Much has been written about the stipend that will be granted by “Power Five” conference schools beginning in 2015-16 as part of radical NCAA reforms. David Jones of Pennlive.com put together an interesting story and graphic on the subject. Now, student-athletes will not just receive tuition, books and room-and-board but also an extra amount to be used toward incidental living expenses—Little Caesar’s crazy bread, gas for the Vespa, iTunes downloads, “Cracked” magazine subscriptions … stuff like that. It is known in university parlance as “cost of attendance.” Me? I like to call it “kicking around cash,” or “Friday night loot.”

There is a growing buzz around the idea to make freshmen students ineligible to play football and men's basketball, and that buzz stems from recent reports that several conferences - including the Big Ten - want to discuss the idea.