The Shame of College Sports

[donovan]

This is a must read article. I believe it is the first part of three.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/8643/

This is a good article by Frank Deford on the above.

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/13/140433661/the-ncaa-and-the-so-called-student-athlete?ft=1&f=1001

[Spence]

I had read that the stipend the players get hasn't changed for years, while the cost of living (as we all know) has gone up a lot. That amount should match the times. I'm not for making them professional. If there is a need for lower tier professional football, then let the NFL start a minor league. I am for making them STUDENT athletes again instead of student ATHLETES.

[billybud]

Heck Spence...to support your belief you should patronize the Ivy League. I guess one can get a game package that would feature their scholar athletes.

[Spence]

Heck Spence...to support your belief you should patronize the Ivy League. I guess one can get a game package that would feature their scholar athletes.

I never said scholar athletes. I said student athletes. Eddie George was a star at Ohio State, won the Heisman trophy, got his degree in landscape architecture, played pro ball, got an MBA at Northwestern, and he now runs several successful businesses. One of of them is "the Edge design" which is a very successful landscape design company. Lots more guys who have never played pro ball have traded athletics for a degree and later a career.

I do agree with the part of the NCAA that supports athletes being real students. You don't have to be Poindexter to be a college student and get a degree. I believe the athletes should get a bigger stipend - especially because the demands on their time make it next to impossible to have a job - but I don't think a football scholarship stipend should be more than a volleyball or soccer scholarship stipend. If that turns college ball into a lesser product, then so be it, as long as it is competitive. College baseball is competitive and the don't get the best of the best when it comes to talent and it works.

[Vileborg]

There is Indoor Football, Arena Leagues, Canadian Football, the UFL which is small but is a legit 11v11 minor league. We have a team here which I plan to support. Players would still benefit from a higher football education but have more opportunities post college than NFL or done.

[billybud]

I just saw where Bobby Bowden's current oncological surgeon was once FSU's star defensive back.

In 2009, Bobby's AD was his ex safety, his school president was his ex flanker, and his doctor was his ex cornerback.

[donovan]

I just saw where Bobby Bowden's current oncological surgeon was once FSU's star defensive back.

In 2009, Bobby's AD was his ex safety, his school president was his ex flanker, and his doctor was his ex cornerback.

....interesting and certainly wish him well. Great things are done for prostate cancer if caught early in the monitoring stage.

I hope you are not implying that college sports turns out some fine young men that hold responsible positions and therefore what is going on in college sports is justified. Maybe this post has nothing to do with the issues of the NCAA and their chicanery.

[billybud]

What I am implying is that we hear of the athlete who beats women, throws $100 bills up in the air at strip clubs, and acts thuggish or ends up in prison.

What we don't hear about are the guys who own a business, are doctors, lawyers, engineers, and teachers and coaches. Guys who add value to the communities that they inhabit.

I think of guys like Warrick Dunn, a role model for other young men and who has provided for dozens of homes for single parents.

I think of guys like David Ponder, who played for FSU at the turn of the 80's, who is now a successful businesman in Texas and who's son, Christian earned an MBA by the time he was a junior at FSU...

I do believe that of the huge numbers of former college athletes, most find it a rewarding experience that has assisted them to become successful in life.

[donovan]

And that in fact is a majority of all...maybe 99%. Does not address the governing body, from my standpoint. One of my greatest joys in life has been association with athletics albeit vicariously.

[billybud]

The NCAA does pretty well considering the complexities....I'd give them the nod over congress for sure.

College athletics are in a golden age...never have more watched or participated. Somebody must be doing something right.

[Spence]

The NCAA does pretty well considering the complexities....I'd give them the nod over congress for sure.

College athletics are in a golden age...never have more watched or participated. Somebody must be doing something right.

I'd give them the nod over the entire government, but that isn't exactly a ringing endorsement.

[donovan]

Well, I don't. NCAA College athletes can well be considered the Dred Scotts of our day.

[WoVeU]

The more I observe things, the more I am convinced that we continually get larger and more complicated systems and we then get more leaders/managers (gov't, colleges, business, athletics.) I think you end up with a job no one can do, and the larger mass undergoes diminishing returns and eventually ends up a large enough mass of such a complicated structure it only enlarges the problem. I can't think of any where I am not seeing this. (Congress is the worse, because the core congress isn't where this growth is, it is the staffs, contributors, constituent groups, media, lobbyists...just a huge mass of talking heads.)