Ban College Football?
In the Wall Street Journal today, Buzz Bissinger, author of "Friday Night Lights," calls for a ban--an outright ban--on college football:
In more than 20 years I've spent studying the issue, I have yet to hear a convincing argument that college football has anything do with what is presumably the primary purpose of higher education: academics.
That's because college football has no academic purpose. Which is why it needs to be banned. A radical solution, yes. But necessary in today's times....
Who truly benefits from college football? Alumni who absurdly judge the quality of their alma mater based on the quality of the football team. Coaches such as Nick Saban of the University of Alabama and Bob Stoops of Oklahoma University who make obscene millions. The players themselves don't benefit, exploited by a system in which they don't receive a dime of compensation. The average student doesn't benefit, particularly when football programs remain sacrosanct while tuition costs show no signs of abating as many governors are slashing budgets to the bone....
I actually like football a great deal. I am not some anti-sports prude. It has a place in our society, but not on college campuses.
I'm still collecting my thoughts on this, but to be honest? Half the reason I decided to post it was to see how Dave Carter would reply. Dave's never less than entertaining, of course. But when he's good and mad? Dave's a thing of pure beauty.
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Comments:
Jun '10
Re: Ban College Football?
I'm of two minds on this. I love college football, and I really don't mind that football coaches make lot's of money: they bring in the bucks. My team, Utah, is now in the Pac 10 and has some great success in the last 15-20 years.
What offends me is the "conceit," especially among the big football programs that these are "student athletes," and that football is at the core of the educational experience. [There are obvious exceptions, and some athletes really want the education: Alex Smith had a master's degree when he graduated].
In the smaller school programs, there is still the purity of "student athletes" who play football while getting an education. Keep them as they are.
I say let the big schools "sponsor" football teams, so that the school benefits from the cash and the alumni are happy, but let them pay the athletes and forget about whether they are going to class or not. Have a governing organization that forces the talent to be spread around.
It's a big business. Run it as a business, but keep it. At least we'll be honest about what we're watching.
Edited on May 8, 2012 at 2:06amAug '10
Re: Ban College Football?
College doesn't have enough trouble already ?
Edited on May 8, 2012 at 2:11amMar '12
Re: Ban College Football?
According to a line in the Journal article, "According to the NCAA, 43% of the 120 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision lost money on their programs." If that's the case, then it's incumbent upon university deans, trustees to make solid economic judgments as to whether to continue the programs. However, calling for a wholesale ban on college football? What's next, basketball? Golf? Track & Field?
There are plenty of colleges and universities that are known for their academic excellence. It's up to the students and their parents to do their due diligence and make the right choice for them. Buzz is entitled to his opinion, but just far are we going to carry this nanny state.
May '10
Re: Ban College Football?
Burn him at the stake!
Jul '10
Re: Ban College Football?
Just this weekend I read an editorial on line about the coming death of football, basically the author predicted that the litigation over closed head injury trauma was going to economically destroy football so that it would be reduced in prestige. Eventually it would be as dead as bull baiting, boxing and hockey, not totally dead, but pretty much dead. I wish I could remember who wrote it and where. Anyway one of the death causes he saw coming was the ending of college football and perhaps the banning of all football in California, then the banning of football in the northeast and the whole west coast. Suddenly a new attack on football appears. The guy was prescient. You will know you are nearing the end time of football when the word football means soccer.
Oct '10
Re: Ban College Football?
Ban college football?
Over this Red Raider's dead body. Wreck 'em, Tech!
Dec '11
Re: Ban College Football?
Mike LaRoche: Ban college football?
Over this Red Raider's dead body. Wreck 'em, Tech! · 0 minutes ago
Umm... it's never too late to talk about Coach Leach. (Hint.)
May '10
Re: Ban College Football?
Ban college football and watch my children starve. And watch the bank take the house...
Mar '11
Re: Ban College Football?
So, the only thing keeping Podunk State from becoming Princeton is the football program? Somehow, that seems unlikely.
May '10
Re: Ban College Football?
The world's first universities included physical training because it was understood that the health of the body affects the health of the mind. Let alone the wealth of opportunities a healthy body enables, both professional and personal. It's a shame modern universities don't require physical activities of all students.
Football is a rough sport. That's a good thing. It teaches players to be assertive and take risks. It teaches players the discipline to endure through hardship for principle and for long-term goals.
And it's a war game which challenges players to anticipate the strategies of their opponents, on both a team and individual level. It is excellent intellectual training for any walk of life.
The risks are too high? Ever asked a roughneck what happened to his fingers? Ever watched a veteran electrician groan in pain as he wriggled through a small attic, twisting his back and bumping his head on rusty nails, before crouching on ruined knees to install an outlet? There are a lot of rough jobs out there that inevitably take a toll.
Playing on a prestigious college football team is an honor that stays with a person for a lifetime.
May '11
Re: Ban College Football?
College should not be a mechanism for learning an athletic trade.
