Playing for keeps

College athletics have forever been the last line of amateurism in sports. It's the last chance for athletes to play for pride and bragging rights. It's a time when the name across their chests means more than the name on the back of their jerseys.\nBut now more than ever, commercialism in college sports is detracting from the purity of the game. This continuing trend and the recent Bowl Championship Series controversies are motivating NCAA President Myles Brand to make efforts to keep college sports simple. \nOne of the major focuses of Brand's State of the Association address Sunday was the fading line between collegiate and professional sports. There used to be a clear divide between amateur athletics and the progression to glitz and glamour in the professional ranks. However, over the last decade, Brand points out that college sports have begun to resemble their professional cousins in terms of commercialism and marketing. \nDuring his first year as president, Brand has been a quiet leader in one of the most turbulent years the NCAA has ever seen. We're glad he finally found his voice to speak about this issue. \nBrand refuses to allow the mass market to exploit college players. He explains that success-driven and money-hungry universities are the source of this move toward commercialized college teams. In an era when CBS paid the NCAA $6 billion for the exclusive rights to the three-week long NCAA men's Division I basektball tourney, money flowing into the NCAA and universities has become an ever-increasing concern.\nOn top of that, the talent pool of college athletics has been depleted over the last few years as more and more high school blue-chips are by-passing college to jump to the pros — and those athletes who do decide to attend college are skipping out early to cash in on the big money in higher leagues. \nCollegiate athletics simply cannot compete with the payrolls of pro franchises. Focusing on what college sports can offer — loyalty to the game, sincerity of fans and players, support for its own programs — will make the institution the best it can be. There are some things that money can never change. \nJust this week, Gateway Computers proposed a final, determinable national championship game between the winner of the Bowl Championship Series national championship and the winner of the Associated Press national championship. Brand called the idea "a cynical publicity stunt." He asserted that a game like this only adds to the exploitive nature of entertainment in college sports and said it "erodes the critical concept that the welfare of the student athlete is paramount."\nBrand remembers the detail that companies are quick to forget — student athletes are, above all, students. Protecting their ability to pursue an education is vital. \nAfter a year in office, Brand is beginning to come into his own as president and is taking a stand in favor of the student athletes. As money-seekers threaten to steal legitimacy from the game, we support Brand in his movement to preserve the soul of college sports.