The Problem With College Football.......

Parent Cafe
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<p>My D’s school also has a similar program. I’m sure many schools do.</p>

<p>But if you don’t see the difference between “we’re going to offer help to minority kids / kids from backgrounds that prepared them less well for the rigors of college, but whom we believe have the academic potential to belong here” and “we’re going to offer remedial help to athletes who really don’t belong on a college campus because they aren’t capable but we’re going to pretend we care because wow, they have an incredible throwing arm that will make us money,” then there is little point in continuing the discussion. Then just be honest and pay them a salary and call them football-team-employees of the university who provide entertainment, instead of pretending that they are students.</p>

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<p>One of my S’ hs friends plays college football. He was recruited and does get a small scholarship. They have MANDATORY study sessions every single night from 7:00-10:00. There is a TA there to assist if needed. Even if you don’t have any homework assignments to do, you still have to attend and read , work on notes, etc.</p>

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<p>What is the difference to ya’ll if they are “football-playing-employees” compared to being “student athletes”. The fact that some get by doing absolutely is the exception to the rule. Most work hard, and do their share as well as perform for the college. The ones that get by never reading, etc. are just an exception to the rule.</p>

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<p>PG,
Football players are handled differently. Get over it. Your opinion is obviously not shared by university administrators or the NCAA.</p>

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<p>Right. Babysitting. If they can’t be trusted to take their schoolwork seriously enough that they work on getting it done without needing a nanny to make them sit down from 7 pm - 10 pm every night, then let them flunk out. Oh noes! We might not have a quarterback then, and wouldn’t that be awful? We might do something really terrible like lose a football game!</p>

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<p>Or have a reason for an elitist scholary type make fun and have no empathy for a person because they aren’t quite as skilled intellectually as they are.</p>

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<p>Pizzagirl, you seemed to have missed my “IF” in my post that you quoted. </p>

<p>I have no doubt that talented athletes are admitted over more academically talented students all the time and at all levels. You should know from these boards: it’s called a “hook”. Drives the ones without said “hook” nutso, but those that have these so-called “hooks” are, of course, glad to have them. </p>

<p>I am pretty sure that in years past, kids who basically had no academic skills at all were indeed admitted to play football. Now, however, we hear every single year of an SEC student who has been declared “academically ineligible”, and will NOT be playing for a given team. </p>

<p>The demands on a division I level athlete are absolutely incredible, and I think it’s great if a school gives them some help with their academics. Contrary-wise, I think it’s a shame when student athletes at schools like Columbia have almost no allowances made for scheduling or anything else for them. When my D was there, her then-boyfriend ran track for Columbia and was not even able to make his class schedule around team practice. He had to train on his own. He quit track pretty quickly, as I am sure many talented athletes do. </p>

<p>And if you want to get all down on Alabama football, why don’t you learn about their quarterback last year? He was a Fullbright finalist. I am very proud to be an Alabama alum (third generation in my family) and an Alabama football fan.</p>

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<p>I have seen a lot of arguments back and forth, and some of them are untruthful, some right on.</p>

<p>Someone claimed, for example, that the graduation rate of college athletes is higher then many non athletes, and I won’t argue that. However, it is statistically questionable,. because we aren’t debating college sports, we are debating big time division one college sports, BCS and so forth, and there the stat is untruthful. The graduation rates in big time sports tends to be less then general college students and is much less then non big time college athletes (not surprisingly; the goal of division 1 athletes is to get to the pros, at least most of them, for the rest of college athletes it is doing something they enjoy, maybe help pay for college, but what they do in college is their future, big difference).</p>

<p>My problem with division 1 college athletes is much like my problem with the olympics before the 1990’s, where there was this big ideal about ‘amateur’ athletes, which was a joke on many fronts. Among other things, calling Russian athletes amateurs was a joke, and it made a mockery of the whole process (plus, quite frankly, the amateur nonsense, spawned primarily by Avery Grundage, was a way to keep it the realm of the well off, who saw sports as a gentleman’s pursuit before going to wall street).</p>

<p>The problem is that NCAA regulations, that are rational for most college sports, fail in the face of the reality of these programs. The emphasis of those sports is not on scholar athletes, but athletes bringing in revenue, and pretending it is the same as a lacrosse player at some other school is ridiculous, because one size fits all doesn’t work, and rules that work for one are going to screw up in another. More importantly, it is looking the other way where these kids are used to bring prestige to the school and a lot of money when many of them are not equipped to handle that, nor are they gaining much out of the education they do manage to get. </p>

<p>As I said in a prior post, I think division 1 athletics at this top level because of the realities of its world, needs to be separated out. I think it is great they be associated with colleges and universities, but I think the pretense that the primary focus is academics be thrown aside. Have a separate league for these schools and by all means keep them associated with schools (if a player wants an education, they should be allowed to take classes if they wish to), but if they don’t they shouldn’t have to. They can be given housing and housing allowances and a salary though this, and revenue would go to the sports program with some going to the school as a licensing fee for using the name (which probably would work better then it currently does; several business schools have analyzed the big time sports programs,and they found, not surprisingly, that those programs generated little revenue for the broader school, they don’t fund scholarships or research as their ads during football games claim, and they don’t generate broad based alumni giving to the general school either, it basically doesn’t do anything for the school over all other then maybe bragging rights and perhaps some students who go there because they are fans of the program (which would happen under my idea). Pro teams could even help support these programs, since in football and basketball they are the minor leagues de facto. </p>

