By what stretch of logic do you jump from segregation and marital rape to “oversigning”? The first were laws enforced by the coercive power of the state. The second was (is) and act of physical violence.
If you can’t see the difference between #1 and #2 and “oversigning, the university you attended cheated you.
And lynching was never legal. The horror is it stems from its complete illegality.

What values? Yours are – and I still refer to Harold Abrahams statement – “the archaic values of the prep school playground.”

These “principles” of yours have been concocted in your own mind, brotha.
And thank God I’m not in your league, whatever that is.

This just goes to show that we’re looking at this issue from two completely different levels of perspective. You think this is about being fair to the Big Ten?! Ha. This has nothing to do with the Big Ten.

It’s about being doing what’s right for the student-athletes.

“If no one has broken the rule, you have nothing to complain of.”
“College footbal is about winning (within the rules) – as is college basketball, baseball, field hockey, lacross, etc.”

Yeah, well segregation, marital rape, and lynching were all within the rules at one time. That didn’t make them ok. You’re way out of your league, brotha. This conversation ain’t about football. It’s about values and principles.

The status of Division I college football in relation to pro football is irrelevant. Each sport stands on its own.

Of course, these athletes are students first. If they could not be enrolled, if they did not go to class, if they do pass their class work, they cannot play. But they are more than simple. average students who happen to have certain physical skills, given the fact that they receive the potential (not the actual but the potential) for a free college education in exchange for sweat.
Any other view is naive and unrealistic.

College footbal is about winning (within the rules) – as is college basketball, baseball, field hockey, lacross, etc.

Please go back and read my post about the exchange between Harold Abrahams and the Cambridge dons. Your post read as silly as do their censures of Abrahams.

Save the philosophy for Berkeley coffee houses.

I continually read posts that boil down to nothing more than that, and it really detracts from the actual debate – on both sides. If people could refrain from the name-calling and misdirection, a true debate could be had.

Compelling evidence? Transfers that I know of:

Jewel Hampton – wasn’t going to get medical clearance after two years worth of knee injuries and want to continue playing.

Wegher took a year off from the team to deal with personal issues and decided it would be best to leave the state.

Suspensions:

Robinson has been in trouble for the better part of his career, suspended multiple times and finally kicked off the team.

DJK – suspended for the bowl game – senior with no further playing time.

That’s three running backs on a team with 4. They had to play their bowl game with 1 running back on the roster, a true frosh.

That’s your compelling evidence of roster management at Iowa? Really?

TD, check the number of suspensions and transfers for Iowa in the 8 weeks after the end of the regular season and prior to Signing Day. Bears a strong resemblance to the March to 85, doesn’t?

And no, if you don’t care about the kids, then middle ground remains entirely unnecessary.

Not sure what you mean by that relative to the blood test. There were no drugs in the kids’ system.

Dennis Dodd thinks they might be able to transfer, if they pursue it with the NCAA. No clear precedent on that one – an expert called it “a coin flip” – and who’s going to push it with a coach hanging a scholarship over their head?

Iowa again had several December and January suspensions and transfers this year — seems to be an annual ritual. Iowa was conducting these workouts in January in advance of Signing Day. Iowa remains compelling evidence of how roster management might work in a system of caps effective as of Signing Day.

I am not saying this justifies oversigning. But oversigning doesn’t justify turning a blind eye to this sort of thing, which seems to resemble the very “upstream” abuses that critics of the Big 10 Rule predict and that Joshua assures us he will turn his attention once the SEC adopts said Big 10 Rule.

My point remains — you’re not eliminating any abuses. You’re just rearranging the furniture.

Texas is its own monster.

The University of Texas can do whatever it wants, and there isn’t a political coalition in the state that could stop it. It didn’t go to the B1G or Pac 10 b/c it didn’t want to. It wanted its own Network and that is now being built.

Notre Dame will likely attempt to launch the same in the near future.

GT has the academic edge (AAU member as of 2010), but Georgia has Florida and Vandy that could team up as a 3-man team that would gut the SEC, the B1G’s biggest rival in the battle for national media dollars.