I've made up my mind! Been thinkin' about this for 20-years... and two things I've read in the past fortnight have put me over the edge. It's time to pay college athletes. PERIOD. Make available small but meaningful and realistic stipends for spending money that these youngsters are prevented from getting elsewhere ... legally, that is!

Consider this: In the past two weeks, a major southeastern university signed a deal to pay their Athletic Director a bonus not only when student athletes excel in their grades and graduate, but also when they meet certain performance standards, athletically, like winning conference and NCAA championships. Another school, closer to home, unveiled a booster suite overlooking the football stadium, accommodating up to 32 people on gameday, for the nifty pricetag of "ten-large" per game. To you and I, that's ten-thousand dollars, gameday programs included, for cryin' out loud! It's high time to pay the people they'll be watching and measuring.

Don't misunderstand me. I find nothing wrong with the two examples cited here... athletic administrators' and coaches' bonuses, and "Big Cigar" rooms. Boosterism is wonderful. But what's wrong with this picture? These big spend programs center around a group of kids who are required to practice so much they can't work for spending money, and if they do work and practice, they're probably violating NCAA rules and making horrible grades, to boot. It's a vicious circle. Meanwhile, Daddy Booster Bucks flaunts their success like it was his private stock. Well, Daddy, it's time to pay 'em.

You ready for this: If the team that won this year's NCAA Basketball Championship was in the National Basketball Association, here's what the math would look like: The school generated over 10-million dollars in game revenue. Pro teams share slightly over 50-percent of the revenue with the players. That's just under a half million dollars share PER PLAYER, if Syracuse University's basketball team was in the NBA. So how 'bout settling for a couple of pizzas and a video game a month, eh?

The amount of money isn't the point. And, yes, I DO realize that these people are getting a college education. However, the exploitation of the college athlete is the point. It's time to pay.