Who is Mark Emmert?  He is the quite ridiculous moral overseer of college sports.  He is the prez of the NCAA.  To quote The Associated Press, he would like “to create safer on-campus environments for minors.” 

Well, Mark, from whence have you gotten the authority to create such a lofty goal?  Is there a clause in the United States Constitution of America that was written in invisible ink and has just now been discovered?  Perhaps, your authority comes from Congress in the form of a well-hidden rider!  Perhaps, it comes from a wink of Obama! The NCAA has a constitution and bylaws too.  Maybe, it was your alter ego who conferred the unbridled authority on yourself!

Authority aside, where did you get the idea that prepubescent minors populate college campuses? Granted, there have been a few instances of young boys preyed upon, but those instances were with a coach and seldom on campus ─ the one most infamous instance being in a Penn State athletic facility.

Being the former chancellor of LSU till some five or six years ago and the president of Washington University in Seattle more recently, you must have realized that colleges enjoy some measure of academic freedom and are somewhat self-governing. Hence, state governors are reluctant to interfere in college affairs.  Whereas, you Mr. Emmert, you relish the stolen opportunity to more than meddle into them with your misbegotten authority.

In your open letter previously posted on the NCAA website, you urge “victims of child sex-abuse to come forward with their allegations.”  The Associated Press reports that in this same letter you write without clear thought, “nobody knows how pervasive the allegations might be.”

You’re wrong, you’re wrong in that you are misusing the language.  The number of allegations is a matter of fact. A person cannot make an allegation without it falling on someone’s ears.  What you probably mean is that the number of pedophilia cases is unknown ─ reason being, as everyone knows, the victims often are loathe to dwell on their shameful abuse, much less reveal it to the world. What you may have meant, ‘though doubtful, is that in such instances, as with Penn State, Syracuse, and the Citadel, the state has not prosecuted the case immediately and has not made the allegation known to the public until years later.

Mr. Emmert, don’t you think you should stick to sanctioning schools which have given their players a perquisite, albeit just a mere trifle? Indeed cheating must not be tolerated! Cheating must be nipped in the bud! Otherwise, by and by the venal practice would likely get out of hand, and then all players would be indelibly corrupted by the love of money, the root of all evil!

Players must be protected from filthy lucre.  They must be made forever mindful that they are first and foremost student-athletes, and as such, should not pay money any thought! They have a whole lifetime after college to worry themselves over money!

Mr. Emmert, should this not be your singular duty, if not your singular duty, your most important one?

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Not that Mr. Emmert would ever dare do anything improper, yet one has to wonder whether his warm friendship with coach Nick Saban, formerly the head coach of LSU, influenced the BCS Action Committee’ decision to choose Alabama as LSU’s opponent in the upcoming BCS Championship Game.