We need to take a page from the European soccer model. Young athletes should get paid by clubs early and develop their trade as professional athletes. Not wasting time getting some phony degree while others get rich off their talent.
Aug '11
Re: Ban College Football?
Why didn't minor league football or basketball happen? We have minor league baseball and hockey alongside college baseball and hockey. Minor league football would be an honest way of preparing young men for the NFL without the veneer of academia.
Of course I did not attend a university with a football team and don't give a fig for football, college or professional.
Oct '10
Re: Ban College Football?
EThompson
Mike LaRoche: Ban college football?
Over this Red Raider's dead body. Wreck 'em, Tech! · 0 minutes ago
Umm... it's never too late to talk about Coach Leach. (Hint.) · 3 minutes ago
Ha! I will post an entry about him in the Member Feed one of these days, I promise. Before I do that, though, I want to read a couple of books related to Coach Leach's unjust dismissal: Double-T Double-Cross by Michael Lanning and Mike Leach's autobiography, Swing Your Sword. That should give me a better perspective on what actually went down in December 2009.
By the way, I'm glad to see that Leach landed at Washington State. They can look forward to many years of first-rate college football while Tech continues to languish under Tommy Tuberville.
Dec '11
Re: Ban College Football?
Mike LaRoche
EThompson
Mike LaRoche: Ban college football?
Over this Red Raider's dead body. Wreck 'em, Tech! · 0 minutes ago
Umm... it's never too late to talk about Coach Leach. (Hint.) · 3 minutes ago
By the way, I'm glad to see that Leach landed at Washington State.
Me too! That school has a fine legacy of competent offense/ Quarterbacks. (Thinking of Ryan Leaf.)
Edited on May 8, 2012 at 3:22amMar '11
Re: Ban College Football?
College football... as much as I love it... is rife with corruption, and let's face it... colleges are subsidizing the NFL by essentially paying to be their minor leagues.
I don't want the government to ban college football, but colleges would be better off by de-professionalizing it by voluntarily eliminating athletic scholarships. Scholarships should be for academic achievement only. It's a scholarship, after all, not an athleticsship. Go to a high school type competition system where smaller schools compete with smaller schools, medium schools play... you get the idea. It's completely ridiculous when an Alabama, Auburn, or LSU plays a Samford or a Centenary or a Western Kentucky. They're basically paying them to come and lose.
Football players should come from academically qualified students. Tryouts, not the recruiting road, is where players would ideally come from.
Oct '10
Re: Ban College Football?
EThompson
Mike LaRoche
EThompson
Mike LaRoche: Ban college football?
Over this Red Raider's dead body. Wreck 'em, Tech! · 0 minutes ago
Umm... it's never too late to talk about Coach Leach. (Hint.) · 3 minutes ago
By the way, I'm glad to see that Leach landed at Washington State.
Me too! That school has a fine legacy of competent offense/ Quarterbacks. (Thinking of Ryan Leaf.) · 18 minutes ago
Edited 17 minutes ago
I remember the Ryan Leaf era. Too bad he couldn't make it in the NFL. I have immediate family in Yakima, so I've kept up with the Huskies and Cougars over the years.
Jun '10
Re: Ban College Football?
Nathaniel Wright:
My problem with the current college football regime is that the players aren't seeing the fruits of their labors. They risk serious injury and a full ride plus dorm room -- no cream cheese on that bagel or your violating -- doesn't amount to a comparative salary to the risks they take.
Interesting to see folks on a conservative web site agreeing that players are "exploited" because they don't receive "the fruits of their labor."
Isn't this the labor theory of value? Since the players do the work and take the risks, and since the game generates millions in revenue, if that revenue doesn't all go to the players then they being "exploited." Substitute "workers" for "players" and "capitalists" for "universities" and Marx would applaud.
From a free market perspective, at the current market clearing price for labor there is still a huge surplus of young men who would jump at the chance to play college football. Is the market price unjust?
Oct '10
Re: Ban College Football?
At a Friday night bonfire, before the Homecoming game!
Apr '11
Re: Ban College Football?
You don't necessarily have to ban football, basketball, or any sport, but banning television would be a good idea.
Participating in competitive athletics is part of a well-rounded educational opportunity. But the big-time intercollegiate sports are obviously different from academics. No one ever tells you to go out and ace that Physics final for dear old Siwash.
York College of PA does not have a football team. The bookstore sells "York College Football" hoodies and t-shirts. On the back it says "Undefeated Since 1787".
Oct '10
Re: Ban College Football?
Joseph Stanko
Interesting to see folks on a conservative web site agreeing that players are "exploited" because they don't receive "the fruits of their labor."
Isn't this the labor theory of value? Since the players do the work and take the risks, and since the game generates millions in revenue, if that revenue doesn't all go to the players then they being "exploited." Substitute "workers" for "players" and "capitalists" for "universities" and Marx would applaud.
From a free market perspective, at the current market clearing price for labor there is still a huge surplus of young men who would jump at the chance to play college football. Is the market price unjust? · 5 minutes ago
Yes, because the NCAA rules, and because of NCAA rules.