How can the NCAA blithely wreck careers without regard to due process or common fairness? How can it act so ruthlessly to enforce rules that are so petty? Why won't anybody stand up to these outrageous violations of American values and American justice? In the four years since Joe Nocera asked those quesètions in a controversial New York Times column, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has come under fire. Fans have begun to realize that the athletes involved in the two biggest college sports, men's basèketball and football, are little more than indentured servants. Millions of teenagers accept scholarships to chase their dreams of fame and fortune-at the price of absolute submission to the whims of an organizaètion that puts their interests dead last. For about 5 percent of top-division players, college ends with a golden ticket to the NFL or the NBA. But what about the overwhelming majority who never turn pro? They don't earn a dime from the estimated £13 billion gene
