Remember when Ian Johnson had to stop
selling the hats he was knitting because people might buy them for
reasons other than "these hats are sweet"? Well, this is evidently
legal and stuff in the eyes of the NCAA:

Terrence "Mount" Cody, senior nose tackle for Alabama's
2009 National Champion football team, will make a second appearance at
Parkway Place mall to sign autographs. The autograph session will be
Saturday from 12-3 p.m. and from 4-6 p.m.

Your Cody autograph comes at a minimum price of $25 on a print-but
you get a personal
item signed for every bit of merchandise you drop cash on-and I
imagine young Terrence is getting a significant cut of that.

The key difference is not moral or ethical but merely a matter
of power: the NCAA can't do anything to Cody anymore. He's out of
eligibility and headed for the NFL draft, and this is the point at which
these guys sign contracts with agents and start driving around silly
cars with loan money. Other than that, Alabama fans giving Cody money
for an autograph is obviously him profiting off his likeness-only
the NCAA is allowed to do that-far more than Ian Johnson was.

I'm sure this is on the up-and-up, NCAA violations rarely being
advertised in your local newspaper, but it is kind of a blatant quid pro
quo, isn't it? Might as well hand every graduating senior a check for
10k. Not that I begrudge any college football player staring down a
short NFL career and an uncertain future after that scraping any dollar
he can from his fame.

That's the guy who blocked the field goal that preserved a national
championship season. How is a mediocre but generally winning quarterback
six
months into his job as a loan officer doing?

"People call me say they hate me and then hang up," [former
Virginia Tech quarterback Sean] Glennon said.

Point: Cody. No wonder Alabama's recruiting so well.

(H/T to Doctor
Saturday)

View full post on The Sporting Blog

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • •