Mad money

Kurt Streeter’s article and insights on Sunday [“Players are left out of March Madness money”] is a timely piece of reporting and a big reason why sports fans like myself read the Sports section on a daily basis.

While the basketball tournament is exciting, it is important to keep in mind the NCAA rules that allow the incredible exploitation of so-called student-athletes in college sports who bring in millions of dollars to their athletic departments. The rest of the academic side of campus never sees any of that money for actual education! It goes to coaches’ salaries and building of sports facilities while the rest of campus is cash-starved.

The fact that the NCAA itself sets the rules of what an amateur is and then enforces those rules to benefit themselves financially would be funny if it did not exploit the only people who allow the profit to be made in the first place, since I am unaware of people flocking to the TV screen to watch the coaching staffs, vendors and ushers playing.

Gunnar Valgeirsson

Alhambra

::

According to Streeter, the NCAA basketball tournament is a “charade.” He further informs that participating schools enjoy huge revenues from it, revenues that are not equitably shared with the athletes.

Streeter ignores the fact that so-called student-athletes participate in any sport, revenue-generating or otherwise, of their own free will. At any time, wage-slave athletes are free to abandon athletics, join the student body at large, study hard, graduate and get a job, just like the rest of us.

What’s wrong with that?

Skip Nevell

Los Angeles