Posted on 02/03/2021 4:56:34 AM PST by Kaslin
Two young men grow up in the same neighborhood and spend four years together at the same high school taking the same classes from the same teachers and playing on the same winning football team.
Both are good students and dedicated, hardworking athletes. But one is a journeyman offensive lineman, while the other is an all-state quarterback.
In their senior year, they both decide they want to attend the same prestigious private university that plays in the Football Bowl Subdivision -- and where the tuition and board and room exceed $60,000 per year.
The university accepts them both. But the journeyman offensive lineman -- who was never recruited to play college football -- needs to find a way to come up with the $60,000-plus per year the school will cost.
The all-state quarterback gets a full ride to play on the university's football team.
Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, only 36 percent of Americans 25 and older as of 2019 had managed to earn a college degree. A significant majority -- 64 percent -- had not.
Among Americans who started as student athletes at a Division One college in 2013, 90 percent went on to earn a degree, according to the National Collegiate Athletics Association. Among student athletes who specifically played football at a Football Bowl Subdivision school, 81 percent went on the graduate.
Was that hypothetical high school quarterback who got a scholarship to play football at a Football Bowl Subdivision school where the tuition and fees exceeded $60,000 -- and where 81 percent of football players graduated -- a victim of exploitation?
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey seems to be claiming he was -- at the same time he proves he was not.
"This is one of the few industries in America that is allowed to exploit those who are responsible for generating most of the revenue," Booker told ESPN in December about major college sports.
"The NCAA has exploited generations of college athletes for its own personal financial gain by preventing athletes from earning any meaningful compensation and failing to keep the athletes under its charge healthy and safe," Booker was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
To repair this perceived evil, Booker joined with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut to introduce what they call The College Athletes Bill of Rights.
What would this "Bill of Rights" do?
"The most ambitious -- and likely the most contentious -- provision," reports The New York Times, "would require colleges to share the profits they make with the athletes who generate them. In sports where revenues exceed the cost of scholarships across an entire division -- at the moment that would be athletes who play football, men's and women's basketball and baseball -- the profits generated in each sport would be shared equally with the scholarship players."
But not with the walk-ons or with the players at schools -- or participating on sports teams -- that do not offer athletic scholarships.
What type of salary would a college athlete on a scholarship get under Booker's bill?
"Using data supplied by universities to the Department of Education, Booker said that would mean payments of $173,000 a year to football players, $115,600 to men's basketball players, $19,050 to women's basketball players and $8,670 to baseball players who are on full scholarship," The New York Times reported.
To make sure these salaries are paid and colleges fully comply with Booker's mandates, the law would also create a Commission on College Athletics. This commission would consist of nine presidential appointees and would have potentially sweeping powers.
Booker's bill states in part: "There is established a commission, to be known as the 'Commission on College Athletics,' for the following purposes: (1) To act for the benefit of all college athletes without regard to receipt of grant-in-aid. (2) To protect the economic interests of college athletes."
"This group, which would receive $50 million in taxpayer funding for its first two years, would take on a lot of the work of policing college sports," ESPN reported.
The New York Times noted it would also have the power to "ban individuals from working in college athletics."
Booker's bill says: "An enforcement action carried out by the Commission shall be construed as an enforcement action carried out by the Federal Government."
The fundamental flaw in Booker's approach to college athletics is that he looks at it as a financial transaction rather than an educational one.
Amateur college football often teaches young men more important lessons than they can learn in a lecture hall. Booker, who played on a scholarship at Stanford, seemed to explain this himself -- even as he was proposing his bill that would convert major college football into a professional game.
"I would not be where I am today without football," Booker wrote in Sports Illustrated last month.
"Football taught me about character, honor, leadership, discipline, grit and so much more," he said. "The men I played with, who coached me, believed in me, taught me and demanded from me, all shaped me in profound and indelible ways. I can never repay them or my sport for what it did for me."
Like other young men who are given a scholarship to attend college and play football there, Booker was not exploited. He was given a great and unique opportunity.
There is also no doubt that the opportunities for college students to learn through athletics would greatly diminish if Booker succeeded in forcing colleges to surrender half their athletic revenues to pay six-figure salaries to students playing those few sports that attract many paying fans.
