What if our grandfathers were right?

I never thought I'd say that. I thought I would be leading the parade to "deregulate" the NCAA's amateurism rules. From my position (outside the NCAA), amateurism rules were so archaic they solidified the perception of the NCAA as the dinosaur of regulatory entities. But what if our grandfathers were right?

During the past four years, I have served as the chair of the Anti-Doping Committee of the World Swimming Coaches Association. I watched as Olympic sport athletes "progressed" from anabolic steroids, to EPO, to human growth hormone, to electromagnetic stimulation of the pituitary, to the immediate possibility of genetic engineering.

As powerful a force as the human ego is, it pales to the breadth and depth of money. Deregulate everything else, but keep prize money and pay-for-play out of the university setting.

It became completely clear to me that what has driven the drug epidemic in Olympic sports is the end of amateurism. The "state amateurs" (state professionals) of Eastern Europe led to the "state doping" of East Germany.

As the "nonrevenue" Olympic sports caught up to their high-dollar brethren, the doping techniques and scandals of cycling and track infiltrated the rest of the Olympic family. What if our grandfathers were right?

Our grandfathers drew a strict, simple and clear line in the sand and that line was money. Watergate gave us the dictum "follow the money." In athletics, the greater the financial reward, the greater the likelihood, frequency, sophistication and severity of doping practices. What if our grandfathers were right?

We can't test or legislate away corruption and doping in athletics, but we can remove the incentive. Substantially increasing the incentive is a recipe for an epidemic of doping and corruption.

The NCAA could take the approach of the IOC. Create some superficial testing and enforcement and declare victory. As important as integrity is to the Olympics -- and as significant is its loss -- it is even more important in the academic setting. When universities lose integrity, they lose every claim on the truth. What value is academic pursuit when truth has been sacrificed?

I have read the past year's issues of The NCAA News with a gradually increasing sense of foreboding. Isn't it possible to "deregulate" without surrendering?

There can be a place for paid athletes in our world. That place shouldn't be the world's universities. Let that place be professional sports. Let the professional realms become the circuses. Let our universities stand for something more.

I never thought I would say this, but I think our grandfathers were right.

George E. Block Jr.
Assistant Director of Athletics, Northside I.S.D. (San Antonio)
Chair, Anti-Doping Committee, WSCA