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A child's game that at any time could put them in a wheelchair or take years off of their life that may still not pay their entire education (ever heard of walk-ons and partial scholarships? They are on college football teams too. )
So then they are compensated for playing a childs game with a free education worth a substantial amount of money.
Let me help you out here. It stopped being a child's game when the sport turned into a multi-billion dollar business. You might have had a point about the free education part if it weren't for the fact that the "child's game" you're referring to didn't take up a substantial amount of class time during the week. It's kind of difficult to claim that the football players are getting a free education when their football obligations prevent them from choosing a major that will actually be worth something once they graduate.
If the NCAA and its membership schools were so concerned about education, then why are schools like the University of Maryland allowed to switch leagues and join the Big 10...which will now obligate UMD's athletes to travel to schools like Nebraska and Colorado for games? Why are NCAA basketball tournament games starting at 10:30 EST on a Thursday night? Are these things done to promote education or are they being done to line someone's pockets?
You may also want to learn how these so called "full-ride" scholarships are governed. They're actually 4-year renewable scholarships which basically means that if another coach comes in and feels that you don't fit his scheme...your free education just went bye-bye. In fact, an athlete's scholarship can be yanked at anytime for any reason. But if an athlete tries to transfer to another school, he has to first be released by the current school [which they are not obligated to do] and then sit out a year before playing at the new school. In all honesty I do give the NCAA credit for making their money making scheme about as one-sided as it could possibly be.
The NCAA propaganda machine has been so effective in feeding the public this "free-education" & "student-athlete" garbage for so long that they've trained the masses to do the work for them by having everyone regurgitate they're free education mantra. It's not like this is high school football where you just practice for 2 hours after school and play games on saturday. Football in college is a full-time job. Especially when you factor in the required travel and offseason obligations. College athletes shouldn't have to sit back and accept their position as indentured servants simply because there are folks out there who want to blindly fall for the NCAA "student-athlete" scam. If nothing else, the kids at Northwestern will at least expose the NCAA for the greedy & hypocritical organization it really is.
College football isn't about education. The kids are brought in, often times from poor areas with terrible schools, to play football on a scholarship. When the football ends, so does the school. A lot of them probably don't graduate or don't have the ability to do so. Jim Harbaugh made some ripples a few years ago and said, outright, that there wasn't enough education for football players. There were some who believed his comments cost him the opportunity of coaching Michigan.
I understand the negative reaction some have but the reality is the "free education" line isn't accurate. A lot of the athletes don't go to school and as soon as their usefulness runs out they are left high and dry with nothing. Not even an education.
It would be voluntary, if they were allowed to become professionals at age 18, like other adults. A young man who wants to play football or basketball, should be allowed to, so they don't have to waste their time or the university's time or money.
Myself having coached and worked in college sports think this ruling is bad. Football and Basketball makes money, the other sports do not. So if it ends up where Football and Basketball players are salaried, then yes the other sports will go away.
Yep, just like when prop 109 or whatever came into play and destroyed non-profitable mens sports like wrestling etc. outside of a couple of magnet programs.
You are absolutely correct, if this comes to pass it will take an enormous slice out of college athletics and ESPECIALLY womens programs considering the schools will no longer have to balance NCAA scholarships with basketball and football out of the picture.
We'll see how it unfolds. IF the schools still take in big money, perhaps they will still subsidize other sports. I'm sure you have much better insights into this than me.
College football isn't about education. The kids are brought in, often times from poor areas with terrible schools, to play football on a scholarship. When the football ends, so does the school. A lot of them probably don't graduate or don't have the ability to do so. Jim Harbaugh made some ripples a few years ago and said, outright, that there wasn't enough education for football players. There were some who believed his comments cost him the opportunity of coaching Michigan.
I understand the negative reaction some have but the reality is the "free education" line isn't accurate. A lot of the athletes don't go to school and as soon as their usefulness runs out they are left high and dry with nothing. Not even an education.
Agreed.
Most Division I athletic departments do not really care if the athletes receive an education. What they care MOST about is keeping that athlete eligible for competition. Most coaches would rather have players that are majoring in subjects like Physical Education or General Education than pre-med or physics.
In my professional career, I have encountered at least a handful of four year athletes who could not read. I was not expecting them to be top students but when the guy cannot read the box in a kitchen, he cannot function very well.
There are some programs that take academics seriously. My mentor was a Yale football player and told everyone that where classes conflicted with practices, they were told to go to class.
If the NCAA and its membership schools were so concerned about education, then why are schools like the University of Maryland allowed to switch leagues and join the Big 10...which will now obligate UMD's athletes to travel to schools like Nebraska and Colorado for games? Why are NCAA basketball tournament games starting at 10:30 EST on a Thursday night? Are these things done to promote education or are they being done to line someone's pockets?
Or why does the NCAA require that the New Mexico State and San Diego State teams to return home, leaving the airport at 2:30 AM local time as opposed to letting them get a full night sleep in the city of the competition?
The athletes are in for a rude awakening as colleges will be forced to dump sports. This avenue to education will go away with professionalism. For the future pros this isn't a bad deal but the vast majority aren't going to be pros and this might be their only means to a college education. That will disappear. That said, I'm for dumping the system and forcing the (mostly) NFL to start a developmental league and stop using colleges as a cheap developmental labor force. Take corporations out of college athletes. Everything about the system is corrupt and out-of-date.
Neither are the so-called "student athletes." They are professional athletes, period. They are recruited by the university to play sports, upon which the university makes a lot of money. And they get a lot of perks for it, as well as dumbed down standards so that they can fake this premise that they are there for academic purposes (how many will even stay for four years?). At least this proposed arrangement starts to call a spade a spade. In truth, these professional contractors should not even be in the university setting. They should be in some extended leagues of professional sports organizations.
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