Extracted from a NYT Opinion piece today: "...For many college competitors, but for football [players] in particular, the demands of practice and travel can exceed those of a full-time job. The players do it all, however, for no pay..."
This is ABSOLUTE RUBBISH, and the purveyors of such rubbish should be slapped about their ignorant heads and shoulders mercilessly, until they drop.
Let's have a look: The non-resident tuition at Ohio STATE University is $32,601 per year, and the room & board charge is $12,708. That is $45,309 AFTER TAX dollars. I have not chosen a private institution - where the tuition is generally much higher - but a huge state college, which, cost wise, is approximately middle-of-the-road.
Being as generous as I can be, I would estimate that being a football player (the most time consuming sport, I would suppose) is the equivalent of a FULL TIME JOB for the approximately 20 weeks from the beginning of August until the end of football season...then a half-time job (conditioning and what-not) for the months of January, February, and March. As hinted above, this is a ludicrous over-estimation of the time commitment, as these "students" must somehow make time for the inconvenience of going to fucking classes and studying (hold the laughter).
But adding that all up, it conveniently works out to almost exactly one half of a 12-month full time job - 1,040 hours per year. And using my trusty hand-held gazintifier, that works out to MORE THAN FORTY-FIVE DOLLARS PER HOUR.
But that's not the whole picture. If the student-athlete is not just fucking around academically, the effort of being a student will increase his lifetime earnings (presuming he does NOT play professional football - which is statistically valid), by at least a half a million dollars over his working life. It has also been argued by many proponents that the fact of being a college football player ITSELF is an added benefit, as the discipline (etc.) makes him a more valuable employee and person, for the rest of his days.
Playing NCAA Division I football is a Sweet Deal Indeed for everyone who takes the "student" in student-athlete seriously, and gets a degree. For those who don't...what can you say? They are still much better off with 3-4 years of college exposure, for which they have paid not a dime.
Most schools don't make a "profit" on sports. They take in more for football and BB than they spend, and the excess funds most of the cost of the lesser-valued sports, particular since the advent of the preposterous Title IX.
Fuck 'em. They are already over-paid. If they want to go get a job, let them try that. If there is "injustice" in all this, it is the fact that the NFL refuses to fund a "minor league" like MLB does, and relies on the colleges to nurture their future players, at no cost. But compelling college sports programs, most of which lose money anyway, to pay cash to players is too much of a perversion to countenance. Colleges and Universities exist for EDUCATION. We are about the only country in the world with the insanity of college sports and if they went away entirely it would be a net positive for the world of Academe. Again I say, Fuck 'em.
This is ABSOLUTE RUBBISH, and the purveyors of such rubbish should be slapped about their ignorant heads and shoulders mercilessly, until they drop.
Let's have a look: The non-resident tuition at Ohio STATE University is $32,601 per year, and the room & board charge is $12,708. That is $45,309 AFTER TAX dollars. I have not chosen a private institution - where the tuition is generally much higher - but a huge state college, which, cost wise, is approximately middle-of-the-road.
Being as generous as I can be, I would estimate that being a football player (the most time consuming sport, I would suppose) is the equivalent of a FULL TIME JOB for the approximately 20 weeks from the beginning of August until the end of football season...then a half-time job (conditioning and what-not) for the months of January, February, and March. As hinted above, this is a ludicrous over-estimation of the time commitment, as these "students" must somehow make time for the inconvenience of going to fucking classes and studying (hold the laughter).
But adding that all up, it conveniently works out to almost exactly one half of a 12-month full time job - 1,040 hours per year. And using my trusty hand-held gazintifier, that works out to MORE THAN FORTY-FIVE DOLLARS PER HOUR.
But that's not the whole picture. If the student-athlete is not just fucking around academically, the effort of being a student will increase his lifetime earnings (presuming he does NOT play professional football - which is statistically valid), by at least a half a million dollars over his working life. It has also been argued by many proponents that the fact of being a college football player ITSELF is an added benefit, as the discipline (etc.) makes him a more valuable employee and person, for the rest of his days.
Playing NCAA Division I football is a Sweet Deal Indeed for everyone who takes the "student" in student-athlete seriously, and gets a degree. For those who don't...what can you say? They are still much better off with 3-4 years of college exposure, for which they have paid not a dime.
Most schools don't make a "profit" on sports. They take in more for football and BB than they spend, and the excess funds most of the cost of the lesser-valued sports, particular since the advent of the preposterous Title IX.
Fuck 'em. They are already over-paid. If they want to go get a job, let them try that. If there is "injustice" in all this, it is the fact that the NFL refuses to fund a "minor league" like MLB does, and relies on the colleges to nurture their future players, at no cost. But compelling college sports programs, most of which lose money anyway, to pay cash to players is too much of a perversion to countenance. Colleges and Universities exist for EDUCATION. We are about the only country in the world with the insanity of college sports and if they went away entirely it would be a net positive for the world of Academe. Again I say, Fuck 'em.
