Football league of their own
Josh Kirley
Swift's Confederate
Excessive Celebration. Dropping the football three yards short of the goal line. Un-sportsmanlike penalties. The Oregon State game, the BCS and all the Bowl games demonstrated an ever-increasing dichotomy in college football. That is, there are student-athletes and there are college football players. The difference in these players proved painfully evident in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Eve. Dennis Ericson, with his speed before literacy recruiting campaign, soundly defeated a coach who must be accountable to the Admissions Office in signing a player. For better or for worse, scouring the ghettoes and academic probation lists of junior colleges for talent is an effective way to build a college football team. At Miami and now with Oregon State, Ericson has mastered this technique. Many of these players have no more concern for their education than they do for the depleting ozone layer. If this sounds like a long-winded cry of "It's not fair," that's exactly what it is.
It is not fair. Not to the fans. Not to the student-athletes. Not to the universities. Not to the players. Why should they have to go to class? Why should they have to learn? Why should something as arbitrary and unnecessary as "learning" impede the road to a promising NFL career? I mean, baseball players have the minor leagues; basketball players don't have to kill time, waiting for their bodies to develop into NBA sturdiness. This thing has gotten way out of hand. This year, the National Championship (another game between teams whose zealousness has made them no stranger to the 50 yard extra point) was decided by an academic penalty. Snoop "summa cum" Minnis was deprived participation in the Orange Bowl due to multiple academic failures. Dumfounded, the receiver swears to have attended eight times as many classes in one semester as Deion Sanders did in three years. How far out of whack have FSU's priorities fallen?
I both attended and teach high school in south Florida, a hot bed for collegiate football talent. And players with the academic and personal make up of Deion and Snoop (a name not to be found on the roster of a single collegiate honor roll) are the rule and not the exception. Many of the high school athletes in this area with Division-I talent do not have the intelligence, the discipline (internal or external), the required credits, the SAT scores or the desire to be students at the university level. Why should we make them? Just like they constantly ask me, "When will they ever use Algebra I or German II in the NFL?" Why should we impose the rigors of academia upon a young man whose only crime is the dream to make millions of dollars in professional football? After all, college isn't for everybody. As the regulations and definitions of a "student athlete" become blurred, let's pull the carpet out from under this charade and create a new reality. A reality that acknowledges that skilled football players aren't always the nicest, the smartest or the most disciplined young men in the world.
I propose these non-academicians have a league of their own. Those who have the skill to be NFL prospects, but lack intellectual curiosity deserve an alternative. Their classmates, the motivated ones that they sit by on test days, deserve an alternative. A new league needs to be founded. Perhaps this new four team league could be an offshoot of the soon to be immensely popular XFL. Whatever the mechanism, a change needs to be made in college football. The fairness of competition is lost when the team with the lowest academic standards gets the best players and the most trophies.
I propose strict requirements for this new league. Those interested must have a maximum SAT of 750 or ACT of 15. No exceptions. They must have demonstrated a complete lack of academic ambition and respect for authority in high school. Chronic truancy and documented incidences of insubordination (both in the classroom and on the field) should be proven. Any non-athletic, extra-curricular activities will hurt the applicant, while a police record is a definite plus. To distinguish this collegiate-alternative from a true minor league, no one over 21 will be allowed. (This will prevent brawny has-beens from bruising the younger never-will-bes) Once accepted, there will be no mandatory practices and no mandatory team meetings. All players will receive $40,000.00 a year (or roughly the amount wasted in an attempt to educate those who do not wish to be educated) in addition to shoes, sweats, warm-ups and all the perks already afforded to varsity athletes. Corporations, owners, coaches, friends or former players may provide additional compensation in any manner they see fit. If they so choose, players may spend their afternoons working out and their evenings smoking weed and playing Playstation (not that this is a drastic departure from the actual college experience). At the end of every season, the winner of the Thug Bowl will go on to play an exhibition game with the college National Champions. And of course, per Thug Bowl Rules, a play is not officially over and the play clock will not reset until the obligatory post-tackle dance is complete.
Joshua Kirley is a member of the class of '99. He currently lives and teaches in Cape Coral, Florida. He can be reached at MrKirley@aol.com.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Monday, January 22, 2001
