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sf2k4 said...
I'm talking about the guys who are (or at least think they are) going to go pro. Obviously it takes years of playing ball to get to that point, but if you're recruiting a top DB who has a good chance to make it in the NFL, do you tell them, "Yes, you have a great chance to succeed and you will make a lot of money, but after you retire you'll almost assuredly have life-altering brain damage."
Maybe you would, maybe coaches do, I don't know. My point is, if the kids are being told all of those facts and data from day one then they are being a little misled IMO. That's where my problem lies.
supermario9
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BamaLivesFootba said...
Just want to point out that it's not like school presidents and NFL owners are sitting around a table counting Benjamins.
100% of that money goes back into the athletic department to fund all sports, including low or negative revenue athletics.
The whole quasi-minor league analogy is also a little off base because no one is actually PROFITEERING off these kids.
This is exactly why it sounds so asinine to say that it's some pact by the NCAA and NFL.
This post was edited by supermario9 on 5/1/2012 at 1:28 AM
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supermario9 said...
NFL Owners and NCAA Athletic Directors don't need to be sitting around tables together counting Benjamins in order for them if their interests converge. You don't need a formal conspiracy when interests converge. They have like interests, they don't need to call meetings to sit around tables and count their Benjamins.
100% of that money goes back into funding the athletic department, yes, but many of those Athletic Directors and Coaches are very highly paid, and we'll see how much money schools would generate in college football if all of the top prospects quit signing up for college and started going pro. My guess is the revenues would start to free fall within a decade.
Employees and the schools in general are most definitely PROFITEERING off these kids. Nick Saban makes $5 million a year. I'd call that profiteering.
"A political call, the fall guy accord...We can't afford to be neutral on a moving train..."
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BamaLivesFootba said...
Do you really think it would be beneficial for college football should be disbanded so these kids could then go wallow in an NFL minor league making jack squat and forgo a free college education because if they don't make it to the pros, they get to go back years later and take out loans and just get behind in the process.
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NoVaNoles said...
Which is why supermario decided to bring it over and prove how awesome he is at finding great articles for all of us to get dumber from reading them just like him
"A political call, the fall guy accord...We can't afford to be neutral on a moving train..."
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supermario9 said...
very interesting read...Alabama fans will riot in 4...3...2...1
New Yorker columnist and best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell was already a household name in 2009 when he penned an article audaciously comparing football to dogfighting. Both sports, he said, exploit the loyalty and “gameness” of the participants, exposing them to danger for the entertainment of spectators. The dog-fighting analogy works best in the context of college football, for which the athletes themselves receive no compensation. “It's a bit much both to maim AND exploit college football players,” Gladwell wrote me in an email last week.
Gladwell’s piece explored the link between the rain of subconcussive blows players experience on the field and CTE, a progressive neurological disorder. In this interview, he evaluates the response to the research and illumines corners of student-athlete culture that often go overlooked. Gladwell is the author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw, as well as a sweep of articles on everything from puzzles to moral hazard in health care. Read on for his thoughts on the NFL and how playing football is different from running track.
Slate: What do you think is the single most compelling reason to abolish college football? Corruption? Head injury? Lost focus on academics?
Malcolm Gladwell: The factor that I think will be decisive is the head-injury issue. Colleges are going to get sued, and they will have to decide whether they can afford their legal exposure. That said, the issue ought to be how big-time college sports subverts the academic mission of university education.
Slate: How would you define the culture of college football? Does this culture add to or detract from the sport’s dangers?
Gladwell: College football has become indistinguishable from professional football—which is the problem. The only justification for college sports is that they are structured in a way that enhances the social and academic experience of getting an education. A sports program using semiprofessional athletes, and running on a budget of $50-plus million a year does not fit that description.
Slate: In an article for Grantland, economists Tyler Cowen and Kevin Grier imagine a fairly plausible chain of events leading to the demise of the NFL. Liability suits at the collegiate and post-collegiate level prompt insurance companies to stop covering schools when it comes to football. Coaches and parents shy away from the sport, sapping the NFL feeder system. As links between CTE and concussions grow clearer, a stigma attaches to the league and advertisers withdraw support. Ultimately, football goes the way of rugby, boxing, and horseracing. Cowen and Grier write, “If recent history has shown anything, it is that observers cannot easily imagine the big changes in advance. Very few people were predicting the collapse of the Soviet Union, the reunification of Germany, or the rise of China as an economic power. Once you start thinking through how the status quo might unravel, a sports universe without the NFL at its center no longer seems absurd.” Do you think it’s realistic to talk about the end of football? What about the end of college football?
Gladwell: Well, boxing and horseracing didn't end. They have persisted, just in vastly less popular forms than before. They have gone into slow and irreversible decline. I suspect that the same will happen with football. It's going to wither as the supply of talent slowly dries up. I heard on ESPN Michael Wilbon—who is one of the most influential sports journalists in the country—say that he will not let his kids play pro football. If Wilbon won't, who will?
Slate: Is unacceptable risk intrinsic to football, or could rule changes and equipment modifications salvage the game?
Gladwell: You can certainly mitigate the risk. But remember the issue isn't concussions. It is "repetitive subconcussive impact." It's not the one big hit. It is the cumulative effect of thousands of little hits that lineman and defensive backs (the most affected positions) endure, play after play. Can you take the "head" out of line play? You can. But then what you are left with would no longer be called tackle football. It would be called touch football.
Slate: Say banning college football isn’t an option. What reforms would you propose to the system?
Gladwell: If you want college athletes to assume an as yet unknown risk of permanent physical and neurological damage, you should pay them. Properly. It's a bit much both to maim AND exploit college football players.
Slate: Were you a student athlete?
Gladwell: I was. I ran track. A very different kettle of fish.
Slate: Do you feel that football is too exalted on college campuses, or is it a worthwhile priority that breeds school spirit (and lots of funding)? How would you defend your contention against the other side?
Gladwell: Football breeds school spirit and fundraising. But, I suspect, it breeds school spirit and fundraising largely for the football program. In any case, I find the notion that you can justify exploiting and maiming athletes because that raises money for the school they are attending to be a slightly appalling notion.
Slate: Should the NFL be banned too?
Gladwell: As long as the risks are explicit, the players warned, and those injured properly compensated, then I'm not sure we can stop people from playing. A better question is whether it is ethical to WATCH football. That's a harder question.
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sf2k4 said...
I'm talking about the guys who are (or at least think they are) going to go pro. Obviously it takes years of playing ball to get to that point, but if you're recruiting a top DB who has a good chance to make it in the NFL, do you tell them, "Yes, you have a great chance to succeed and you will make a lot of money, but after you retire you'll almost assuredly have life-altering brain damage."
Maybe you would, maybe coaches do, I don't know. My point is, if the kids are being told all of those facts and data from day one then they are being a little misled IMO. That's where my problem lies.
"We don't care about anything but winning. No one cares about ethical standards thats for losers..." BUCKNUTS 21 self trolling.
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Malcolm Gladwell: College Football Should Be Banned