Its always been somewhat of a sacrifice/ risk. Many black student athletes are first generation college students with garbage majors. Too many are gambling on the hopes of going pro either domestically or internationally.Playing college football is a sacrifice now?
Man...
I have 3 boys and Im trying to save up to send them to college.
Should i count myself lucky if they dont get scholarships and we have to pay for everything ourselves?
According to UCLA, as a non resident I should budget about 67K a year if i wanna go there. Thats 335K over 5 years.
Tuition and Fees
Learn more about the costs associated with attending UCLA, including residency, tuition, fees and more.www.admission.ucla.edu
During the season, the schedual is packed but they get all the extra help they need for class, free of charge of course.
Kids dont HAVE to enroll in bullshit majors. They can put their education first if they want to. UConn and Alabama have the same number of scholarships to give out. Nobody plays football at UConn thinking they gonna make it in the NFL. In fact the overwhelming majority of the kids playing college football today dont have a shot at the NFL. Those who make it are the exception.
So all these other kids get a great shot at an education and are living the sport they love.
Yep, universities only care about keeping the players ELIGIBLE while they are enrolled.For those who are talking about the educational benefits these players receive, I assure you that most players receive degrees barely worth the paper it is printed on. In rare instances you get a Myron Rolle. But, keep in mind that the reason he received so much media attention was because he was an anomaly.
Many player do not finish. Many player have lifelong injuries that are not covered by school insurance after they leave the team.
Allowing them to be paid for this sacrifice is the least that the NCAA could do.
Edit: As I have shared before, I am an administrator at a known university who works closely with black students, which includes EVERY black athlete. I get a printed out report every semester of all of these students progress towards their "degrees."
Nothing is easy.
I know theres challenges everywhere.
Im not disputing anything you saying.
But listen, Im looking at the other side of what you said.
All those kids who come and they cant even read or write, they just got a lifeline that could save their lives. Think about all the other kids who cant read cant write and also cant play sports. Do they get a lifeline?
That 335K is still less than 1/3 of the WORST coach in the Pac-12. That's still 700K less than what EACH player on a 53 man roster is worth to the school.
And yes 99% have to take bullshit majors. Every now and then you will get a N. Suh, who is a chemical engineer, but that is far from the norm.
Your'e kid also doesn't have to pay Out of State fees to UCLA. Your local college is FAR less than 70K a year, so you too have options. These football players, especially the Black ones, have one shot. They know it, their parents know it and the coaches USE that discrepancy.
Shit ain't free for these young men.
This discussion is about the athletes solely so my focus is on them.
As far as the lifeline you speak of; it gets some of them food, shelter and health care support that they never had before. That part is good. But that lifeline comes with strings attached; for one, your scholarship might be guaranteed now (it wasn’t forever) but that doesn’t mean the kid is getting all the best of the program for four years especially if they fall out of favor with the coaching staff. Peoples attitudes changes towards a kid, from the trainer to the tutor, when you go from being 1st or 2nd string to 4th. Coaches will play games with a kid to force them to transfer so they can have the scholie for another kid, and if you’re if little value to the program, they aren’t big on the kid using that money to actually learn something, when they could get another human battering ram in whose first and only focus is the sport.
Did you play High School ball? If so, you know the dream is like crack. I lot of kids are willing to stay eligible just for a shot at stardom. “You can get a degree later, xxx will always be there, use the fame a work it”. There’s a whole system that supports that train if thought. As a parent you try to keep their head on straight but they are adults.Yeah sure we all have options.
These kids dont have to accept scholarship offers either.
They better off getting in debt like every other student, according to yall.
Sorry its just not true that they have to take bullshit majors. If a coach tells me I gotta major in something with no future, im signing with another school and Im snitching. End of story.
They dont have ONE shot. The big leagues might happen. It probably wont. Go build yourself a future.
The responses Im getting from ya'll are that black parents failed and these kids dont have much going on upstairs. I dont believe in that. At all.
Did you play High School ball? If so, you know the dream is like crack. I lot of kids are willing to stay eligible just for a shot at stardom. “You can get a degree later, xxx will always be there, use the fame a work it”. There’s a whole system that supports that train if thought. As a parent you try to keep their head on straight but they are adults.
To be honest, I think this desire to play stems from two places. First, the student's fear of diminished exposure regarding professional prospects. Second, the loss of identity. Without sports, many will feel lost and that their worth as a person is diminished.
Just an observation.
I hate when people try to say that players get a free education. Nobody says this about non-black dominated athletes getting paid for their service.
White people love throwing around the words "free" and "entitlement" towards any perceived benefit to black folks.I hate when people try to say that players get a free education. Nobody says this about non-black dominated athletes getting paid for their service.
Its official big 10 postponed
You can't have students doing virtual learning, where it's not safe for them
but then have kids who aren't getting paid on campus just to play football and make your school money
Optics are terrible
The SEC is the most vulnerable conference to this pressure. The notion of indifferent
white male coaches making young black men play in medically dangerous conditions,
free of charge, so that Republican politicians can win their elections does not look
good at all