Another Example of Why the NCAA is a Joke

USC quarterback Matt Leinart is taking quiet possibly the most vigorous course load in the history of NCAA student-athletes, as he is taking one class: ballroom dancing. Oh doing calculus may be tough, but have you ever tried to the do the waltz. While it's easy to rip Leinart for taking such a joke of a course load, I can't blame him. If I was in his situation, I would have done the exact same thing. There's no point in taking a vigorous course load when he needs only one class to graduate; he only needs to take one class to be eligible, and assuming he doesn't suffer a major injury, he's going to be getting millions of dollars in 8 months or so.

No, the real villain in this farcical example of a "student-athlete" is the NCAA who's bylaws allow a student-athlete to take a non-existent course load. According to the NCAA rules, in order to be eligible, you have to take at least 12 credit hours (i.e., be a full-time student), unless you need less than 12 credit hours to graduate, then you only have to take however many credit hours you need to graduate. While the NCAA thought this rule would encourage kids to graduate, they forgot they're dealing with seniors in college. Seniors in college are lazy by nature, especially that last semester. Believe me, as a guy who was a senior in college a little over a year ago, I wanted to spend more time at the bars than on that paper that was due. It should be no surprise that this loophole is being abused. If the NCAA has any sense, it would require last semester seniors to take at least 9 credit hours in order to be eligible. I mean if you want these kids to be student-athletes, and not just cash cows for the university, I do not think it's unreasonable to have them take a class where they have to at least write a paper or two and maybe take a final exam.