How Much Is Your Integrity Worth?

I remember watching a fairly bad movie my sophomore year of college with my best budies Jon and Neal. It was called "Blue Chips" and it starred Nick Nolte (who I've never liked) as a college basketball coach who is tired of losing and realizes that it's talent, not just coaching, that wins games. So he cheats to recruit Anfernee Hardaway, Shaq and Matt Nover (the former IU standout).

The message of the movie was rather depressing. It was basically "everyone else is going to cheat, so to compete, you have to."

The implication was that this is how college sports is really run. Of course, several schools have gotten in trouble of late for recruiting violations, including my own beloved Ohio State for both football and basketball. And according to a new book by Bill Walton, maybe even UCLA under John Wooden.

Consider the final quote of the article.

The truth of college athletics is that winning, let alone at the championship level, without rule breaking is nearly impossible. Fans and apologetic media don't want to admit this about the icons of the games, but nothing about this has changed for decades. And it probably never will.

There are no angels in this business, no white hats and black hats as the NCAA would like people to believe with its public relations campaign of a rule book. Everything is a shade of grey. Everything is situational ethics. Everything is pick your poison.

Even the great UCLA legacy. Even the great John Wooden.

Which if it's true - and it seems likely it is - is just depressing.