The LSU Student Athlete

MikeRafone

Freshman
Oct 5, 2011
4,238
53
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He's right. If they have the talent and want to go out of HS, let them. Sam Phillips didn't say, "Sorry Elvis, no college, no recording contract."

The D-League is in place, let the NBA finance it as it's own Minor League.
 

xgunnx

Redshirt
Oct 10, 2011
977
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The young man (not a kid) comes across as a arrogant ***. Although he did make a couple valid points.
 

DelawarEER

Redshirt
Jan 7, 2014
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Whenever I hear this argument from current/former college athletes I always think of the small percentage that go onto to NBA, NFL, etc and actually make money playing a professional sport. The other chunk of student athletes are typically grateful to get a college education completely free. And being on a college campus at WVU, these athletes always had the shoes, cars & clothes and looked completely fed. I'm apologize for not feeling sorry for them... after all you are a STUDENT-athlete.
 

coalcountry52

Senior
Oct 26, 2004
52,015
609
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Whenever I hear this argument from current/former college athletes I always think of the small percentage that go onto to NBA, NFL, etc and actually make money playing a professional sport. The other chunk of student athletes are typically grateful to get a college education completely free. And being on a college campus at WVU, these athletes always had the shoes, cars & clothes and looked completely fed. I'm apologize for not feeling sorry for them... after all you are a STUDENT-athlete.
I think that makes the point that if a kid wants to try Pro ball out of high school, why make them go to college where they aren't going to care about education? College isn't a D-league and the athletes should be there for an education.
 
Dec 17, 2007
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MLB doesn't make them go to college first to play. I can understand why the NFL has a limit, more an age limit I think. NHL has HS players direct to farm teams I believe. I know in Europe the Soccer (football) teams have their own academies where they take young teens in to groom for play.
 

coalcountry52

Senior
Oct 26, 2004
52,015
609
0
MLB doesn't make them go to college first to play. I can understand why the NFL has a limit, more an age limit I think. NHL has HS players direct to farm teams I believe. I know in Europe the Soccer (football) teams have their own academies where they take young teens in to groom for play.
You can go pro in baseball or not be drafted again until after three years in college. Why that isn't a thing in basketball is beyond me. I agree about football though.
 

torontoeers

Freshman
Nov 20, 2010
13,452
71
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MLB doesn't make them go to college first to play. I can understand why the NFL has a limit, more an age limit I think. NHL has HS players direct to farm teams I believe. I know in Europe the Soccer (football) teams have their own academies where they take young teens in to groom for play.
NHL 75% goes the 'Junior A' route which is essentially drafted by a Major Junior team (OHL, WHL , QMJHL....about 90% of the teams are up here...exception is Michigan with Saginaw, and Flint, ...Erie PA, and the Pacific Northwest, Spokane , Portland and Tri Cities ), at about 16 years old , they get boarding from a local city teams family and attend high school, once 18 their college education is paid for, whether they choose to do it at the time (unlikely) or have a choice to do it after their Junior experience is finished which many do, they also get a weekly stipend, with the elite players getting a small penance more, and they are allowed to work and earn whatever they can, although with homework and training I imagine that is difficult...about 10% actually get drafted. Or the NCAA hockey is now getting to be a very popular option...the players that come out of the NCAA system seem a bit more PRO ready off the hop as they don't graduate till at least 21-22 compared to the typical 18-19 for Major Junior...
That Euro soccer system is something else! plucking kids out of points everywhere before puberty in some cases!
 

xWVU2010x

All-Conference
Sep 3, 2006
138,425
4,629
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Colleges are not sports franchises. Phenoms shouldn't be required to attend or move to another country for a year before coming to the US to play. The OAD rule is ridiculous. For NCAAF it's even more ridiculous. They have zero choice and make no mistake about it a ton of these kids come from poverty and if they so much as accept a sandwich they get slut shamed by the school selling tickets too see them play. The whole thing is a joke, all of you traditionalists defending the current way of doing things need to open your eyes or at least google something every once in awhile, it couldn't be any more obviou$ as to why things are the way they are and nobody cares.
 

MikeRafone

Freshman
Oct 5, 2011
4,238
53
0
2010, the one caveat with football is an 18 year old isn't ready to butt heads with a guy ten years older than he is who is bigger, faster, and stronger. If they think concussions are bad, you'd likely have a kid or two killed every year trying to make the straight jump from HS to the NFL from head injuries and broken necks.

If the NFL wants to use the colleges as minor leagues, fine. Subsidize their football programs and pay the players. Scholarships could be an option for the kids wanting to take it or w/o a chance of making the NFL. The fans still get to root for good ol' State Tech, the NFL keeps it's defacto minor league, and the schools keep the ticket and bowl money.
 

xWVU2010x

All-Conference
Sep 3, 2006
138,425
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2010, the one caveat with football is an 18 year old isn't ready to butt heads with a guy ten years older than he is who is bigger, faster, and stronger. If they think concussions are bad, you'd likely have a kid or two killed every year trying to make the straight jump from HS to the NFL from head injuries and broken necks.

