As I tour around the college football world, some things astound me.

I'd been away from it for awhile. Now that I come back, I see the horrible treatment some teams impose upon their players. The players and their families are used, without any ability to fight back, and tossed aside like chattle when their usefulness ends. Sure, there could be times when it appears they've got it good, but the reality, these teams are just using them. One shining city upon a hill, Notre Dame, stands out as Sterling exception to the bleakness, of course. At Notre Dame, players are protected, taken care of, loved and supported. They get a great education that is not depended upon their exploits on the gridiron. At all other schools, things are very, very different.

On my travels, I met an entire family moving across the country to Southern California in search of football riches, only to find heartache and a cold realization. The player was a well-known high schooler, Jom Toad, from Oklahoma. He and his family got all sorts of promises of playing time and riches and movie starlets from Pee Wee Peet Carol (whose last name is a girl's name), and they trekked out to Cali, along with a number of other recruit families, as there just wasn't anything for them in Oklahoma anymore, and the sooner they got out the better. Along the way, Jom's grandpa passed, and they buried him in the blue turf at Boise State. Jom's grandma died to on the way, but Ma was so horrified by the blue turf burial that she kept it a secret until they got to California, figuring Pee Wee might be able to revive her. But there was no such miracle. Rather, Jom Toad saw how bad things were. Thousands of recruits were there for only a few spots. Pee Wee Peet had a collection of "coaches" who were little more than hired thugs there to prevent the players from objecting to the situation. Any efforts by the players to organize or assert themselves was met with ruthless put-downs, including one instance where a tailback was unhappy with his playing time, and the coaches threw a dummy dressed up in the player's uniform off a ten story building to send a "message" to the team.

One time, Jom talked back to one of the thugs. In a rage, Pee Wee Peet pulled his scholarship, publicly belittled him to the press, and sent his minions after Jom, with the LAPD backing them. Jom finally saw the truth, not just with Pee Wee Peet Carol, but the entire college football system. But he had to go underground. He broke free from the dorm-asylum, and struck out on a "Freedom Ride" to spread the word to college football players across the country (except, of course, at Notre Dame, where they are happy, well-cared for and loved). Jom Toad realized that Notre Dame really is "Ma" or "Our Lady," the woman/spirit who cares for us. As he struck out, he said to Ma, with the Spirit of Notre Dame shining from him: "Well, maybe it's like Lou Holtz says. Fella ain't got a soul of his own. Just a little piece of a big soul. One big soul that comes from Notre Dame. I'll be around at the night games-- I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look--wherever there's a fight, so hungry players can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a USC thug beating up a Washington State septegenarian coach, I'll be there. I'll be there in the way Coach Weis yells when his circuits overload. I'll be there in the way players laugh when they're hungry, and they know supper's ready, and when players are eatin' the stuff their fellow students eat, and livin' in the dorms with other fellow students, not off separated in some "athletic dorm," I'll be there, too." After Jom leaves to speard the Good News, Ma says, "Rich/regional schools come up. They die. Their players ain't no good and they flame out. But we at Notre Dame keep a-comin'. We're the people that live. Can't wipe us out. Can't lick us. We'll go on forever, 'cause we're the people!! Take that, Rove!!"