college football under quarantine

interesting implications of a possible new normal:

https://www.theringer.com/2020/8/3/21349611/season-schedule-power-five-conferences-college-football-playoff

But college football is a lot of things, and a season exclusively for the Power Five is few of them. It’s clear that the Power Five teams have needs and goals that differ from everybody else’s. By playing games solely against each other, they will maximize both fan interest and profit. Maybe the Power Five schools will realize this arrangement is financially beneficial even in non-pandemic circumstances. But a few dozen teams with similar needs and goals making decisions that benefit each other isn’t college football. It’s a professional sports league. And professional sports leagues have to pay and provide fair treatment to their players. This feels like a lasting split, and the more bonds the College Football programs sever with the college football programs, the harder it will be for them to pretend they still have anything in common with the distant relatives they’re leaving behind.

None of this is a secret. The fact that NCAA Division I football is essentially a semi-pro league feeding the NFL and that everyone is profiting from it but the players has been evident for decades. It is rarely acknowledged by the sports media because it is so ugly and they profit from it as much as anyone else. The players seldom complain because they are so vulnerable to reprisals. Most of them are seen as easily replaceable parts and 'troublemakers' swiftly get the boot.

The players do profit if they are on scholarship (and manage to stay on scholarship) and D1 football and basketball "student athletes" also enjoy elite status and other fringe benefits compared to other students.

But the system is absolutely semi-pro at best and at worst, big school college athletics operates (via the NCAA and the major conferences) as a monopoly with ruthless corporate vision. Everyone in the system gets a career out of it except the players, where something like less than 1% get drafted to the NFL and an even smaller number will play more than three years in the pros.

That said, I suspect that the vast majority of athletes at all levels love their experience in college sports even though they realize they are but actors in a circus. They know that they aren't getting their fair share but they are kept just happy enough by the experience that they still participate.

The idea that a scholarship athlete necessarily benefits from their time in a university is spotty at best. Scholarship athletes are chosen for their athletic prowess, not their academic ability, which may be minimal or even wholly inadequate. Graduation rates have been notoriously very poor among scholarship athletes in the two big money-making sports at "power five" universities, where scholarship athletes are routinely expected to prioritize their sport over all other activities and those who struggle academically are tutored just enough to maintain the lowest standard of required achievement to keep them playing. The NCAA pretends to address this, but their first priority remains keeping athletes playing; learning still takes a back seat, despite gestures designed to quiet criticism.

I will say that scholarship athletes are generally well fed at the training table free of charge, so there's one real benefit they can count on, even if they never earn their degree.

What is a notoriously poor rate to you, Aimless? Just curious.

http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/graduation-rates
or this
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1731218-college-football-schools-with-the-best-and-worst-graduation-rates

Mens' college basketball also makes a lot of money but the number of scholarship athletes is way lower. But the grad rates are very good at the elite programs.

Also, as you probably know, it's hard to use graduation rates as a measuring stick given the percentage of students at, say, LSU who graduate. Hint: at LSU (and most schools), the official graduation rate for students overall is lower than the football teams. But that's partially because the non-students have a higher attrition rate.

I would also add that an enormous benefit for scholarship "student athletes" and "student athletes" in general is that their entrance requirements are, as you note, at much lower academic standards. So, a person can go to, say, the University of North Carolina on a football scholarship and have much lower admissions standards. Assuming that they graduate, which 75%+ of UNC football players due, that's pretty awesome. And as you note, they get really nice living facilities, their own dining hall, have amazing tutoring options, and get to travel the country.

There is a large number of student athletes who honestly cannot afford to go to college even if they have a "full ride". These kids don't have time for jobs during the off season, and there really is no off season. These kids often live far from home and literally have no way to get to and from college. They don't have idle spending money. There are many issues that are worthy of withering criticism and you and I agree (!) that the NCAA doesn't address this with much honesty.

