A must read

[PSUFAN]

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... orts/8643/

[Goober McTuber]

Nice to see somebody else shouldering the load of replacing Bobby42.

[Van]

Moral of the story: College athletes should be paid, and anything that hastens the demise of the wretched NCAA is a good thing.

[Mikey]

After so many years of silence, I'm glad to see that somebody is FINALLY talking about this important issue.

[MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan]

PSU,
Thanks for sharing this. It's too bad so many people won't read it because their attention spans are incapable of processing anything that exceeds 140 characters. This is probably the single best piece of journalism I've read in years.

[Dinsdale]

I thought it sucked.

Same old "Whaaaaa!!!!! The NCAA makes money... whaaaaaa!"

With all of the perks, they're getting $30K+(very conservative estimate) worth of college out of it, and a chance to audition for a VERY lucrative job... and are even given the opportunity to get a degree, should that 0.5% (whatever it is) chance at the high-paying football job doesn't work out.

Gee, I wonder if I would have taken a job worth $40K when I was 18... let me think on that one.

[R-Jack]

Jezuz Krist, paying the players has never been the problem. The problem is who is paying the players today. Giving the kids a salary isn't going to make that problem go away. Get a grip people.

[War Wagon]

I thought it sucked.

Same old "Whaaaaa!!!!! The NCAA makes money... whaaaaaa!"

With all of the perks, they're getting $30K+(very conservative estimate) worth of college out of it, and a chance to audition for a VERY lucrative job... and are even given the opportunity to get a degree, should that 0.5% (whatever it is) chance at the high-paying football job doesn't work out.

Gee, I wonder if I would have taken a job worth $40K when I was 18... let me think on that one.

No shit, and no wonder PSU skidmarks is verklempt over it.

[MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan]

I thought it sucked.

Same old "Whaaaaa!!!!! The NCAA makes money... whaaaaaa!"

With all of the perks, they're getting $30K+(very conservative estimate) worth of college out of it, and a chance to audition for a VERY lucrative job... and are even given the opportunity to get a degree, should that 0.5% (whatever it is) chance at the high-paying football job doesn't work out.

Gee, I wonder if I would have taken a job worth $40K when I was 18... let me think on that one.

I would think that as a fellow libertarian, you would sympathize with athletes being artificially restricted from earning fair market value for their talent by a corrupt cartel. I don't think the schools should have to pay the players, but if they want to hire a lawyer/agent/manager and sign some endorsement deals, they should have every right to do so.

Consider this: if a film school student attending UCLA on an academic scholarship makes a film for a class project that eventually gets optioned by a major studio, gets a nationwide release and makes a shitload of cash, is UCLA entitled to any (let alone all) of the student's profits?

[PSUFAN]

Exactly. Unique restrictions are placed on student athletes.

[Shoalzie]

I can't feel sorry for anyone that gets a free education and takes it for granted. Some of these guys are destined to be pros but the rest need to set themselves up for a life outside of sports. As for the schools and conference making too much money...blame ESPN and the like for jacking up the rights to showing college sports on TV. To give in and pay athletes is simply giving into the boosters that give these kids money on the side instead of cracking down and enforcing the rules. The NCAA is spineless when it comes to punishing renegade programs. If you pay the players, it's only going to lead to more problems.

I'm with Dins...the kids that actually have to pay for their education and work hard through school at the shot of a career and have to deal with paying off large debts in their early years. Who feels sorry for athletes where most of them skate through school and not all of them even finish their degrees and don't have to worry about paying off loans.