re: Why is ESPN so stupid?

quote:

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45 year old grown man leaves his company that has paid him 100s of thousands of dollars throughout the last 20 years, nobody judges him because he is making a decision for the betterment of his career and family

21 year old sits out 1 game from an institution that is only given him a scholarship in order to protect his career and the betterment of his family, and he is called a quitter and piece of shite


Society is so weird in regards to athletes

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The problem is.... these are not comparable situations no matter how much you wish that it were so.

In the first situation of a company employee - in most states within the SEC footprint, they are employed "at will". That is, the company can let them go at any time without reason, and the employee can also quit at any time without reason. There is no contractual relationship between the two nor an expectation of continued future employment from a legal standpoint. If this employee had a specific contract to perform a unique job for a term, then yes, he can and should receive a lot of flak for non-performance of his contract. This is not uncommon either.

In the case of a college football player at the Div 1 level, he has received a scholarship in return for the use of his physical abilities and participation. Inequities aside (that's another argument), he has been PRIOR AND FUTURE COMPENSATED and there is absolutely an expectation of effort and participation. Every player who signs those scholarship papers understands this fully and completely.