By the time you were old enough to fend for yourself, but still too wet behind the ears to understand it all, at some point, you likely were told to read everything fully before you sign your name to it.
Ed O'Bannon is probably wishing he'd listened.
In 1995, O'Bannon, and brother Charles O'Bannon, helped bring the UCLA men's basketball program back to prominence. He left UCLA after winning the national title in his junior year, and was selected No. 9 overall by the New Jersey Nets.
He never averaged more than six points in three NBA seasons, and eventually found his way to Europe to play. Nowadays, O'Bannon, who never earned his degree, sells cars in Las Vegas.
Why do I bring this up? Because O'Bannon is the lead plantiff on a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA. He feels he deserves a piece of the pie for the NCAA using his likeness in video games such as EA Sports' NCAA Basketball.
The NCAA contests O'Bannon lost those rights when he signed his scholarship, to which O'Bannon claims that paperwork was an inch think and he did it without a lawyer present.
Boo hoo. Cry me a river. You should have read it. Here's the bottom line: You never made it, and now you still want to cash in on your college days. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. Go rub your championship ring before selling a BMW.
And by filing this suit, O'Bannon is pretty much ruining it for other small-time athletes who are thrilled to be using their own likeness in the game. I knew a kid who was the quarterback for Maine a few years back. He told me it was awesome to use himself in a video game. Yeah, it must be a thrill. But because of this lawsuit, those days are numbered.
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2 comments:
Chances are, O'Bannon is doing this because his post-college life hasn't quite turned out the way he'd hoped, and he needs some cash. And that's sad.
He absolutely should have read all the paperwork, or had a lawyer do so. Stupidity is not an excuse.
But he brings to light a good point, and another instance of how the NCAA unfairly treats its student-athletes. These kids bring in more money than anyone could count, and as valuable as their scholarships are, it's far from an even tradeoff.
The NCAA and the schools make out like bandits with video game and TV deals, and without the athletes, they'd have no product. The ones who put people in the stands and make these video games popular, meanwhile, are uncompensated.
It is probably incredibly cool to see your likeness in a video game (I asked tennis player Taylor Dent about it once, and he said it definitely is), and one could argue that's the compensation for college athletes.
But something seems wrong about UCLA selling O'Bannon jerseys in the '90s and EA Sports using the O'Bannons to sell video games when the players don't see a dime.
I agree that athletes should get some kind of stipend while they play for their school. This is why there are so many cases of kids going out, talking to an agent who is dangling an Escalade in front of them: Because they have no other source of income, and Division I sports is a year-round job.
But this situation just rubbed me the wrong way. Here's a guy who could have stayed in school, got his degree on scholarship and then tested the NBA waters. But no, he struck the iron was hot, it didn't pan out and he's hard up for cash.
Now he's looking for a get-rich quick scheme ... just like a car salesman.
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