1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Will This Have the NCAA Sweating Just A Bit?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Flying Headbutt, Oct 25, 2006.

  1. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102400911.html


    Lots of ramifications could come from this. Thoughts?
     
  2. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    I normally like Will, but he does the same thing that other people do and says things like "only 55 percent of football players and 38 percent of basketball players graduate." Guess what? The 55 percent is well above the overall graduation rate for people who go to college, and the 38 percent might be about equal.
     
  3. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    I think the appropriate comparison isn't football player graduation rate vs. all people who enter college, but football player graduation rate compared to the entering class of the institution the player attends.
     
  4. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    That is another good point, but Will brings up the graduation rate for all football players and basketball players.
     
  5. Freelance Hack

    Freelance Hack Active Member

    OK, but most D I-A football players and most major D-I college basketball players go to school on a full scholarship. They don't have to scratch and claw their way through school by working part/full-time jobs or praying for grants and loans to come through.

    Make it an apples to apples comparison. Compare rates for full-ride student-athletes to rates for full-ride students and I'm sure the gap will be wide.

    Then the debate focuses on this question: Are universities investing in the student-athletes for their education, or are they investing in student-athletes to make more money? If the answer is the latter, then it's time for the tax man to come to Big State U.
     
  6. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    Scientifically, that would not make sense. People who have academic full rides are almost certainly more prepared for college than people who have athletic full rides, who would probably be reflective of the student population at large. The fact that their college is paid for in full does not mean that they do not spend 30-40 hours a week training/traveling for their particular sport like the people "working part/full-time jobs or praying for grants and loans to come through." If you want a student loan, you can get a student loan.

    I'm not saying to feel sorry for athletes. I'm not even saying an athletic scholarship is a good thing. I just think Will is spouting off a number that contradicts his point and your comparison is not sound.
     
  7. Freelance Hack

    Freelance Hack Active Member

    How would that not make sense? The university has as much invested in one as the other.

    And if you think that a university invests in people who are not prepared for college, then doesn't that make the point that these endeavors are business relarted and not related to academics?
     
  8. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Of course the money football and basketball players make doesn't line the pockets of a fatcat owner or university president. That money pays for all the non-revenue sports that wouldn't have the funds to exist were it not for the football and men's basketball teams.
     
  9. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    The NCAA has nothing to worry about as long as bigtime Division I luxury boxes are stuffed full of freeloading politicians every Saturday.
     

  10. Anyway, Will's got a big old rock in front of his argument and it's called Tarkanian v. NCAA, and the Soo-preme Court ruled that the NCAA and its member schools can run things pretty much the way they want to.
     
  11. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    I would not want to be Bill Thomas' campaign manager when his opponent starts alleging that "Bill Thomas is trying to kill USC football/UCLA football/UCLA basketball" by "taxing the NCAA into submission."
     
  12. Freelance Hack

    Freelance Hack Active Member

    Bill Thomas is retiring at the end of this term.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page