Posted on 04/07/2014 1:48:32 PM PDT by RightGeek
Shabazz Napier, point guard for The University of Connecticut's men's basketball team, recently told reporters he understands why athletes at Northwestern need a union, as he sometimes has to go to bed "starving" because he cannot afford food.
"We as student athletes get utilized for what we do so well. We are definitely best to get a scholarship to our universities, but at the end of the day, that doesn't cover everything. We do have hungry nights that we don't have enough money to get food and sometimes money is needed," the senior told reporters. "I think, you know, Northwestern has an idea, and we'll see where it goes."
(Excerpt) Read more at ctmirror.org ...
It’s all about budgeting. It’s not always what you have coming in, it’s also what’s going out.
A number of of these athletes won’t ever learn this skill before garnering big money contracts and then end up being broke after having earned millions of dollars.
Actually Shabazz is insulting us by saying that being an elite college athlete is akin to living in Ethiopia.
Every bit as well as UF does.
They get meal money on the road and it is enough to keep them fed well.
Slippery slope here. Once unionized, there is no end to the amount of money they would want from the universities.
If NW unionizes, it would not surprise me to see the university shut down the sports programs. The university doesn’t need the money.
Actually they meet both criteria. Student athletes CAN’T reasonably relocate, NCAA rules say any move costs them a year of eligibility, and anyway any move will be to another school following NCAA rules. And there’s a clear wrong by an entity (NCAA not allowing them even a hint of compensation) that is supposed to be responsible for their well being (the rules supposedly are to keep them from getting exploited, but actually make it so they can’t be anything but exploited).
This is just another nail in the NCAA’s coffin. Their rules are dumb, their method of enforcement worse. It’s time for them to go.
Rooting for the Norks? Not too surprising for an IU fan. Wasn’t “Clappy” good enough to get IU to the NIT?
If they wanted to not go down a slippery slope then they shouldn’t have come up with such abusive rules. Compare the Johnny Manziel “punishment” with OSU’s “tattoogate” (and throw in how Reggie Bush lost his Heisman for good measure) and explain why the athletes shouldn’t unionize. They’re being treated like chattel. The colleges and NCAA brought this on themselves.
Going to bed hungry? Prove that.
My argument is as strong as anything that you have put out there.
Oh and now you lie about what he said. Past pathetic all the way to reprehensible.
Abusive? Oh please.
NCAA punishments are certainly inconsistent, but nobody is being abused.
Let’s lower the bar some more.
Pretty much, if Mr. Napier and the UConn men win tonight and since he is a senior, and has another month to go, he will do very well in the upcoming NBA draft.
Excuse me? Shabazz says he goes hungry at night, while Michelle Obama says we are too fat.
Can't you see the irony.
He said it. Others have said it. The UConn statement shows it’s a possibility (they don’t have a special caf, they get access to the same one the rest of the student body gets, “maximum allowed by NCAA rules”). If you don’t believe it too bad.
You sure as heck won’t hear any Kentucky player saying it.
There’s a bunch of Penn State fans (and OSU fans, and USC fans) that see a lot of abuse there. The big problem is it take the NCAA years to “investigate” so by the time they lay down a punishment none of the people being punished are actually the ones who did the crime. Not lowering any bar, actually trying to RAISE the bar, put college sports under a rule system that’s consistent and makes sense.
I wouldn’t bet on that. Most of the time these discussions happen when they’ve been pros for a couple of years, they’re giving some in depth interview and the interviewer brings up the ever popular “hardship” question.
I have a friend, a former college basketball player, who says he got free meals at the school cafeteria via his scholarship.
It’s hard to believe the sports program DOESN’T provide free meals.
Let me guess. You’ve never been to Storrs, CT. Right?
There’s NOTHING there. NOTHING. Beyond the UConn campus, I don’t think there’s even a traffic light.
Storrs, has a Dominos Pizza.
I guess Shabazz couldn't pool his money with his dorm mates, if they got a munchie attack late at night.
I can’t comment on his assertion but keep in mind, athletes at this level probably burn 8000-10,000 calories a day.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.