Pity the Poor Players

    (debate.org)

I think it’s time that college football players get paid. After all, they are doing everyone else’s job and are treated so very shabbily.

After making a tackle, especially for a loss, the defender jumps up, sprints or struts around and points to himself. This allows everyone to see who made the tackle, which eliminates the need for a  press box spotter to identify the correct player so the PA, radio and TV announcers can name him. Don’t really need any of those jobs anymore.

After a first down run or pass reception, the ball carrier stands and dramatically signals “First Down!” So the officials don’t have to do this anymore.

It’s routine now for defensive backs to shake their heads and signal incomplete passes, even when they were badly beaten by the receiver even though the quarterback over-threw or under-threw the target by ten yards. It’s absurd behavior, of course, but at least it means we can get by with several fewer officials. No need that they also give the signal for an incomplete pass.

And these players are so badly abused off the field. You know, expected to attend classes and turn in assignments at institutions which have paid their tuition, given them the best accommodations and dining on campus, purchased text books which they may or may not open, covered other campus fees, and also provided them a little spending money for whatever other essentials of college life remain…..in all, more than a quarter-million dollars over four or five years for a student-athlete at many of our nation’s universities.

Pretty good compensation and conditions for a late adolescent, but then again, maybe not enough for a kid who has been coddled and catered to since he grew larger than his classmates in high school.

JER