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College Athletes Should be Allowed to Major in Football: Dan Treadway

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The Straight Story Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 11:09 AM
Original message
College Athletes Should be Allowed to Major in Football: Dan Treadway
College Athletes Should be Allowed to Major in Football: Dan Treadway

As absurd as it might seem at first, the idea of allowing college athletes to major in football could make a lot of sense, argues Dan Treadway, a student at the University of Texas.

Sports like football and basketball dominate many college campuses, given the prestige and revenue they generate for universities. Because “they are popular, profitable, and a deeply rooted part of the collegiate experience,” Treadway writes, administrators need to figure out “some sort of credibility to the idea of a ‘student-athlete.’”

So why not think outside the box and let football players major in their sport?

Treadway compares the idea to the current practice of offering “leisure driven activities such as Theater, Music and Art” as majors. These students will ultimately land work either in their field of interest, or wind up teaching about it.

Football majors would have the same options.

“While only a small percentage of players are fortunate enough to play professionally after graduating from college, the opportunity to receive full education in the sport of football would provide athletes with not only an education in a topic they're interested in, but it would give them the preparation they need to coach the sport at the high school, collegiate or professional-level upon graduation,” he writes.

http://www.allgov.com/Opinion_from_the_Left/ViewNews/College_Athletes_Should_be_Allowed_to_Major_in_Football__Dan_Treadway_110122
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somone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 11:16 AM
Response to Original message
1. And pay them a salary
Take it out of the head coach's salary
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Tempest Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 11:17 AM
Response to Original message
2. What a dumb idea

The coaching and professional player's market is extremely small compared to the number of players who would jump at the chance of an easy glide through college.

There would be thousands of players graduating in the program with no viable job skills and no market for the small skill set they get.
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OneTenthofOnePercent Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 11:31 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. Aren't all college maors like that nowdays?
Look at all the kids waiting tables, working barista, and manning call centers & low wage obs who have a degree and thousands of dollars in student debt.
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DissedByBush Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 11:45 AM
Response to Reply #2
6. And current subjects so prepare them for the job market
The phrase most often spoken by an art history grad is probably "Do you want fries with that?"

I don't like football, but it is a major industry in this country, employing a lot of people.

I could understand a degree in the larger area of "sports management" or something like that.
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tammywammy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 11:48 AM
Response to Reply #6
8. Aren't there already sports management degrees? n/t
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DissedByBush Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:46 PM
Response to Reply #8
13. No idea n/t
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Book Lover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 01:15 PM
Response to Reply #8
14. Yes (nm)
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Tempest Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:08 PM
Response to Reply #6
19. So adding a dumb one is going to help? n/t
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distantearlywarning Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 11:47 AM
Response to Reply #2
7. Yeah, well, welcome to college.
That describes at least 50% of the majors out there right now.
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immoderate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 01:42 PM
Response to Reply #7
17. Bingo! Why are so many school admins former Phys Ed majors?
Edited on Sat Jan-22-11 01:43 PM by immoderate
It's the Phys Ed-School Administrator Complex!

--imm
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provis99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 06:25 PM
Response to Reply #2
20. college is not vocational school. It does not train you for jobs.
Personally, I think sports should be thrown off campus. Who would take Oxford or Cambridge seriously if they had a football team?
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Johonny Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 11:19 AM
Response to Original message
3. only negative of this would be
far to many players who would like to get degrees in other fields would be pressured into getting football degrees by their coaches. There simply aren't that many football related jobs for these graduates. There aren't that many coaching opportunities every year. You'd have to take some pre-law classes if they wanted to become agents etc...

It would be interesting to see what "football" classes would be like. I imagine they would exist because it would be a way to get extra coaching time with students outside the NCAA limits :)
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DavidDvorkin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 11:38 AM
Response to Original message
5. Much better option: eliminate all intercollegiate sports and spend the money saved on education
Only a few sports powerhouses - mainly football powerhouses - make a profit from their sports programs. The great majority of universities lose money on it.
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JackRiddler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 11:48 AM
Response to Original message
9. Why not? End the charade and let the students who study real stuff alone.
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ProgressiveProfessor Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:28 PM
Response to Original message
10. Isn't that what the Phy Ed major is for?
Seriously, most of the jocks find a fairly easy major where they can get lots of "help" when they need it.
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petronius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:43 PM
Response to Original message
11. A 'football' concentration within a kinesiology or sports/rec/tourism major
would make sense - I'd call it analogous to a violin focus within a music degree, or a stage design concentration within a theater degree. And as mentioned above, I'm sure there are sports management degrees or concentrations out there.

As long as the school has a solid and broad GE requirement, I'm OK with finely-focused majors. However, I'd be unhappy with athletics programs requiring a certain major, whatever it happened to be...
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Odin2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:44 PM
Response to Original message
12. Fuck that bullshit. Student-Athletes are supposed to be STUDENTS first.
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Book Lover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 01:17 PM
Response to Original message
15. I have a better idea - let the NFL fund their *own* training programs
Baseball has the minor leagues, yes? Why can't football pay up for their own training programs?
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walldude Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 01:48 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. +1000 How about colleges spend the money they spend on
grown men playing little boy games, on fucking education.
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JCMach1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 01:24 PM
Response to Original message
16. Screw that... just send them straight to the NFL then
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