The embattled offices of the NCAA just keep on amazing us with their ineptitude. When they finally do make a move that actually benefits the student athletes, whom the NCAA was formed to protect, they do it on the heels of a public announcement by one of the nation’s top collegiate athletes that he often went to bed starving.
So now Commissioner Mark Emmert’s office has announced that they will kindly remove the restrictions on meals and snacks for Division I athletes. Which naturally raises the question, why in the hell were there restrictions, imposed it seems by the NCAA, on the athlete’s food supply in the first place?
Were they trying to save money? Don’t these young folks bring in enough revenue to the universities that would afford them enough to eat? Who did this?
Shortly after winning the NCAA National Basketball Championship in Arlington, UConn star guard Shabazz Napier revealed to reporters that he often went to bed starving. Napier was awarded the Most Outstanding Player in the 2014 Final Four tournament. That he should have to talk about hunger right after winning the National Championship speaks to the seriousness of the issue.
The restrictions that were previously in place allowed student athletes only three meals per day in the on campus dining facilities. Anyone who has ever been through one of these cafeteria lines knows well that the portions are strictly controlled and not exactly large. Not nearly large enough to satisfy a 250 pound youngster who just spent 3 hours at football practice.
The new policy will allow the athlete’s unlimited access to meals provided by on campus facilities. Walk on athletes, who previously had to fend for themselves for food, are now included in the plan, correcting yet another big oversight.
Here is what Shabazz Napier had to say, “I feel like a student athlete. Sometimes, there’s hungry nights where I’m not able to eat, but I still gotta play up to my capabilities. I don’t see myself as so much of an employee, but when you see your jersey getting sold, to some credit, you feel like you want something in return, There are hungry nights when I go to bed and I’m starving.” Wow.
The NCAA is already under attack on various fronts and this latest announcement which is seen as only a swipe at crisis management, has brought down a whole new avalanche of criticism on Mark Emmert and the NCAA Commissioner’s office.
