Boise State WR Geraldo Boldewijn Suspended Four Games
By Kyle Kensing
Idaho Statesman Boise State reporter Chadd Cripe reported Friday via Twitter that Bronco wide receiver Geraldo Boldewijn is suspended the first four games of the 2012 season for violating NCAA rules. Those rules? Well…
A foreign born athlete accepting help from his host family to return to his family at Christmas hardly seems the egregious cheating NCAA regulations are in place to prevent. Why are the rules on improper benefits, boosters, and acceptable gifts so vague as to cast a net over an instance like this, which seems like just basic, human decency?
The crux of such rules is that any gesture bestowed on a student athlete that the generically described booster would not afford the average student is considered an improper benefit. Here’s the official legalese:
"Definition: Extra Benefit (Bylaw 16.02.3) – An extra benefit is any special arrangementby an institutional employee or a representative of the institution’s athletic interests(including fans) to provide a student-athlete or the student-athlete’s relative or friend abenefit not expressly authorized by the NCAA legislation. Extra benefit regulationspertain to prospects as well.According to Bylaw 16.01.1, receipt by a student-athlete of an award, benefit, or expenseallowance not authorized by NCAA legislation renders the student-athlete ineligible tocompete while representing the institution in the sport for which the improper award,benefit, or expense was received. If the student-athlete receives an extra benefit notauthorized by NCAA legislation or an improper award or expense allowance inconjunction with competition that involves the use of overall athletic skill (e.g.,“superstar” competition), the individual is ineligible for all sports"
Included in the definition of an improper benefit are anything more than “the occasional” meal, money (that covers loans) and flowers. Yes, flowers.
Obviously, assistance for plane tickets from the American West to the Netherlands is also included. Such regulation is to prevent boosters from lavishing players with plane tickets to jet set around the country. I get it. But an athlete getting help affording a very pricey ticket to go home hardly seems comparable. The definition is so generalized, and interpreted without circumstantial consideration.
Boldewijn’s stiff punishment is likely the result of “major” NCAA violations revealed last fall, of which Boldewijn’s use of a car and aid in paying insurance were part. He was suspended last season, as well.
"Boise State University was cited for multiple violations in various sports, according to findings announced Tuesday by the Division I Committee on Infractions. The case included numerous major violations involving more than 75 prospects and student-athletes in five sports in a five year span. The involved sports included football, men’s and women’s cross country and track and field, and men’s and women’s tennis. The vast majority of the violations found by the committee were agreed upon by the university."