The athlete-student? Or special treatment for a special player?

Point: The athlete-idolizing system worked for Maurice Clarett but Dan Nied reminds us that the student should come before the athlete.

Counterpoint: Joel Hammond says Dan Nied is an idiot. That Clarett's special treatment is a necessary evil in big time college athletics.

Who's got it right?

POINT

By Dan Nied [send email]

When I was in college, I walked out of a midterm after answering only 20 percent of the questions.

It was a very Clarettesque move on my part.

But I just got an “F”. Where was my makeup oral exam?

Oh, that’s right, no one was counting on me to come through big in the Fiesta Bowl.

It’s OK though, things worked out in the end for me. I got this sweet gig writing for this website and a degree at that.

But, still, I had to take my failing grade and repeat the course. I didn’t have access to study table and I did not have free tutors hanging around, whose job it was to make sure I pulled straight C’s. No one was looking over my shoulder at my classwork and no one checked in with my teachers to make sure I was in class.

I didn’t get this treatment. That was reserved for, you know, the athletes.

Apparently that wasn’t enough help for Ohio state running back Maurice Clarett. No, even with all that help, Clarett walked out in the middle of a midterm after not knowing a thing, according to African-American and African studies professor Paulette Pierce. So Pierce decided to give Clarett an oral exam for the midterm and the final, which he apparently passed, clearing the young scholar athlete’s way into the national championship game.

I have a problem with his.

Everyone should.

When college athletes, who already have all of the above advantages over other students, start passing classes on the strength of two oral exams, things aren’t right. When a football game overshadows knowledge, things aren’t right.
When a student, athlete or not, walks out of a midterm without even trying and is given a second chance, things aren’t right.

What happened to accountability?

Pierce said that it was her job to make sure Clarett knew the material. But that isn’t true. Her job is to teach the material. It was Clarett’s job to know it. If he doesn’t hold up his end of the bargain, if he can’t make it through a midterm, then let him go.

It’s called Darwinism.

If, with the help of study table and tutors, Clarett can’t grasp the concepts of a 100-level class, maybe he isn’t cut out for college. Maybe OSU and the NCAA should have shuffled him through to the NFL right out of Harding High School.
Of course, if it is just that Clarett is too lazy, too apathetic to worry about his classes, then why did OSU accept him in the first place?

Oh yeah, he can run with a football.

But if that is the case, then what is the meaning of “student-athlete”? Clarett’s major is football. His midterm is spring practice, his internship is the NFL scouting combine and his first job will be carrying that ball. So god forbid he should have to go to classes that aren’t practice.

Is Ohio State offering him an education? Sure. Is Clarett accepting it? Hardly. But what does OSU do when other students don’t learn? I would assume that, like every other university, they let that student sink to the bottom until he is no longer welcome at the school.

But those students don’t win national championships. They aren’t going to the NFL. No, those students are just going back to Bucyrus, Lorain, Pemberville or any other Ohio town to be anybody but Maurice Clarett. But Clarett had a study table, a tutor, a coach checking in and an oral exam. And he’s going on to big things.

Just don’t expect him to finish that midterm.

COUNTERPOINT

By Joel Hammond
210 west Writer [send email]

If I went to The Ohio State University, who've been the national champions in NCAA Division I football since a dramatic double overtime win over the heavily-favored University of Miami Hurricanes in January, I'd be a bit perturbed at the latest scandal involving my star tailback Maurice Clarett and African-American Studies professor Paulette Pierce.

But my dismay would have nothing to do with Clarett, a rising sophomore, possibly receiving preferential treatment, but everything to do with the graduate assistant who found a problem with it.

Let me get this straight: First, a professsor allowed him special treatment by giving him an oral exam, passes him, allows him to play in the game, one in which he performed admirably after being hurt all season? Sounds fishy. (If I may pause for a minute, did you watch this game? Clarett, more so than the Canes' Andre Johnson or Willis McGahee, both first-round NFL draft choices -- literally changed the face of the game in his team's favor. Amazing.)

A graduate assistant finds it wrong now, but it wasn't then. Pierce claims she watched Clarett walk out of her midterm, and not even show up for the final.
Pierce subsequently gave him oral exams on which he received good enough grades to pass the class.

If I were an OSU student right about now, I'd be finishing up a memo to anyone at OSU thinking about raising a stink about the treatment student-athletes receive.

The memo would contain five words (excluding a hearty greeting, mind you): "HIS TALENT PAYS YOUR SALARY". Which isn't true in a literal sense. But in a figurative sense, and in the grand scheme of things, it's about as close to true as you're gonna find.

Preferential treatment for athletes, especially those at a school like Ohio State, where so much money is produced with every game, is a presence that I'm sure took getting used to by some - a phenomenon upon which effects those like the graduate assistant or me or you or Joe Good Professor like it or not.

And I like it. Especially if I go to Ohio State.

Clarett rushed for two touchdowns in the championship game, and his presence, after missing three games during the regular season with assorted injuries, was enough for Miami to alter their defensive game plan. He even stripped the ball from a Miami return man on special teams. His line: 23 carries, 47 yards, two touchdowns, one fumble forced, one fumble recovery. Just another day at the office? Hardly.

But let's rewind a bit first: The fact that Clarett played a big part in getting the Buckeyes to the title game was perhaps his biggest victory during his freshman campaign. The school, before splitting their earnings with the Big Ten, and a host of others, was awarded $13 million for playing in the game. My guess is they took home a nice little check.

Then they win the national championship, blessing ordinary Joe Student with a host of other benefits: More endorsements for the school, more exposure, higher enrollment and many other advantages that aren't available to non-BCS schools like say, Bowling Green, which scheduled games with Ohio State and Purdue this year just hoping to milk that cash cow

I would say I'm going out on a limb here, but the limb is becoming shorter and shorter: I think more people are realizing the simple fact that big-time major college sports like basketball and football make money. In order for the those sports to make money, they have to have big-time, talented athletes like Clarett playing. In order for the big-time athletes like Clarett to play, they need to be eligible while practicing and training for the good part of each and every day, 12 months out of the year. In order for the big-time athletes to maintain their physical edge and remain eligible, they have to have help.

Call it preferential treatment, call it help, call it cheating. But while you're doing that, I'll call everyone else calling for Clarett's head hypocrites. Especially when faculty enjoy their raises and the students enjoy their new recreation center, while Clarett, whose jersey is sold and who is marketed all over the country by the school, doesn't receive a dime.

So who's really getting the preferential treatment?

I say, Hey, Maurice! Need help with that English paper?