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Sports Illustrated has a big series of articles coming out about alleged violations committed by the Oklahoma State football program from 2001 to 2011.
In the first article in the five-part series, former OSU players claim they were paid cash for performance, and accused other star players of making up to $10,000 per year in bonuses from boosters and cash from sham summer jobs.
These would be serious NCAA violations, but is it really all that outrageous?
In the last paragraph of Part One, SI points out that most of the players spent the "dirty" money on food because they were so poor.
It's the most important paragraph in this entire scandal:
"At Oklahoma State the bonus system, the booster and coach payouts, and the bogus jobs provided players with money that was seldom spent on extravagances. One or two standouts bought a new car or expensive jewelry, team members say, but the vast majority of the players used the extra cash to purchase everyday items -- food, clothing, tickets to a movie. 'There were some athletes who were almost starving,' says Carter. 'Wherever the money came from, they were like, Yeah, I'll take that.'"
The NCAA approved a plan in 2012 to give players an additional $2,000 yearly stipend to cover costs living that scholarships don't account for, but they've yet to actually implement it.
It's outrageous that kids who make millions of dollars for their schools don't have enough money for food. That's the real scandal.