You Honestly Can't Make This Shit Up - The NCAA Is Forcing Kofi Cockburn To Sit The First 3 Games Of The Season Because He Committed The Unforgivable Sin Of Donating Money To Charity
At some point you just have to respect how evil and diabolical the NCAA acts towards students. Obviously it's a blood sucking institution driven by unbalanced commercial interests. I think that's well established at this point. But to see it relentlessly stick it to student athletes time and again goes to show the kind of consistency that separates the strong and the weak. The NCAA could have easily evolved into a morally conscious organization that empowers and enables the student athlete experience. In an alternate universe it's highly effective and equitable and lives up to the vague windbag mission statement of competitive integrity. Wouldn't that be some shit.
Turns out the NCAA didn't go down that path and at this point in time, it's to nobody's surprise. The NCAA sucks and everybody knows it.
To me there's some kind of credit that goes to the people and faces that actually enforce this shit. How do you wake up every day knowing you're a terrible person when you interpret these rules? How do you function in society while being such a rotten miserable self-loathing underachieving stickler? It's sincerely impressive there are people willing to work at the NCAA and enact this kind of carnage on the world under such false pretense. And yes - at some level I admire the ability to make it through life with such immense delusions of self-worth. Those NCAA people really are a different breed of asshole.
In the present case, we're talking about a notably more harsh punishment than Mark Few. And why? Because Kofi sold some Illinois merch and donated the proceeds to charity. No better person to make an example of than the kid using his privilege to benefit society. Classic NCAA logic to try and scare the little guy for the sake of enforcing rules that were days away from expiration. Crazy to me this is where and how they choose to flex muscle.
All that said there's basically no harm to Illinois. Coach Underwood gets some quality motivational material. Younger guys get a chance to get more prepared time early in the season and come Big Ten season, nobody will care. But for now it's bullshit and I want that on the record. The NCAA can kick rocks.
We'll be all over this week on Red Line Radio. Subscribe below.