IT HAS GONE TOO FAR. Drop the charade and pay college football players.

I'm not sure when National Signing Day became National Signing Day, but raise your hand if you have qualms about a "tradition" in which elite footballers from high schools across the country hold press conferences to announce which university they'll be attending.

And chin-pullers wonder why there's not much learning going on in the high schools or the colleges.

Can you imagine being 18 years old and announcing your choice of college on national sports TV?

You want to talk about sick? Check out this report from the ABC affiliate in Knoxville, Tenn.: "National Signing Day is an unofficial holiday for die-hard college football fans, and some are even opting to skip work so they won't miss a moment."

The report quotes a sports bar owner: "There will be a huge crowd, almost like March Madness or some other holiday."

Right. Like Super Bowl Sunday. Or, you know, Easter.

Can we just pay these athletes and acknowledge what everyone knows to be true -- that major college football is minor league pro football? How is it that universities and coaches continue to make millions of dollars off the efforts of "amateur" athletes who could get suspended or kicked out of school for accepting a suit of clothes or a few bucks on the side?

The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

Indeed.