When interviewing a college administrator, coach or athlete, every sportswriter has at one time or another thought, "If only I could get these people under oath."
That's exactly what has happened the past two weeks in Oakland, Calif., during the trial concerning the lawsuit filed by former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon against the NCAA over NILs, i.e. names, images and likenesses of athletes used by the NCAA in both television broadcast rights and marketing.
O'Bannon believes student-athletes are entitled to the money that comes from those NILs. The NCAA argues paying players would violate the body's core values of amateurism.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken expects to wrap up the bench trial this week before rendering her decision at a later date. That decision is sure to be appealed.
However, after the trial's first two weeks, news accounts have given us some interesting tidbits. Here are six:
1. The NCAA itself suspected that there could be a future legal problem with using players' names, images and likenesses.
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