Watching CSS and saw a misleading ad...

[techfowl]

It's an SEC ad that claims they have 'more' 'student' athletes - i.e. Academic All-Americans - than any conference in the nation.

Well I sure hope so.

Here's why:

They have more schools than any other conference (12) except one that has the same amount - which means all things being equal, they would have more athletes to choose from.

So with only that in mind, if the GPA's were the same across every conference in the nation, the SEC would only have one conference to compete with for the 'most' Academic AA's.

These schools have more sports programs each, which again means a larger pool to choose from. Gymnastics and Women's Golf alone for each SEC school adds many more Academic AA's than conferences like ours that don't have many of those programs. Anytime you have female athletic programs, you up the grad rate and GPA.

And the worst - they have majors like Recreation and Leisure Studies (not a joke), Criminal Justice, and Physical Education, and we know what kinds of tests the PE guys take.

A better quote would be a higher percentage of athletes involved in school would be more accurate, but even with the useless majors they have, they can't claim that, so they don't.

It's not UGA's fault. I've decided it's a trickle down effect. Top down economics so to speak.

So how many guys do you have that can't spell their name or beat their pregnant wife last week? If you 'only' look at "UGA" "In only the last month", I can think of Howard McMichael, who is now in jail, or the kid that had to transfer to the state that seems to have no problem with hummers under the desk between President Clinton and now Grant (at least they kept him in the conference so he can be an Academic AA too) - or the punter that just got booted for undisclosed reasons. That's just the guys in state and only last month.

No wonder they are talking about Student Athletes. It's what they have to do to make us forget about the weekly occurances at every one of their wacko schools.

Alright. Enough already. Ay yi yi...

 

[BeerNutts]

Ir\'s Randy McMichael nm

**

 

[texstinger]

Your numbers analysis does make some sense, and I hate to detract from valid points BUT, I am not sure how it is ugag's fault that a former S/A got into trouble as McMichael did. It is beginning to seem like whenever one team has difficulty in beating another team that they take joy in the misfortunes of that other teams youngsters (although not applying to Randy in this case.) When these youngsters get into trouble with grades, girls, or the law I really see no reason to rejoice. It does not strenghten our efforts. It does not make us any better all of a sudden. These same things have happened, and will happen again, to some of our players. I hope this minority of players can turn things around and have a successful life, losing on the way to GT of course.

 

[techfowl]

That's funny.

I have a fraternity brother named Howard McMichael and I guess I just wrote it without thinking. I did know it was Randy, but it's a little late to say it now.

On the relevence to McMichael, here is my thinking:

I would never rejoice over another person doing what he did.

The ad indicates that the SEC is producing winners outside the field of sports. My point is that, as a rule, they have more problems outside of school and sports than probably any other conference, and McMichael is an example of where those types of players (not all SEC players, but the bad eggs that they have so many of) end up after school. The other two are examples of what happens while they are at UGA.

UGA can not simultaneously brag that they put a player in the NFL while denying that the bad parts of his lifestyle came from UGA as well. It's a package deal, and they wanted all the credit until about a month ago.

McMichael is just an example of the types of players that are cycled through that program. It won't be long before super star Odell Thurmond ends up in trouble with the law again, also.

It is relevent because 3 horrible examples of student athletes arose in only the last month for UGA, much less the entire SEC, and that the ad, in general is misleading, because it is intended to portray exactly the opposite of that to prospective donors and students.

The ad is designed to show superiority in a trait that the SEC is not superior in.

Can you get a good education at most of the SEC schools? Yes. But is the SEC academicly superior to most of the other conferences? No. Do they have more probation issues, and thugs than any other conference? I genuinely think so.

You have Matt Mauck, and the Stinchcombs who will probably all end up in medicine at some point. There are plenty of winners in the SEC. It's just that the ad would indicate some type of accross the board superiority, and it's simply not true.

When was the last time you even heard of 7 GT athletes selling a bowl ring, or 5 getting caught with pot, or the director of football operations' son getting caught with cocaine? When was the last time we had a kid whose dad trained militant Muslim's in his back yard? (Musa Smith) This all happened at UGA in the last 2 years, under St. Richt.

When was the last time an ACC school couldn't even particpate in a bowl game or be televised because of a program wide problem? Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, and Missispi State have either had this or been on the verge in the last ten years.

FSU and Miami are the only schools that have even come close in our conference.

So does it make us better when those awful things happen at other schools? No. But does it make us better when it doesn't happen at our school. I say yes.

It doesn't make me or you better, but it sure makes Nate Curry and PJ and James Butler and all the other guys who bust their butt and stay out of trouble while graduating and playing like a champ a whole lot better. And somebody at the top is managing them a certain way or it would not continue to be that way, so I think that makes our coach better.

Think about it. Key Fox was a complete wild something in our eyes and what did the guy ever do wrong? He had a hair cut that looked like he went to sleep to fix it and he knocked the crap out of a bunch of people on Saturdays, and he talked some trash.

So is it UGA's fault about McMichael? If we get tied to something that O'Leary did after he left here, then UGA will be tied to McMichael. When a guy leaves a program he represesnts it, plain and simple. He is an example for others as to what type of product enters and leaves the program. In fact, trouble 'after' leaving shows me what type of person he was molded into during his formative years.

Anyway - why is it relevent? Put shortly, the SEC is fantastic at a lot of things, but to act as if academic superiority is one of those things irritates me because it's just not true. Those guys have more problems outside the field of play that anyone. I don't like it when they imply otherwise.