<p>More importantly, you wouldn’t have the crap about a student selling a jersey getting him in trouble, or even dealing with agents, they would have a separate code of conduct /professional standards. </p>

<p>Want to know how corrupted this whole thing is? There was a program on ESPN last night, talking about how it has gotten so big time, that there are agents and such working with high school players to get them recruited by the big programs, all kinds of stuff going on that has people concerned. </p>

<p>The current pretend system doesn’t help anyone really, other then the sports programs and AD’s who bring in big money for themselves and the schools, and with these programs recognized for what they are, maybe it will work better for the college as a whole and the athletes themselves.</p>

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<p>Way to eliminate 80% of athletes. Heck, if I can pick and choose which numbers to use I could win the argument too!</p>

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<p>…idiot boosters?</p>

<p>[Renegade</a> Miami football booster spells out illicit benefits to players - Investigations - Yahoo! Sports](<a href=“http://sports.yahoo.com/investigations/news?slug=cr-renegade_miami_booster_details_illicit_benefits_081611]Renegade”>Renegade Miami football booster spells out illicit benefits to players)</p>

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<p>Only a handful of schools have been implicated as using street agents. Oregon, LSU and a few others. MOst schools and coaches hate having to compete with such cheaters. And I think students appreciate that they see the players in classes and around campus all the time. MOst of them work hard at both and unless you know them you don’t know much. And don’t judge a book by its cover.</p>

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<p>“Gosh, a real live football player is sitting next to me in biology class! That is so kewl, maybe if I’m lucky I can touch his jacket!”</p>

<p>Why would a student “appreciate” seeing a football player in class? Isn’t it, just, well, EXPECTED that fellow enrolled students attend classes? </p>

<p>And yes, I’m sure most college athletes are hardworking both on the field and in the classroom.</p>

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<p>And if they don’t graduate? Studies show that the income differentials between one year of college and no college are greater than those between those who graduate and those who don;t.</p>

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<p>I think there is good in college football, even in some “grey” circumstances. A friend of our family played football at the Univ. of Alabama in the 1970s and he has told us the following story a few times.</p>

<p>Our family friend came from a dirt poor family and one year while at Alabama he went to see Coach Bryant to tell him that he was having money troubles and was going to have to quit school–he didn’t have money to even buy shoes! Later that day our friend got a fat envelope that was stuffed with football tickets which he immediately got busy selling for cash. He got the same type of stuffed envelopes all through the rest of the football season. Our friend was able to continue in school and graduate and to this day he still thinks the world of Bear Bryant.</p>

<p>I really don’t know how much of this type stuff goes on today because of how seriously schools and the NCAA treat compliance with rules, but maybe sometimes the coaches use their own good judgement and bend the rules to do what is right.</p>

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Aw, I think some of you folks are just biased against gladiators.</p>

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<p>Well Pizza, some were suggesting have non-students play football for the schools. Try to keep up.</p>

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<p>A gladiator system would at least be honest - We, College X, have hired these football players to put on a show for the College X Community.</p>

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<p>There was a story on our local news last night about a young man who had received a scholarship to play baseball at Vanderbilt. He was also a first round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays. The deadline for signing baseball players was midnight Monday night (I think). Anyway, this young man had decided that he would pass up his scholarship if the Jays offered him either 3.5 or 4.5 million (can’t remember which) to sign. Five minutes before the midnight deadline, the Jays offered 2.5 million. The kid didn’t blink. He turned down the offer and is headed to Vandy. His comment - Education is important to my family, but if they had come around with my amount, I would have signed. He passed up his chance to play professional ball (he is a pitcher) and can’t reenter the draft until 2013. I think Vandy got a smart young man. I wish all athletes were that smart.</p>

<p>As for comments related to many of the athletes having tutors/babysitters, I think it is important to realize that many of these young people (particularly football and basketball) grow up in families that, due to many reasons, do not value or see the value in education. These young people need someone to walk them through the process and teach them how to be a student. I have no problem with that, as long as it is legitimate and no one is writing papers, etc. for the athletes. If that type of aid only helps a few students, I think it is worthwhile. Many schools give scholarships to needy students, those who need a helping hand. I went to a community dinner a few months ago where there were several students who received that type of aid - pretty impressive schools. This is how we turn the tide - one student at a time - and if the student gets in because he/she is an impressive athlete, so be it.</p>

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<p>If the crowd could give the thumbs-down on a player or coach who messed up, it would add to the excitement.</p>

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<p>Maybe to you PG. I like our players. many are funny, bright, talented and work very hard. Your stereotyping insults them. And many others that might also surprise you if you get beyond the their TV pictures–like this guy</p>

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