The Shame of College Sports

[bonarae]

Lifted from the Ivy Voy board, but it's going to make a good read for all of us, especially those fans of FCS teams with plans of going FBS...

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

Warning: 7 pages long article.

To quote the original poster on the Ivy board...

Basically it makes clear what a cesspool college scholarship athletics (especially football) and the NCAA are. If anyone wonders what the ivy presidents are likely to be thinking about when it comes to considering any concessions to "modernize" ivy football, I'll bet this is it.

[bkrownd]

Oh dear, the yearly load of hand-wringing piffle from some busybody "journalist". Equating privleged athletes to slaves, even. (the author doesn't seem to understand that the primary payoff is the glory of being ALLOWED to play on the big stage in the Colors - how many people ever get to do that?) Everyone already knows they've been trying to tame the beast for over 100 years. However, the deluge of TV money and 24/7 fan obsession over the last 20 years is looking increasingly apocalyptic. We're just waiting for the inevitable meltdown of "big time" college football now, as the participants trample each other to grab the largest pot of money. Not that it matters much - college football's soul died about 10 years ago. Any move to pay players should result in athletics being booted off campuses for good.

There are still Voy forums, eh?

[bonarae]

There are still Voy forums, eh?

Yes, and the Ivy sports forums are one of the most well-maintained of these. However, very few of us transcend boundaries to here or to the dark side. I got my start here when CSN posted a link on the Voy board and the rest is history, even neglecting the Voy board for months at a time.

[blukeys]

To quote the original poster on the Ivy board..
Basically it makes clear what a cesspool college scholarship athletics (especially football) and the NCAA are. If anyone wonders what the ivy presidents are likely to be thinking about when it comes to considering any concessions to "modernize" ivy football, I'll bet this is it. .

What a totally dumb comment from the Ivy board. This is typical of the hoity toity holier than thou attitude of those Ivies who have no clue what they are talking about. The Ivies try to pretend that football doesn't exist outside of Ivies because they don't want an *** kicking from the likes of Georgia Southern or Appalachian State. That is the reason they don't want to "modernize" football.

Let's be real. The Ivies invented corruption in football in the 20's and 30's. When they say they are holier than everyone else, I say HORSE FEATHERS!!!!!! (Still the best College Football movie of all time and it exposes the hypocrisy of the Ivies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_Feathers

[alvinkayak6]

I have no idea where you dug up Horse Feathers, but it needs to be on Netflix NOW....or is it Qwickster?

[MorgantonAPPAlum]

Here's my take home point from reading this (the other day while searching for expansion news): No way is it legfitimate that the NCAA forbids young athletes from retaining an agent in negotiating with pro teams. You always have the right to have legal representation (even in a civil proceeding-like a contract negotiation-which is basically what a sports agent does).

When the author wrote about the case of the kid who pitched for OKST, got into trouble with the NCAA about having an agent from when he was in high school, sued, had the judge agree with him, was countersued by the NCAA and settled with a part of the settlement being that the the judge had to vacate his previous ruling (lest it set a precedent against the NCAA), it looked like big time intimidation by the NCAA against someone who is only trying to get the best deal available for himself. The NCAA profits plenty form athletics, but forbids a kid from looking into how to get a better deal (which would mean maybe giving up college sports for the pros)? Yep-something wrong with that.

I was never a big fan of the arguments to pay college athletes, but that part of the article made me rethink my postion. I'm still not in favor of paying college athletes, but I am in favor of reining in the NCAA and the control it exerts over those kids.

[alvinkayak6]

I was never a big fan of the arguments to pay college athletes, but that part of the article made me rethink my postion. I'm still not in favor of paying college athletes, but I am in favor of reining in the NCAA and the control it exerts over those kids.

Yeah, I'm fine with NOT REQUIRING payment of the athletes. But it's another thing to artificially suppress their value like Jay Bilas said on TV. You can't tell a kid he has to sign autographs for university sales, but he can't do it himself. Think about it -- the roommate of T. Pryor could do an endorsement for Nike and there would be no problem. T. Pryor does an endorsement for Nike, and he's a terrible human being! So selfish! Kirk Herbstreit comes on TV and proclaims that Pryor doesn't care about winning and he's a terrible teammate.xbangx

Another thing...universities should be required to provide insurance for players injured like Eric Legrand and others. If you are going to make millions of dollars of these kids, then you better be willing to take care of them when the violence affects a player for life.