Another Glimpse Into the Cesspool of College Sports

Check out this story about how the "student" part of the student-athlete facade is often propped up:

http://chronicle.com/article/Need-3-Quick-Credits-to-Play/135690/

Here's a plum of a quote:

 

"Oh, but we don't need to pay players; they're getting paid in the form of a great education, which they'll carry with them their whole lives."

Yeah, right.

Stop the charade, let the free market rule, and pay the players.

 

"Sorry Coach, I can't make practice today, I have to go to Nuclear Physics 202."

"Then I'll be taking away your scholarship."

 

Another way to quit pretending...
Have a major in "Athletics." Or "Sports." Players who are really basket cases academically could take remedial Math and English, then classes in things such as nutrition, Kinesiology, basic social skills, a full range of PE and Health, plus classes on stuff like how to handle checkbooks, bank accounts, dealing with agents, the IRS, some basic legal stuff (DUIs, illegitimate children) ... there are tons of things these kids could take that would be helpful.

 

That was a very well-done article.

I imagine it won't amount to a hill of beans, though. Everybody knows the score.

As for what it does to the athletes, I look at it like this -- any kid who is not taking advantage of the free education offered is someone who probably wouldn't ever have gone to (or more to the point, finished) college anyway. So in that subset of student-athletes, any rate above zero is probably a bonus.

Lead a horse to water, drink, etc.

 

Either insist on athletes having to pass the courses other students do, without shenanigans, or dump sports to the intramural level. It's not a university's role to run a minor league football operation or to perpetrate a fraud like a "football" major.

 

Yeah, right. As long as there's a kajillion dollars to be made by having big time football and basketball programs, there's below zero chance of that ever happening.

 

I have very little to live for, and my pathetic fandom is all I have some days. Therefore, those damn kids serve only to prop up my psyche. I don't want to hear this garbage.