I always wonder about the upbringing(read: brainwashing) that fans of the NCAA who are such rabid defenders of its "heritage" had to have gotten to believe such childish things. The NCAA is the ultimate unpaid internship; if you are such a big fan of those, I encourage you to quit your paying job(if you have one) and pursue one.

I remember in high school(~6-10 years ago for me) people would talk about situations with the NCAA like this, and people who had absolutely no stake whatsoever in the system would defend it, often with the kind of weak arguments many have mentioned in this thread. Disappointing that we can't simply agree that people working should be proportionately paid. Some mention scholarships and the like, and I don't think that this is a "terrible" system, but it's clearly incredibly weighed in favor of the NCAA and the schools themselves.