<p>When I read the comments near the front of this thread, the Duke basketball player who was being interviewed made it seem like playing basketball what his primary objective, if that is the norm for college athletes, there is something wrong with our sense of priorities. I wonder if after the limelight of college sports has faded if he will wish he had actually pursued getting an education and a degree while in college.</p>
<p>The Duke player is an exception to the rule. I think this stereotype is magnified because the media is not interviewing the type of athletes who are not going to go pro after a year or two in college and make millions of dollars. ESPN and Sports Illustrated are just not that interested in the vast majority of college athletes who are not superstars. There is nothing wrong with our priorities. Colleges fund a wide variety of extra-curricular activities on campus, anything from music to performing arts to athletics to academic competitions. Additionally, there are hundreds of clubs at most universities that are given financial support from general funds. Few produce revenue. Usually, the athletic activities that produce revenue provide support for the rest of the athletic department. As the commercials say, “Most college athletes are going pro in something other than their sport.” And most college athletes know that and are working hard to get their degree and become employable upon graduation.</p>
<p>How many drama majors ever make a buck acting? How many dance majors ever make a buck dancing? Outside of theme parks, most just strive to marry well. Academic pursuits my arse.</p>
<p>lol.</p>
<p>well said.</p>
<p>My mother has five brothers. All of them played college football. One went on to play with the SF 49ers (that’s how long ago this was) and another went on to coach for a few years in Canada (where he met my Aunt who we all adore). Every single one of them is determined. Every single one of them never quit or give up. They work through adversity and they do so mostly successfully. I honestly think part of who they are is based on their playing team sports and doing so in college. To this day, I know my Uncle is still quite good friends with the guys he played football with in college. I am just saying… just because you play a sport doesn’t make you an idiot. Not by a long shot.</p>
<p>There’s another option that is more radical and which would bring athletics more into the fold of academia: giving course credit for athletic participation on a varsity team during the season you play.</p>
<p>I am not being sarcastic here. Rarely do we talk about the intellectual merits of athletic participation. If college is the place to learn critical thinking skills, is there less critical thinking involved in playing a good soccer game than there is in music or theatre performance that warrants one being considered part of academia and the other not?</p>
<p>I wasn’t going to comment on this page, but all this crap is irritating me. Most of you have no idea about college athletics and yet you still feel the need to give your two cents worth. The mother of the college player was right that athletes work a lot on their sport, but they agree to that when they sign in. Now personally, I was recruited for football at several small schools(Furman, PC, The Citadel) but I know that Id be going here for football and I want to have a real college life. And fyi, the athletes love the attention everyone lavishes on them. I know plenty of college athletes, Jad Dean(he was a famous kicker who was all-acc 3 years running) and Armanti Edwards(Appalachian State QB who beat #5 Michigan last year and has won 2 national championships.) They love the attention. And you’re right, they are taken advantage of. But what can you expect when you’re not only getting into colleges you don’t have the grades or test scores for, you’re getting full rides. For example, my friend Sam Montgomery(#2 defensive end recruit in the nation) is getting a full ride to LSU. He has a 2.8 or so gpa and an 1100 SAT. Now how many nonathletes could get into LSU with those scores? So don’t give me that bull about athletes being taken advantage of. They are going to schools for free that they could not dream of going to without their sport. They chose to be manipulated.</p>
<p>I think that if anything needs to be done, the national standards for eligibility needs to be raised. However, I don’t really see the problem going on right now. Most of the people we’re talking about - the best athletes in the country who get into college with poor grades - go on to become professionals. By participating in their sport in college they’re essentially “majoring” in that sport before entering its related career. As long as they maintain a respectable gpa no one should have a problem with that, especially since this describes only a small portion of student-athletes. My guess is that some people are just jealous of these kids getting spots in colleges like Duke, but how is this really any different from the kids who are more naturally talented than you in their own fields such as biology, engineering, math etc.?</p>
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<p>I think this is an excellent idea. Both of my D’s have learned more life skills and lessons (including coping with intensely competitive, strategic, relational and stressful situations), and made more friends and networking connections in athletics (both h.s. and college), than they ever did by sitting passively and studying to get A’s in AP and college courses.</p>
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<p>There are some schools that already do. I don’t see why not… schools will give credit hours for nearly anything else!</p>
<p>I understand this arguement so well because of my school. We can hire another football coach every year… I mean the ratio of staff(trainers, agility staff, QB coach, D coach, OL/DL Coach, DB Coach ect.) to players is almost 1:3. I mean really OVERKILL. The ratio of teachers to students? 1:20</p>