Supporting college athletics even as a fan seems morally dubious I guess.

no return of the mac(k)

big 10 cancels season

holy shit

trump's fucked

the ACC is saying they'll go ahead no matter what

pac 12 is canceling, big 12 is on the fence

at least we still have idaho high school football

I told my wife as fall prepares to start “if I die of COVID (and I doubt I will) at least my sons will know I stood up for doing what is right and going to work & educating and molding young people rather than hiding” she responded “agreed “ ❗️❗️💪💪💪

— Coach Hargitt (@coachhargitt) August 10, 2020

sad about my problematic fave getting canceled :(

BREAKING: The Big Ten presidents have voted to postpone the 2020 college football season with hopes of playing in the spring, per sources.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) August 11, 2020

more like the small zero

smoll

sm0ll

if this swings Michigan and Wisconsin for Biden then it'll be the best thing the Big Ten has produced since Charles Woodson.

what a win for the democrats(?)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EfJo3OrXgAIICG2?format=jpg&name=small

college football coaches are the worst people in america (#34985859340293849494 in a series)

Lou Holtz tells Fox News that college football needs to play amid coronavirus pandemic this fall: "Let's move on with our life! When they stormed Normandy, they knew there were going to be casualties -- there were going to be risks." pic.twitter.com/zZZ5qrFRFb

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 11, 2020

tbf this is the kind of shit that got him fired.

There's going to be a lot of unmolded young men out there!

lou is freaking deranged lol

Georgia State QB announces he has a heart condition from COVID 19 and won’t play this year https://t.co/aH4CawZdsi

— trey wingo (@wingoz) August 20, 2020

BREAKING: #PennState's director of athletic medicine, Wayne Sebastianelli, says that cardiac MRI scans revealed that roughly 30-35 percent of Big Ten athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 appeared to have myocarditis. https://t.co/md4p1IoaLh

— Parth Upadhyaya (@pupadhyaya_) September 3, 2020

oh

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EiDe5zeXkAQPJ01?format=jpg&name=small

cool they can also check for CTE posthumously, this sounds super humane

Guys. GUYS. I found the Michael Scott of college football. pic.twitter.com/NdEvpYFlkg

— Laura Albanese (@AlbaneseLaura) September 16, 2020

i don't *really* care about college football, but i definitely appreciate Oklahoma and LSU being beaten at home

hate this guy

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney: 'On board' with Black Lives Matter messages, but not politics

^ A man torn between his need to recruit Black players and his need to soothe the multi-millionaire alumni who bankroll his program.

"i mean i'm okay with black people scoring touchdowns, that's gotta count for something"

xp apparently this all started because a 'law enforcement officer' called into dabo's radio show and asked him if he supported 'these people'

anyway he's old school, grew up in alabama, can't be expected to let the coloreds mess up the uniforms or make money or be 'political'

totally understandable racist behavior, who could blame him except everyone

SABAN HAS THE RONA

:-0

hope he's ok, but the SEC's covid attitude has been sickening, and the league deserves a dose of reality

LSU/Florida has been postponed until Dec. 12

hopefully Alabama's AD recruited another, younger 5-star coach that is ready to take saban's place, and saban will never get another opportunity as he watches his dream slip away, hobbled on the sideline.

cold but fair

UK won at Tennessee for the first time since like 1986 and biggest win by points since like 1932 today.

Kentucky has some more O-linemen that will be playing in the NFL soon.

Alabama will definitely not let Saban transfer without setting out a year.

Saban's test was apparently a false positive. He's had three negative tests since and we be on the sideline tonight. Cool.

He released a statement, "Don't be afraid of covid."

everyone who goes into remission should blab to the world “don’t be afraid of cancer!”

aaaaand trevor lawrence has covid

btw wtf nebraska

'we're not allowed to catch covid from wisconsin, so please let us catch it from chattanooga'

Indiana whupped the Wolverines today. Michigan looked slow. Harbaugh might be joining you know who in looking for a new job in January.

Good day all around.

Indiana's Michael Penix Jr. should start getting some talk as a big QB to watch and like many lefty QBs he's kind of fun to watch. Big thing with him is just not getting hurt again.

https://wgntv.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/11/GettyImages-1284436894.jpg?w=1280&h=720&crop=1

they shouldn't be playing, but at least it's resulted in michigan and penn state getting fucking smoked

They got Michigan State now too...knock wood they can complete the set by beating the Buckeyes next week.

It would figure that IU would have their season of the century in the middle of a plague.

jameson williams is so nasty

well bryce young looks like a no 1 pick

georgia apparently didn’t realize that young has wheels

or jameson williams

I haven't seen a Georgia game this year, but that Bowers kid seems pretty special.

"looking like georgia might actually crush bama"

Some predators like to toy with it's prey before the kill.

Bryce Young in his last 5 quarters plus the OTs in the Auburn game is playing Techmo bowl. He plays like that and they are not going lose the title.

