Entry No. 38 | September 27, 2007
There are college student-athletes that carry themselves as prima donnas and behave as though they have some sense of entitlement. In fact, there are people in nearly every walk of life that could be characterized that way.

It should be noted, however, that when it comes to student-athletes, most are a lot more like run-of-the-mill college students than they are prima donnas. They like to eat pizza, hang out with friends and, on occasion, study.

That holds true even for those that participate in the high-profile sports. Some will always see an athlete as larger than life, but very few of those athletes see themselves that way.

I've watched the vast majority of them sign their letters of intent far away from television cameras, come to school nervous at the prospect of being away from home, be overwhelmed by the enormity of it all and relieved when a hand of reassurance pats their back.

They do not reside in athlete-only quarters and they don't eat steak and caviar. Now that's not to say they're deprived. They most certainly receive a scholarship and they work with tutors, something that seems a fair trade-off for the hours of practice, competition and community service. The locker room facilities are nice and the travel is wonderful.

Thing is, none of them really asked for that nice stuff. The trappings have been our idea, not theirs. If every school in the country traveled on school buses and served bologna, that would be the norm and I doubt that you'd hear much from the athletes, especially if we had never indoctrinated them to a more upscale lifestyle.

Do they like the nice stuff? Sure they do; we all would, but they never really lobbied for it. They have been passengers on the road to college athletics escalation, not the drivers.

What's the point of all this? To say that college athletes should not be subjected to the media's venom and personal attacks unless their off-the-field actions dictate such. Million dollar coaches and administrators understand that big contracts also carry a ton more scrutiny and a farewell to privacy.

A letter of intent should not invite those same things.

I heard it said the other day that if an athlete is going to enjoy being a five-star recruit then he better be prepared for a media that will question his every move. Come again? Did he ask to be a five-star recruit? Did he hang that label on himself?

College athletes have been transformed into big-time celebrities. I contend that very few of them did the transforming. Public interest, much of which is heightened by the media, is responsible for a lot of it and so is the system, yes the colleges themselves have advanced that thinking too, that capitalizes on that interest.

Those causes are topics for a different debate. In the meantime, the athletes should be spared for the most part. They signed on for an education and to play a sport, not the criticism and the shame, and I fail to see how simply pursuing the former somehow justifies the latter.

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Read an inside perspective from the University of Oklahoma Athletics Department on the latest Sooner sports topics. Associate Athletics Director for Communications Kenny Mossman provides his thoughts in his online column at SoonerSports.com.