College Football Should Be Banned

Discussion in 'Other Sports' started by XO, May 8, 2012.

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  1. Titans Eternal

    Titans Eternal Got the swagger of a cripple

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    I mean, I agree. The two need each other. But really, who has the power in that situation? Sure as f#ck isn't colleges. What kind of repercussion could it have on the NFL? Will college players suddenly decide they won't go to the NFL?

    Dem Arena checks is str8 cash.
     
  2. jplusip

    jplusip Pro Bowler

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    About as demanding as it is for any other student athlete, which is less demanding than having to work 40 hours a week to pay your way through school.
     
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  3. XO

    XO Nevada Native

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    Except many schools are in the red and do not see a profit from football. Many lose money. Not everyone is Alabama and Tennessee. Schools are pouring millions into the these programs that could be better spent in the classroom.

    I went to UTK and was just as in love with the Vols as everyone else (still am). I saw what many players got away with because of the sports they played. Hell I smoked weed with a few of the football players. Not that it matters, weed should be legal lol but we can save that for another thread.

    Point being the university is not pushing these kids in the door with the altruistic thought of providing an education to these kids. Kids who can barely make it through the personal information section of the ACT can suddenly be eligible to attend a major university because they can catch a football are nothing but $$$$ to the school. Sure it is great they are getting this opportunity but honestly what are they really getting?

    A yearly scholarship that does not have be renewed. If he suddenly can't catch the football as well as we hoped then it is back to the ghetto.

    Better yet if he is a superstar we can further sweep his academic inadequacies under the rug in addition to whatever trouble he may get in. He can catch a football right? Things that would get your regular student expelled immediately become acceptable because of $$$$$.

    I am in social work. After UT I moved to Montgomery, AL where I work with inner city kids. I spend 50+ hours a week in neighborhoods that honestly resemble a war zone.
    Most of these kids come from backgrounds that make me wonder how they even manage to get out of bed everyday.

    I had a student at one of the centers I work at who was one of the most gifted basketball players I have ever seen in person. This kid had CP3 skill at the PG spot. He was just naturally gifted. He was also a gang member who was fighting a meth addiction.

    Enter the University of Alabama

    Our students played only to practice really. We sometimes held scrimmages against local high schools but mainly it is just for fun. The kid started receiving phone calls from UA. Recruiters started blowing up our phones requesting to visit with him.

    I was immediately against the idea knowing what this kid was already struggling with. He was kicked out of high school in the 9th grade and had only recently managed to complete the requirements necessary to qualify to take the high school graduation exams. He was still reading on about a 3rd grade level and mathematics was all but a foreign language to him.

    Of course once UA showed interest in him there was no turning back in his mind and who could blame him? Except he was not ready and they were setting him up to fail but they did not give a damn. We worked for weeks preparing him to take his ACT. UA claimed he needed at least a 21 to be eligible for a scholarship and I knew from his practice test that he wouldn't get anywhere near that.
    A week before he was scheduled to take his ACT we received a call from UA stating someone would be coming to pick the student up and he would be taking his ACT in Birmingham. Strange...

    I got his results back two weeks later and SURPRISE the young man scored a 22. Now I would love to believe I can work miracles and suddenly he went from being a 3rd grader educationally to a college freshman overnight but I knew better. I had his scores and I knew what he was actually capable of.

    We had staff members beg this young man not to go. He needed to stay and continue to work with us and was not even close to being ready for what was about to be put in front of him. I had many conversations with the administration at UA about the kid they were about to take on. They did not care. They kept saying he would be taken care of and that the university would provide him with all of the help he needed.

    He accepted the scholarship to UA and was enrolled in summer classes to prepare to play basketball in the fall. This young man was on campus TWO WEEKS before relapsing and being caught with drugs. He was dismissed from the university and was sent back home on a greyhound bus. UA managed to sweep all of this under the rug. The papers did not pick the story up, nobody blogged about him. It was embarrassing to the university and this story was not getting out.

    Our program could not offer him anything else unfortunately and he immediately went back to the life he knew. A couple months later he was arrested for robbing a grocery store at gunpoint.

