Recent Comments
No idea... 45 years old grew up an ACC fan.... my guess is FLST is used by people in that demo.
I second the Hello, Hokie Bird! suggestion!
I feel bad for the so called student athlete. If a scholarship English major writes a book on the side and he gets it published, receives 100k, the university will hold him up as a shining light of literary success. Look at what our English dept can develop. Substitute english major with student athlete and your program is on probation for 5 years.
I don't feel bad for them at all. Look at all the opportunities they receive as part of being an athlete. If they don't take advantage of them, why do I have to feel bad for them?
The problem is that they have to wait 5 years to take advantage of said opportunity. Say you're a college tennis player at VT, and want to give private lessons for $50/hr (which is extremely reasonable by the way). This is an NCAA violation.
What if Luther Maddy is an Entrepreneur, and wants to start his own football summer camp for kids? NCAA says he can't profit off that.
What if we had a Mechanical Engineer on our basketball team who fixed cars/engines to earn extra cash? NCAA says he can't do that.
I understand it's a complicated issue. In a perfect world, these athletes could do these things, and a business deal with a fan wouldn't be a conflict of interest. But, this isn't the world we live in. Sucks for 'Student Athletes' who have to say no to opportunities to make money.
They do love their traffic circles.
Paris streets are the worst of anything I have ever seen.
Arizona (they're not that bad right?)
Wisconsin
The Hatter
UCLA
Missouri
Baylor
Shouldn't that be a French flag??
My $0.02:
Is it sterotype or cynicism?
Somewhere in between. There's so many NCAA rules, some are bound to get broken, some on accident, some for bad reasons, and some for good reasons. But to think athletes at all big schools are on a payroll, or every blue chip recruit is bribed? No way.
Are you suggesting even Virginia Tech is not 100% squeaky clean?
100%? No... I've had friends work with the football team and tutor athletes. I've heard stories of former players getting small gift cards to stores or communicating with 'runners-in-training'. I've heard from tutors that some athletes try to pressure their tutors to do their work for them (often times unsuccessfully).
I'd like to believe around 90% though, which is impressive given our coaches can only control so much of a player's lifes. I've never heard of an 'Hundred dollar handshakes' or anything about shady recruiting (although when a visiting recruit stays with a host player, I'm sure that player takes him to parties, introduces him to girls, etc., but that's speculation)
I think that is why some players do not full mature until they make it to the NFL or venture into the real world, when they get the reality check and someone puts them in their place.
We put a lot of pressure on these kids, but often forget... they're just kids. A lot of them want to go home at the end of the day and play XBox, or go to parties and meet girls. How many of us were fully matured during/right after college?
This is it exactly.....the source is Fansided, which is basically Sports Illustrated's version of TMZ.....as long as they hypothesize instead of report actual facts the media can say anything they want to. I for one will wait until a decision is reached by the District Attorney and then FSU before I criticize them for actions untaken.
Because it got us to read the article.
these days, Sensationalism > Content.
Completely off topic, but why FLST instead of FSU?
Watch out or he'll take away your scholarship...
I was talkin to a stupid FSU fan today and he said "I heard from a friend that knows them that this girl is like 240 lbs. so you know she is probably just seeing it as an opportunity to get money." These are the idiots in this fan base. This is also a person who defended Joe Pa and Ben Rothlesburger through their allegations. Such an idiot. His (winston) skeet was found on her underwear...dude was there and if she went right to the cops and it was hushed for this long is isn't a money grab move imo.
I agree different things could be done - but the schools also make money off of the average student paying ridiculous tuition as well. I'd also like to point out that for most schools, VT included, part of your tuition goes to the athletic department. If they're making so much money, why do they still charge students for it as well?
I do think the NCAA should attempt to make changes so that the athletes are students first, athletes second, but I realize that would most likely never happen given the money involved.
There's a ton of problems with higher education and the profit system of these schools in general, but I have no more sympathy for the athletes than every other student or person who's effected by the ruse of "higher education."
I'd say that a lot of that falls on inexperience - don't forget, most guys who play D1 basketball were the best athletes on the floor in their high school career. Fundamentals can often take a backseat when you rely on athleticism and a lot of bad habits can develop there that translate to the college game.
And I don't ever recall JJ being considered a "defensive coach" - if I remember correctly, he wants to run an uptempo offense and full-court pressure defense (similar to VCU).
For some reason the teams that want to run-n-gun it can't play defense. See: VMI, Gonzaga, Dallas Mavericks circa 2005, Big 12 football, etc.
Thanks Joe. Couldnt have said it better myself.
Mind = Blown
Yep the biggest downside from my perspective is how unfriendly they are to pedestrians. Traffic never stops moving so there's no time for people to cross the street. And stoplights and crosswalks eliminates the primary advantage of a roundabout over a regular intersection.
But you are not an athlete. Sorry they generate millions of bux for their school. I have lots of debt too. Maybe if played little league, middle, high school ball maybe I get a full ride. But I didnt. They did and I do not hold it against them just like I do not hold it against you for going into debt to get educated. Both are choices.
Example while at VT a friend of mine graduated EE. While on a job interview he called his professor to see if the pay offer was good enough. The prof said turn it down you can get more. And guess what? Professor called a former colleague and got the kid another interview and Right out of college 125K/year. While not the league minimum, still awesome money. The professor got the kid setup with an apartment before he even started working. Thats a violation for a student athlete but not for an engineering major. Thats what I feel bad about.
It's evident student athletes are getting screwed based on how much money the NCAA, its executives, coaches, bowls, sponsors, television, media, etc... make. Everyone is getting theirs, but the players, and without them the product wouldn't exist. It's even more damning since the NFL and NCAA are essentially in collusion to keep players in college for 3 seasons.
I always find the "I worked hard in school, have loan debt, ..." argument interesting. I am in that same scenario. However, it makes the assumption that all of these kids are in college to get an education. Many of them are not. Recent reports have made that clear. They are there to play football. In the case, all the tutors, tuition, etc that you would be grateful for are a burden to them, not a blessing, for some athletes. They are there for 3 years, trying not to get injured, so they can enter the NFL draft. In one pass amateur athletics in college has made a mockery of both amateurism and higher education.
So, what's up with the
poor on-ball defending techniques
part of the defense? And I thought JJ was supposed to be a Tom Thiboudeau? Wasn't defense supposed to be his calling card?
Oregon -20.5
Wisconsin -15.5
LSU -3.5
UCLA +2.5
Ole Miss +2.5
Baylor -9.5
Thanks again Joe
Totally agree with you about driver education. That said, even with uneducated drivers, I think roundabouts are safer (from the perspective of property damage and personal injuries) than intersections regulated by traffic lights.
Yet- they have a lot of the same opportunities non athletes have- they can go to school, get an education, and be prepared to have a career, just like everyone else. Except, they can do it without having to pay tuition, and with the help of tutors, etc. The average student doesn't get these advantages.
Remember, they aren't being forced to leave school early. They leave early because they have the opportunity to make money that most students will never be able to make. That's why I have such a hard time seeing the plight of the student athlete as any worse than the plight of the student.