NCAA bylaws "allow an athlete to compete professionally in one sport while retaining their amateur status in another," but LLWS P Mo'ne Davis’ situation "appears unprecedented" after she appeared in an ad for Chevrolet, according to Andrew Beaton of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The NCAA is "allowing her to accept endorsement money, while completely retaining her status as an amateur." Duke Univ. law professor Paul Haagen said that it "opens the door for future pre-college athletes to do the same, though there won’t be any direct precedent binding the NCAA because her success is unique" (
WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/23). ESPN's Kate Fagan said Davis "can do the impossible, because for at least 0.2 seconds, she made the NCAA look like it had a little bit of common sense." Fagan: "I haven't seen that before." Denver Post columnist Woody Paige said the NCAA "did the obvious here," because Davis' eligibility is not in jeopardy before she starts high school. Davis currently is in the eighth grade. But columnist Kevin Blackistone called it a "PR move by the NCAA at a time when they're doubling their take for football to $50 million for the playoff system" and putting Univ. of Georgia RB Todd Gurley "on the sidelines for taking $400 for autographs." Blackistone: "They trot out this story about Mo'ne Davis and make us think that they're some sort of altruistic organization all of a sudden. Come on!" (
"Around The Horn," ESPN, 10/22). ESPN's Michael Wilbon said of the NCAA, "I don't want to give people too much credit for doing something, as Chris Rock would say, that they're supposed to do! This was done well and correctly" (
"PTI," ESPN, 10/22).
PLAY BY DIFFERENT RULES: In Atlanta, Jeff Schultz wrote the NCAA "has been hammered over the issue of student-athletes being allowed to profit off their likeness and image," and even when the organization "makes seemingly the smart and correct ruling on whether a young athlete can profit off their image or likeness, it exposes just how lame and contradictory all of the organization’s other rulings are." Schultz: "The NCAA is scrambling. And softening. ... The organization has been sticking its finger in the air to check wind direction with increasing regularity. It realizes it is being hammered over this issue of 'amateurism.' Is the Davis decision good news for Gurley? Maybe. As the NCAA points out, these were unusual circumstances. A 13-year-old female baseball player isn’t the same as a 20-year-old Division I tailback at a major university. But the core issue is really the same. The NCAA can’t deny that" (
AJC.com, 10/22).
