Fruits, Nuts and Bagels. An institution may provide fruit, nuts and bagels to a student-athlete at any time.
-NCAA rule, 16.5.2 (h) (Adopted, 4/30/09 effective 8/1/09)
ON THE OUTSIDE chance that it’s not against state law in Arkansas to quote the coach of Kentucky’s basketball team, here goes: “Why are we worrying about food? Are we going to make these kids fat? That’s our thing? The advantage we have is we can feed them so much, they can’t run up and down the court? Are you out of your mind? A seasoned athlete needs to eat six times a day. . . . We can give them a bagel, but we can’t give them peanut butter!”
That’s the one and thankfully only John Calipari the other morning. And he was right. (We know. That hurts us, too.)
The NCAA has a list of bizarre rules it applies to college athletes, coaches and university officials. But there are few more ridiculous than the ones it dictates about food. That flamboyant coach in Lexington is exaggerating only a little. You can look up the regs of the NCAA on the internet, and one of them says colleges can give linebackers, third-basemen, swimmers and long-distance runners bagels. But because the rule doesn’t specify otherwise, most schools don’t offer cream cheese, let alone lox, to go on those bagels-lest they be hit with NCAA infractions.
There are other food rules. Schools can provide meals to athletes only three times a day, and the food must be eaten at the training table. No taking cupcakes or a slice of pizza to the dorm. And don’t even think about making an extra sandwich and wrapping it up in a napkin for a bite just before bed. That’s just crazy.
Then along comes Shabazz Napier, bless him all to pieces. That basketball player would have never been giving an interview if his team, the University of Connecticut, hadn’t gone so far in March Madness. But there he was, being interviewed on television as his team kept winning, and Shabazz Napier told a reporter that the rules are such that sometimes he goes to bed hungry.
Yes, hungry.
His remark was played, replayed, and remarked on far and wide. Now an embarrassed NCAA is reviewing its rules about food. This week, the NCAA proposed allowing schools to offer athletes unlimited meals and snacks. That simple, humane emendation is to be considered by the Division I board of directors later this month. It figures. Every reform requires a whole bureaucracy to approve it these days, and the more sensible the reform, the more hurdles it has to jump over.
JOHN CALIPARI says college athletes may burn up thousands of calories in a single practice session. Even if you’re not much of a football or basketball fan, think about how many hours swimmers stay in the pool. Think about a baseball player who doesn’t finish an extra-innings game till well after dark-and well after suppertime. Think about a soccer player. Those kids run and run and run and run all around the field, and then, to celebrate a long-fought-for goal . . . they run and run some more. Sending them to bed hungry-while colleges make billions off their sweaty work-would make old Fagin in Dickens’ Oliver Twist look like some kind of philanthropist.
Thankfully, the NCAA may actually feel shame sometimes, like now. Which is a wonder in itself.
Take the bagel rule into the kitchen and kill it with a steak knife. And the same goes for any other dumb rule that sends a kid-any kid, athlete or not-to bed hungry.
Editorial, Pages 14 on 04/18/2014