NCAA Recruitment: Where Scumbags Happen

Two recent articles in the Chicago Sun-Times on R.O.Y. Derrick Rose caught my attention this week, one of which could potentially tarnish the image of the player many consider the savior of the Chicago Bulls. The first, from Scott Powers on Tuesday, reveals how Rose's family looks after him and keeps his feet firmly planted on the ground. Rose is widely regarded as a good, humble kid, and the fact that he still does dishes and listens to his big bro makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over.Then there's the second article, this one from Michael O'Brien and Rosalind Rossi today. According to several sources, Rose and other athletes had their grades temporarily altered for their high school transcripts so they would be more appealing to colleges. The article also notes that the University of Memphis is under investigation for allegedly having an unnamed person take the SAT for a member of the team that went to the NCAA finals in 2008, with several sources claiming that player is Rose. Another charge against Memphis is that they allegedly paid an associate of one of their players, who some sources claim is Rose's brother Reggie.Whether or not either of the allegations are true, it brings to light the fact that the path from prep to pro ball is all to often a dirty one. Rose is a good kid, there's no question about that. In fact, I doubt that he had much say or knowledge (if any) of these things going on, if in fact the allegations are true. The same goes for another good kid, the Memphis Grizzlies' O.J. Mayo, who was allegedly recruited to USC by Tim Floyd illegally. Rose is only 20, and Mayo is only 21. They're kids, more or less, and they do what they are told while the grown-ups "handle business." I'm not going to speculate on whether or not any of the allegations against Simeon (Rose's high school), Memphis, or USC are true, because that's not the point. The point is that the business aspect of college ball is getting to be (if it hasn't already been) pretty unscrupulous and ugly. Too often we're hearing stories of programs recruiting talent under shady circumstances, and players are surrounded by leeches who essentially act as pimps, selling their players to the highest bidders, ethics be damned. Breaking the rules to buy commitments are circumvent academic standards is business as usual nowadays, largely because a lot of young talent lies in the hands of predatory, unethical scumbags. It's pretty disgraceful, and it's ruining the reputations of good, naive kids like Rose and Mayo, who are too young to know any better than to trust in those mooches.I would like to find out that all of these allegations are untrue, and this article was just a moot point. But, with all of the recent scandals and rumors flooding the news over the past decade or so, it's difficult to dismiss any allegations too quickly.