If the NFL wants to use the colleges as minor leagues, fine. Subsidize their football programs and pay the players. Scholarships could be an option for the kids wanting to take it or w/o a chance of making the NFL. The fans still get to root for good ol' State Tech, the NFL keeps it's defacto minor league, and the schools keep the ticket and bowl money.

I agree on the NFL front and I dont believe the correct course is to have 18 year olds to have the option to jump straight to the NFL (although Amobi Okoye due to extreme circumstances proved he was able to play in the NFL at age 19, but that IMO should be viewed as an exception not the rule). The NCAA just needs to gain some self awareness. The NFL has the luxury of these schools needing football to finance a lot of things so they do not "need" to do anything because the schools are going to keep their football programs and continue to sell tix/merch/solicit donations regardless. So the NCAA needs to let the free market happen and stop in many cases ruining people's lives. If Alabama and their fanbase wants to build an NFL caliber facility, pay their players, and a fan favorite emerges who can use his likeness to cash in on his own work, while Central Michigan wants to play in a High School stadium, pay nobody, and collect checks to give programs like Alabama one and done home games, then they need to let that happen. Stop villainizing players and coaches for doing what is best for themselves. Stop with the nonsense transfer rules. Stop with the outrageous requirements for players with money/classes/etc. All these things do is put money in the pocket of the people who deserve it least and nothing to help the players or programs..
 

DelawarEER

Redshirt
Jan 7, 2014
961
42
28
I agree on the NFL front and I dont believe the correct course is to have 18 year olds to have the option to jump straight to the NFL (although Amobi Okoye due to extreme circumstances proved he was able to play in the NFL at age 19, but that IMO should be viewed as an exception not the rule). The NCAA just needs to gain some self awareness. The NFL has the luxury of these schools needing football to finance a lot of things so they do not "need" to do anything because the schools are going to keep their football programs and continue to sell tix/merch/solicit donations regardless. So the NCAA needs to let the free market happen and stop in many cases ruining people's lives. If Alabama and their fanbase wants to build an NFL caliber facility, pay their players, and a fan favorite emerges who can use his likeness to cash in on his own work, while Central Michigan wants to play in a High School stadium, pay nobody, and collect checks to give programs like Alabama one and done home games, then they need to let that happen. Stop villainizing players and coaches for doing what is best for themselves. Stop with the nonsense transfer rules. Stop with the outrageous requirements for players with money/classes/etc. All these things do is put money in the pocket of the people who deserve it least and nothing to help the players or programs..


As I said previously, playing at a university for free is the same exact thing as being paid. That's not being a traditionalist, it's the facts.

Rather than getting money after every game, the players don't have any type of monetary burden after college (ie. student loans). Also, they can most certainly use the leverage of being a former college athlete to get jobs, sponsorships, endorsements, etc. Many companies target former college athletes fresh out of college.

You just can't have it both ways...
 

xWVU2010x

All-Conference
Sep 3, 2006
138,425
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As I said previously, playing at a university for free is the same exact thing as being paid. That's not being a traditionalist, it's the facts.

Rather than getting money after every game, the players don't have any type of monetary burden after college (ie. student loans). Also, they can most certainly use the leverage of being a former college athlete to get jobs, sponsorships, endorsements, etc. Many companies target former college athletes fresh out of college.

You just can't have it both ways...

That argument works if you're a swimmer, gymnast, track and field, or some other non revenue sport. It does not work when schools bank millions off of charging money to see you play a violent sport where your career can end at any time and you have say "thanks but no thanks" if someone wants to personally give you an endorsement deal. That said, if the same company wants to give the school money to put something on the shirt you wear while playing, then thats okay. Complete BS, you will never convince me otherwise.
 

xgunnx

Redshirt
Oct 10, 2011
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When or if it becomes common to pay these "star" STUDENT athletes then self supporting athletic programs will be unable to sustain themselves. Sure they pull in millions but also spend those same millions to keep afloat.

I'm not against a "x" amount of money for living expenses that matches with the current cost of living.
 

xWVU2010x

All-Conference
Sep 3, 2006
138,425
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When or if it becomes common to pay these "star" STUDENT athletes then self supporting athletic programs will be unable to sustain themselves. Sure they pull in millions but also spend those same millions to keep afloat.

I'm not against a "x" amount of money for living expenses that matches with the current cost of living.

Its a complete myth that colleges are losing money on sports or need the football program to stay in the "black". Its amazing how many of these poor cash strapped colleges somehow manage to pay your joe average 6-6 coach million dollar salaries, put up new stadiums and arenas, etc. Sure if you simply count ticket revenue + tv deals minus logistical expenses of the entire AD, you might land in the red. But these schools fail to properly count royalty dollars, admission spikes, donations, TV revenue etc when factoring in their bottom line since they are under no obligation to accurately report the incremental revenue, or what exactly is and is not AD revenue/expenses. I promise if people were legitimately losing money almost unanimously across the country (as it is reported) it wouldnt be the big sideshow that it currently is.