A Matter of Degree

The President was asked about the violence and head trauma in the NFL. His response was that, if he had boys, he would think twice before letting them play football. He then furthered his comments by saying he felt the NCAA (the governing body of college sports) should look at football because, and I paraphrase here, "if a college athlete is seriously injured, they have nothing to fall back on."

Er, what? Aren't these people playing football at college? Some of them at quite prestigious and expensive colleges? Shouldn't these men's first goal be getting an education rather than playing football?

The President inadvertently pointed out the issue with college sports in America: that a majority of sports players are NOT there to actually get an education, that many of them are not smart enough to get a degree from a higher-learning institution, and that they are devaluing any education provided at that institution by being there and being obligingly passed through so they can play football (or any number of other sports) and bring in loads of money to the school. The problem is they are also devaluing the education for every other legitimate student who actually is going to college for an education, many of whom have to borrow up to their, or their family's, eyeballs in order to afford to go there (the sports figure gets scholarships, many of them full-ride), has to attend classes and show ability and learning in their subjects (it is rumored and often shown that college athletes are allowed to skip tests and are put in special courses made just for them), and have to compete educationally or be drummed out of the school (whereas the student athlete can attend as long as he/she is a significant contributor to his/her sports team).

I read stories of NFL and NBA players being let go from their teams, dropped off at the airport, and not knowing what to do next-- they have always been given tickets and flown as a team, and some have never flown on their own and simply do not know what to do. I read stories of athletes who work at grocery stores and used car lots after fairly successful careers because they do not have an education that allows them to do wise things with the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars they earned while playing. I read stories about how the NFL and NBA (and, I assume, many other sports, too) provide rookie symposiums where they tell the athlete about W-2s, taxes, and other life issues and events that they will now have to attend to, because so many of these athletes have never dealt with them before. I read so many articles about thug-like behavior on and off the court. I read and see so many interviews where the athlete cannot string more than a couple of platitudes together, because they don't have the education to speak more intelligently about, well, anything, including their own sport.

Mr. President, how about we change the qualifications for student athletes at the college (and high school) level so that they can only play their sports if they have a good GPA? How about we have auditors monitoring the classes taken by the athletes to ensure they are getting a real education, and not getting As in "underwater basket-weaving?" How about we go back to having student athletes being the best and the brightest, rather than there simply to play a sport? If we do these things, these poor athletes would have plenty to fall back on if they are injured playing their sport. The problem solves itself, Mr. President.