<p>The team went undefeated last year and went to state the year before, and my school recieved over 2 million dollars from the parents of seniors and alumni and the like(from those 2 years). My schools goes out of its way to find kids in the public schools that are so-so academically that would take a free ride to a private high school. They kids that they accept get Cs, and are normally juniors that are taking freshman classes. The school may give them “Equivalent” credits. Meaning the school gets them a tutor that won’t get through to them and give them an “A Equivalent”. GPA inflation at its finest.</p>
<p>How many plays or musicals draw in that type of donor cash?</p>
<p>Think about this also:
College players are walking around with below average grades and probably given alot of leash in the classroom… PLUS THEY GO THERE FOR FREE! Most people would walk around with a huge(some of it deserved tho) sense of accomplishment! You got into a school by spending hours outside having fun!! All those other kids had to spend 30 hours a week at SAT prep!!</p>
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<p>Wow, if it was all so easy and fun, why didn’t you do? Were you not smart enough to realize that you can slack off on grades and waltz into the school of your dreams for free simply by having fun outside?</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>exactly.</p>
<p>I’m not saying its easy. SOme other people did but I never did. And I play a sport and know how tough it is. I played(Im a senior now) football for GHS in SC(we’re the biggest high school football state other than Texas) We have weightlifting at 7 am. School from 8:30 to 3:30, then practice til 7. And this is every day except game day. Then its school, watching videos on the other team until game time, the bus ride if its away, and then the game til 10:30 or so. So yes, I know that sports are tough. And I know how hard playing for a football school is(GHS has won our region 13 times in a row; since 1991, our average record is 11-1; and we have 16 state championships since our school started) thats why I chose not to go through all that in college. But we do it becuase we enjoy it. Thats why I feel no pity towards athletes. Colleges are businesses, pure and simple. A school dropping an athlete when they can no longer play is no different than a school not letting a scholar come back when they can no longer afford it. They’re in it to make money. If you can’t pay for it(I understand financial aid but they won’t pay it all) they don’t want you back. If you can’t play, you can no longer pay for your scholarship(because that’s what you’re doing by performing.) SO don’t pity them. And Athletes do get a lot of breaks. I mean, a good example is Tim Tebow. He had an 880 SAT and a 3.0 gpa. Now, how many nonathletes could get into Florida with those scores?</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>Tim Tebow was homeschooled and took the SAT in 9th grade for eligibility purposes only.</p>
<p>and Florida is a tad bit bigger of a football state than SC, not that it matters.</p>
<p>I doubt it. I mean, Florida loves their football. But those teams can’t compete with South Carolina’s. Byrnes, Gaffney, Greenwood, South Pointe, Summerville and Dorman have all beaten many Floridian schools in the past. In fact, if you look at how the states stack up, Florida high schools have only won 2 football games against South Carolina schools. And Florida has much larger schools than us. I mean, the biggest high school in Florida has like what, 10,000 people? Our biggest is Dorman with 4,200. But to be fair, We all get pwned by Texas high schools. Except Byrnes that is. Damn rebels.</p>
<p>They should be allowed to major in Athletics, not their particular sport. I have NO problem with this. Kids major in Music, not Clarinet. My second son is in Electronic Media in the University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music. Guess how much math they require for their degree? ZERO. That’s right - all those musicians and vocalists and musical theatre people graduate with absolutely no math classes required. Yet no one critizes them because they’re artists. What’s wrong with mastering a physical art and getting a college degree in that? Not to mention all the great intangibles you learn from athletics that help you for the rest of your life: perseverance, teamwork, strategies, time management, etc.</p>
<p>On another point, I have a son who played a Division I college sport for one year, and he commented several times that what surprised him the most about college athletics was not that you didn’t have the time to do your schoolwork, but that you were almost too exhausted after practice, physically and mentally, to do it. And now all college sports really require a year-round commitment. It takes real effort to do well in both school and your sport. Somehow I don’t think we give these kids enough credit, and we let a small handful of poor examples out of a large football team represent the 500 or more successful athletes in DI programs.</p>
<p>You guys can debate and pour over this till the cows come home but it will never change anything. To put it bluntly… the NCAA and athletes dont care what you think.</p>
<p>edit:
oh and also there is the fact that the schools make tons of money off sports… so there you have it.</p>
<p>[NCAA</a> Double-A Zone:Salary vs. scholarship: Should student-athletes decide?March 10, 2009](<a href=“http://www.doubleazone.com/2009/03/salary_vs_scholarship_should_s.php]NCAA”>http://www.doubleazone.com/2009/03/salary_vs_scholarship_should_s.php)</p>
<p>Have you read this?</p>
<p>original article:<a href=“http://www.indystar.com/article/20090306/SPORTS15/903060345[/url]”>http://www.indystar.com/article/20090306/SPORTS15/903060345</a></p>
<p>And response:<a href=“http://www.doubleazone.com/2009/03/ncaa_president_tackles_bob_kravitz_column.php[/url]”>http://www.doubleazone.com/2009/03/ncaa_president_tackles_bob_kravitz_column.php</a></p>
<p>Love to hear your thoughts on the articles above.</p>