Geo Baker Tweet

[Shelby65]

The NCAA is responsible for fair competition. Things will get real shady real fast if recruits go to the highest bidders for their 'name and likeness' merchandise. Mr. Williamson, come to Notre Dame and I will be happy to pay you a million for your autograph.

For every Texas and USC there are 20 other universities who will have no chance at top recruits and fair competition.

As was stated, every athlete knows the eligibility rules. It's not slavery. It's a choice.

 

[fluoxetine]

Why would anyone at that point watch inferior pro players?

Why do you watch them now?

 

[mildone_rivals]

Actually, I don't. I think his mindset is not about winning. Its about how he's not making money. I think he's just looking at it like an unpaid internship that he's dissatisfied with. Its just a job at this point.

You think people can’t care about more than one thing at a time?

So pro players don’t care about winning? Michael Jordan didn’t care about winning while negotiating his contract?

 

[Caliknight]

Why do you watch them now?

They play for my school. Why else?

 

[fluoxetine]

They play for my school. Why else?

So then that's why you would watch them if they changed some rules, you know?

 

[fluoxetine]

You think people can’t care about more than one thing at a time?

So pro players don’t care about winning? Michael Jordan didn’t care about winning while negotiating his contract?

Negotiating a contract? There's a season coming up! Should he be concentrating on basketball??? Jordan sucks.

 

[mildone_rivals]

The NCAA is responsible for fair competition. Things will get real shady real fast if recruits go to the highest bidders for their 'name and likeness' merchandise. Mr. Williamson, come to Notre Dame and I will be happy to pay you a million for your autograph.

For every Texas and USC there are 20 other universities who will have no chance at top recruits and fair competition.

As was stated, every athlete knows the eligibility rules. It's not slavery. It's a choice.

The rules can be modified, if necessary, to prevent schools from paying players anything. The rules can state that only sources with no interest in the outcomes of the competition in which the player competes can pay the players for their name and likeness. The NCAA can pay the players, not the schools.

 

[Caliknight]

So then that's why you would watch them if they changed some rules, you know?

Right. At that point it’s professional. And as such it’s inferior. It’s a little more than changing some rules. Besides. rules that professionalize college sports will have Rutgers getting its *** kicked again all over the place. We don’t have the stomach for that type of commitment it would take.

 

[mildone_rivals]

Negotiating a contract? There's a season coming up! Should he be concentrating on basketball??? Jordan sucks.

Clearly all he cared about was money. What a loser he was.

 

[AshCatchEm]

Geo probably is coming back. Particularly if his movement takes off and the NCAA changes their tune by July 2021, as his group is advocating for. If his group achieves success, he will be elected head of the NCAA player's union!!!! GO RU!!!

God I hope not. I do not want to listen to any of this next year. I want to watch basketball.

 

[Shelby65]

mildone...that's not what the athletes are after. they want free market opportunity.

 

[Pancho1939_rivals]

At the end of the day, NIL is coming. NCAA should say just do it. And be done with it. Then do whatever they can to level the playing field amongst all schools. Put a cap on coaching salaries, put a cap on scholarship funds, cap on travel, even the playing field as much as possible for all schools. Control what you can control.

The issue is the NCAA is in a no win. No matter what they achange this year, the players will want more next year. If they dont get it a new Geo Baker will be on twitter saying they are the NCAAs "property." They say they want NIL but once they get it they will want something else. This is how this works.

 

[bitnez]

Literally no one does this with anything, that's what makes so many of the posts in this thread absurd.

Agree to disagree. There are a lot of very successful people that don't have a balanced life. I'm not saying it's the only way. In fact, I acknowledged as much, but "literally no one" isn't accurate.

 

[Pancho1939_rivals]

mildone...that's not what the athletes are after. they want free market opportunity.

no no no no they dont want a free market.... They want NIL NOW. Tomorrow when Baker and people like him realize they wont get paid what they think they will get paid, they will go directly to the NCAA and Universities to get paid a salary from them because again the NCAA made 900M of his labor.

Wait until the women's teams realizes no one wants to pay them NIL. They will then go to the universities' and NCAA to get paid because the men do. Even though the men will get NIL, the women will still say it is unfair and the NCAA or universities' need to step in to compensate for the sexist ills of society.....

