Most of the news from the UC school to the west have been about, police power, tuition hikes, and executive pay. This story, on the sports page, would normally get a lot more discussion, but it’s likely to get lost in furor, and that’s a shame, because while it’s not as important as these other stories, the university is at the cusp of facing a choice about whether to “play like the big boys”– south state “neighbor” and frequently on probation USC, and who could resist comparisons to the corrupting influence of big-time college ball at Penn State? What is so lovely about this piece is how revealing many of the quotes from the report are about so-called amateur athletics. Here are some choice picks:

…(S)ome facets of UC Davis’ operating philosophy do not align with many top-tier Division I programs.

Among the audit’s more controversial points has been that several of the eight “core principles” established by UC Davis to guide its move to Division I may actually “represent an impediment to increased competitiveness in Division I.”

Apparently, in amateur athletics there is no room from niceties like “philosophy” and “principles”,  but they do recommend a business plan…

Most Division I programs, the audit states, operate under a “business model” in which revenue comes mostly from external resources and funding is directed to those sports – most often football and basketball – thought to have the best chance of generating revenue through competitive success.

Really, not even the fig-leaf of “love of the game” can remain after this report, but I’ll remember this the next time I hear some suit at the NCAA going on about the purity and beauty of college athletics because now we not only know that’s a lie, we know they know it’s a lie.