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Watching Last Chance U on Netflix and I can't continue until I figure this out.
I know colleges make ****tons of money off football. I have never understood why a student athlete would try and play and study at the same time, for a trivial amount of money and at the risk of injury and never having a pro career. Even at a very expensive place, a scholarship is worth $70,000 a year, tops. I'm pretty sure a professional player earns more than that per year. A far better deal would be to go professional, earn your money and focus on playing, then after you retire from sport go and get a degree somewhere if you need it for your after sport career.
Now, I'm watching this show and the athletes are apparently pro level. And not only are the athletes making a stupid financial decision, they're also dumb as a box of rocks. Why the hell are these kids with (apparently) superlative football skills messing around at an academic institution? What is the point? Why are they being tortured when they have a really rare, really phenomenal skill which they could earn millions of dollars using?
And an unrelated question, why are some of the players in excellent physical shape and some are really obese? The show is saying they're all very good, it's not just lumping the fat guys in with the athletes.
The kids are not at the professional level yet. Because schools make so much money being a minor league equivalent nobody has the incentive to build a league with teams servicing the smaller markets from which the 1% would go to the NFL or CFL.
To the OP........I hope that you realise that this practice is only a US thing.....
No other country does this kind of thing. Going to a University is to get an advanced education, not to prepare to be a pro athlete.
Here in Canada we don't have ANY sports scholarships at our Universities, for any sport, even hockey.
We DO have academic scholarships, for truly gifted students. Isn't that how it should work ?
And the cost of a year at the top University in Canada, all costs taken into account is ......$6500.
We consider that a University degree is so important that all of our taxpayers contribute to the cost of a University education through our income taxes. Canada leads the world in the number of University degree holders, based on a percentage of the national population,. Just under 50 percent of our adult population has a 4 year degree.
OP, many college athletes (mens football\basketball mainly) couldn't even get into the schools they play for if it weren't for loosened academic standards.
This is true at small schools up through even Harvard.
Again, keep in mind that in general that only applies to the 2 big-money sports of mens football and basketball.
For some it's a free education.
For others, it's just better than making $9/hour at some crap job...not to mention the perks....
PERKS:
What you are probably missing is that this is their identity and they went through highschool as one of the best around and as a result got special treatment and social standing for it. (Meaning lots of sex, help with grades, free passes out of legal scrapes etc etc.) Big time programs, those guys literally have team groupies...they're like a rock band.
Heck, I knew guys in small-towns that got treated like royalty for being good at sports that weren't even good enough to make a division 1 team, let alone land a scholarship. Sex and praise is a powerful motivator for a young man.
If the show is portraying these guys as pro-level but still hanging around in college then they are misleading you. Even very very good college guys aren't typically able to make it pro in football. The ones that can get a big pro contract leave immediately given the high chance of injury.
Watching Last Chance U on Netflix and I can't continue until I figure this out.
I know colleges make ****tons of money off football. I have never understood why a student athlete would try and play and study at the same time, for a trivial amount of money and at the risk of injury and never having a pro career. Even at a very expensive place, a scholarship is worth $70,000 a year, tops. I'm pretty sure a professional player earns more than that per year. A far better deal would be to go professional, earn your money and focus on playing, then after you retire from sport go and get a degree somewhere if you need it for your after sport career.
Now, I'm watching this show and the athletes are apparently pro level. And not only are the athletes making a stupid financial decision, they're also dumb as a box of rocks. Why the hell are these kids with (apparently) superlative football skills messing around at an academic institution? What is the point? Why are they being tortured when they have a really rare, really phenomenal skill which they could earn millions of dollars using?
And an unrelated question, why are some of the players in excellent physical shape and some are really obese? The show is saying they're all very good, it's not just lumping the fat guys in with the athletes.
The NFL does not allow players to enter the league until they have been out of High School for 3 years. SO, most go to college so that they can continue to play at a high level until they can enter the NFL through the draft. They're not just going to sit at home for 3 years and vegetate.
Same goes for the NBA. Their rules dictate that a player has to be 1 year removed from High School before they can enter the league, thus the glut of one-and-done college players.
The MLB and NHL have no such rule and therefore their drafts are comprised for high school kids and college students who weren't good enough to be drafted out of high school.
first thing is that most college players are much more intelligent than people give them credit. take a look at the majors these kids sign up for, math, engineering, chemistry, physics, business, etc. these are not easy courses to take.
i will grant that there are a few that slip through the cracks, but for the most part you people are wrong about the intelligence levels of these kids.
the NFL isnt going to create a minor league system like baseball uses, they dont need to. there is canadian football, and arena football. other leagues have been tried, but no one wanted to watch them beyond the first couple of years.
oh, an done thing to note, most of the football players in college graduate without, or with minimal student loan debt, because most of them are on scholarships.