Remember 2016 cost of living came out? Was that enough? Did the players say great we are getting a stipend to offset the fact that we play a demanding sport and have no time to get a job.... nope now we want NIL, tomorrow will be paychecks.

 

[fluoxetine]

Agree to disagree. There are a lot of very successful people that don't have a balanced life. I'm not saying it's the only way. In fact, I acknowledged as much, but "literally no one" isn't accurate.

No, literally no one.

There is a huge difference between "living a balanced life" and "not having time to send some tweets".

 

[bitnez]

No, literally no one.

There is a huge difference between "living a balanced life" and "not having time to send some tweets".

So let me turn it around -- why do you think this is just sending some tweets? He took leadership of a growing movement. It's becoming a big story. You think he just sent some tweets and forgot about the whole thing? No way. He cares deeply about this, and I'm not even saying that's a bad thing. But, to simply dismiss Geo's involvement as "some tweets" seems to minimize what he's trying to do here.

 

[flyrradio]

The fact that it has generated this much of a response means Geo is right. Truth hurts especially when it's called out.

I applaud him for being vocal knowing it won't help him but help future student-athletes.

 

[MLBash93]

Now Luke Nathan is invovled, ugh oh and @JayRU09 is just foaming at the mouth for these guys...

 

[mildone_rivals]

God I hope not. I do not want to listen to any of this next year. I want to watch basketball.

I don’t understand this. Nobody is forcing you to listen to what any of the players tweet.

 

[mildone_rivals]

mildone...that's not what the athletes are after. they want free market opportunity.

I don’t think it’s possible to know what all players are after. Regardless, it seems possible to give players control of their name and likeness, or at least give them a cut of the sale of same, without upending NCAA basketball entirely.

There‘s no reason to throw out the baby with the bath water here. As with most things, the best solutions require some compromise from each side’s ideal.

 

[Shelby65]

Companies own the intellectual property created by their employees. Employees are entitled to some proceeds thru company policies, but they do not own it.

This is the same principle. They are free to leave and do what The Professor does. On his own and without the university and NCAA constraints.

 

[AshCatchEm]

I don’t understand this. Nobody is forcing you to listen to what any of the players tweet.

Yea except geo cause this ******** is literally the only thing being talked about right now instead of our turnaround. Very selfish

 

[RUsojo]

Not the college paying the players directly. But you could easily have a basketball player give a speech or host to camp and a donor pays a half $1 million to host at camp or that speech wink wink. Who has the richest donors that care the most about basketball and football Duke Oklahoma Alabama etc. You create 20 teams that are basically the Yankees of college sports and then everybody else that system sounds like it sucks

So you’re admitting to players value being a lot more.

Anyway, there is already dominance in college athletics based on investment and that ALREADY includes booster money.

 

[Shelby65]

any move to allow payment is a recipe for competitive imbalance in very short order.

 

[flyrradio]

Yea except geo cause this ******** is literally the only thing being talked about right now instead of our turnaround. Very selfish

A turnaround of which he was instrumental in helping with? It doesn't work just one way. You've cared about the turnaround, so you should care about the sacrifice and the hypocritical restrictions on athletes as compared to other students who have scholarships.

 

[flyrradio]

any move to allow payment is a recipe for competitive imbalance in very short order.

Show me where the competitive balance was to begin with? Each school has the ability to build new facilities and hire coaches so that's not a good argument either.

 

[JFK20]

32 hours to game time and this is a 14 page thread...can we get back to hoops?

How about the team gets back to hoops first?

 

[AshCatchEm]

A turnaround of which he was instrumental in helping with? It doesn't work just one way. You've cared about the turnaround, so you should care about the sacrifice and the hypocritical restrictions on athletes as compared to other students who have scholarships.

Yea he's not why we are in the tournament. Jacob young is. And it was a team effort yet he has made all the pregame talk about himself.

Bottom line is if we lose tomorrow, baker is gonna get audibly booed if he's introduced at a game next year. I'll be one of many fans contributing.

 

[flyrradio]

Yea he's not why we are in the tournament. Jacob young is. And it was a team effort yet he has made all the pregame talk about himself.

Bottom line is if we lose tomorrow, baker is gonna get audibly booed if he's introduced at a game next year. I'll be one of many fans contributing.

And he's not why they would have been in the tournament last year?

Can we come to your office and boo you? At least your getting paid to do it.

