OptionJacket
Damn Good Rat
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2017
- Messages
- 1,287
Listen, the vast majority of us agree with you from the big picture perspective. We all wish, myself and I’m sure USC as well, that college sports were actually sports for college students. But, it hasn’t been that way in about 70 years now when coaches convinced their administrators to let them bring in “ringers” whether it was a 27 year old EE grad student who could help a GT beat Auburn or an 18 year old who could read at a 3rd grade level who could help UGA beat Clemson.Without the schools, stadiums, coaches, scholarships, meals, medical care, tutoring, housing, fans, etc etc, the players have no platform to perform. Old school system=flawed. New school system=flawed beyond repair, imo. Kinda like old Coca-Cola in bottle vs New Coke in can. A lot of people haven't truly experienced both, so can't compare as well as those that do.
I respect the SC, but don't always agree with their rulings, anymore than I do with espn.
The point is the horse is out of the barn. So the only question is what to do with college football that has very limited ties to the actual school. I totally agree that the players would lose all power without the schools, stadiums, scholarships, meals, etc. that you mentioned. And I would be fine if schools simply cut their programs and took the platform away, ie dropped football. But they won’t because of money because they know us, the fans, are suckers. I totally agree that I’m a sucker. I have entertainment dollars I’m willing to give away instead of keep. I could give those dollars to my favorite band, or Falcons, or Braves, or a cruise line, but I choose to give them to GT simply because I slept on that campus for 5 years and am a sucker for a place that doesn’t even know I’m alive.
The colleges could stop all of this tomorrow if they simply stopped giving away scholarships for athletics and had their teams composed of students who tried out. If they all did this the madness would stop. But so would the money. Since I love the sport, even though I know the sport cares nothing for me, I’m willing to spend my last few decades of life watching and spending my entertainment dollars at GT. I’m sure the day will come as I get older that I will stop because that’s the cycle of life. Eventually, I’ll get mad or frustrated enough to simply stop driving to/from Atlanta all the darn time even though I’m still a sucker for Fellini’s.
Look at up and coming schools like Kennesaw State. They are spending huge money to try and get to our level. They have tossed all academic standards to the side to entice non-college people to enroll at their school just so they can take part in the money machine that is college football. We all agree it’s craziness but it’s our craziness as fans.