We’re approaching the halfway point of the calendar year, and it’s been an eventful one for the athletic programs at many of our nation’s fine academic institutions.

We’ve had coaches fire basketballs at player’s heads and make them crap themselves.

We’ve had search committees being paid $70,000 to find a new athletic director to "clean up" an abusive athletic department, only to find out the new A.D. has a history of abusing players and staff.

We’ve got ridiculous lawsuits, perfectly reasonable lawsuits, "improper use of hose" violations and improper conductwithin the NCAA investigations team.

We’ve got a university president saying he can’t trust Catholics and that members of southern schools can’t read.

Oh – and then there was this little graphic that showed that the highest paid state employee in 40 states, including Wisconsin, is a coach.

You may say picking on college athletics and the NCAA is commonplace, and easy. It’s true, because it is. These are just the headlines I can remember off the top of my head. These aren’t even the most egregious, which include instances of academic fraud, physical and sexual assaults, drug and alcohol addiction and homophobia – just to name a few.

Oh yeah, the NCAA and college athletics are easy targets. And they should be.

College sports are fun for some people, and they do contribute to the overall collegiate experience – but it may be time to truly take the major revenue-generating sports away from the academic part of the institution.

Pay the players. Don’t make them go to class if they don’t want to. Bring in separate, athletic-specific people (i.e. team presidents and general managers) to run the day-to-day operations and keep university chancellors, boards and presidents focused on what truly matters – the other 99% of the student base that is paying outrageous sums of tuition to you know, learn.

It seems now, more than ever, the money and "prestige" associated with these athletic ventures is far more corrupting and corrosive than it has ever been.