Student Athletes

Highlander179 · 01-06-2006, 09:57 AM

Since the big game has been bringing up alot of conversation I thought I'd start a little something here. Lets see where this goes, shall we?

Do you think these so-called "student athletes" should be paid for their services on the field being that they generate tons of dough for their schools, or do you think that they already have a "free-ride" in their scholarships which include; tuition, room/ board, meals, ~$75 cash allowance a week or month, tons of college girls, and little responsibility?

Rich76_911s · Rich76_911s's Garage

I lived with big school football players in college 4 years ago, and I can tell you that they are not there for education at all. They were up at 4;30 to 5:00 am for a morning workout, then they had class then they had practice again, some more class, then they had afternoon practice, lifting, film, and team meetings. These kids are not student athlete's they are athlete students.

I love NCAA sports, but it has become a feeding ground for the pro's, and is no longer a student activity. Honestly collegiate teams should not be the minor leagues because that is not the intention of the institution. Originally it was for students of school A to play students of school B. Now it is players representing school A play against players representing school B.

To answer your question yeah they should be paid, but the florida gators ought to be a minor league team unaffiliated with a school. Just my opinion, and I am sure a lot will disagree.

Jeff Higgins · 01-06-2006, 10:28 AM

This whole sports thing, from college to the pros, spun out of control long ago. The money involved is just staggering. I can't believe society continues to tolerate it. Pay college athletes? They already get pretty darn fair compensation for their services.

legion · 10:59 AM

I went to a school with a Division I-A football team. (And Army stole our coach...) (And Vanderbilt stole our basketball coach...)

Our football team was half-and-half. Some were there to get an education for free, realizing they didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting into the NFL. Some had delusions of grandeur, and partied, screwed, played football--did just about everything but study. There was an incident sophomore year where a good portion of the football team was expelled after they broke into a frat house and started beating people with baseball bats. Surprisingly

, our team started doing really well after those players were booted.

Basketball is another matter. All of those guys are posers with NBA aspirations and think they $h!t gold...

If you look at most women's sports and the secondary male sports, most of those people are students first and athletes second.

RallyJon · 01-06-2006, 10:53 AM

It's not just Division I-A. Even in the Ivies, a meathead jock is still a meathead jock.

Seahawk · 11:22 AM

I had a D I scholarship in baseball that I lost in my freshman year due to a fairly horrific crash between me, my bike and a Ford truck.

In order to keep my scholarship my sophmore year I had to tutor other jocks. Based on three years of working with mostly football players, I arrived at the following conclusions:

- It s impossible for a football player to work a job for extra cash during the football season, there is simply not enough hours in the day. Pay them a reasonable amount during the football season so they can at least have some income to enjoy college.

- Football practise and games are organized gang fights...I would have a hard time studying with some of the routine injuries these guys carry through the year. My solution is to have minmal classes during the football season, and, for each season played, award the player a semester in school on scholarship AFTER their playing elidgibility is over. That way, they at least have a chance at an education after the school has used them up.

stevepaa · 01-06-2006, 11:51 AM

I went to a non scholarship school, and I would advocate nonscholarships for atheletics if we could just keep the alumni from buying players. I don't think that will ever happen.

legion · 01-06-2006, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by stevepaa
I went to a non scholarship school, and I would advocate nonscholarships for atheletics if we could just keep the alumni from buying players. I don't think that will ever happen.

So true.

I knew someone who played football at Notre Dame. Full ride. He got injured very early in the season freshmen year and didn't play the rest of the season. To hear him tell it, he still visited his locker at least once a day...some days there'd be new clothes in it, other days video games, sometimes even cash. Officially, these gifts didn't exist and no one talked about them...but everyone knew where they came from.

He also developed quite an ego...felt he didn't have to meet academic requirements (even though he was getting spoon-fed everything). He ended up losing his scholarship, getting kicked out of ND, and finishing up his career at Illinois State--where I went.

id10t · 01-06-2006, 12:04 PM

They are also the only ones allowed to take non-credit (prep, remedial, whatever) courses...

Highlander179 · 01-06-2006, 12:24 PM

^ are you referring to Matt Leinart taking Modern Dance...

^^ I was under the impression that ND really cleaned house when Ray Davies was there. Thats why they have no talent. The academic requirement is that they have to pass Calculus. Where do you look for a running back that can pass Calculus, Mars?

id10t · 01-06-2006, 12:40 PM

Nope, I'm referring to the several sections full of athletes that I have to create special online coursework accounts for because they aren't allowed to be community college students at the same time... taking prep reading, prep english (which is taught below teh level that english as a second language is taught), etc.

RallyJon · 01-06-2006, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Where do you look for a running back that can pass Calculus, Mars?

That's the attitude: pick the athlete first, then see if you can somehow get him through that annoying school thing.

Highlander179 · 01-06-2006, 12:50 PM

So you think the athletic recruiters should go to the science fair, take some physics geek, and try to teach him how to run a 4.3/40? It doesn't work that way.

RallyJon · 01-06-2006, 01:22 PM

The way scholastic/college sports should be and the "way it works" are two different worlds.

IMO, if you want to have students playing sports, then do that. If you want to get the most talented athletes (regardless of ability to read, etc) together to play at a high level, then do that. The two don't have much in common, as you point out.

Rich76_911s · Rich76_911s's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Highlander179
So you think the athletic recruiters should go to the science fair, take some physics geek, and try to teach him how to run a 4.3/40? It doesn't work that way.

I think athletic recruiters should have to pick from the students that got into the school, if a physics major wants to try out so be it. Instead of going out and hunting down a kid that can run a 4.3 40, and then teaching him to be a student or an unpaid athlete as the case may be. Intercollegiate sports are for students to play, not for semi pro's to play. Not that it'll change but that is what I think.

Seahawk I like your idea:
My solution is to have minmal classes during the football season, and, for each season played, award the player a semester in school on scholarship AFTER their playing elidgibility is over. That way, they at least have a chance at an education after the school has used them up.

stevepaa · 01-06-2006, 02:36 PM

Just curious, does anyone see the current setup as sort of free enterprise gone amuck, or money is the root of it all, or a liberal attempt to get the poor a step up in life.

What would libertarians really say?