https://youtube.com/watch?v=n1EUiELwtjU
At Thursday night's Heat-Mavericks game in Dallas, a familiar face was sitting courtside in Dallas: Texas A&M quarterback and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel. Kerr wondered how Manziel, a college student, could afford to get such prime tickets at a game between two marquee teams in the NBA. Of course, Kerr then spouted off the typical talking point of "just because he's playing in the SEC now…" and tried to brush it off as just a random comment with no backing behind it.
Please.
Brian Floyd of SBNation wrote up a great piece about the mini scandal, which should have been nipped in the bud with the revelation that Manziel's family is extremely wealthy and courtside tickets to a basketball game would likely not be a big deal for the family. After the controversy broke, Manziel took to Twitter and said he bought himself the ticket, which apparently sells from between $400 and $600 or so.
Is this a big deal? No, not really. But because of the NCAA's typical overreaching attitude towards any type of benefit that could be considered out of line for a college student, I guarantee you this is going to get blown out of proportion, probably moreso than it already has been. I don't think Kerr was out of line in wondering how Manziel got his courtside seat, considering I doubt he knew the backstory of Manziel's family.
What really is a problem is how the mindset of the NCAA has turned into "any college student with anything nice MUST be getting paid off by a booster!" Except for when that nice stuff comes from the bowls, then it's all well and good. Not all college kids come from poverty and live off of Easy Mac and tap water. In situations like this one, it's important to consider all of the facts instead of immediately breaking out the jump to conclusions mat and the pitchforks. It's also important to consider the real problem here – the NCAA's hypocrisy.
(H/T bmaze)