    Now if we had been given an opportunity to do our job and mold this kid into someone who had a chance in this world perhaps he wouldn't be behind bars today. We had him on a course where he would get to attend a local community college and he would have gotten the one on one help from us that he desperately needed. He was surrounded by a fantastic support system that held him accountable and made sure he kept working toward his goals. Drugs were not even an issue when we worked with him.

    That university did not care. They saw a basketball player and $$$. The young man made his own choices and they were bad ones once he made it to UA. That much is on him. I know he had zero chance of succeeding in that environment and told the university upfront. The university was well aware of his situation and the attention that he required. They did nothing to help him be successful at UA except alter his ACT scores (not proven but come on) and hand him a basketball.

    This was just one case I personally witnessed. Multiply it by every major university in the country and you see what is happening in collegiate athletics.
     
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  4. JCBRAVE

    JCBRAVE goTitans 2019 Survivor Champion

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    IDK which is harder. I've been in both camps, and I can say neither is easy.

    For me, taking two 2 hour classes in the mornings everyday then working 9 hour shifts after, and having hours of homework was a b*tch, but at least I was able to get 2 days off to relax/catchup on school work.

    Playing football you're lucky if you get one full day to recover during the season. That's tough, both physically and mentally.
     
  5. XO

    XO Nevada Native

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    Don't get me wrong. I love the game. I love Tennessee. I just see it differently and I think we can all agree that CFB is a completely different animal in the south. I think it can be improved. Remove the rules forcing athletes to attend school for a certain length of time before going pro. Force the NFL's hand and make them create their own minor league. Make them stop using the NCAA as a farm league. Make any 18 year old eligible for the draft. If they are not ready to go pro they can enter a minor league or attend school for a year or so (if they are actually academically prepared to do so). Give them the CHOICE. CFB would quickly return to a game for amateurs. I think it would be a better game.

    These systems work for baseball and in other sports. The way soccer works in Europe is a great example. Not perfect by any stretch because they have their own problems within that system... but it is better than what what we currently have.
     
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  6. jplusip

    jplusip Pro Bowler

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    According to you this kid was at UA for two weeks. Are you telling me that in these two weeks he was completely derailed from everything you guys had done? That in these two weeks some miracle would have happened had he remained with you? Why couldn't he go to community college after his two week stint at UA? Why were two weeks enough to completely derail everything in this kid's life?


    As for your point, these things certainly happen, and I would never say they don't. Some students also obviously get paid and get away with it (see Scam Cam). But then again, a lot of student athletes also get a golden opportunity they otherwise would not have had. A lot of college programs are able to keep their tuition under control as their sports program succeed. No, every school isn't University of Alabama or University of Oregon or something of that nature. But the Universities of Alabama and the Universities of Oregon do exist, and they do provide an education and often provide educations to people who would have otherwise missed out on them due to their sports programs. Some, likely not the majority, have no place in the academic world and are merely at college as a pit stop between high school and pro level sports, sure. But a lot of people get a solid opportunity thanks to collegiate sports, and to do away with them doesn't help or hurt those like the young man you referenced, but it would hurt all of the others. What you and your articles suggest is akin to cutting one's nose off to spite their face.

    Also, my condolences for your living in Montgomery. I have family there and it is truly one of the worst festering snake pits in the world. Especially that little slice of hell called South Blvd.
     
  7. XO

    XO Nevada Native

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    It really is an awful place but it is also a good place to be if you are in my line of work. A lot of people in need here.

    I should be back in Tennessee this year thought.
     
  8. XO

    XO Nevada Native

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    The young man could not enter back into the program that I am part of once he removed himself from it. That was his choice though. As are the mistakes he made after that.

    Point being if a minor league system was in place and the years of mandatory college attendance were removed the system could work better. The professional side could be removed from the NCAA and we could return to a better game. The large universities have pretty much turned in to NFL factories. That is not college football.

    Fans are no longer following these schools as academic institutions. They have become football franchises themselves.

    Another solution would be to separate these football programs from their universities. Develop a club system. Just go ahead and make them what they already are.
     
  9. Alex1939

    Alex1939 Space Invaders Champion

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    How often does this really happen?

    From what I had recently heard/read, even if a player is a major underachiever or gets injured, scholarships are rarely revoked.
     
  10. Alex1939

    Alex1939 Space Invaders Champion

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    They already have a choice. It's called Arena or Canada.
     
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