I think this phrasing is inaccurate. It's not considered "unfair for them to have to sacrifice." It's considered "unfair for them to not be allowed to pursue the maximum financial values available to them as determined by a free market." It's not that they "need to be paid," it's that they shouldn't be "prohibited from being paid." Presumably, you, while "earning your stripes," pursued the maximum values available to you, if you had something like an NIL opportunity, would you have said "no?" If you could "opt out" of certain endeavors without derailing you in any way, shape, or form from your long term goals, would that have been acceptable? Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
This is very true. And just because you've changed something doesn't necessarily make it better either
In this case, it's better for those actually involved. It's the outsiders that are bitch'in. A player still gets a scholarship, choice of school, can earn a degree, play football. And now make money while doing it
NIL made sense in its original spirit. What we have now is a disaster. Hey - it's great for the kids, no question about it. The old system needed some tweaking for sure. Unfortunately the direction this went has destroyed the sport. There were virtues to the concept of "amateur athletics". I guess you're saying there weren't. I don't guess either of us is "wrong" here, but I will miss what used to be real college football. Amateur athletics: a little off-topic here for a minute, but what meant more to you -- when Team USA, a bunch of unpaid college kids, upset the government-run professional hockey team from the USSR, or watching a bunch of millioaire NHL guys play in the olympics? Do you enjoy watching the "Dream Team" destroy everything in their path every year, or was it more enjoyable watching unpaid college kids represent the USA in the opportunity of a lifetime? In both cases, values deteriorate -- at least in my opinion.
And if you don't particulary like the current system, it's gonna get worse. You'll start seeing good players that are leaning towards leaving, using the 'why risk an injury' opt out for the last half or more of the season if their teams don't have a chance to make the playoffs.
Most of the players you’re talking about are being pushed to those new relationships. We only had a few actual opt outs. Shorter has had injury issues all year. Miller’s graduation was scheduled during our crappy bowl game. Made sense to me for those guys to sit out. AR, I don’t really care what he does, I’m over him. Torrence, not sure what his reasoning was, but that one guy didn’t make or break this team. The only guys I would call quitters are Whittemore and Braun. Both quit on their teams mid season. The rest of the transfers all stayed through the season, had their exit interviews, and made decisions that were best for both parties. We needed a bunch of roster spots to sign a normal sized class this year. A bunch of guys had to go, and if they have to go, no sense in hanging around much more. They need to try to find a landing spot and get enrolled before spring, and they need to be able to work on that as soon as they’re allowed to. We sent a few more guys packing than I’d hoped we would, but we needed to make room. The culture moves were last spring and during the season. Majority of the moves happening right now are about numbers, not culture.
Whittemore graduated the summer before the season started. Cum laude. He hung around longer than he should have considering he was getting zero playing time. Braun hadn't graduated yet but left before TW.
No, I'm not saying there weren't; I prefer the old system better. But the old system where we're going back before coaches were paid for failing; before every game was on television; and when there were only 15 or so bowl games (I'd still like to get rid of all of them and just have a playoff, 12-teams, 16-teams, don't really care, it will keep growing just like all playoffs do). I actually think NIL is silly to have and NOT have a pay for play scenario; we're still putting lipstick on a pig here. Either you're going to allow and call it for what it is, or you are going to prevent it (how?). I shake my head every time I see someone say they want legit marketing opportunities, but they don't want pay for play. I don't see how there could be a logical way to separate the two. To me, the best way forward at this point (for fans) would be for there to be a minor league football system that had nothing to do with academics (just like baseball). Presumably there's no financial incentive for the creation of such a product given the NFL has college football for free. I don't like the transfer portal, either, but I agree that the players should be able to freely come and go if the coaches can. From a best-in-the-world standpoint, I want the best athletes in whatever form they come in. Why do I care if they're paid or not? I can still appreciate amateur athletics. I have no idea how or if NIL impacts sports like gymnastics, women's basketball or softball, but I can only imagine it is far less significant there than it is for revenue generating sports. There's something to be appreciated there. Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
What a moronic take. You act as if there was a concept of choice in the above example. There was not.
