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Kareem Abdul Jabbar weighs in on pay for college athletes
Posted on 7/26/14 at 5:59 am
Posted on 7/26/14 at 5:59 am
LINK
Fire away...
quote:
The irony is that the NCAA and other supporters claim it will sully the purity of college sports — desecrating our image of it as a youthful clash of school rivalries that always ends at the malt shop with school songs being sung and innocent flirting between boys in letterman jackets and girls with pert ponytails and chastity rings.
In reality, what makes college sports such a powerful symbol in our culture is that they represent our attempt to impose fairness on an otherwise unfair world. Fair play, sportsmanship, and good-natured rivalry are lofty goals to live by. By treating the athletes like indentured servants, we’re tarnishing that symbol and reducing college sports to just another exploitation of workers, no better than a sweat shop.
Fire away...
15
Posted on 7/26/14 at 6:04 am to Dalosaqy
quote:
By treating the athletes like indentured servants, we’re tarnishing that symbol and reducing college sports to just another exploitation of workers, no better than a sweat shop.
The people who treat the issue like this infuriate me. I'm completely fine with the idea that players should get paid, but when someone makes an extreme comparison like this I can't help but shake my head.
Posted on 7/26/14 at 6:14 am to Dalosaqy
It is better to be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Posted on 7/26/14 at 6:36 am to Dalosaqy
quote:
exploitation of workers, no better than a sweat shop.
Show me the part where these guys have no choice. Where they can't up and quit any day they like. Where they are forced to do anything at all against their will. Where they don't get this incredibly valuable education as payment for their hard work (just because a lot of these kids don't finish by choice doesn't lessen their opportunity)
Then, maybe, I'll listen to Kareem. But until then he's just another rich guy hating on a system that helped him get to where they are.
Posted on 7/26/14 at 6:44 am to TexasTiger1185
While the upper echelon of student athletes do get used by the powers to be to make them money while not earning a true salary. Saying these people are indentured servants is ridiculous and laughable and an unjust comparison taking into account what happened to true indentured servants from the past.
Posted on 7/26/14 at 7:06 am to RTR America
How about let the pro sports pay for their minor leagues like baseball does
Posted on 7/26/14 at 7:06 am to Dalosaqy
another deluded baby boomer, nothing to see here
Posted on 7/26/14 at 7:24 am to Dalosaqy
quote:
By treating the athletes like indentured servants, we’re tarnishing that symbol and reducing college sports to just another exploitation of workers, no better than a sweat shop.
Ok, here is a solution.
Pay all athletes but quit giving scholarships. If your getting paid then you pay for your own ride. Books, housing, food, everything.
Posted on 7/26/14 at 7:35 am to rocket31
quote:
another deluded baby boomer,
Struggling a bit with KAJ as just another boomer.
Posted on 7/26/14 at 7:37 am to Dalosaqy
What is stopping college students from forming their own professional league and making money that way? Are they not free to do so? Obviously their services are in such high demand—why don't they capitalize on this demand by forming their own business and keeping all the profits?
Posted on 7/26/14 at 7:40 am to Dalosaqy
I didn't know sweat shop workers got free food and free education. I just thought they worked for cheap. Since when is playing a sport you love work?
Posted on 7/26/14 at 7:45 am to Ponchy Tiger
It's not as easy as let's just pay athletes. Who do you pay? Pay all sports equal? Pay each gender equal? What about the small school that can't afford it? Now they have to dump their good teachers because they can't afford them. Now the education level drops. It's stupid when people bring up this but they never bring up a great way to do it. I'd say the only way to do this is take a cut from licensing sales and pay from that. But even that would be a small amount once you pay everyone.
This post was edited on 7/26/14 at 7:46 am
Posted on 7/26/14 at 7:48 am to OutofTownAlumni
quote:In fairness, it isn't unheard for them to receive victuals and Bible readings. But yeah, I don't like his example.
I didn't know sweat shop workers got free food and free education.
This may be a stretch, but I'll cite Marvin Miller's explanation of the NL's and AL's former "reserve clause" and its comparison to slavery. He defined slavery (not verbatim) as taking the services of a man and paying him significantly less than that service is worth. Not exactly slavery by any definition I've seen, but rather capitalist exploitation.
Ironically, the word "capitalist" seems to be somewhat of a bad word in today's political climate, and Abdul-Jabbar's point might be better received if he had used the term capitalist exploitation rather than indentured servitude.
Are college athletes capitalistically exploited? I suppose they might be so, and if they are so, fortunately for them, they live in a country where they are free to enter the market and capitalize on their own services by forming their own league. I ask facetiously, what is keeping these exploited college students from doing so?
Posted on 7/26/14 at 8:01 am to ballscaster
quote:Probably the fact that they are teenagers.
What is stopping college students from forming their own professional league and making money that way?
Posted on 7/26/14 at 8:07 am to OutofTownAlumni
quote:Maybe not, but you could let players negotiate their own deals with Nike, Adidas, etc. Let them have jobs like normal students. Let them actually cash in on their own name.
It's not as easy as let's just pay athletes.
Posted on 7/26/14 at 8:13 am to Dalosaqy
Not all student athletes feel they should be payed. This is a quote I read from an athlete a NWST. "I'm indifferent about the whole situation (at the major college level). When you play football, you dream of playing at the highest level, the NFL, and that's where you get paid. That's where you make a living at the game. It's an honor to have a scholarship to attend college, to have the blessing of an education that is going to benefit me and my family. I'm not caught up wondering what players at another level might or might not receive. Every person's situation is different, and I am very pleased with mine. I am getting a great education at Northwestern State, I'm going to walk away with a degree that was made possible because of the opportunity given to play football here. That's more than enough, the way I see it."
Posted on 7/26/14 at 8:13 am to pvilleguru
Now you are bringing agents into the scene.
Posted on 7/26/14 at 8:15 am to OutofTownAlumni
quote:I don't have a problem with them having agents.
Now you are bringing agents into the scene.
Posted on 7/26/14 at 8:16 am to ballscaster
quote:
indentured servitude.
This is the apt comparison while sweat shop is a hyperbolic and fairly ridiculous if we consider the plight of actual sweat shop workers. Players are exploited for a set number of years before they are allowed to earn market value for their skills (and really not even that due to rookie scale salary caps). That seems like the definition of indentured servitude.
Granted the pro leagues and not the NCAA impose these restrictions, but the NCAA has no problem with what these leagues do- they get to reap the financial rewards.
Posted on 7/26/14 at 8:17 am to pvilleguru
Bringing in agents will allow them to take more gifts than they would be "allowed".
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