Terrelle Pryor tears himself away from college life

Because, of course, athletics aren't already being emphasized way out of proportion to a university's true mission.

 

They're not legitimately shopping themselves. They are still limited to the scholarships. They can shop themselves in terms of finding a place to get playing time, or stuff like that.

If it was a true free agency, the athletes would be able to be induced with cars, money, hookers, or whatever they can get, aboveboard.

They're all limited by one organization (OK, two, if you count NAIA.). In pro sports, the only reason the drafts are legal is because they are negotiated in collective bargaining.

 

You may be underestimating the raw cost of actually educating a student body, as opposed to preparing them to go into athletic battle.

 

You know very little about Title IX and how college sports are defined. Differentiating between a football player and a women's golfer makes great sense in a for-profit business, but it will not fly in the courts because that makes the average grant per athlete unequal. And I don't know if you come from the Gordon Gee School Of Higher Education or what, but any effort to be "more responsible with some of their other spending" in order to see that the athletes are taken care of would be the height of irresponsibility for said educational institution.

 

Problem is the dollars are becoming so big, so enormous in college football and basketball, that on their own, they are becoming for profit businesses. (Cue the posts on how college football and basketball are money losers for the colleges...what a crock.) Dollars so big that they get a lot of attention, and a lot of people wondering if they are getting their fair share. And when people keep looking and asking questions, and especially when the stakes get that big, well, that's when you might just see the rules change.

 

Well, Terrelle said through his attorney, Larry James, that he's not interested in the CFL or Roughriders:

James said, ''He did not go into discussion. He just said he's not interested in the Canadian Football League. Obviously the offer was not sufficient to whet his taste buds.''

Well, it's better than no offer at all, which is a very real possibility in the NFL.

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/Former-Ohio-State-quarterback-Terrelle-Pryor-says-no-to-offer-from-Canadian-Football-League-Saskatchewan-Roughriders-060911

 

Sitting hete in ATL aeroport and watching Terrelle's lawyer talk about what a "hornet's nest" it would be for the poor boy to try and play this year......YUCK!......As I've said before, too, it'd been nice to see if Cam could have come back and duplicated his accomplishments but instead we get just one season of the magic and we can't fully evaluate what sort of "career" this individual might have put together at Auburn.....I dont see why Cam couldnt come back, unless he wasnt eligible (which I dont think would have been the case.......Terrelle's story is one of excess and lack of care for the rules

 

maybe because he was taken first overall which guarantees him millions and millions of dollars. What would be the point of him coming back? Especially with Luck coming out next year.

 

I would be all for the rules changing as soon as anyone can come up with an idea that also satisfies the courts.

For the 98-plus percent of football and men's basketball players and the 99.9-plus percent of other athletes who aren't going to play professionally, the scholarship is perfectly fine compensation. I don't know how much the world should change, then, for that very small minority that is losing money on the deal. What really sucks is they can't just go pro out of high school, that would solve a lot of the NCAA's problems.

 

And that is feasible for NBA and MLB. It isn't for NFL.

 

The Universities shouldn't pay. Just let the players use their names to make money.

 

I think they could adjust it to the prevailing conditions -- expand the practice squad concept or create a roster sub-category for under-21 "developmental" players, who could play in games if they were ready and would just practice if they weren't ready yet. That's what a lot of the high-school-to-NBA guys did.

I realize this is all theoretical, as neither the NCAA or NFL seems much inclined to let these guys out of their responsibilities to provide both groups with free marketing, but if the NFL's draft rules ever get struck down in court, there is a workable system possible.