General Sports Talk

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

It seems like everyone would win. Schools get their money, players get to play without having to pretend to be students, teams get to train their players their way.

Can you explain how everybody would win? If you take money away from one place it would have to be replaced by money from another place. It seems to me that by changing the system to a way that I believe you are describing, it would cost the NFL and its owners a lot more money.

There is a very good reason why the NFL doesn't want 17- and 18-year-olds playing in their league.
As a former Giants ticket holder, I paid enough for the privilege of watching the games. There is no way I'd fork over more to fund a minor league system.
College football is not a minor league. It is a different league. Less than 2% of college football players sign with an NFL team, and most of them won't appear in a single game. The 98% who don't get a shot at the pros still benefit greatly from their football careers.

Quote: DRich

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

It seems like everyone would win. Schools get their money, players get to play without having to pretend to be students, teams get to train their players their way.

Can you explain how everybody would win? If you take money away from one place it would have to be replaced by money from another place. It seems to me that by changing the system to a way that I believe you are describing, it would cost the NFL and its owners a lot more money.
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It wouldn't because those college teams are already profitable. So the deal with the school would be you get all that revenue minus expenses, so it stays the same, and all the NFL organization would have to pay for is minor league salaries for players and coaches, which doesn't amount to very much and is a bargain for those teams if in return they get control of those players. The change could be transparent to the fans, as they're seeing the same team, same livery, playing in the same place against the same opponents.

deleted - sorry - put it in the wrong place - moved it to "sports betting chatter"

Quote: lilredrooster

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Hearing them speak, their behavior, their lives in general I would place them academically around where I was in 5th grade.

you are stereotyping athletes as being dumb
that's not fair and not correct
some are but of course not all
because you can play ball that doesn't mean that you don't have a brain

.
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To quote a Gin Blossoms song, "If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down."

Unless they attend and/or graduate from one of small number of select colleges, I always assume certain collegiate athletes are dumb jocks, capable of nothing more than saying and doing dumb jock things. That way, I won't be disappointed if that's what they turn out to be. I, however, am open to changing my mind based on thier actions and words.

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: lilredrooster

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Hearing them speak, their behavior, their lives in general I would place them academically around where I was in 5th grade.

you are stereotyping athletes as being dumb
that's not fair and not correct
some are but of course not all
because you can play ball that doesn't mean that you don't have a brain

.
link to original post

To quote a Gin Blossoms song, "If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down."

Unless they attend and/or graduate from one of small number of select colleges, I always assume certain collegiate athletes are dumb jocks, capable of nothing more than saying and doing dumb jock things. That way, I won't be disappointed if that's what they turn out to be. I, however, am open to changing my mind based on thier actions and words.
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There are always exceptions


Myron L. Rolle is an American pediatric neurosurgeon and former professional football safety. He played college football at Florida State, and was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL draft.

Quote: DRich

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: lilredrooster

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Hearing them speak, their behavior, their lives in general I would place them academically around where I was in 5th grade.

you are stereotyping athletes as being dumb
that's not fair and not correct
some are but of course not all
because you can play ball that doesn't mean that you don't have a brain

.
link to original post

To quote a Gin Blossoms song, "If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down."

Unless they attend and/or graduate from one of small number of select colleges, I always assume certain collegiate athletes are dumb jocks, capable of nothing more than saying and doing dumb jock things. That way, I won't be disappointed if that's what they turn out to be. I, however, am open to changing my mind based on thier actions and words.
link to original post

There are always exceptions


Myron L. Rolle is an American pediatric neurosurgeon and former professional football safety. He played college football at Florida State, and was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL draft.
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Exception that proves the rule. He interviewed for his Rhodes Scholarship on a Saturday, missing a game. The Rhodes people selected the date and time and that's the date. No rescheduling or do-overs. When he interviewed with teams at the combine, they all asked if if he thought he let the team down by missing a game, or asked him what his teammates thought of him missing a game for the Rhodes interview. In other words, a bunch of dumb jock coaches not able to fathom a world of academia outside of football. Dumb jocks the lot of them. Non-dumb jocks would've supported him and praised his accomplishment.

Not only that, did his resdiency here in Boston at Mass General Hospital!

In what ways are college football players at Ohio State or Arizona State not professionals? They are paid $100K+ per year, sign a contract and spend most of their time on football. They have strength training, training tables to eat at, sport-only dormitories, are flown to games, etc. They have curfews, have to follow rules about attending practices and how they spend their time. Does anyone hang onto the obsolete viewpoint that these guys are amateurs?

Unless it has changed very recently, most states consider NCAA athletes to be amateurs who are not employees of the school and are not eligible for employee benefits or workers' comp. I think they are outdated, but their opinion matters a bit more.

Quote: billryan

Unless it has changed very recently, most states consider NCAA athletes to be amateurs who are not employees of the school and are not eligible for employee benefits or workers' comp. I think they are outdated, but their opinion matters a bit more.
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Sure, they're amateurs, like Soviet and Eastern Bloc Olympians in 1972 were amateurs.

What we learned back then, is that the terms "amateur" and "professional" have as much to do with the economic system you are living under as what you actually are. When the modern Olympics were instituted there were no Communist countries, few professional athletes and the concept of professional sports carried a taint of gambling and corruption. In the more modern US we had a vibrant professional sports culture, it wasn't especially corrupt, and we knew exactly who the professional hockey and basketball players, and the pro boxers were.

So as the economics of "college" sports have changed, so must the definition of who is a professional. It's no big deal, we didn't ruin the Olympics by letting professionals compete.