5 Ways The NCAA Is Similar To Pro Wrestling
By Joe Nardone
The NCAA is Fake Like Pro Wrestling
Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports
Pro Wrestling is fake. Despite the fact I spent my childhood arguing the opposite, my adult-self has finally let it sink in that the results are all staged. I guess it would explain why some guys were great, great wrestlers and would never lose, but then would go on epic losing streaks after the crowd stopped caring about them.
The thing about wrestling, though, is that the wrestlers do get hurt — like, for real. You can’t fake falling from high lengths, nor can you pretend to land on your head and break your neck. Those things happen sometimes and it is very real. The end result fixed? Yes, no doubt about it. Still, the stuff that goes on and the beatings those guys bodies take are very real.
I feel the same way about the NCAA. Just like how the WWE will make up rules as they go, invent ones that never existed but claimed they were there and pretend like they have the student-athletes’ best interests in their own (incompetent) hearts, the NCAA’s actions cause some real ripples in the water.
To us, people on the outside, we can laugh at the NCAA suspending players for rules that are iffy (at best) or for taking a complete year of eligibility off a kid for playing a few minutes in a scrimmage, but you know who isn’t a laughing? The kid. The young person who spent their whole life to get to that point and just wants to make his family, coaches and teammates proud. This kid has likely spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours in the gym, on the field, hitting the weights, all in an attempt to do what he loves and possibly get to the next level. He or she does all of that for a free(ish) education (it’s not free if they are providing a service) and in return the kid gets a slap on the back or a kick out the door for someone else’s clerical error.
Pro wrestling and the NCAA motto: Hey, man. We make rules up as we go. Why? Because that’s why! And there’s nothing you can do about it because Stone Cold Millionaires With Power Taking Advantage of Mostly Underprivileged Kids said so!
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Joseph is the editor of Storm The Paint. Him, Twitter @JosephNardone