Dear John: Hey, scholarship kids! Play or pay

Dear John: With regard to the college sports scholarship issue, the athlete should be made to sign a contract and agree to play for the time of his eligibility. One issue I never see addressed is when an athlete gets a scholarship and decides to turn pro after freshman year.

It is my understanding that the scholarship is lost until that athlete would have graduated. If that is correct, in the absence of a contract, he should be made to reimburse the school for the full amount of that award. Gene

Dear Gene: The college athletes are just taking a page from the pros. How many times do teams allow pro athletes to renege on a contract. It’s called “renegotiating” by the lawyers. If you sign a deal — good or bad — live with it!

I guess they fear that an unhappy athlete will go on the field and not do his or her best on purpose. So they better make them happy.

But can you really blame a college kid for leaving school if big money awaits? What if there’s an injury while in college that derails the athlete’s career? What if the kid doesn’t play as well during the next year of college and the offers decline?

If my kids had been good enough for a pro team to want them, I’d suggest they leave school as soon as possible, make as much money as they could and then go back for their education when their career and big paydays are over.

So what if they are the oldest freshmen (with the biggest bank accounts) in college?

And under those circumstances, I think they should pay back their scholarship money. And I think any student/athlete who turns pro prematurely would be happy to do so.

Dear John: I hope you can clarify something for me.

If I order from Amazon.com, the price on the site is the price that I pay (not counting fees or taxes, of course). Likewise, when I book a flight, the fare that is listed is the one that I receive.

Same goes for just about every retail establishment or Web site I’ve ever used.

So why is it that when I order a service from Verizon, it can change the price any time it wishes — regardless of receipts or advertised prices — forcing customers to endure hours of sadistic customer service reps running them in circles?

Verizon is the only company I have ever dealt with that is so shameless about bait-and-switch tactics. Is it because it’s holding the goods on so many lawmakers that nobody has the guts to bust it?

Really, I’m baffled. T.H.

Dear T.H. Right after I get this extraordinarily unique letter into the paper I will call Verizon and ask if the company is blackmailing politicians.

I think I know what the answer will be. But I’ll ask anyway, because it’ll be fun.

But let me suggest this first.

If you don’t like Verizon, try a different company. I use Verizon for my phone service and I haven’t had any trouble.

I ditched Verizon FiOS cable because the company was raising my monthly price and wouldn’t negotiate.

So, I switched to Cablevision (which I had before Verizon) and Verizon has been begging me to come back ever since.

And I told both Cablevision and FiOS to leave their wires in my house so I can switch back and forth.

My solution isn’t as exciting as rooting out corrupt politicians, but it seems to have worked for me.

Dear John: I am a retired New York State corrections officer and was a supervisor for 20 of my 26 years.

Cell phones are not allowed in state prisons. If caught with them, employees are fired — union or not. Most corrections officers are strong willed good guys. Most civilian employees are great people.

The general public doesn’t realize that interaction with inmates is an integral part of the job. All employees are constantly exposed to inmates “gaming” the system, from very small-scale stuff all the way to large-scale scams. Some people are weak — just not as smart or incorruptible as desired.

So scams will always exist. Street-smart inmates learn how to manipulate, cheat and lie their way through a sentence. Good people want to look for the good. T.S.

Dear T.S. I’m going to make your letter the very final chapter in my “What Goes on in Prison” book — unless, of course, the Weather Channel asks me to do a series.

In case you aren’t up to date, this started when I found out that Raj Rajaratnam, the former Wall Street big shot, had been getting fluffier sheets than the other residents in prison.

So my final word on this is: Some of those in prison aren’t good people. Try not to get imprisoned.