I have a far simpler solution. End all athletic scholarships for college sports. Make them true amateurs again. If some poor kid wants to play for money, let them turn pro as soon as they can, stop the farce that these college kids are there for an “education”.
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Yes! This is exactly what needs to happen, then all these Woke Universities can make sure that they are only getting true “Student Athletes”. Everyone else who views the sport as a profession can go to a semi-pro league early or just enter the NFL like athletes do with the NBA and MLB.
“Two young men grow up in the same neighborhood...” Why not change Booker’s scenario to two children of different races. One gets into a better school and ends up with the better job because of his race. That seems like a bigger problem than rewarding athletic achievement and talent.
I used to be one of the world’s largest sports nuts. Watched everything that came on TV. I payed sports. I was a football, baseball, softball and basketball referee for over 25 years, doing high school both here in the States and in Germany. Also covered tons and tons of military sports games in my 20+ years in the Army. Countless games over those 25+ years. But NOW, I am done. I no longer watch the NFL, NBA, barely any MLB at all. Haven’t watched a complete game there in years. I do not watch college sports much any longer. A little football here and there. My school, Alabama, won the football championship. I didn’t even watch it. When Coach Bryant was there, I would not have missed a game. But, not any longer. I was watching some soccer. Now ESPN has the German and Italian leagues and don’t put much but lousy games on early Sunday a.m. Italian games. I have about had it with the English league and the kneel down before the game starts and the NBC bogus we love BLM mob. I don’t really give a crap if the whole mess crashes and burns a slow death. I DON’T CARE ANYMORE!!!! To hell with them. I am tired of them trying to tell me I am a racists and am finished with the whole mob. I’ll watch cartoons first.
Sounds like Spartacus Booker is asking for the creation of a minor league in football like baseball already has. There’s something to be said for removing fake degrees for fake students on football scholarships.
I agree.
Unlike pro football you don’t need to go to college to play major league baseball or hockey. Has there been a recent player who went straight from high school to the NFL? There are alternatives in baseball and hockey, but not football.
No, they’re demonic, evil, bastards.
Sure, destroy this too. Why not. Get all the good little commies playing soccer, then we can come together as a global community ruled by the likes of Cory Booker!
I never thought I’d exit this world shooting, but it just could happen.
“What happens to all the other sports and their athletes when the profits from football are taken away?”
The participants in those sports will have to pay to play. If it’s part of their education experience, let them pay for it. Students who do not or cannot participate in college sports are paying full tuition, and don’t get to play.
I DEMAND half of everything Bill Gates has, and I want it NOW...!
And the football coach of the State school is the highest paid State government employee.
Perhaps I got up on the right side of the bed this morning and this metaphor is absolute garbage. On the other hand, it fits my sentiment about education and intercollegiate athletics. It works in that it aligns with physics and quite simply, I have no emotions about physics. It is the way it is.
I don't care about college sports anymore, even though I was a student athlete in college. The experience today is completely different from when I was in school. I really do not wish today's experience upon anyone knowing what it was like 40 years ago. In retrospect, I could have done without sports. I do now and my life is full.
Let the leftists grind education to a halt and it will swing back.
I don’t watch the garbage anymore anyhow so they can do what the frak they want in my book.
Do we need another Federally controlled pro game? :)
This Drama Queen is planning to move up to the real big time. His BEARD just moved into his home (D list actress). Yep, something is cooking, he’s trying to butch up his image. What a creepy guy.
It is probable that the young man who killed himself had dreams of fame and fortune, and a life doing anything except sports was a failure. Think about it... maybe 4 months of work, an enormous paycheck, and you get to goof off the rest of the year. OR....at least that’s what they THINK is the ‘reality’ of it. And the idea of fame and fortune is a BIG motivator for a young man with sports skills.
Many young men and women nowadays eschew the idea of...*ugh* hard work. They look for the ‘magic bullet’ that will set them up for life, or they think they can rely on the government to care for them. Their parents either don’t attempt to dissuade them of this, or they have tried, but the kids don’t get it or don’t want to.
OOPS, sorry Kaslin..
Cory thinks the feral government should be in charge of bread and circuses.
Correct, no adulation. Jocks tend to need grades given to them. Pretty girls chasing them. Not actually doing high level Education. Unless it’s change since I went to HS. College was worse.
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