New York Times on Sam Keller/EA Lawsuit: "It's about much more than video games"

[UniversityofArizona]

what about the players who want to play football and earn their way into the nfl but have no interest in the education?

for many of these athletes the school side of the issue is a burden and not a benefit

for many of the students around them the educational side can suffer because coaches and professors are hooking them up with easier grades and coming up with bogus classes with little educational value

how many thousands upon thousands of athletes have never gotten a shot at
the sport they love because they didn't have the gpa or an interest in school?
lets be real. should they be punished for life when there are no other practical routes for athletes to take

btw if the education were really that valuable to the athletes or their coaches, athletic graduation rates at many of these schools including my own would not be so damn awful

the sport is all about money (just look at conference expansion), and what these kids can offer the university which is why they get scholarships in the first place because the benefits far outweigh the costs for both the schools and the ncaa

personally i believe if you want true amateurism in college sports there needs to be minor league systems for football and basketball and have universities stop giving out athletic scholarships so that these places can actually focus on giving more deserving students "that great education"

i feel if athletes in college paid their own way or earned academic scholarships then that would truly bring back the amateurism everyone seems to believe should exist in collegiate sports

finally, whats so bad about having a european soccer style league play where
the best 2 teams from the bottom league replace the worst 2 teams from the top league every year in a way that all of a sudden makes the clippers or lions of the world try a little bit harder.

[BaseballCtchr]

You are saying pay just the players that make the school money....you just took a huge dump on Title IX. This would never fly just because of that. You could pay the whole football and men's basketball team and it would still violate Title IX.

I say men's because in most all cases the women's team is not making the school money.

[PioneerRaptor]

Quote: Originally Posted by Baughn3

And why are they ahead of you if both you and the player have a degree?

Oh, I don't know, probably the fact that to get a degree I would have to take out student loans and therefore be in debt before and after I even graduate, something these student athletes won't.

[Jr.]

Quote: Originally Posted by PioneerRaptor

Oh, I don't know, probably the fact that to get a degree I would have to take out student loans and therefore be in debt before and after I even graduate, something these student athletes won't.

Oh I gotcha. I thought you were talking about job or career opportunities.

[Jr.]

Quote: Originally Posted by BaseballCtchr

You are saying pay just the players that make the school money....you just took a huge dump on Title IX. This would never fly just because of that. You could pay the whole football and men's basketball team and it would still violate Title IX. I say men's because in most all cases the women's team is not making the school money.

Title IX is a whole other discussion, but it deals with equal opportunity from the schools themselves. Because I am saying that boosters, etc. (who are not officially affiliated with the schools they donate to) be allowed to pay players, Title IX has nothing to do with it. If Title IX was involved with this, then USC would've had their athletic department dismantled for the Reggie Bush/OJ Mayo scandal for failing to follow Title IX because he was receiving extra benefits and there wasn't a woman athlete being compensated equally

[PioneerRaptor]

Quote: Originally Posted by Baughn3

Oh I gotcha. I thought you were talking about job or career opportunities.

In that case you'd be correct. Neither would have the advantage. They're advantage lies in the fact that they are able to get a degree without debt.

[CuseGirl]

How are they using "player likenesses" when the equipment, jerseys, the number itself doesn't belong to the player? A school can dress any pair of players, on offense and defense respectively, with the same number.

[CuseGirl]

Quote: Originally Posted by Baughn3

I don't think it's ever going to go back to that unless the superconferences that are coming separate themselves from the NCAA and start their own minor league-type system for the NFL. There's no way to stop boosters, agents, and their runners from paying athletes that are willing to take the money, so why not make it legal?

I dont kno why they haven't started a minor-league yet for the NFL. Then we can stop worrying about athletes getting benefits on top of getting free education.

That's the real issue here. College football and basketball (as opposed to baseball) forcefully put non-scholarly people together in a forum with those who want to educate themselves. And the bottomline is, both groups have a sense of entitlement and want the rules in their favor. Athletes feel entitled because they're physically gifted and they've been put on a pedestal all their life since age 12. The scholarly types are upset because they've been busting their butt in the classroom all their life, getting no pats on the back for it and now have to pay between 50 and 200 grand to educate themselves further and that's if they want a half-decent job.

Those two groups have no business being together and they need to be separated.