"boycott sal's!"

All you blue chip high school athletes starting with the class of 2007, listen up. I'm calling for an all out boycott of Division-1 universities by all black athletes. Why? Because for far too long, our college athletes have been exploited, and unfairly compensated for all they bring to the NCAA. Instead of taking those four year scholarships to prestigious white universities, I think it's time to set a precedent, by being the first class of blue chippers to choose historically black universities across the board.

What do you get by performing at the highest level for a big time athletic program?

An all paid four year scholarship. Mind you, your athletic requirements to keep that scholarship will severely cut into the time it takes to truly be a student-athlete. And although coaches bend over backwards to keep the failing athlete passing, nobody bends over backwards to make sure the B athlete makes A's. Oh yeah, you'll get the glitz and glamour of seeing your face on tv, and maybe even on video games. The papers and magazines will write about you, Sports Center will show your highlights, and you may win some big award. All which will come as a great benefit to you when you realize you don't have a suit for the award ceremony, because every time you go to the ATM for a withdrawal, it keeps saying insufficient funds. The fact remains, unless you are one of the few fortunate ones, chances are, when you finally leave college, even if you leave with your degree, you'll leave broke, in search of a way to feed yourself. Yes my friends, this is the thanks you get for your all the money you made your university.

What does a prestigious white university get by you performing at the highest level on the field?

Millions in ticket sales, merchandise, television deals, and licensing. Your coach gets a hefty salary, a shoe deal, and immediate consideration for the next big job on the college or pro level. The univerisity also continues to brand itself by using your name and accomplishments to seduce the next blue chip athlete into their web of deception. And when you finally leave college with your degree, you will leave a university that has built athletic facilities, lecture halls, and purchased planes, with all the money YOU generated during your time there.



( Ty Willingham, unjustly fired by Notre Dame after the third year of his five year contract, despite a ten win season and a trip to the Gator Bowl )

So class of '07, '08, '09, '10, you're probably wondering, what's the alternative?

The alternative is simple, black institutions of higher education. If all the best athletes started to choose HBCU's, suddenly you'd see HBCU's in the Final Four, in the Fiesta Bowl, in the College World Series. This would generate a huge amount of revenue for schools, many of which are barely able to keep their doors open. It would make the black coach a significant part of the college athletic experience. And where the best athletes go, so will the television dollars, the licensing money, and the shoe deals. Imagine Grambling St. being a bigger football power than USC, on a consistent basis. The more big name black athletes choose HBCU's, the quicker you'll see marginal talent representing what used to be athletic powerhouses. Suddenly the Big 10 wouldn't mean anything, and the SWAC would mean everything. On an academic level, all the new revenue would help grow HBCU's into huge institutions that are every bit as big and nice as the state universities are today. The growth in these schools would create jobs for black professors, and black administration. That's how powerful you are as today's college athlete.

How long does the boycott last?

In theory, it should never end. Why not make our institutions rich with the very best instead of spreading our most talented thinly across institutions that don't have our best interest in mind. But this is a boycott, so I guess it would be okay to end it if certain terms were met.

1) Athletes should be paid a scale wage, and they should receive bonuses based on the amount of revenue they generate through the success of their particular sports team.

2) In cases of all merchandise that feature a particular player's name and/or number, the said athlete should receive no less that 50% of the total sales.

3) Thirty percent of the overall shoe deal done with universities should be put in a trust fund, and held for athletes pending their graduation date.

4) A Diversity Council should be put in place to ensure fair hiring practices of not only black administrators, but also black coaches.

5) A percentage of all of the annual money netted by the athletic department should be donated to inner city schools.

6) The age ban on entering all professional ranks should be lifted.

7 A Vocational Program should be set up to help former college athletes who don't make it to the professional ranks, find jobs.

When and if all these demands are met, the black athlete would make a return to what we currently refer to as big time college athletics. But before we can get to that point, we must address the point we're at right now. And right now, black athletes are being exploited. So before you sign your letter of intention, think twice black athlete. Ask your friends to think twice. It's finally time we consider what's right for us as a whole, rather than always doing what's best for us as individuals. Too many of yesterday's big time college stars, have ended up broke, on the street, with nothing but memories. One luv.