Muller: Ralph Nader Opining On College Athletics? No Thanks
By Shawn Muller--
Please…for the love of everything sacred on this great Earth….GO AWAY RALPH NADER!
It was bad enough when you scampered into the presidential elections in the past and cost a man his shot at the office, but now you have an opinion on college athletics?
Excuse me while I laugh in your face.
This genius of a man—yes, I am over-exaggerating—is calling for the end of athletic scholarships in order to "de-professionalize" college athletics.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense there Ralphie!
How in the world is getting rid of athletic scholarships going to make a college athletes "amateur status" disappear?
Apparently, Nader and his band of idiots—known as The League of Fans—believe that replacing scholarships with need-based financial aid would help reclaim some sort of integrity to college athletics. Nader thinks that by doing this, a "win-at-all-cost" attitude in high school sports would wane because the good fortune of receiving an athletic scholarship would subside.
First of all, why would anyone with half a brain listen to this bumbling idiot? Second, it is not the scholarships that are making college athletics dirty—it is the "street agents" looking for a piece of the pie, it is the high school coaches looking to make a name for themselves, it is the boosters giving out all sorts of "handouts," and it is the coaches who play the dirty recruiting "game," that has made college athletics what they are today.
Depriving kids of athletic scholarships is not going to change any aspect of the scum-filled underbelly that is running rampant in the NCAA today. It is all of the factors listed above. A scholarship just guarantees the four-year "contract."
What would going to need based financial aid really do to quell the influx of absolute dirt that has taken over college sports? Nothing. The majority of college athletes—and regular students as well—can barely afford to pay tuition as it is. Bogging lower-income students—which most scholarship athletes are—is going to help how exactly?
Does this idiot really think that shady recruiting practices and back-alley payments are going to go away simply because athletic scholarships are taken away? Hate to break it to you Ralphie, but they won't. Kids don't commit to a college because of an athletic scholarship. They commit to a school for other various reasons: location, co-eds, majors, sweetest "side" deal by boosters—the list goes on and on. The scholarship is just the formality that gets them on to campus…the rest is all fluff.
Does this buffoon and his "League of Fans", really believe that athletes won't continue to be paid on the side if scholarships are taken away? All this would do is make dirty recruiting tactics even dirtier. "Hey son, come to my school and I will guarantee that your financial aid will be all paid for after you leave…all you have to do is sign." Can't you just see it now? I sure as hell can.
What needs to change is the NCAA needs to get a backbone for once and start penalizing offenders. Firing coaches, banning well-connected booster, probation, the death penalty. All of these are tools the NCAA could use, but for some reason, they get cold feet when a big-time program is breaking the rules. If the NCAA stood its ground and actually enforced their rules so that side deals would be dealt with…with an iron fist…all of the bull we see today would most likely disappear.
Normally, I would tell someone to just stick to what they know, but with Ralph Nader, I am not quite sure what that is. What does he REALLY know? Nothing apparently.
Bottom-line…getting rid of athletic scholarships would be the dumbest move the NCAA could make.
Ralph Nader? Please. You are the last person anyone should listen to regarding college athletics.
And that is saying something!
Do you agree with Shawn? Post your comments below.
Shawn Muller has lived in the great city of Chicago for 7 years. He is a 2002 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and, in October of 2010, Shawn received his certificate in radio broadcasting. In his free time, Shawn enjoys spending time with his wife Melissa and 3 year old daughter Ava, catching any live sporting event, and traveling. Check out his radio show, Grab Some Bench with Muller and Bangser" every Thursday night at 8:30 P.M., at www.blogtalkradio.com/spmuller24.
