Ralph Nader--It's time to eliminate college athletic scholarships

[titsrock]

Ripped from ESPN

WASHINGTON -- Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is calling for the elimination of college athletic scholarships, saying the move is necessary to "de-professionalize" college athletes.

Nader's League of Fans, a group aimed at reforming sports, proposes that the scholarships be replaced with need-based financial aid. He says that would help restore academic integrity to college sports.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposal Thursday, ahead of its official release.

Nader, a former presidential candidate, argues that his plan would also help reduce the "win-at-all-costs" mentality in high schools, by reducing the incentive of college scholarships.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6254572

Just from this blurb text alone...I like this idea. It does seem to be a way to "drain the swamp of sleeze" that is college recruiting.

It would force high school athletes to actually study at the high school level which would be beneficial since only a slim percentage of college athletes actually make it to the pros. So, Education would come back to being the primary goal of college.

If the colleges eliminate scholarships then there would probably have to be true "minor" leagues for NBA and NFL....and I'm not sure colleges would go for that at all. I think they want to keep the golden goose cash cow fat and happy....:anonymous

THoughts?

 

[Will E Worm]

Ralph Nader? He's still around?

No one listens to Nader.
It's time for him to just fade away. :tongue:

 

[lurkingdirk]

Ralph Nader? He's still around?

No one listens to Nader.
It's time for him to just fade away. :tongue:

Dammit. I find myself in agreement with you. This is new ground...

:thumbsup:

 

[shayd]

I'm cool with the idea.

 

[Scarface7]

No.

 

[Hot Mega]

Spoken like a true fucking nerd. What a moron. Later Nader.

'need-based financial aid'??? Sheesh..

 

[domshooter]

sounds good to me. ive never liked how sports players are prioritized over other more qualified students just cause they can play ball

 

[Moonchild22]

Just from this blurb text alone...I like this idea. It does seem to be a way to "drain the swamp of sleeze" that is college recruiting.

It would force high school athletes to actually study at the high school level which would be beneficial since only a slim percentage of college athletes actually make it to the pros. So, Education would come back to being the primary goal of college.

If the colleges eliminate scholarships then there would probably have to be true "minor" leagues for NBA and NFL....and I'm not sure colleges would go for that at all. I think they want to keep the golden goose cash cow fat and happy....:anonymous

THoughts?

You said it already. I'd just be repeating you. Sadly it would likely never happen. Athletes are put on an unrealistic pedestal. Too much money goes into it - and comes out of it. This spectacle sideshow is what draws much of the money to the universities.

 

[D-rock]

I'm not against college athletic scholarships as much as I don't like the fact the whole college athletic system for men's football and basketball is a farce. If they would quit pretending it's something it's not and adjust the rules accordingly I would dislike it less than I do now. They can’t have it both ways. It should either be a big business or it should be a true amateur endeavor and not a system where they pretend it’s one while reaping all the profits from the other at the expense of other people and the athletes. Still if I had it my way places of higher educations wouldn't be in the sports business, and people that were serious about going professional in a sport would either go to some minor league to develop or the NFL and NBA would create it's own farm league to help draft new players out of.

 

[busaguy79]

Ralph Nader, isn't time to die yet??

 

[Kingfisher]

sounds good to me. ive never liked how sports players are prioritized over other more qualified students just cause they can play ball

I agree with you on that one. But you also have to blame the schools for that one. What a shame to pass over someone that could cure cancer, just because the other one can play sports. It's such a narrow minded pattern of thinking.
I wonder what the world would be like if we gave more attention to smart students and less attention to "athletes" who are often as dumb as the ball they're playing with.

If so-called professional athletes were told they wouldn't receive a paycheck for the first 2 years they play, because they should be playing for the love of the game and not the money. And then only receive 100k a year... Watch how fast players would drop off. The majority are only doing it for the money. As a side effect, ticket prices would become very affordable.

 

[Hot Mega]

I agree with you on that one. But you also have to blame the schools for that one. What a shame to pass over someone that could cure cancer, just because the other one can play sports. It's such a narrow minded pattern of thinking.
I wonder what the world would be like if we gave more attention to smart students and less attention to "athletes" who are often as dumb as the ball they're playing with.

