All Players United

On Saturday, a handful of football players from Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Northwestern wore the letters “APU” on their wrist tape. APU stands for “All Players United,” and is a protest of the NCAA’s treatment of players on issues ranging from concussions to compensation.

Now, to begin, I don’t know about Georgia (I could find out, but Wikipedia is tired right now), but I know for a fact that Georgia Tech and Northwestern are fine, fine schools. These are not dumb kids who don’t know what they’re doing. Furthermore, a quick glance on ESPN.com (it’s not as tired as Wikipedia) tells me that this effort was coordinated and carefully orchestrated by the NCPA – the National College Players Association – to bring light to the dirty practices of the NCAA in regard to college athletes.

The NCPA is an advocacy group supported by the US Steelworker’s union, which, for some reason, some people hate on principle. Because they have been brainwashed by Rush Limbaugh. Sane people, however, understand that unions are simply a way for many people to be able to speak in one voice. They are not a tool of the liberal left wing, or an effort to make us all socialists. In fact, unions are the reason why you’re not living in a tenement with black lung, eating hot dogs made out of cats. So unwrinkle your underpants about unions.

Anyway, as you probably already know, the NCAA runs a billion dollar slave ring, where college athletes sign over all of their rights for the length of their college athletic career, while the NCAA has complete control over their image, likeness, and well-being. In exchange, these athletes are given scholarships, which may be great, but, if I went to my job, and at the end of two weeks, my employer said, “I am going to give myself a paycheck, and I will give you a scholarship,” I would think that was pretty jacked up. People act like being part of a NCAA Division I school only involves three hours on Saturdays from August to January, when in reality, it is a full-time job, with considerable risks and an uncertain future. I took a few classes with football players (Troy Smith was in one! When he walked into class after winning the Heisman, we all clapped!) and those kids had to do the same class work as me. The difference was, I got a paycheck for my full-time job, nobody was allowed to sell my face for money without my permission, and if I got a concussion, I could go to a real hospital, instead of having someone holding up two fingers in front of my face, slapping my ass, and telling me to get back in there.

The NCAA also has the power to impose – or not impose – sanctions on players and teams that bear no rational connection to the act committed. For example, football players from Ohio State who sold their own belongings, specifically memorabilia from games in which they themselves had participated in and incurred substantial risk to their health and future, were suspended from play, and the entire program lost scholarships, vacated wins, and forfeited participation in postseason play for a year. Johnny Manziel, notable douchebag and a real firecracker, was penalized for a half a game for (possibly) selling HIS OWN signature. Not drugs, not porn, not NCAA-owned equipment. His own signature. Members of the Penn State football team were hugely punished for an act committed by someone who was no longer a member of the football staff. This is like YOU being punished for something the manager of McDonalds did last week, because you worked there five years ago. No rational connection.

Wearing APU on their gear is an act of incredible guts by these current football players. These kids depend on their college football careers to get them to the next level. They depend on their scholarships to get them through college. For them to stand up to the NCAA is akin to you putting a sheet in your window that says “FUCK YOU, ELECTRIC COMPANY,” when the actual electric company guys have climbed the actual pole that connects your actual electricity to your actual house, and hold whether or not you can use your hair straightener in the palm of their hands. And then smiling at them and flipping them the bird.

Make no mistake about it, it is a huge risk. Remember Curt Flood? He was one of the first baseball players to fight for free agency in baseball, and he is widely credited for giving baseball players the ability to control their own destiny. But he was a casualty of the business – although baseball changed as a result of what Flood did, he lost his fight, and played only a handful of games after taking his fight to the Supreme Court. He was a great, great player, and lost his career to fight the good fight.

So here’s to the men who are continuing the fight: David Andrews, Jeremiah Attaochu, Chris Burnette, Kain Colter, Synjyn Days, Kenarious Gates, Kolton Houston, Vad Lee, John Theus, Justin Thomas, Anthony Williams, and likely countless others who were not captured by the TV cameras. You represent the famous Gandhi quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Whether this is successful or not doesn’t matter. What matters is that you stood up to The Man, and fought for your own humanity. Good for you.