousands of dollars? Find out how much UGS has made off of A.J. Green’s jersey. I’ll bet it over $1000!
Techman
September 9th, 2010
9:24 am
First of all – he broke the rules and he has been punished.
However, I have a feeling that those of you screaming he gets a free education, etc. have never been in a position of exploitation that Green is in. That would be a tough feeling knowing that you make the school so much money and you don’t see a dime of it. Name on the back of the jersey or not, they sell #8. Surely you’re not saying that’s a coincidence. If so, why not just sell #99 and be done with it? It’s because 99 won’t sell.
Green is living with his “mistake”. In 8 months, he can take his millions and get a good laugh at all of you high and mighties that pretend you wouldn’t have tried to make a few bucks.
Atticus
September 9th, 2010
9:24 am
Tony, stadiums are not full because of individual players………that stadium was full before AJ Green and it will be after. That arguement just doesnt work. The kids don’t think it is equitable, don’t sign.
Schools make millions because of alumni bases and the collective success of decades of teams that develop a tradition and the fact that 100,000 alumni pay money to watch…not to watch only AJ or Stafford….there will always be other players…. You can make an exception for Herschel and Bo or whoever but that is SO rare.
Spike
September 9th, 2010
9:25 am
TaxJacket.. AJ will be back in plenty of time to play you losers. Be afraid, be very afraid. Tech has lost five bowl games in a row. The TRUTH is marching on. UGA-30. 2009 ACC Champs-24.
MURPHY
September 9th, 2010
9:25 am
With A.J out we need a more speed at reciever. Brandon Smith could be a good idea?
jarvis
September 9th, 2010
9:25 am
45 – 42? Why not quote the score of the 1952 game. History is history.
I am not going to be the head coach at Alabama. I am the head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
September 9th, 2010
9:25 am
LarryDawg1– I am not sure how you interpreted my comments. The athletes are indeed, kids. Kids that get tempted, make mistakes, and have their mistakes published online for all to comment. I certainly did not intend any criticism of any line of work. My only point was that while these athletes generate lots of money, they are getting “compensated” by receiving an education. An education that most people would have to work their rear ends off, or go heavily in debt to achieve.
I don’t see in my comments where I “put them on a pedestal and then knock them down when you don’t agree with their decisions” I do neither.
Gbal
September 9th, 2010
9:25 am
Tony –
Have to call BS on this one. I really can not believe you … of all people printed this article or opinion. This does not sound like you at all….
I am obviously a Dawg fan and really want to have AJ on the team playing this weekend but he and all other players get a lot from the universities that they play for. Besides education, meals… they get a possible path to the NFL where they can make the big $$$. To make it to the bigs in football, more than any other sport, the kids need the college experience to develop. To step directly from HS to the pros in this sport would be near impossible and not very smart. The NFL knows this.
AJ knows that he broke a rule. We all live lives with rules that we must follow or pay the consequences.
An AJ jersey is worth $0 without the university.
I follow and respect you more than any sportswriter in ATL, but this was an irresponsible piece you wrote here.
Paul in RDU
September 9th, 2010
9:25 am
Tony – You make some good points on the financial aspects of CFB and especially about putting Green’s name on the back of the shirts that are being sold. I presume that we are going to see you write a column on the Ed O’Bannon case slamming the NCAA (and the member schools that all benefit from licensing fees). Now there is a case where the NCAA is completely in the wrong.
Unfortunately, much of your column comes over as an apology for AJ. Since when was a 22 year old “a kid”.
Huntsville Yellow Jacket
September 9th, 2010
9:26 am
Tony, I couldn’t agree with you less. CT_Jacket, I couldn’t agree with you more. The kids are already getting paid with a free education. It is a way for them to better themselves rather than graduating from high school and having to work manual labor at an hourly rate for the rest of their lives. Yes, the university is making money off of certain athletes. However, the average American with a bachelors degree will make $1 million dollars more in his life-time versus those without a degree. That being said, student-athletes who receive college scholarships are indeed getting rewarded, it’s just deferred payment spread out over a 40 to 45 year career.
Dawg stuck in Bham
September 9th, 2010
9:26 am
AJ gets 4 games for selling a jersey to an agent. The Bama kid gets 2games for accepting a plane ticket AND attending his party all at the agent’s expense???????????????? Talk about inconsistency!!!
Go Dawgs
September 9th, 2010
9:27 am
TaxJacket, you realize that Georgia won 30-24 last year, right? You just look stupid posting a score from two years ago, we’ve clearly moved past that. Or should we just start posting all of the scores from the 15 wins Georgia has posted over Tech in the last 19 years?
LarryDawg1
September 9th, 2010
9:27 am
The University of Georgia IS one of those schools who make money, as are Fla., Tenn., and Alabama don’t generalize the thing. Admit that UGA made money off of A.J. Green and move on!
82Dawg
September 9th, 2010
9:28 am
TheTaxJacket …..I see you are still really living in the past………….