Its similar to having a girlfriend or boyfriend that you think you have a future with that suddenly gets a great offer in another part of the country and takes it, leaves you behind and eventually transitions to an ex. You understand its an offer that would be difficult to pass up, but you still can't help but be disappointed because you thought that there was something more to your relationship.
At this point I don't understand why the boosters don't just fund insurance policies for players expected to hit it big in the draft. I've never hated on kids to would rather make tens of millions of dollars than play in front of 14 people in a city they don't want to travel to for a bowl game nobody has heard of. wtf is SRS distribution? If it was my kid I'd tell him to do the same thing. I don't get it when players enter the portal and opt out. If I was a coach looking for players in the portal I'd skip right over players that show such a low level of interest in winning games or their teammates.
Outside of the playoffs, all the other bowl games are meaningless. Ncaa should allow redshirted players to play w/o losing their year. These should be games to build on next years team.
I didn’t go to college but I have always loved the Florida Gators since I was a little boy.. and always will love them no matter what’s going on. I will never trash them.
Staying and getting a degree while getting NIL money would give any of the “not gonna play on Sunday guys” a really big step to not being broke at 30.
I’d play but it doesn’t make it a smart decision. Be safe, take the cash. Playing does however say a lot about a player and whether I’d want him to have my six.
This game should not have been played. The UF team that played bore little resemblace to the one that played during the season. Spare me the "but the extra practices" excuse.
You could have added, “In this day and age”. Being part of a team should be a goal for ALL prospective student athletes and it’s a damn shame we have come to the point where we not only accept self aggrandizing: some of us have embraced it: Not me.
I would applaud his decision. Different values for different folks. Doesn’t make you or me a bad person. We just view this issue very differently.
The NCAA should go back to the standard of at least having to have a winning season to qualify for post-season competition, but they won't. They have completely whored themselves out to the the TV $$.
There’s a real paradox in the arguments against this logic: You mention that these kids are offered the opportunity for an all expenses paid college degree, and people will immediately counter that most of these football players aren’t here for a degree and therefore have no value for it…… So you then suggest that these kids are all working toward a giant payday in the NFL, and they counter by saying less than 2% will ever make it to the NFL and should be paid now. So what is it? The “old system” had something for everybody — 1) all the facilities and training and stage to set yourself up for a million dollar NFL career, and 2) a college degree at zero cost for anything for 4 years for the 98% who won’t make the NFL — easily a benefit worth well into 6 figures How do you argue with that?
When big money (TV, NFL etc.) got near college football the end was predictable. It's no more complicated than that. Guys like Lou Saban are dinosaurs in a game which has become the NFL minor leagues. Once he retires even Bama will sink into the mire. Virtues such as team loyalty and pride, love of your teammates and school tradition have given way to cynicism and the attitude that "I've got my NFL contract and to hell with the school and my teammates.". There are two camps which are talking past each other. One group says they are saddened by the passing away of a great tradition of student athletes who played for the love of the game and a great education. The other group says the old traditions are passé and the new financial reality of the "me" generation is here to stay so deal with it. Both groups are correct. I fall in the former group. I have been a Gator fan since 1950 and sorely miss the Gator glory days of yore. The brave new world of chasing NFL money has no appeal for me. I have bled Orange and blue for so long but the last ten years have bled me dry. Oh, I'll still follow the Gators but it has become a casual interest.
Maybe the problem is the actual bowl game. Why are we rewarding teams for a 6-6 season (under .500 in conference play)? Why are we asking fans to pay over $100 for a ticket to such a game when the stadium is ridiculously empty? Why is the 10th place team from one conference playing the 5th place team from a supposedly "same tier" conference? Why do players get the same swag regardless of the result? Why are we asking people to travel to Las Vegas with less than 2 weeks notice? If people were expected to take bowl games seriously, there's a lot that could be done differently. The bowl games have long been about the destination, not about actually playing the game. No doubt some teams and/or some players get into it more than others, but if the purpose was to take the actual game seriously, this isn't the right way to do it. I lost respect for bowl games...a long, long time ago. The least important game on our schedule in any season (with obvious exceptions of when the game itself served as a playoff/championship game). I have zero problem with any player opting out for any reason he wants; zero problems with any coaches opting out; any fans opting out; or if the team as a whole decides to opt out. I am consistently intrigued by fans who take these games seriously, and I have no problem if other fans want to take these games seriously, either. Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
Not the same Bugs. Nobody is forced to play the game, go to a university, or pursue the league. It’s a choice. Most choices come at a price - you “pay your dues” somewhere along the way. You have to apprentice in college if you want a shot at the NFL. Not the best system necessarily, but it’s the system and nobody is forced to pursue it. People pursuing a medical degree sacrifice for years, getting paid squat, working on call, and going deep in debt, in order to position themselves for their lucrative career. Some don’t make it and they have nothing to show for all that effort (except the bachelors degree that got them started - at their own expense). But it was their choice. I had to work shutdowns and graveyards and sometimes 18-20 hours straight to “earn my stripes” in the engineering career path I pursued. Years later I stopped flying on my own time and started booking myself in nicer hotels and eating at nicer restaurants because I’d earned the privilege of doing so (by working my ass off and sacrificing) to establish myself as a valuable resource to the Company. I paid my dues, believe me. It was my choice, even though I wasn’t happy at times along the way. There’s nothing wrong with these kids sacrificing a little en route to pursuing the riches offered by the NFL. It’s their choice - “you get out of it what you put into it” used to be a virtue. Now it’s considered unfair for them to have to sacrifice. They need to be paid 6 or 7 figures while they’re apprenticing. Our values in this country have gone in the trash can. And I don’t see any route to recovery at this point, short of an epiphany on the part of the younger generations
Just because something was done a certain way in the past doesn't mean it was the right way. High schoolers have only one path to the NFL and that is through the college system. They still are doing that(they still have to be students) it's just now they can make money along the way.