Because the millions some scholar-athletes help to generate for the school and will probably donate back to the school upon making millions more as a pro helps the school to among other things help the kid who could probably cure cancer.

Besides, if the kid is prodigious enough..the school will have academic scholarships for him too...because that is in their interest as well.

 

[darkwarrior3007]

I see nothing wrong with this idea.

 

[izabelplayer]

college is not for everyone. if you have some sort of talent like basketball you should be rewarded. most of the future nba prospects go to college because the nba has the rule where you have to be one year remove from college to enter the draft. and for some, college is the best four years of their lives because they were really good in high school, average in college (except for a few moments maybe in the ncaa tournament) and not talent enough to compete with the best players in the nba. i think athletic scholarship gives those poor but talent athletes to get an education in case sports in not their sport.

Ripped from ESPN



http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6254572

Just from this blurb text alone...I like this idea. It does seem to be a way to "drain the swamp of sleeze" that is college recruiting.

It would force high school athletes to actually study at the high school level which would be beneficial since only a slim percentage of college athletes actually make it to the pros. So, Education would come back to being the primary goal of college.

If the colleges eliminate scholarships then there would probably have to be true "minor" leagues for NBA and NFL....and I'm not sure colleges would go for that at all. I think they want to keep the golden goose cash cow fat and happy....:anonymous

THoughts?

 

[Kingfisher]

Because the millions some scholar-athletes help to generate for the school and will probably donate back to the school upon making millions more as a pro helps the school to among other things help the kid who could probably cure cancer.

Besides, if the kid is prodigious enough..the school will have academic scholarships for him too...because that is in their interest as well.

I have never once seen a current professional athlete donate or give anything back to his high school- middle school- elementary- etc... or where kids are most formative. I have of course seen so called professional athletes charge little kids for a simple autograph because they think they are so important that Daddy is going to take it and sell it on Ebay. The majority of them are over-paid primadonnas.

 

[Bearded_Menace]

I have never once seen a current professional athlete donate or give anything back to his high school- middle school- elementary- etc... or where kids are most formative. I have of course seen so called professional athletes charge little kids for a simple autograph because they think they are so important that Daddy is going to take it and sell it on Ebay. The majority of them are over-paid primadonnas.

Ndamukong Suh, NFL defensive rookie of the year, donated 2.6 million dollars back to his college. There, now you have heard of one. Personally, I would like to see the collegiate athletics system wiped up a bit, but lets be real. Everyone who has their hands in that pie knows that a tweak like this one would sink their ship fast. I went to a school with an okay football team. Despite being average, the football program generated enough income in one year to allow the school to make a new fitness center and basketball gym. While the system that is in place is as dirty as a rat in a shit house, it isn't without its benefits.

 

[busaguy79]

As long as you have 100,000 plus attending college football games and millions watching on tv, the bowl games and the final four there will always be scholarships for kids who excel physically, and its not like all these kids are going to go pro majority of these shcolarships go to kids who will never go pro

 

[Hot Mega]

I have never once seen a current professional athlete donate or give anything back to his high school- middle school- elementary- etc... or where kids are most formative. I have of course seen so called professional athletes charge little kids for a simple autograph because they think they are so important that Daddy is going to take it and sell it on Ebay. The majority of them are over-paid primadonnas.

The Tiger Woods Learning Center.

 

[meesterperfect]

I see nothing wrong with this idea.

Nothing wrong with it?
Nothing wrong with it?

Yeah, me neither.

 

[Kingfisher]

The Tiger Woods Learning Center.

Damn, $1500 for a couple of days? I wonder if Tiger tips his trailer trash ho's with the that money?

http://web.tigerwoodsfoundation.org/programs/summerAcademy/datesPricing

I mean in all honesty, if I won a sizable lottery or needed a write off, there's easier ways of going about it. Funding a kid or two all the way through college every other year is a greater promotion of the mind than anything else. Are we going to explore distant worlds (eventually) so to speak, with a football scholarship?