NCAA Athlete Fined $20 for Washing Her Car on College's Dime

The NCAA has been scorned and ridiculed in the past for nitpicky rules while grander violations seemed to go unnoticed, but a $20 fine to an unidentified West Coast Conference golfer for washing a car seemed to have struck a nerve.

The news broke Wednesday when Portland basketball coach Eric Reveno tweeted about the incident after he said he learned about it at conference meetings with the hashtag #stopinsanity. Yahoo said a source familiar with the circumstances revealed what happened.

A WCC school self-reported an extra benefits violation when university officials caught one of their women's golfers washing her car on campus, according to the source. A secondary violation was ruled to have occurred because the water and hose were not available to regular students and requested the golfer pay back $20, which was deemed to be the value of the water and use of the hose.

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The NCAA, though, claimed its innocence. Spokeswoman Dana Thomas emailed Yahoo Sports Thursday stating that her organization did not participate in the decision and does not consider the car wash to have been an extra benefits violation. Asked why the golfer was penalized, Thomas said "it seems there was a miscommunication at some level" and the WCC is working with the school to clarify.

Jeff Eisenberg, who broke the story for Yahoo Sports, did not let the NCAA off the hook, stating that the NCAA has created the climate that school officials reacted to.

"That school administrators actually reported the violation and a penalty was initially assessed is equal parts hilarious and exasperating," Eisenberg said. "What's next? Charging athletes by the sip at drinking fountains? Or by the gallon after locker room showers?"

Mark Schlabach, of ESPN commented: "How did they come up with $20? I know it takes me $8 to wash my car and that includes the soap, the brush and the air dry. The real question is the water hose. Did they depreciate the value of the hose?"

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A commenter's post on the ESPN.go.com site seemed to sum up the feeling of many readers, with 220 likes after the response: "It's this kind of stupidity that makes me disinterested in the fraudulent 'student-athlete' agenda that the NCAA wants to portray. The NCAA needs to get over itself."

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