A princess once said “Let them eat cake!” upon learning that the peasants had no bread. Many believe the quote reflected the princess’s obliviousness to the condition of the people. Others feel it was spiteful comment, as if the selfish upper-class princess wanted them to eat the soot caked to the barren walls of their ovens.

EA Sports is either oblivious or spiteful. Only the suits in the corner office truly know, but its hard to take the ladder when they continue to exploit NCAA football players. As ESPN’s Desmond Howard mentions here in an article:

“The biggest problem starts right at the top. If you have a system in place that can use and profit from the likeness and accomplishments of players, and [the players] can’t get a cent, that is exploitive and wicked. Universities, coaches, others at the top, they’re making money and signing endorsements. [EA Sports' video game] NCAA College Football sells millions of copies.”

In other words, cash flows directly to the bourgeoisie while the peasants making them the money sweat. South Park may have captured the essence of the situation best when they compared them to slave-wranglers.

Sure I guess the NCAA rules and regulations are to blame, and I can’t feel bad for Cam Newton after signing a fat 22-million dollar contract with Carolina. But somebodies gotta stand up and call the bastards out for being hypocritical. If EA can’t comp these players they should at least open up their hearts and circulate 100% of endorsement money back into communities of the players they exploit.

Who cares about Reggie Bush losing his heisman award for accepting perks? Who cares about Buckeyes players being in trouble for selling memorabilia. Who cares about Cam Newtons dad accepting blowjobs from college recruiters? I understand how they can be scrutinized for isolated incidents within the college because they broke rules however absurd the rules are.

I’ll pick and choose my own battles and I’m not about to argue that the NCAA changes its player regulations. But I do think it’s slimy that an outside corporation like EA would continuously dip its greedy fingers into the gravy time and time again. If anyone needs money its college kids who eat ramen and scrounge for laundry quarters.