The Shame of College Sports

Socrtease

Socrtease

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http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/8643/?single_page=true

This is a very long article printed in The Atlantic Monthly in October. Very pertinent in the light of the Penn State allegations. College athletics is a scam. There is no such thing as a Student-Athlete. Graduation rates are a joke, especially in basketball. Burn the system down. NFL needs to start farm teams just like baseball. Lure are the best High School athletes away from college, have them play "minor league" football until they are big and fast and then move them on to the NFL. Just like MLB does.
 
There are millions of employees in college sports. 1 pedophile goes wild and we burn it down! Bullshit
There are plenty of real student athletes. All the baseball, wrestling, many in football all the DII , III, and juco's of all sports. I bet Nick has raised bamas grad rate cause he raised it for the best program in the nation.
 
Bama's graduation rate for the football prgram is reported as 62%.

There is plenty of scamming going on in NCAA sports. But not enough to warrant closing the entire system. I would be interested to see how many black athletes had full college scholarships and then compare that to the number of scholarships by the NAACP and the UNCF.

Also, the NFL cannot afford to have a minor league. It works in baseball because the players tend to have long careers. The average NFL running back probably doesn't last 5 years. They should spend 2 of those years making piss poor money?
 
Baseball's farming system was able to develop because of how old the sport is. Back then, collegiate atheletics was still in its infancy. That said, if the NFL developed a farming system who's season began shortly after the Super Bowl, and ran through the Spring, then it would give football addicts a few more months to watch the sport, and might boost revenues to make up for the cost of running a farm system. You wouldn't be able to pick people up or send people down during the season, but you would be able to grab players in time for summer training camps.
 
DamnYankee said:
For lots of Division 1 programs, I agree, especially football and basketball. Its complete bullshit.
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I would have to respectfully disagree with you both. First of all, if the student athlete does not meet academic standards they are not allowed to play. But more importantly, why is it the university's fault if students fail to study and apply themselves academically? When I was a college student they expected me to be an adult and know I needed to study.

While there are plenty of examples of athletes who play for 4 years and leave without a degree (or even an education), there are also plenty of examples of student athletes who excell both on the field and in the classroom. Barrett Jones, All-American offensive lineman for Bama, graduated with a degree in accounting in 3 years. His GPA? A 4.0 Trent Richardson is one the top Heisman cadnidates and probably the best running back playing college ball, and he has a 3.26 GPA and is raising two daughters in addition to all the classwork and playing football. Last year our QB has to rush to make it to a game after his interviews for a Rhodes Scholarship.

It depends on the athlete, not the institution. And SM, aren't you always preaching personal responsibility? So isn't the academic side of student athletes the responsibility of the athlete?
 
I knew a lot of my wife's teammates in college and there were several who had substandard grades, one in particular with a Blutarsky-esk GPA of 0.0 who played all four years in two sports.

I'm sure football and basketball where much worse. They had their own dining hall so I'm sure they had their own system of grades, ethics and just about everything else.
 
My step son had great grades, played football and baseball for Lsu, my other two sons had slightly below average grades as they were tunnel vision wrestlers in Iowa. 1 refused a recruiting trip to Stanford
 
DamnYankee said:
I knew a lot of my wife's teammates in college and there were several who had substandard grades, one in particular with a Blutarsky-esk GPA of 0.0 who played all four years in two sports.

I'm sure football and basketball where much worse. They had their own dining hall so I'm sure they had their own system of grades, ethics and just about everything else.
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I am sure there were athletes with 0.0 gpas that played. I am sure there is still some cheating going on to keep athletes eligible. But I very seriously doubt there are many 0.0 GPA athletes playing for 4 years these days. Much has changed since your wife was in college.

These athletes are given a full scholarship. They are expected to perform at a high level to get it, but what they do with it is their own responsibility.

These same athletes are registered for Selective Service, so they could be drafted and dropped in a war zone with automatic weapons. These same student athletes have just as much say as you do about who will be president.

If they want the education they'll work to get it.
 
