Jay Bilas Twitter War Against NCAA Profit Policies Forces NCAA Store To Disable Search
ESPN sports analyst Jay Bilas took to Twitter to attack the NCAA on Tuesday afternoon. The college football authority is currently investigating Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel for selling his autograph for a few thousand dollars.
If the allegations are true, then the NCAA could even suspend Manziel.
And fans are not happy that the troubled Heisman Trophy winner would be taken out of play for a stupid activity that doesn’t really change how he plays the game.
The NCAA describes college football as an amateur sport where no money changes hands. But the reality is that everybody’s cashing in except the players themselves.
And Jay Bilas posted tweet after tweet from ShopNCAAsports.com to prove it.
As you can see from the top screenshot, the NCAA is cashing in on Johnny Manziel’s name by selling the Johnny Football shirts. Meanwhile, the 20-year-old quarterback is in trouble for such foolishness as reportedly signing autographs for $7,500 so he could buy some fancy rims.
Double standards much?
The first round of Jay Bilas tweets
Go to http://t.co/qpH4tNnIpH, type in "Manziel" in upper right search box, hit enter. This comes up. pic.twitter.com/N7KNvXIu24
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) August 6, 2013
What happens if every college football player protests by signing, selling memorabilia on a Friday, then notifies compliance? No games?
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) August 6, 2013
How ironic that "Official Store of NCAA" sells Johnny Football shirts: http://t.co/A9fats88NI Or, a coincidence it's No. 2 with "Football"?
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) August 6, 2013
After the shaming got too much for the NCAA, they disabled the search function of the online store. So Bilas tweeted a workaround:
http://t.co/qpH4tNnIpH can still be searched by typing "/search/braxtonmiller" in the URL. This comes up. Have fun. pic.twitter.com/8Zp4Iza6jt
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) August 6, 2013
And Bilas didn’t let up:
Go to http://t.co/qpH4tNnIpH and type "Mark Emmert" in upper right search box, then hit enter. This comes up. pic.twitter.com/OqBmXHkg0e
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) August 6, 2013
NCAA forced Shabazz Muhammad to sit out early games, but still making money off of him on http://t.co/qpH4tNnIpH. pic.twitter.com/3U0KFbmngg
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) August 6, 2013
Notwithstanding his suspension, NCAA still sells Tyran Mathieu, searchable by his name, on http://t.co/qpH4tNnIpH. pic.twitter.com/FtN3Y0NLQD
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) August 6, 2013
Are you starting to get the idea that Jay Bilas is disgusted with the NCAA?
NCAA didn't return calls, disabled search function, per USA Today: http://t.co/01TSlWSsnd What does this say about "culture of NCAA"?
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) August 6, 2013
And a lot of people either agree with him or are at least entertained by him.
The NCAA is currently searching for a way to vacate @JayBilas Twitter account.
— Phil Taylor (@SI_PhilTaylor) August 6, 2013
The plaintiff’s attorneys in the O’Bannon case need to slide part of their fee to @JayBilas. He may have won the case this afternoon.
— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) August 6, 2013
And Bilas doesn’t sound like he’s in the mood to just let it go:
USA Today on NCAA using specific athlete names with apparel: http://t.co/EMk1Atcsvc Also an issue of accountability. NCAA wasn't aware?
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) August 7, 2013
The NCAA Shop store’s own website boasts that they have the largest collection of college merchandise on sale anywhere. They’re making millions.
But they’re going to derail Johnny Manziel’s career over being a stupid kid who didn’t want to ask his rich folks for money to pimp his ride?
Jay Bilas found a pretty creative way to express his opinion of those NCAA policies. But will it work?
[NCAA store search result via Jay Silas official Twitter]
