Union Meetings @ The Student Union

As the late New York 'Yankees' announcer, Mel Allen use to say, "How about that?" The national news is all over the story coming out of Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois) where a Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board granted Northwestern University athletes the 'right' for form a union.
It was a slam dunk that such a union organization-effort move would either happen in Illinois or New Jersey; bet your 'Final Four' tickets Wisconsin and any State with a high Hispanic population will not have union sports' teams.


I see both an 'upside' and 'downside' to this college sports' union thing. On the positive side, there can now be counter leverage against the unbridled power of the greedy, pompous and phony organization known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Perhaps now the rights of a student-athlete would be protected. For example: When a coach recruits an athlete out of high school for his program and then leaves THAT university for another coaching job, the student-athlete should be free to leave for another university (without penalty) also. This is a simple 'goose-gander' story.
The possible 'downside' to college athletes' union is real-- You do know that all State and Federal contracted jobs require specific quotas. This means that any and all colleges and universities receiving tax monies must have a certain number of athletes on all teams representing specific percentages of all minorities including gender equality playing opportunities. We will need an additional chair at the scorers' table to keep THAT record book. Furthermore, this union-stuff, just like many sports rules will trickle-down from the college ranks to high schools. This will open 'Pandora's Box.' Parent organizations and high schools sports' unions will have permanent tents and picket lines at School Board meetings. Native Americans will now expect all high school cafeteria's to offer casino-style gambling machines expecting those profits for the right to use an Indian mascot.


Wake me when the high school athletes have union reps and they get in a standoff with college athletes' union reps over the possibility of the NCAA NOT televising college sports on Friday nights thus allowing high school turnstiles to get some share of the entertainment money. I wish to attend that debate and offer a few comments I have tape recorded with the late Hall of Fame basketball coach, Al McGuire. McGuire told me that if the NCAA does not give the high schools Friday Nights those high school community-supported programs will go the way of the buffalo nickel and Indian head dime.




Finally, anyone out there wish to make wager on how this issue will fall along political lines???