re: Paying the player

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Why would the players need gas money.

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Because most automobiles run on gasoline, and automobiles are the primary form of transportation in the United States.

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They're in school.

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So you didn't ever get in a car when you were in school?

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Everything they need is within walking distance.

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Sure, and they do walk a lot. They also take the bus.

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f they want to travel, its called "parents."

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Uh...

Look, a lot of these guys have great upbringings, but a lot of them don't. Some of them can't just borrow money from mom and dad like you or I could when we were undergrads.

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Theres even a neat invention called a bicycle.

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I'm sure some of them own bikes. And?

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If you can't afford rent, you shouldnt be in an apartment in college. I know its tough living in the dorms yada yada yada

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So basically you're saying that college athletes should have it off worse than their peer students (who drive cars, live in apartments, etc.) because they're receiving a scholarship to play football?

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Why would the players need gas money. Because most automobiles run on gasoline, and automobiles are the primary form of transportation in the United States.

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Again. College. everything you need is in walking distance. If you want a gas money. Call parents. If they dont have it. Its called life.

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So you didn't ever get in a car when you were in school?

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I had a 1992 Mitsubishi Mighty Max. 20 dollars would fill it up for a month. This is moot considering I was the average college student and not a football player.

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So basically you're saying that college athletes should have it off worse than their peer students (who drive cars, live in apartments, etc.) because they're receiving a scholarship to play football?

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Uh no. When i was paying my tuition, debt up to my eyes - the football players get free rides and Im suppose to feel sorry for them? They want to get paid??

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We have kids living in an age of entitlement replacing kids living in an age of hard work.

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I played during the age of hard work, and there was always a little something, something going on. We received "laundry money" every month at Cal. It wasn't that much, but it allowed everyone to get some stuff. We also got to park cars on campus for certain events. That was a blast. The first time that I did the parking, my buddy and I took handfuls of cash back to the AD's office. The assistant AD in charge of the program said, "I understand that no one wanted to park in your lot and that you couldn't collect any money." We just looked at him. He said, "Well, better luck next time." Then he walked away. We were 2 happy campers.

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If they dont have it. Its called life.

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You and I have two different approaches to this is all.

I see a guy who puts in 40+ hours a week for something and receives what I feel isn't fair compensation. You feel that it's more than fair. I think we're not going to agree on this.

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I had a 1992 Mitsubishi Mighty Max. 20 dollars would fill it up for a month. This is moot considering I was the average college student and not a football player.

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Was the school making millions of dollars in profit off of your work? Because, if so, then your experience would be relevant to the conversation.

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Uh no. When i was paying my tuition, debt up to my eyes - the football players get free rides and Im suppose to feel sorry for them? They want to get paid??

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Again, how much money did the school make off of you.

You think they should have it off as well (if not worse) than regular students. I feel they should have it off much, much better. If I worked what is basically a full time job and my "employers" made a frickload of money off of it, I'd be a bit miffed too.

And, again, Ross Bjork and Hugh Freeze agree with my stance on this that players deserve more than what the NCAA will allow. I'll take the word of the AD and head coach - people who actually spend time around college athletes all damn day - over that of some bitter message boarder.

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Why would the players need gas money. They're in school. Everything they need is within walking distance. If they want to travel, its called "parents."

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Serious question. Are you from 1950?

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Can we stop with this narrative? SEC football players work their asses off, even in 2014. This idea that "oh we had it so much harder back in my day" is arrogant and self serving.

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No, it is illustrative of the power of using your brain in the down time vs playing xbox 24 / 7 / 365

After WWII you could attend UCLA for about 50 dollars a semester. With inflation that might be like 500 dollars today. Instead that number is more like 15,000 dollars. Throw in room and board and you probably easily double that to 30,000. Nothing has seen such outrageous inflation as college educations over the past generation or two.

Yeah I am older, but I got through college with no debt by working several jobs and averaging 60+ hours a week working. This also meant carrying 18+ hours a semester to get out of school (and turning off the money clock) early. Dad played SEC ball and I was borderline DI but I focused on academics over sports once I got to college as academics seemed the better way to a more assured job after college.

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SEC football players work their asses off

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Some do, and some don't. if you really are working your arse off all the time you are in bed by 11 and you are not out drinking, smoking dope, and getting in sexual assault trouble. Spending actual time around some top players it is much different on how hard they work after practice ends. Some really do use the time and manage it well enough to take that free education and make it work when sports are over. Others are there just to bulk up on their way to the NFL or prison. If you do not acknowledge this, then you indeed are debating with your eyes closed to the actual realities.

If you want to reframe it in a less controversial way than " age of hard work" vs "age of xbox and selfies" then go directly to the real core issue. Time management. If you have a 40 hour a week job to pay for college flipping hamburgers it is the same as having a 40 hour a week job playing sports. Time management is still important in both but if you are paying the freight, you manage your time by eliminating the xbox or dope fix in favor of income.

The difference between a full ride at Vanderbilt and a full ride at free Shoes U is that the kids actually manage their time more effectively which means they are more likely over time to stay out of trouble because they lack the time to do so. If I were in college today I would love access to the academic support some schools provide to their players. That alone would be worth "playing without pay" for 3 or 4 years.

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I guess an earlier poster's point about how you can work just as hard and not get ahead makes sense because we're sending people out into the working wold with a shitload of debt.

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Correct response, hence if you can get the degree without any debt, that is a MASSIVE advantage in life.

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It's still not evidence of the point that people today work just as hard as they once did.

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Can you really not say in the days of xbox, easy sex, easy dope, internet, cell phones, and constant commercials that time management is way harder today?

I have lived through both and I have been around kids playing college sports in both and it is 2 different worlds. Since about the 1980's the sense of entitlement has risen greatly wether you wish to admit it or not. Pre 80's kids would be out hustling lawn mowing jobs, paper routes, and the like. Now old folks and immigrants have those jobs and the kids are playing Madden on the couch.