There is a representational aspect to all sports. It is the idea of the "hometown team". Traditionally, college sports had an even greater draw in that the students, alumni, and athletes all made the same choice. Players and students tended to stay close to home and the sport was peppered with regional rivalries in addition to the large personalities involved. That sense of representation in college football was so strong that people lined up to donate huge amounts of money for facilities, coaches, admin. staff, and, very likely, other "perks" as well. I, for one, always felt a much stronger sense of representation by University of Florida athletics than, say, the Dolphins... That sense of representation has been permanently changed by the play for pay model. I think a great deal of the sense of representation (and associated interest) has been lost, and may never come back. Whether rational or not, I think many of the comments and proposed fixes are a reaction to this, perhaps imaginary, but believed, sense of representation. We can blame the NCAA all we want, but they lost in the Supreme Court, who asked why the NCAA thought it was special (the answer is because we agreed that amature sports was special and deserving of special status). Perhaps that was selfish of the fans who were not taking the hits, but its utter destruction was perhaps short sighted as well. The NCAA could have said Conferences can set the amount of a stipend for football above and beyond the traditional scholarships, and there would have been some difference between, say, the SEC and the AAC, but there would have been some uniformity as well. Balancing getting the best athletes and retaining that sense of representation is going to be something the coaches and administration need to balance going forward.
Sure it's over the top. Players have two choices. Play in college or don't play at all. The idea that the traditional way of college sports is better is ridiculous. It's like listening to old timers saying the traditional 1950's was the best time in America. Now the players can get an education and make money. It's a win
That whole path he wanted to run down was indeed moronic. Like slaves had a choice. Like college football players get whipped. Quite likely the most absurd thought patterns I’ve ever seen on this message board.
Using this example you could go all the way down to pee-wee football. Its a developmental game, no? If we are just boiling the whole sport down to nothing more than a profession, why would anyone play at any level without compensation? Did anyone become a star in the NFL level without playing some ball as a High-schooler or below? Probably as rare as Hen's teeth. It must be time to pay High-School athletes then...they don't really have a choice if they are going to get to the league, do they? I guess the most laughable concept of the "paid/not paid" argument is that collegiate athletes, at least, were very well compensated to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars worth of educational benefits, training, nutrition, stipend, Pell grants, etc, etc, ad nauseum prior to the latest fad of deserving more and more folding cash to be a college player. Did you play football when you were a kid? If so, did you do it for fun or only jumped in a game if someone paid you? At one time there was this quaint notion that playing a sport or sports was good for the mental and physical development of our youth.... That concept seems to have gone the way of the Dodo bird.
Ive been involved in sports all my life. I earned 9 letters in football basketball and track. I loved playing ball. After getting a degree from UF in PE I taught for 40 yrs. I was always called coach. Never did much coaching at all but I guess you could say I was developing kids to play ball all that time. I still believe sports at the HS level do much good for kids in terms of health, character and mental health. Many know they are not gonna be stars but it gives them a group to be part of. It teaches a work ethic. It give them the opportunity to make new friends. Many coaches end up as surrogate fathers to young boys (and im sure women coaches do the same with young girls). I see way more positives than negatives at that level. Most have to maintain grades to play. I only have very fond memories of my HS sports days. I moved the Gainesville area at the age of six. My grandmother lived behind Krispy Kreme (before that it was the Humpty Dumpty Restaurant) So its my home base. I grew up a gator and earned two degrees from UF. My first games were watching SOS play. I was eat up with it. Still to an extent. But this NIL and worse the transfer portal has totally changed it. Many comments have addressed these changes. I was loyal to the program when we were bad. Now we have digressed the last 15 yrs or so. I saw it as cyclical but now with all the changes I have no idea whats gonna happen. Hard to be loyal when your "team" changes constantly. I will always be a gator. I have a gator room FULL of hundreds of gator memories papers books cups etc. But the new version of college football is not as much fun.........sorry to ramble but when you get older you are prone to it........go gators
