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Buzz Bissinger: Why College Football Should Be Banned

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by LongTimeListener, May 6, 2012.

  1. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    FWIW, here's the debate website.

    http://intelligencesquaredus.org/index.php/debates/ban-college-football/
     
  2. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    At Oklahoma in the 1940s (?), I think it was governor who said they wanted to build a university the football team could be proud of.
     
  3. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Actually, one huge positive step would be to abolish all academic requirements for revenue sports.

    Players would receive payment equal to full-courseload tuition, but if they decided to use that money on beer, pizza and trips to the strip club, that would be entirely up to them.

    If they were qualified to enroll and did so and ended up earning degrees -- nice, but irrelevant.

    If they were unqualified to be admitted to the university on academic basis -- irrelevant.

    If they enrolled in classes and started pulling D's and F's -- irrelevant.

    If they enrolled in class and decided to go to the strip club instead -- irrelevant. If they flunk out, they flunk out.

    If they decided to use that money to enroll at a local community college or vocational school instead -- irrelevant. If they decided to use it to start up an expresso company -- irrelevant.

    At the top of every revenue-sport grant-in-aid (which would shortly be redefined as an "athletic services contract") would be printed, in big black Impact Font copy:


    THE UNIVERSITY ASSUMES NO OBLIGATION WHATSOEVER REGARDING YOUR EDUCATION OR JOB PROSPECTS FOLLOWING THE EXPIRATION OF THIS CONTRACT. WHATEVER EDUCATIONAL CHOICES YOU MAKE ARE ENTIRELY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.


    With one stroke of the pen, academic cheating is gone forever.
     
  4. Raiders

    Raiders Guest

    "That's great, Coach. Put me down for Strip Clubs."
     
  5. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Question for our friends from Canuckistan, re CIS players to NHL: Aren't most of the players on NHL career tracks not part of the college equation since they're already in the various junior and minor leagues? Of the Big Four sports, only baseball and hockey have a non-college-based development system, and I don't think the NBA and NFL want to take on the job.
     
  6. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member


    Coach: "Whatever. Not My Problem."
     
  7. lcjjdnh

    lcjjdnh Well-Known Member

    Who cares if the NFL and NBA "want" to develop their own minor-league systems? Of course they like the current system--it costs them nothing. Not sure why educational institutions should provide that service to them, though. If they value development enough, they'll create their own systems in the absence of college sports. The reason they don't exist now is because the leagues have no incentive to start them.
     
  8. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Let's see...

    A sport that draws tens of thousands of alumni, fans, students, potential students and parents of potential students along with regional and/or national media to campuses across the country 5 to 7 times a fall at each school...

    A sport that has given thousands of student-athletes an opportunity to attend college --- an opportunity many wouldn't have without the sport...

    A sport that pays the bills for the vast majority of other sports on campuses around the country...

    Is evil and needs to be abolished?

    Give me a fucking break.
     
  9. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Think of the bands, they would have nowhere to march and no one to pay for their scholarships.
     
  10. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Whitlock vs. Bissinger? I'd pay money not to see that.

    Anyway, I think college football will reach a tipping point. Coaches salaries can't keep escalating. Stadiums can't keep growing. As sombody suggested, the elites will eventually breakaway and go semi-pro (officially, not de facto as now).

    Honestly, I think they should be debating whether or not high schools should have athletics. When the head coach and both offensive coordinators are making $100,000 per year and classroom teachers are buying their own supplies because of budget cutbacks, it's time to reevaluate.
     
  11. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    This same tired line has been trotted out for only about 80 years now...
     
  12. lcjjdnh

    lcjjdnh Well-Known Member

    Yeah, why worry about the costs of something when we can only look at the benefits? Forget about those pesky antitrust laws colleges must skirt to engage in a labor cartel to suppress wages. And the debilitating injuries the players might end up with. And that the money could be spent on academic programs that fulfill the educational goals of the university.

    Give me a fucking break. You can't seriously believe the analysis you've provided is sufficient to conclude this argument.
     
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