A fair compromise for players sitting out bowl games

Then players would wait until a day or two before the game to decide they aren't playing. They'd make the trip, go to all the fun things and get the swag bags, and then announce the day before the game they won't play.

Nah I'd rather them be there supporting the team. Who gives a shite about free shite? They're about to be millionaires.

I think the university should bill them for their spring semester because they reneged on their athletic scholarship.

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get the swag bags

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Don't give out swag until after they play the game.

The fun things can't be helped, but it makes them look like bitches to wait until the day before to tell their team.

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If a player announces he isn't playing in the bowl game, he's likely done enough in the 3-4 years prior to earn the right to do so.

Unless you're in contention for a title, you are legitimately risking a lucrative future 99.9% of the world will never see for an exhibition game. You'd be a fool to not understand why someone wouldn't want to do that.

The people who have problems with this are almost certainly those who were never in that position, and likely worship some hollywood version of "teamwork" that JV football coaches in the south beat off to.

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Yeah, I saw some pretty hysterical threads over the issue on...certain other message boards. Lots of talk about honor and duty and not being a big ol' stupidface. Honestly, though, it had the distinct look of growing pains. Lots of the logic revolved around the fact that this is a relatively new phenomenon. People spent a lot of time talking about how players didn't do this in the past. Which, I guess, is mostly true. I get why people are disappointed that players are skipping the bowl games. But, in the end, the players are not being unreasonable in looking out for their own best interests. We murmur sympathetically when a player like Prothro loses out on an NFL career, so why are we upset when players try to avoid that?

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I think the university should bill them for their spring semester because they reneged on their athletic scholarship.

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A lot of these guys withdraw from school anyway. So that wouldn't matter. It's also a petty, pathetic thing to do for someone who gave their all to a program for 3/4 years and is looking out for their future. Which, to be quite honest, is a recruiting pitch from most coaches.

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Unless you're in contention for a title, you are legitimately risking a lucrative future 99.9% of the world will never see for an exhibition game. You'd be a fool to not understand why someone wouldn't want to do that.

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This general line of thought taken to its logical conclusion would have a player like Oklahoma State’s RB sitting out half the conference slate once they do enough to get a draft prediction.

What if guys like Raekwon Davis, Quallen Williams or Christian Wilkins decided they had done enough to lock down 1st round money and made a business decision? Would that be ok? They have certainly provided more than the value of their scholarship to their schools. As long as it wasn't my school, I'd love it just for the melt.

Forgive me if I misspelled their names.

So basically what Oliver did at Houston this year

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What if guys like Raekwon Davis, Quallen Williams or Christian Wilkins decided they had done enough to lock down 1st round money and made a business decision? Would that be ok? They have certainly provided more than the value of their scholarship to their schools. As long as it wasn't my school, I'd love it just for the melt.

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That's what I was about to say. What if all the top players sat out not just bowl games, but playoff and national championship games. That could become a trend and I don't think anyone would go for that.