Why letting players sell their own memorabilia is a bad idea

Many have tried to excuse the transgressions of Terrelle Pryor and the Tat 5 - namely trading or selling their own items - as not only minor, but something that should be allowed for college athletes.  The thinking behind that goes, If it's theirs, why shouldn't they be able to trade or sell it like anybody else?

Well, at first blush, I admit that sounds reasonable.  If I'm a straight-A junior PoliSci major and somebody wants to give me a free Rousseau tattoo in exchange for my copy of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan that I autographed, it's all fine and dandy. 

So why shouldn't student-athletes be allowed to barter, trade, or sell their things in the same way that student-students are allowed to?  Because there's no way to stop such an allowance to quickly devolve from students making a couple extra bucks into players getting paid big bucks by boosters.

Once you open that Pandora's Box, it won't take long for the "value" of the items sold or traded by star players at major programs to sky rocket.  Suddenly, the real estate mogul-slash-"autograph collector" - who just happens to be a fan of INSERT SCHOOL NAME HERE - is paying thousands of dollars for the star QB's autographed jersey.  And what do you know, the bowl-game cleats of the the All-American RB have the exact same trade value as a used Lexus.  Who'd'a thunk it.

Yes, the amount a player could get from selling or trading stuff could simply be capped at "X" each season/year/career.  I'm sure that would work awesome.  Because the schools and NCAA are doing such a bang up job of keeping money and extra benefits out when it's not legal.  So I bet if it were legal, it would totally reduce the problem.

If schools want to talk small (keyword: small) stipend - an equal amount for each player that amounts to the spending money those caught cheating always claim they're doing it for - that's a discussion to be had at some point.  But paying players - and that's what this would quickly lead to under the guise of "selling what's mine" - is not the answer.

"Yes, I do believe this is a fair price for your jock strap, Mr. Heisman Trophy Candidate."