Sinking Decision

Who would have thought that in the wake of a category five hurricane that devastated the Gulf Coast, most notably New Orleans and Gulfport, Mississippi, the NCAA, the organization that took away amateur status from skier/football player Jeremy Bloom and gave it to former major-league third baseman Josh Booty, has done the most of any sports organization to help?No, Myles Brand did not send in food and water to those starving to death on the roofs of their houses, but he did help those student-athletes affected by the tragedy.

For the first time in the history of the NCAA, student-athletes that have watched their houses sunk, destroyed, lost, or whatever the case will receive a sort of amnesty from the strict restrictions.

Students are required to attend classes in order to participate in intercollegiate athletics. However, with cities inaccessible and campuses under water, it is impossible for schools such as Tulane to hold classes.

But for once, the NCAA wants to help.

Those affected will be granted amnesty from that rule.

And what about students who are trying to go see their families? The school is not allowed to pay for the athlete’s travel arrangements. Oh wait, now they are.

Steve Mallonee, managing director for membership services for the NCAA, said “They don’t need to be worrying about whether the situations they’re reacting to violate NCAA rules. We want them to do what they need to do.”

Bravo Steve.

And to boot, families of student-athletes that are now homeless are allowed to stay on campus, wherever the school may be.

Bravo Steve.

But honestly, is this fair? Is this fair that these student athletes are getting preferential treatment?

What about the tennis player at Kansas? Do you really think the school will pay his ticket back to Mobile to help rebuild his mother’s house?

What about the lacrosse player at Notre Dame? Do you really think the school will pay her bus fare to Gulfport to see if her family is even alive?

What about the science major at Temple? Do you really think the school will pay his train ride to attend his sister’s funeral?

The NCAA wants to make it available and I offer my thanks for that. But don’t make it an option. Make it mandatory!

If the student wants to go back and see if his or her family is alive, then the school should be forced to pay the bill. Regardless of whether he or she plays football, soccer, club rugby, or chess. Not just the starting point guard.

Until you have survived a category five hurricane yourself, you have no idea what is going through these people’s minds.

And compared to the pictures of this, even those who survived Andrew have no idea.

My family’s house and my parent’s marriage got destroyed during Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Had we not spent the night in Hialeah, I might not be writing this today. The winds blew the roof up and collapsed it into the house. We moved seven times over the next two and a half years and had my parents not come to an agreement, I would have been forced to choose in court whether I wanted to live with my mother or my father.

But what happened to my house and what happened in Homestead and Florida City is nothing compared to what has happened in New Orleans.

A city is under water. Steve and Myles, your ideas to allow classes to be cancelled and students to travel to see their families are juvenile.

Don’t give the option; make it mandatory.

Make all member institutions pay for their students to go home if the students choose to go home.

Southeastern Louisiana is under water, more water is leaking in through Lake Pontchartrain, Gulfport, Mississippi, among other places, is no more, Mobile Bay has widened, thousands of people are trapped in houses, drowning alive and starving to death, disease is running rampant in the brutal summer heat, tornadoes have destroyed neighborhoods, and families are without homes and without loved ones.

And the NCAA, finally doing something worthwhile, only goes as far as being blatantly obvious and allowing for things that will only be done for football and basketball players.

The NCAA has been given a platform to take a stand.

Now take it.

Force these schools to help students, not just major student-athletes, with families stuck in any of what once was New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, Gulfport, Mobile, the Gulf Coast, or wherever.

Pictures say a thousand words. These just leave me speechless.

Andrew destroyed Florida City and Homestead. This destroyed an entire coast.

Until I see a halfback, shooting guard, soccer goalie, #2 doubles tennis player, and chemical engineering major arriving from Georgia Tech, I’m not going to be satisfied with the NCAA’s decision.

They are taking a stand, but it is easy to sink in the floodwaters.

Pictures say a thousand words. Without phone lines, the families cannot say any.