OP, many college athletes (mens football\basketball mainly) couldn't even get into the schools they play for if it weren't for loosened academic standards.
...
If the show is portraying these guys as pro-level but still hanging around in college then they are misleading you. Even very very good college guys aren't typically able to make it pro in football. The ones that can get a big pro contract leave immediately given the high chance of injury.
Ah, that makes sense. And actually, now that I'm up to episode three they're showing that these kids might have talent, but are erratic.
Wouldn't everyone know that a student athlete wasn't as good as a normal student from that college? I mean, I'm a foreigner and I know that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skeeter31
The NFL does not allow players to enter the league until they have been out of High School for 3 years. SO, most go to college so that they can continue to play at a high level until they can enter the NFL through the draft. They're not just going to sit at home for 3 years and vegetate.
Same goes for the NBA. Their rules dictate that a player has to be 1 year removed from High School before they can enter the league, thus the glut of one-and-done college players.
The MLB and NHL have no such rule and therefore their drafts are comprised for high school kids and college students who weren't good enough to be drafted out of high school.
That makes even more sense. Thanks. Isn't that terribly exploitative of the NFL and college teams? It's not like the NFL is saying they have to wait until they're a certain age to play, they know they're already playing. They're just shoring up the college football scene by refusing to take players. Are they in cahoots?
Is it three years after graduation or a certain age? The kids would be better off just staying at high school.
To the OP........I hope that you realise that this practice is only a US thing.....
No other country does this kind of thing. Going to a University is to get an advanced education, not to prepare to be a pro athlete.
Here in Canada we don't have ANY sports scholarships at our Universities, for any sport, even hockey.
We DO have academic scholarships, for truly gifted students. Isn't that how it should work ?
And the cost of a year at the top University in Canada, all costs taken into account is ......$6500.
We consider that a University degree is so important that all of our taxpayers contribute to the cost of a University education through our income taxes. Canada leads the world in the number of University degree holders, based on a percentage of the national population,. Just under 50 percent of our adult population has a 4 year degree.
Jim B.
You don't need to tell me, I'm not American, and I'm watching this documentary because the whole thing puzzles me. Did you know the head football coach usually earns orders of magnitude more than any academic or administrative staff? And that there are multiple football coaches for each team? The college football things make huuuuuuuge amounts of money. It's apparently the acceptible sport for middle class people to watch, while working class watch the professional league.
And did you know even American schools don't have academic scholarships?
first thing is that most college players are much more intelligent than people give them credit. take a look at the majors these kids sign up for, math, engineering, chemistry, physics, business, etc. these are not easy courses to take.
.
A simple google search will tell you that's a load of crap.
Not that you'd need one.
first thing is that most college players are much more intelligent than people give them credit. take a look at the majors these kids sign up for, math, engineering, chemistry, physics, business, etc. these are not easy courses to take.
i will grant that there are a few that slip through the cracks, but for the most part you people are wrong about the intelligence levels of these kids.
the NFL isnt going to create a minor league system like baseball uses, they dont need to. there is canadian football, and arena football. other leagues have been tried, but no one wanted to watch them beyond the first couple of years.
oh, an done thing to note, most of the football players in college graduate without, or with minimal student loan debt, because most of them are on scholarships.
LOL....they might be at lower tier schools but not at any serious program.
I tutored at a mediocre (sports wise) Big-10 school which was excellent academically and 3 in 4 of the guys there had ZERO business being on that campus academically.
UNC just got busted for running an entire fake class ring for their basketball players.
If you're talking Div 2 or "meh" div 1 programs then fine....but the SEC schools, Big 12, PAC10 and so forth? No....no......no.......these aren't smart kids in general.
As for your claim about them taking tough courses and majors? NO EFFING WAY. At the Big10 school I went to they were all in marketing, kinesiology etc. and the business classes had a grading scale that basically went 40% A, 40% B, 15% C and 5% didn't show up for class got D/f. I cannot tell you how many moron stoners sat in the biz classes I took and copied off each other on finals to eke out that "C".
And this happened at one of the top 10 or so universities in the country and that wasn't even the athletes. Dear god, you could EASILY have a "friend" for certain athletes that sit next to them and pass answers. Childs play.
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