I understand the NCAA’s position, however, how can you justify allowing someone to play professionally in one sport or another and still let them play in the College fields? There is no justification:

NCAA Wilts in Face of Bloom

By VITO FORLENZA, Comcast.net Sports Editor

August 26, 2004

While some of the world’s best athletes were staging a thrilling Summer Olympics in Athens, the NCAA told a prospective Olympian that he could no longer chase his dreams. The organization founded on fostering growth of the nation’s young people through sport forced a 22-year-old to choose between two of his lifelong goals.
Leave it up to the NCAA to dampen the Olympic spirit.

Just a week after the NCAA declared Colorado’s Jeremy Bloom “permanently ineligible” to play college football because he received endorsements in support of his world-class skiing career, an NCAA panel struck down his final appeal Tuesday. The decision squashed Bloom’s last ray of hope after a two-year legal battle, prematurely ending his college career.

Since joining the U.S. ski team in 1998, Bloom has won a World Cup moguls title (’02) and a gold medal in the World Championships (’03).
The reigning world champion in freestyle moguls, a 2002 Olympian, and a gold medal prospect for the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, Bloom had played the last two years for the Buffaloes and figured prominently in their plans for the upcoming season. But the 5-foot-9 receiver/kick returner violated NCAA rules last winter when he began accepting endorsements, claiming he could no longer afford to prepare for the Olympics any longer without financial support.

Instead of embracing Bloom’s Olympic aspirations, the NCAA took the easy way out. They barred him even though granting an exception would have been in the best interests of Bloom, the maligned Colorado football program, and the oft-criticized NCAA.

Because it was so obvious that the NCAA was going to rule against him, Bloom left the Buffaloes during summer camp for Santiago, Chile, to train with the U.S. Ski Team.

The most disappointing part of the saga is that the NCAA shunned one of the most well-rounded players to grace college athletics in decades. In addition to establishing himself as a world champion skier, Bloom asserted his big-play potential for the Buffaloes from the beginning of his freshman season in 2002.

On his first touch of his first game, he returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown against Colorado State. Later that season, he upstaged that feat with his first career catch–a 94-yard touchdown reception against Kansas State, the longest pass play in school history. In high school, Bloom was also a three-time all-state performer in track.

Oh yeah, he was an honor roll student all four years of high school and had a 3.3 GPA at Colorado, too.

With that kind of background, the NCAA should have told Bloom to strap on the branded ski boots, sunglasses, and apparel and carve those double-diamond slopes and dance around those moguls and win those world championships and, damn it, bring home a gold medal for Team USA. And in between the training runs and competitions, use your golden image to restore some dignity to a Colorado football program in desperate need of a lift.

The NCAA could have conceded that Bloom is an exception, a special talent who younger athletes in all sports could look up to. But the NCAA turned its back. It reached into its worn out rulebook, pulled out a generalized regulation, and banned him from competing.

The NCAA will, however, allow players who’ve been arrested multiple times to play. And even some of Bloom’s former teammates get to play, despite being implicated in one of the worst recruiting scandals in history. But try to support your Olympic dreams and the organization makes it sounds like you’re the criminal.

“On matters of amateurism, the colleges and universities in the NCAA have made it clear: Student-athletes are not permitted to endorse products and retain their eligibility,” the NCAA said in a statement.

“Twice Mr. Bloom asked the NCAA whether he could accept endorsements, and twice he was told it was impermissible and would violate NCAA rules. Bloom then pursued options through the Colorado legal system to set aside the NCAA rules. Again he was told ’No’ twice by the courts. And still, he entered into contracts to endorse products, in violation of NCAA rules.”

What the NCAA won’t tell you is that, although the courts upheld the NCAA’s rules, the judge chastised the organization for missing the opportunity to do the right thing. That would have meant treating athletes on a case-by-case basis, a foreign concept to the rigid governing body.

That kind of gutsy ruling would have allowed a rising star to continue his ascent. It also would have shown that the NCAA, which under president Myles Brand is aiming to alter the perception that it’s against change, is finally turning the corner in modifying its old-fashioned ways.

That behavior doesn’t permit athletes to accept endorsement income from any sport. Yet, it allows players to receive a salary in a professional sport and still maintain college eligibility in another. So if Bloom signed a rich baseball deal, he’d be allowed to return to the college gridiron at will–just like 2000 Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke, who led Florida State to an ACC title and the national championship game after spending six years in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system.

There’s also the precedent of former Iowa star and current San Diego Chargers wide receiver Tim Dwight. Dwight was allowed to run track for the Hawkeyes after Atlanta drafted him in 1998, despite signing an NFL contract an agent negotiated and accepting endorsement money.
Bloom was an explosive playmaker in his two years at Colorado, breaking off five plays of at least 75 yards, tied for second in school history.

Skiing is not like baseball and football. There are no multi-billion dollar professional leagues, no high-profile teams, no fruitful contracts, no lucrative signing bonuses. The only way to support a skiing career is through endorsements. For Bloom, there’s no other way–he simply can’t afford to fund his career alone.

This wasn’t a case of a star player inking a shoe contract or trying to cash in on the sale of the thousands of jerseys bearing his name and number. This was a kid who was trying to fulfill a life-long dream of representing his country in the Olympics, while also showcasing his talents on the biggest stage in college athletics.

You might be thinking that if Bloom yearns to play college football so badly, he simply should have given up his skiing career. Why? Why should a kid have to forfeit one of his ambitions to satisfy another? Why did the NCAA even force him to choose between his country and his school in the first place? What is it afraid of?

“We’re all really disappointed, even though we knew going into (this) there was only a small chance for reversal,” said Colorado coach Gary Barnett, who needs a player like Bloom to help redeem his program. “Personally, I’m extremely disappointed in the lack of flexibility by the NCAA. I just hope the next group of youngsters that are out there currently participating in these extreme sports will somehow profit from Jeremy’s experience.”

Not with a stubborn, heartless, archaic governing body denying kids the chance to play and shattering their dreams.

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Vito’s Mailbag
Olympic Spirit Lives On, August 19

When thinking about the Olympic Spirit, this year’s best example might be the Iraqi men’s soccer team. They ignore whether a player is a Shiite, a Sunni, or a Kurd. They’re one team of Iraqis playing with the passion of an entire country. They’re also on the verge of earning a medal, which no one predicted. At this point, the outcome is insignificant. It is impossible to measure their infectious sense of pride, confidence and unity.

– H. S. Lippes

I am glad there are people with your perspective on life and the Olympics.

– Peter

I am sorry, but the Olympics just make me yawn, again. (I have) never figured out the hoopla.

– P. Davis

While we fight another war, some athletes in the Olympics have been given a week of peace. For the first time ever, a Palestinian woman was able to swim with a full bodied swimsuit in the Olymics. The Iraqis were able to march into the opening ceremony for the first time in almost three generations. The South and North Koreans marched under one flag. ... There may me a war going on, but there is peace going on in heats all across the world.

– K. Shreiner

I just read your article, it brought tears to my eyes.

– M. Smith

Vito Forlenza can be reached at [email protected]

The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.