You know when you read this article and sit back and think about it for a while and just realize the money involved in college football it probably is time to look at paying these kids some kind of dividend for their effort. We are bombarded with the tradition of how football has been played for the last 100 years and what this means to the fans. But behind the curtain the "wizards" of oz who pocket all this money and play up the tradition and do their best to hide the cold hard business end of it need to come to the light and do a little profit sharing.... Just a rambling thought process.....
Paying kids will open Pandora's Box and you'll never be able to close it again. Enter the agents and you're off to the races. MCG, would you like a nosebleed ticket at $300 to see your Gators play The Citadel? How about paying a personal seat license fee just to have the right to pay for your tickets? How about pay per view football? These kids are getting the opportunity of a lifetime at no charge . That's enough.
George......I'm not talking about $25,000 worth of stipends. I am just saying with all of that money they help to bring in there should be a quarterly $1,500.00 stipend that enables these inner city kids to enjoy the college life. With all of the demands of major CFB you think they have time to work at Pizza Hut??
George, Like I mentioned it is just a rambling thought process after reading the above mentioned article that once again brings to light the Mega money today's football colleges are playing with. One thing that is quite obvious is the fact that the dollar figures are getting higher and are close to the GNP of most small countrys. I am not talking about putting the kids on a payroll type of activity but we all know that if they fart sideways in an effort to make a few bucks they are quickly herded off by the NCAA nazis. Yes they are given a great opportunity with a chance at a scholarship but we can say the same about any other kid who gets an academic scholarship from the Kiwanis club. At my sons graduation in May from high school there were several kids who walked out of the room with up to $60k in scholarships. What is the difference between the two kids in this instance. The academic student has the responsability to get good grades in private. The athletic student must get good grades, practice his butt off, accept the fact that the media might hound him and oh by the way he could end up like the poor kid from Rutgers or at the very least only blow out his knee. And he is severely regulated in how he can get a job to make a few bucks. The academic student can work anywhere at anytime during his stay at college. Yes the game would be changed but we are quietly ignoring the fact that it has already changed and has been for several years. We don't hear figures in millions anymore it is hundreds of millions of dollars. This type of money changes attitudes of university presidents on down to the guy holding the down markers. Truths become shady and the obvious is overlooked when this kind of money is involved.
Dave you know that ACLU, Title IX, Womens Rights, NOW, etc will jump all over that and force colleges to pay women (and men) in non-revenue sports the same amount of money as Football players. Not to mention most of the Ath Depts in the country are in the red already. Plus please cry me a river for college football players getting a free ride including room and board for playing football. Boo Hoo they can't really enjoy the college experience, I'll tell you there are a ton of kids who instead of going to practice are working their asses off in a different way just to pay rent and tuition and eating raman noodles most of the time...who's crying for those kids?
Title IX is just the beginning. Once you pay them, they become employees. Work related injuries would then be covered by Workers Compensation laws. Players sustaining serious injuries could be entitled to lifetime compensation. But that's not the worst. Players will vote for a collective bargaining unit (a union.) All of a sudden $1,500 a mo. is just not enough. Work stopages. No games. Once you let that genie out of the bottle, it's over.
Another reason that athletic schollies are different from academic is today Jacory Harris was voted most disappointing college football player in 2010 by espn. Now no matter how true this may be (Lord knows my stomach acid may never stop burning :shock: ) this is on par with a paid proffessional athlete. A 20 year old should never hear something like this on the national scene. Putting this another way what if I would have heard this while attending college, I may have headed into a downward slide and become a farmer...... :shock: Oh snap!!!