FBS/FCS Debate

[Zipmeister]

O'Bannon v. NCAA has college athletic administrators concerned. Billions of dollars hang in the balance.

Jason Whitlock discusses setting up paid internships in the NBA to get kids paid.

Those greedy player/b@st@rds!

[Sergeant Zip]

I like Dan Wetzel's comment that "if Michigan doesn't think it should pay for a field hockey team, then why does it think Denard Robinson should?"

[Dave in Green]

I believe it was H. L. Mencken who said, when they say it's not about the money, it's about the money.

[Sergeant Zip]

SI update on Ed O'Bannon v. NCAA class certification hearing

WSJ update Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA football player, "What is evil about Americans getting what they're worth?"

[GP1]

Link

Looks as if the NCAA is hedging their bets. There is no doubt from reading the attached that the game companies and the schools were in on matching actual players correctly. UNH even complained about the race of a player being wrong. The NCAA now argues that there was a difference between bench warmers and stars. Didn't they say there was no connection?

OK, so if they protected amateurism by not using names or likenesses in the games, how come they have spreadsheets matching players and matching star players, but not bench warmers. If they lose this case, they are setting it up so that only stars get paid and not bench warmers. This dodge is second only to designating players as "student athletes" so the schools won't have to pay future workers compensation claims.

It's all so sickening.

[mbalsinger]

Link

OK, so if they protected amateurism by not using names or likenesses in the games, how come they have spreadsheets matching players and matching star players, but not bench warmers. If they lose this case, they are setting it up so that only stars get paid and not bench warmers. This dodge is second only to designating players as "student athletes" so the schools won't have to pay future workers compensation claims.

It's all so sickening.

Blow it up and lets start all over again. It's asinine that the majority of student fees go towards supporting Sports programs at most school...those that don't (like big schools Alabama, Ohio State etc...) charge students up the wazoo to attend games at THEIR college. It's all very sick indeed.

[Dave in Green]

Bring dynamite and a crane

Blow it up and start all over again

Name that song.

[GP1]

Blow it up and lets start all over again.

How about if we start with letting the BCS schools go on their merry way and do whatever they want to do? Good riddance. They don't need us and if we played our cards right, we don't need them. Then, we can shrink the size of the ncaa and introduce some sanity back into the majority of college athletics.

[GP1]

Bring dynamite and a crane

Blow it up and start all over again

Name that song.

Tobacco Road

[Spin]

How about if we start with letting the BCS schools go on their merry way and do whatever they want to do? Good riddance. They don't need us and if we played our cards right, we don't need them. Then, we can shrink the size of the ncaa and introduce some sanity back into the majority of college athletics.

+1

[Sergeant Zip]

NCAA suing EA Sports and CLC in wake of $40 million Ed O’Bannon settlement

[GP1]

NCAA suing EA Sports and CLC in wake of $40 million Ed O’Bannon settlement

I'd love a case to go to court so we can see some evidence under oath. But then again, I don't think the ncaa would care. They just want a money grab and are past the point of caring about whether or not everyone knows they are all a bunch of low lives.

[Dr Z]

CNN analysis: Some college athletes play like adults, read like 5th-graders

As a graduate student at UNC-Greensboro, Willingham researched the reading levels of 183 UNC-Chapel Hill athletes who played football or basketball from 2004 to 2012. She found that 60% read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels. Between 8% and 10% read below a third-grade level.

"So what are the classes they are going to take to get a degree here? You cannot come here with a third-, fourth- or fifth-grade education and get a degree here," she told CNN.

In December, the Drake Group, which pushes for academic integrity in collegiate sports, organized a lobbying trip to Washington to push for an amendment to the College Education Act of 1965. Director Allen Sack said he wants to see a College Athlete Protection Act -- legislation that would keep athletes on the bench as freshmen if they are academically more than one standard deviation lower than the average student admitted to the university.

"I think (the NCAA) needs to be looked at. I think they need to be reined in," Dent said.

Mary Willingham went on the trip to Washington and said she came back feeling that they could make some progress in bringing change.

Others aren't so confident that a beast as big as collegiate athletics can be tamed.

[GP1]

CNN analysis: Some college athletes play like adults, read like 5th-graders

As a graduate student at UNC-Greensboro, Willingham researched the reading levels of 183 UNC-Chapel Hill athletes who played football or basketball from 2004 to 2012. She found that 60% read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels. Between 8% and 10% read below a third-grade level.

"So what are the classes they are going to take to get a degree here? You cannot come here with a third-, fourth- or fifth-grade education and get a degree here," she told CNN.

In December, the Drake Group, which pushes for academic integrity in collegiate sports, organized a lobbying trip to Washington to push for an amendment to the College Education Act of 1965. Director Allen Sack said he wants to see a College Athlete Protection Act -- legislation that would keep athletes on the bench as freshmen if they are academically more than one standard deviation lower than the average student admitted to the university.

"I think (the NCAA) needs to be looked at. I think they need to be reined in," Dent said.

Mary Willingham went on the trip to Washington and said she came back feeling that they could make some progress in bringing change.

Others aren't so confident that a beast as big as collegiate athletics can be tamed.

Good article. Thanks for posting. The news isn't a group of college athletes can't read, because that is news like finding out athlete students at OK State smoke weed and have sex (the same as non athlete students) like we learned last year in Sports Illustrated. The news is nobody has measured it until now. I don't know how many of you know this, but before getting a job with the NCAA or one of its member institutions, there is a test to see how fast the interviewee can bury their head in a pile of sand. If you exceed the requirement, you are disqualified for the position.