Paying college players will ruin the game
This is a piece I wrote today for CNBC.com based on some fascinating results to the CNBC All America Poll.
But before you read the piece, I have some important additions to my argument that are especially catered to the readers of this blog:
1) With the shrinking admission rates to the virtually impossible place they are now for Columbia at 6%, one could argue that the only college athletes really getting fairly compensated are Ivy athletes. That's because not only do they get admission to the elite-and-impossible-to-get-into college, but they also have to take real courses. Thus, future employers know their degree is real. That's unlike the degrees athletes at schools like North Carolina get which may or may not be completely bogus based on the flimsy standards and sanctioned cheating systems in place.
2) It angers me that the people who scream the loudest about those scandals and the phony educations athletes at big-time schools receive are also the people who either pay no attention to Ivy League sports or denigrate it at every turn. I realize some may be angry that I called the quality of Ivy League football and men's basketball inferior to the games you see in the big-time conferences, but c'mon folks... we know it's true and we know we take that as a trade-off for a much greater purpose. Anyone who thinks that makes me a less committed Ivy fan is kidding himself.
3) Let's say college athletes end up winning the right to be paid. Even if that happens, I STILL say any student-athlete with the grades good enough to get into an Ivy should go Ivy unless we're talking about someone who's going to be drafted after a year or maybe two in school. Throwing away admission to an Ivy is dumb move for 99.999% of the athletes who choose to do so. A mind and a secure future is a terrible thing to waste.
6 comments:
Jake: excellent editorial and I agree completely. But Ivy admissions are just so difficult now- kid has a "C" on his high school report and he is in trouble. Most Ivy admissions still decline athletes, even if they qualify in a certain band- Cornell is a major offender, and look what has happened to their football program. I hope that our admissions goes 100% to support Bagnoli.
I guess the answer is to boost the importance of the standardized tests, which I generally deplore, but at least athletes have many chances to boost their scores.
I would assume that Columbia accepts any football player that qualifies within each band. Can't imagine that the admissions office gives the football program a hard time.
Jake,
I feel that the school should provide all of the meals for the athletes year round. Can you imagine how much Nico eats when he's running and lifting on a regular basis. Try feeding a 19/20 young man that weighs 260+ and lifts 5,000 # a day. Not sure he can
be happy with cafeteria scrambled hamburg and watery mashed potatoes. I"m sure the kid could down a 16 oz. steak with all the trimmings 3 or 4 times a week.
If the school can not provide that,
I am in favor of "food money" to help out these kids so that their parents don't have to kick in extra food money every week.
Sadly, implementation of any plan would require big brother NCAA to be worse watch dogs than they are now.
Our cafeteria food is rated #3 in the country. Seriously.
That certainly wasnt true in the 70's so we spent alot of $ at Takome, Tom's, and the Gold Rail.
Post a Comment