Balsy Posted March 30, 2014 Report Share Posted March 30, 2014 I completely agree with almost everything you said GP1. I'm fully for allowing student athletes to have jobs as well as not paying student-athletes beyond tuition room/board for what they do on the football field. However I will say that (not being alive in the 70's) there were huge problems with the job situation of college athletes. Wealthy Alumni would pay the players exorbitant amounts of money for doing essentially nothing. Famous one I love is Boomer Esiason in a picture with "his" oil derrick. A wealthy alum hired him over the summer to periodically "check on" the derrick...getting paid some $20,000 to do so. There's bounds of reason within everything. And I personally think that where college athletics went wrong is when it tried being something it was never supposed to be: a multi-billion dollar industry that is focused on continuing to make billions of dollars instead of focusing on student getting a good education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 If you think that the NCAA is one screwed up organization, let's turn it over to the U.S. Congress, aka the Senate and House of Representatives. There are a lot of sports fans in Congress, and they like to believe they can fix anything that someone somewhere thinks is broken. Did anyone ever doubt that they would play a big role in the ultimate solution to the question of whether or not college athletes should be allowed to unionize? The folks who filed the suit in the first place had no doubts. Shortly after winning round 1, they were already planning their trip to Washington D.C. to plead their case to the folks who may provide the ultimate solution:"We want them to understand why we're doing what we're doing," (Ramogi) Huma (president of the College Athletes Players Association) said. "Obviously, Congress has the power to affect conditions for college athletes as well, and we want to correct some of the false statements that have been made about what we're trying to do."A quick primer on Congress and how they think on union matters: Generally speaking, Democrats are more liberal and support unions while Republicans are more conservative and anti-union. Currently, the House of Representatives is controlled by Republicans, so there's a general anti-union sentiment to most decisions that come out of the House. The Senate, on the other hand, is controlled by Democrats, so there's a general pro-union sentiment to most decisions that come out of the Senate. An early signal of what might happen next has already been sounded by both sides.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nev.) is already on record with the following:"Of course they should be able to organize. The way these people are treated by the NCAA and the universities themselves is really unpardonable, and I wish them well. I'll do anything I can to help."Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), a former U.S. Department of Education secretary and former president of the University of Tennessee, states the Congressional opposition's viewpoint:"Imagine a university's basketball players striking before a Sweet 16 game demanding shorter practices, bigger dorm rooms, better food and no classes before 11 a.m.," he said. "This is an absurd decision that will destroy intercollegiate athletics as we know it."And there you have it. Unionization of college athletes is such a critical issue to the future of the U.S. that it will push Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, Iran's program for nuclear bombs, North Korea's total insanity, global warming, Obamacare and all the other hot issues of the times far into the background. Elections will be won and lost on the issue of college athlete unionization. Civilization stands in the balance. Hold your breath. Read about it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 The union guys better work fast. Things don't look good for dirty Harry and his team in the Senate come November. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsy Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 The union guys better work fast. Things don't look good for dirty Harry and his team in the Senate come November.Oh please ...Clint Eastwood is in the senate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 This thread really belongs in the Off Topic forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted April 16, 2014 Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 Throwing the dog a bone. So to speak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted April 16, 2014 Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 Throwing the dog a bone. So to speak. Our basketball team will be hopelessly fat next season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kangaroo Posted April 16, 2014 Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 Previously, the NCAA had a bylaw allowing schools to offer bagels, fruits and nuts to athletes. But according to an interpretation, spreads like cream cheese were prohibitedPanera charges extra for cream cheese, but not for butter. Gotta draw the line somewhere, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted April 16, 2014 Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 Did anyone see the tweet from the hefty lefty last night following the news? I can't get on twitter at work, but if someone could link it, I'm sure it would be appreciated by all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted April 16, 2014 Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 Throwing the dog a bone. So to speak. Colin Cowherd made a good point about this today. The ncaa pretends it needs to study every issue forever before making ANY changes. The funny thing is whenever someone comes out with something that makes them look like complete idiots, they have this uncanny ability to make quick changes because more than anything, they don't like to look stupid over their stupid rules.Universities are going to end up paying players to play and this is an easily avoidable problem if the NCAA would just let players have jobs or capitalize off of their fame.I wonder if the President of the ncaa has brought any of his employees in his office and asked them to review the rule book and get back to him about which rules are so stupid they could make them look stupid and repeal them as soon as possible. My guess is they wouldn't find any because the people working for him are probably the people who came up with the rules in the first place and they could look stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipmeister Posted April 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 More good news for the Grate One from the WSJ.A federal judge cleared the way for a trial in a class-action antitrust lawsuit that could force the National Collegiate Athletic Association to share billions of dollars in revenues with student-athletes whose images it uses in merchandise such as video games. In a 48-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken denied motions for summary judgment by the plaintiffs and by the NCAA. The judge also dealt a small but potentially significant blow to the NCAA's case by rejecting one of the organization's arguments for keeping the current arrangement with athletes. The ruling dismissed the notion that the NCAA's current rules - in which it doesn't share revenue from its licensing deals with the athletes - promote competitive balance by helping to "increase support for women's sports and less prominent men's sports." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted April 18, 2014 Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 DeadspinSome of my favorites center around pay for coaches and ADs. It is interesting. If the players have to play for the love of the game and a scholarship for an education they don't want and the schools don't care if they get or not, why couldn't we compensate coaches and ADs for the love of the game. For coaching football and running athletic departments, those two groups could get free tuition to the school where they are serving for the love of sports.It's funny how much of the conversation about this issue centers around whether or not the players are being greedy or if the "deserve" the money. Nobody is focusing on the real greed, which resides in athletic department administration offices and coaches offices. The problem in college athletics is not now, nor has it ever been about the players. The problem with college athletics is the people who run it and their shallow opportunism. The conversation needs to focus on whether or not the ADs and coaches are REALLY worth the money they are being paid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted April 30, 2014 Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 These poor kids are so hungry they have to resort to shoplifting Crab Legs! I'm sure it was just an oversight on his part for not paying for them. Jameis Winston cited for shoplifting $32.72 of groceries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted April 30, 2014 Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 These poor kids are so hungry they have to resort to shoplifting Crab Legs! I'm sure it was just an oversight on his part for not paying for them.Jameis Winston cited for shoplifting $32.72 of groceriesMaybe I'll just forget to pay my car bill for a couple of months and see where that gets me. Winston seems like a completely unaware person....maybe a better term is stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-zip Posted May 1, 2014 Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 Yea, I am 6'4".....Heisman Trophy winner................nobody will notice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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