 

[HPNJRUfan]

 

[sunsetregret]

Why? What’s wrong with now? And I’m not understanding what you mean by “place”. What place do you mean?

It's because if there was ever going to be a time where the entire Rutgers Basketball fanbase was unified and supportive, it was now ... and he (and RHJ) elected to use this period of unique unity and be divisive by pushing one side of a divisive issue. Additionally, it solidifies the perception of some in the fanbase (rightly or wrongly) that these kids are not 100% focused on winning basketball games.

They took a moment that will come around every 30 years or so and pissed it away to push politics.

 

[fluoxetine]

It's because if there was ever going to be a time where the entire Rutgers Basketball fanbase was unified and supportive, it was now ... and he (and RHJ) elected to use this period of unique unity and be divisive by pushing one side of a divisive issue. Additionally, it solidifies the perception of some in the fanbase (rightly or wrongly) that these kids are not 100% focused on winning basketball games.

They took a moment that will come around every 30 years or so and pissed it away to push politics.

They rightly don't give a **** what you think and why should they?

 

[AshCatchEm]

And he's not why they would have been in the tournament last year?

Can we come to your office and boo you? At least your getting paid to do it.

So the tournament is a job and a chore now and not something basically every basketball player dreams of being a part of? I'd say 40k+ a year for education housing etc is plenty for playing a game of basketball. It's more than most make for half a year of work


If he had started spouting off leading up to last year's tournament I'd be saying the same. That it's a distraction.

 

[RutgHoops]

 

[sunsetregret]

They rightly don't give a **** what you think and why should they?

Because I'm the customer and the customer base is the entire reason the basketball program exists.

 

[RUNVA]

I wish Geo would save this conversation for when the tournament was over. All focus should be on stopping Nick Honor from embarrassing us again.

Agree, time and place for everything. Need to focus on the game.

 

[flyrradio]

So the tournament is a job and a chore now and not something basically every basketball player dreams of being a part of? I'd say 40k+ a year for education housing etc is plenty for playing a game of basketball. It's more than most make for half a year of work


If he had started spouting off leading up to last year's tournament I'd be saying the same. That it's a distraction.

I love the education and housing is enough payment argument. Why is that plenty? If any other non-athletic student has the opportunity to earn money off of their own accord, why is this ok? There are plenty of students who earn money playing e-sports (on top of which they have a scholarship to play for a university's e-sports program).

And how is it only half a year? They go through off-season trainings to be able to stay in shape in order to compete. We are talking about profiting off of themselves. Not looking for a cut of the revenue received from tickets or buying a hot dog, but from signing autographs or obtaining a sponsorship.

I'm sorry that back in the 60's, 70's and 80's players were "grateful to just play in the tournament." Perhaps those players didn't have the knowledge and the ability to advocate for themselves. These players do.

Please don't call yourself a Rutgers supporter if you're not truly supporting Rutgers and that includes supporting the development both on and off the court of these athletes.

 

[fluoxetine]

Because I'm the customer and the customer base is the entire reason the basketball program exists.

Customer?? I thought these were “amateur student athletes”

 

[AshCatchEm]

I love the education and housing is enough payment argument. Why is that plenty? If any other non-athletic student has the opportunity to earn money off of their own accord, why is this ok? There are plenty of students who earn money playing e-sports (on top of which they have a scholarship to play for a university's e-sports program).

And how is it only half a year? They go through off-season trainings to be able to stay in shape in order to compete. We are talking about profiting off of themselves. Not looking for a cut of the revenue received from tickets or buying a hot dog, but from signing autographs or obtaining a sponsorship.

I'm sorry that back in the 60's, 70's and 80's players were "grateful to just play in the tournament." Perhaps those players didn't have the knowledge and the ability to advocate for themselves. These players do.

Please don't call yourself a Rutgers supporter if you're not truly supporting Rutgers and that includes supporting the development both on and off the court of these athletes.

Don't call yourself a rutgers supporter if you are actively supporting something that would put our program and other smaller programs at a tremendous disadvantage to the blue blood schools. Quite frankly, I cannot handle how ignorant it makes you seem.

 

[flyrradio]

Because I'm the customer and the customer base is the entire reason the basketball program exists.

You're probably the person who also says "my taxes pay your salary" when you go in to complain at your town offices.

Newsflash: You're just a drop in the bucket.