Totally agree with this post! Certainly, an interesting argument can be made surrounding whether or not the current system is fair for the student-athlete but I don't see why any true fan would risk blowing up the entire system. If I'm being honest, I care more about the 'program' than the individual athlete. If you could promise me that nothing would change, in terms of how I am able to enjoy the product, than by all means pay these guys what they're worth.
Bring it all down and see what happens! Do education systems have ANY business running sports programs? On the college and university level? On the high school level? Perhaps it has become SO corrupt at EVERY level that the school systems and college and university systems should just focus on providing educations for all of their students. Perhaps football and basketball and all the non-revenue sports are distracting the schools from the challenges and the problems that they currently have actually teaching the children and young adults the basics of what they will need to earn a living.
Let the parents start worrying about the reading skills of their child rather than how much "love" the college coach will give their "gifted athletically...but...challenged academically four or five star high school fantasy football or basketball recruit..." Let the gambling industry, the professional sports franchise industry, the coaches, the administrators of the athletic departments, the fund-raising professionals who work for athletic departments, the ESPNs...the foxsportsnetworks and all the other programmers who rely on selling sports programming to the millions and millions of sports junkies worry about forming leagues and teams and kissing the butts of the athletes and parents of athletes that they will need to have their meal tickets punched and their lavish life styles provided for.
Maybe...just maybe, college sports have been exploited too much to possibly be saved.
At least, it appears some of the people on this board feel that the end is near and that having student athletes share in such basic facts of life as having concerns about their physical well-being, disability concerns with concussive disorders, having college football and college basketball coaches becoming too demanding and too dictating of their time, energy, and ability to BE a student by creating still more weight lifting, team meetings, film viewing sessions, all for the greater glory of their coaches futures in the coaching industry, ability to EARN those great incentives that the coaches have built into their contracts IF certain rankings are achieved, conference finishes are achieved, national championships are won, etc.
What the hell does any of this have to do with the basic charge of and purpose of a college...university...or even high school?
And since some of you people don't want the student athletes to have a seat at the table, I would say it is time to take the seats at the table away from the gambling industry, the coaching fraternity, the athletic administrators, the cable and television people and ALL THE REST of those people who so richly benefit from the people who play the games. This is a stinking business...a corrupt business. It has nothing to do with education OR games. It is all greed and all $$$$$ all of the time. Perhaps the feeding trough for the fat-cats...the "TABLE" so to speak must be overturned so that the schools and colleges and universities can worry about this little education problem that the United States appears to currently find itself in can better be attended to. Then all you people so incredibly afraid of giving a position of potentially equal power to the little people...the student athletes would not cause you so much distress, distrust, angst and misery.
