Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Dige

["Nissen, David" <DNissen@ventnds1.telstra.com.au>]

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>Well, I have a few problems with this.  First, there is already a PE major
in
college, and some (not all) althletes choose this route to make college life
easier.  PE isn't exactly easy, but it isn't rocket science.  Second,
college
isn't in place to be basketballs (or any sports) minor leagues.  That may 
seem
to currently be the case, but that was never and should never be the case.
Plus, if an athlete is taking scholarship funds from someone studing 
academics,
then the athlete better be willing to study hard as well as play in the 
sport.


  I was under the impression that the college sporting events generated 
enough money to cover the costs of the players place and some.  I've heard
it 
argued that college players in effect make it cheaper for other students 
(I suspect however that any extra revenue they bring benifits other students

in a more inderect fashion).  As I stated before, having little actual 
experience with the American college system myself, I may have been mislead 
on this point.

> I really don't think that we want to give away 
college to those athletes 
who wish to play their sport for 4 years and then would have to come back
for 
4 more to get a degree.  Many athletes currently get there degrees in
diffcult
majors while still competing at a high level in their sport.  The Michigan
Hockey team comes to mind.  A couple of the players from the National 
champion
Hockey team where studing very difficult subjects (Pharmicology, Biology,
etc.), and doing quite well.  I realize hockey isn't football or basketball,
but it was just an example.

>I would prefer that a person go to college with the intent to get a degree
first and play a sport second.  I realize this is far fleged, but I can 
dream.
A minor league system (i.e. baseball) should be put in place to give people
a
chance to skip college if they don't want to apply themselves in the
academic
areas.  This secondary basketball league that is starting up soon is a great
idea.  The CBA teams should associate themselves with NBA teams in order to
create a minor league system that would help fringe players and future NBA
stars with there skills until such a date where they could advance to the
parent team.


    When my friends and I were discussing this, I was very much in favor of
a 
minor league system, and I still feel it may well be inevitable.  However I 
do not believe it is as simple as that.

    The way I see it, such a league would take an already dodgy college 
system and make it worse. I don't believe the college system will submit to 
being a poor mans minor league.  If they wanted to survive such a league, 
they would have to pretty much move to having full time atheletes.  Who gets

screwed if all this happens.  Not the rocket scientists, not the Michael 
Jordans, the people who need a sporting scholorship to have any chance of 
getting an education, yet are not good enough to guarantee they will make it

as atheletes (I can try with the minor leagues, I can try with the colleges,

but either way, if I fail, I'm going to be years older with no education and

no employement history) and those who have all the sporting skills, but 
suffer dispicable injuries early on.

    The voucher system was conceived as a way for college basketball to stay

alive and at the same time for people from disadvantaged backgrounds to have

some hope of an education.  It gives the colleges a carret to dangle in 
front of prospective players while saying yes, when you have done your stint

with the team, you will be at the same level of developement as if you had 
gone to the minor league, but you will also have something to fall back on
if 
you don't make it.

    I personally had another, less realistic solution to the problem. 

1) Introduce a real welfare system in America.
2) Introduce government funded free education (entrance based purely on 
academic standards), thus removing some of the need for a finacialy viable 
college sports system.  - Australia had a free education system for many 
years and although various governments have been slowely dismanteling it 
over the last 10 years, economists are only now realising what a benifit it 
was to the economy and how badly the current lack of it is going to effect 
our economy over the next 10 years - but I have digressed onto one of my 
favorite soap boxes :)
 3) Introduce a decent Minor league system, grown out of the college system,

rather than independantly to it 


Guess the voucher system, although somewhat unrealistic, is far more likely 
and a lot less controvercial :)



        Thanx for your input,

                                David Nissen

> Just my thoughts,

Shawn

> The proposed solution:
>
> 1) Seperate the sport from the academic side of college, ie some people go
> to
> college to study Medicine, others Law or Libral Arts etc, some people go
to 

> college to study their sport.  Instead of forcing people to study basket
> making between practice sessions and games, get them studying their game -
> eg  Tactics, basic physical education, basic physiotheripy, history of the
> sport etc.  In short, give them skills that will be useful to them as
> players
> and could help them get related jobs (eg coach, PE teacher etc) if they
> never
> make it to the big time or for after their carrer has ended.  Hopefully 
many
>
> players will find such courses interesting as well as useful. Some people
> will still find this a turn off, so let them concentrate more on their
game 

> and less on the theory - remember, they are performing a service for the
> college every time they help to win a game.
>
>
> 2) For those that want to concentrate on their sport(s), but also want an
> academic education, give them vouches or something similar, allowing them 
to
>
> come back and try a more academic degree after their sporting life is
over.
>
> In this way, people who have the smarts and the sporting skills have a
> chance
> to excel at both, rather than having to choose one or the other, or 
possibly
>
> risking being mediocre at both.
>
>
> 3) With the extra time spent on the game, some game related skills that 
will
>
> both benifit people while playing the game and possibly after, and the
> prospect of getting that education thing if the sport thing doesn't pan 
out,
>
> is cut short etc, hopefully more sporting people will be encouraged to go 
to
>
> and stay in college, and the standard of rookie will be improved by the
> extra
> experience and skills.
>
>
> OK, so this is our solution, what do those of you who are actually
familiar 

> with the American college system have to say / suggest ?
>
>
>             Have fun,
>
>                         David N.