Baylor keeping OSU out of the endzone twice with 1st and goal within the 5 yard line was pretty tough. That big DT for Baylor is to take a term from Madden "a road grater". Cowboys could not get anything up the middle in the run game at all and that last tackle on the sweep that guy for Baylor will be asked about for the rest of his life. Good game.

Michigan looked good, but I can't think they can hang with Georgia or Alabama, especially if either team gets up more than a single score. But hey weird things happen and Michigan does seem to be really good on defense and special teams. I can't see them scoring anywhere near enough to hang with Techmo bowl or Georgia, whose offense really did not play all that bad today and has scored a boodle of points this year too.

probably the best two teams in the country but this seems like a clear suggestion that only one of them belongs in the playoff

that said, whatever it takes to assure the crushing of jim harbaugh is okay with me (sorry voodoo)

it’s nice that michigan football is no longer a factory of sadness but a factory of success

Kedon Slovis and Bo Nix are in a portal, but George Lucas didn't write it

the jimmy kimmel bowl

so Clemson and Bama tonight huh

College Football Playoff champion can be crowned via COVID-related forfeit, new policy states

go bearcats

really appreciate how wrenched up nc state is about its inability to find a healthy opponent for the entirely meaningless san diego county credit union holiday bowl. at least they can go home and stroke themselves while thinking about this

Holiday Bowl officials came into the NC State team meeting on Wednesday morning and presented them with the bowl trophy. Doeren said NC State will count this as a victory in their record books, no matter how the NCAA views the game.

should count it but as a millenial bowl victory!

i guess pitt did pretty well for relying on its third-string QB. defense pooped out in the fourth tho

RGIII isn't bad at all for a rookie color guy -- he's a little over-corny for my taste but he has a good voice

this is gonna be like 45-10 huh

Almost every CFP game is

At 27-6 the point difference for Bama v Cincinnati was pretty close to the point difference in the SEC championship game of Bama v Georgia. Seems respectable enough for a mid-major team, even if it wasn't close.

Point difference of one game means almost nothing. But whatever this is means Michigan sucks.

The Dawgs were the undisputed best team in the nation for most of the season. This game is a measure of how badly they want a rematch with Bama.

We love a good sports narrative but maybe it also has nothing to do with that

michigan just didn’t have the horses on offense, or anything close to it

good day to be an OSU (not you, beavers)

not thrilled to blow a huge lead to the head coach of OANN, but also not going to worry too much.

LSU has a player named Pig Cage??

idk why i was watching this pregame but…

andrew luck looks skinny

good fan sign reading “tuscaloosas #1 dating site: ancestry.com”

That drop

bama is too hurt

young is just incredible tho

bama is gonna need a big play i think

wow

Young

he’s crazy good

seems so hard to be accurate throwing at that angle

holy shit that was the craziest TD catch

georgia picking on bama’s like 5th corner

5th corner was playing some pretty great D tbf

Taking a shot for Larry Munson

was wild to see Bama with that all too familiar exposed secondary look

Alabama's 5th corner is a 5* recruit

well, he was a 3 star junior college transfer. in any event, it’s still guys who don’t normally play. they got him on the PI where he tackled UGA’s receiver and then got the other guy (also a back up) on a PI on the final TD drive. georgia made plays down the stretch so hats off to them but bama was also grievously injured at CB and WR

Ah, I thought you were referring to McKinstry. Agree bama had very bad luck with injuries in this go, even in the game.

not a bad off year for the crimson tide, all said

HBTFD, y'all

UGA/Bama drama will continue long after I'm gone, but at least I won't have to listen to any more can-Kirby-beat-Bama stories

the best part is that now people in Athens can stop talking about 1980, Vince Dooley, and Herschel fucking Walker

congrats, man. nothing better than your college team winning the football championship...i bet

yes, congrats! I'm happy that a new southern school won this year.

thank you

my sentiments about my alma mater and NCAA football in general are much more ambivalent than they used to be, but today I'm enjoying the shared buzz with a lot of family, friends, and former co-workers

Likewise Brad. I used to be a pretty diehard Dawg fan but I barely followed them this season. I did enjoy the game though

Winning a championship is an amazingly difficult accomplishment and you hafta recognize it as such. But it all happens in a haze of big money, frenzied fans, crafty exploitation of young people's dreams, and a brutal cost in lifelong physical injuries, so your ambivalence is plenty justified, too.

hey, Texas A&M haven't even won their championship yet

love to see dudes named jimbo and dabo hold forth on amateur sports