Been thinkin' about college sports, student athletes, conferences and tailgating

The sports’ pages are awash with opinions about the Atlantic Coast Conference(ACC) and which universities should be included and why. Sports writers are all over their pages with predicted conference rankings, television revenues, coaches’ salaries, and scholarship athletes’ earnings. Almost all of them lament the condition of college football but few of them admit that money has poisoned the game. North Carolina is in a position to end this mess and set a national example. 
 
We are the ninth largest state in the union and we have 16 universities in our public system plus several excellent private ones. North Carolina could have its own conference, for all sports, for all fans, for all alumni, with short drives to tailgates. Truth is, there are enough colleges and universities in our state for North Carolina to have two conferences
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Who says that our universities must be farm teams for professional sports and the emerging sport gambling industry? Why have "Student Athletes" become so special? Shouldn’t we be just as proud of "Student Band Members" or "Student Journalists" or "Student Volunteers"? Why should some category of student after-class activity be more worthwhile than others?
 
 Why do we have to put up with which university belongs to what conference, or having to watch games according to the needs of TV network schedules. There is nothing wrong with your school playing against my school somewhere in this state on a special day.  It’s a whole lot easier to haul a tailgate trailer from Manteo to Murphy than to Southern California!
 
Moving in an independent direction for college athletics would not be simple or easy. The usual North Carolina response is, "We have always done it this way." But, college sports is no longer, "Like we have always done it." Big money is killing the student athlete and corrupting academe.  
In our past, university leaders had the courage to put a stop to the danger of gambling in athletics. It is time to rethink the proper place for athletics in our universities.
 
Esse Quam Videri