The Dude said:
My step son had great grades, played football and baseball for Lsu, my other two sons had slightly below average grades as they were tunnel vision wrestlers in Iowa. 1 refused a recruiting trip to Stanford
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So what? My wife graduated 3.8. But she had teammates that didn't graduate at all, just played sports for 4 years.

What percentage of div 1 football players graduate? You're always whining about people who didn't graduate college, but of course you make excuses for athletes.
 
DamnYankee said:
So what? My wife graduated 3.8. But she had teammates that didn't graduate at all, just played sports for 4 years.

What percentage of div 1 football players graduate? You're always whining about people who didn't graduate college, but of course you make excuses for athletes.
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I know that the #3 football team in the country right now has a graduation rate of 62%.

But even for the schools with very low graduation rates, is it the institution's fault or the athlete's?
 
DamnYankee said:
In other words, 38% don't graduate. Thanks for proving my point.
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What point? What is the standard graduation rate for incoming freshman at the average university??

How about me helping you with that data?


"Nationally, four-year colleges graduated an average of just 53% of entering students within six years, and "rates below 50%, 40% and even 30% are distressingly easy to find," says the report by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. It's based on data reported to the Education Department by nearly 1,400 schools about full-time first-time students who entered in fall 2001."

From: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-06-03-diploma-graduation-rate_N.htm



So what I did was prove that you are clueless of the actual problems and just want to sound off about it. The national average is 53% and the Bama football program graduates 62%. Yep, that proves your point. lmao
 
WinterBorn said:
I know that the #3 football team in the country right now has a graduation rate of 62%.

But even for the schools with very low graduation rates, is it the institution's fault or the athlete's?
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It is the institution. Most NCAA programs do not let their players seek difficult degrees and NO program allows them to take more than 12 hours during the season. After their last year of eligibility they lose their scholarship. They are not given scholarships because they are scholars. They are not encouraged to take degrees like engineering, most big schools graduate shit loads of communications majors. They are not encouraged to go to class.
 
WinterBorn said:
Bama's graduation rate for the football prgram is reported as 62%.

There is plenty of scamming going on in NCAA sports. But not enough to warrant closing the entire system. I would be interested to see how many black athletes had full college scholarships and then compare that to the number of scholarships by the NAACP and the UNCF.

Also, the NFL cannot afford to have a minor league. It works in baseball because the players tend to have long careers. The average NFL running back probably doesn't last 5 years. They should spend 2 of those years making piss poor money?
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It is better than what they get in the NCAA. They aren't allowed to work. They can barely afford to go to a movie once a month. And it is not just about Penn State. The whole system is designed to make money off players and they get shit for it. Even after they graduate the NCAA continues to make money off their likeness. You are right, much of the NCAA sports works, as does div II etc. Those that play in Div I can easily play in a minor league. Your argument about NFL running backs doesn't pan out. All of the NFL running backs at least played 2 years in NCAA before they get to the NFL. Lets pull out the kids that have the best chance of playing in the NFL and put then in the minor leagues. It will still allow the other players to play college football, but the demand will not be as great and the money involve will not be a much. The coaches, AD's and other members of the NCAA major programs are indeed whoremasters. They use the kids up to make millions as coaches and the programs and if they suffer an injury that ends their careers they are thrown away like so much garbage. The system is rotten from the feet up.
 
Socrtease said:
It is the institution. Most NCAA programs do not let their players seek difficult degrees and NO program allows them to take more than 12 hours during the season. After their last year of eligibility they lose their scholarship. They are not given scholarships because they are scholars. They are not encouraged to take degrees like engineering, most big schools graduate shit loads of communications majors. They are not encouraged to go to class.
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Most college kids have to do it themselves, without encouragement. Most have to work at least one job, if not two, and come out tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
 
Dumb yanky is a sexually repressed asshole, he prover to you that athletes graduated at higher rates than non athletes. No man card reason number 2, you know reason no1
 
Compare graduation rates of those who spent 4 years at college and played sorts with those who spent four years at college and didn't play sports.
 
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