Back in the 1990s I spent a surreal and enjoyable afternoon at a friend’s home playing a college basketball video game with some Rainbow Warriors players … with the student-athletes often manipulating representations of themselves and their teammates on the screen. (No names in the game, of course. That would be very un-amateur. Just height and stats, and school. But it was pretty easy to tell who was who.)

The most fun was when we moved the player who was obviously Erin "Helicopter" Galloway — an awesome leaper who no one could ever remember dribbling — to point guard.

I asked one of the players if it bothered him at all that other entities, like the game manufacturer and the NCAA, made money off of their likenesses and they did not.

"Sort of," he answered. "But what are we supposed to do? We’re just college students."

Fast-forward to Saturday after the UH football spring practice. Now, nearly 20 years later — with the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit regarding use of likenesses and approval by the NLRB for Northwestern football players to vote to unionize — things could be changing.

But Rainbow Warriors players and coach Norm Chow are probably right when they say it will likely be a long, long time before any final rulings changing college athlete compensation will take effect.

Senior defensive lineman Beau Yap says he’s not an avid gamer, but did find it interesting to play a video game where he himself is actually in the game.

"It’s cool to see a person, a re-creation of you on the game. It would be cool to get something, but I think it’s a longshot."

But the focus of the O’Bannon case has shifted from video games to broadcast licensing of actual games, which the student athletes also do not share in. If you consider big-time sports on TV the ultimate reality show, wouldn’t it be logical that the actors get paid?

Senior quarterback Jeremy Higgins says he’s grateful for a scholarship as compensation, especially considering he’s a former walk-on who previously paid his own tuition.

But he says unionizing might be good for long-term health benefits.

"If it’s about medical, I agree with that. Because you can end your career out here any given day. I’m for being protected in that way."

Chow points out that unionizing could hasten the oft-predicted break off from the NCAA by the big-money conferences because they could provide benefits to top athletes without them becoming organized labor.

As for financial compensation: "I’ve often thought (players) should get paid," Chow says. "They work so hard. But I figure it’s way down the road."

Sophomore quarterback Ikaika Woolsey echoes the coach.

"I heard about that a little bit. I’m more focused on getting my boys ready for Aug. 30," he says. "I feel like if that does pass I probably won’t even be here to see that. It’s going to take a real long time. I’ve got more important things to focus on and that’s my guys right here."

The only clear thing is that with or without a union, college football players will always have a strong brotherhood.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.