College Sports

It being the end of the college year, there are a multitude of championships taking place.  I found Watching the Women's Softball Super Regionals refreshing. These women will not become professional softball players.  They will not be recruited by agents or pro teams.  What they are playing for is the moment, their teammates, and their schools.  How refreshing to know they are not compromised by the flash of money or future fame.  Jim Tressell was forced to resign from Ohio State - his sweater vest torn to shreds one thread at a time by his arrogance.  Sports pundits say he is a great coach.  I even heard his legacy is not tarnished by the culture he allowed among his football program.  The college sports which have the potential for its athletes to go pro for millions of dollars, well they are ripe for the picking.  One would be naive to think players on Division IA schools are not receiving academic assistance, financial assistance, or both.  College sports have become minor league training programs for pro-football and pro-baseball.  If you are an excellent football player, if you have been touted and recruited since you were in middle school - your sense of entitlement is understandable.  It is sad that these young men lose the joy of playing for a team; most of these young men are playing for a big payday when they turn pro.  It is refreshing watching college sports programs when the players are going to become professionals in the academic field they studied not the sports they played.  I would feel bad for the athlete who knows if the cards fall in the right places they will become overnight millionaires.  Shame on the alumni of universities who participate and promote athletes in the direction of cheating. How sad their lives are that they insinuate their money into the lives of college athletes as a means to retain a bit of the magic of those college years.  Some believe paying college athletes is the answer - are they not already getting paid - 4 years of college at a major university; that costs some $$$$. Isn't that enough? The tears shed by the women on losing softball teams this weekend were genuine.  The pain of losing was real.  For senior players that was it - their last game, the last time they put on their uniform - the last time they were representing their university.  Sure most will continue playing rec softball, there are some fast pitch leagues during the summer months they could participate in - not live on, just participate in.  Lacrosse has a pro-league - it isn't enough to live on but college lacrosse players could move on to that league...most won't.  Only an elite few could make enough money playing professional lacrosse - College basketball players admit they are only going to university for one or two years then they will enter the NBA draft.  I don't believe I would want that player on my team, no matter how good he was.  I would rather have the scrappy over achieving kid who will commit to four years, the kid who is not going to be a professional ball player, the kid who is playing for the team - the kid who beams every time he puts on his jersey.  This is the kid I want on my team.  It doesn't work that way though.  Big time college coaches need to win, and they need to win today - so they bend over backwards recruiting the "best" athletes for their programs.  That is sad.  And how they rattle the cages when a kid says; "No thanks, I want to stay in college." Why that kid is just plain crazy - giving up millions of dollars to stay in college.  I wish I had stayed in college - college years are the best; you are independent yet you live in this cocoon.  How amazing is that! I wish I was still in college - Now when I was in college I could not wait to get out! Oh, I believed so much in having my own place, a car, a job - you know being a grown up.  30 years of being a grown up has taught me it isn't all its cracked up to be.  Pete Carroll jumped ship at USC because he saw the writing on the wall.  All the years of corner cutting were about to catch up with him.  Tressel must have thought his sweater vest was made of Teflon and nothing was going to stick to him.  As a society we want our children to read when they are two, start school when they are four, start taking standardized tests when they are six - my goodness what is the point? Let children have their childhoods.  No way a 7th grade student should be contacted by a university - what does a 7th grader know about what college he/she wants to attend? a 7th grader is worried about acne, being with the "in" group, and who to sit with during lunch.  Shame on parents who don't hang up the phone on these recruiters! There are a lot of years of being a grown up and so few years of childhood.  If you live to be 80 you will work for 60 years and be free of responsibility for maybe 20.  You do the math - really do the math because I stink at math - all I know is that 60 years of working is a lot more than 20 years of playing.  Let children be children.  Turn off the television, get rid of the video games and cell phones - Oh, I know, everyone has one and everyone does it so we mus all be sheep and follow the herd right to the slaughter - that makes sense! What happened to being outside when the sun came up and being on the porch before the street lights came on - or darkness - what happened to making secret clubhouses and forts - what happened to playing hospscotch? I guess I am just a silly minded person, but I still believe children should be sheltered from violent video games, and suggestive television shows.  I still believe a game of hide N seek is more fun than some death match four video game.  I reckon this is why I like the fair, or an amusement park - an adult screaming on a roller coaster is a beautiful sound, while the kid sitting next to him is just laughing.  We all need to retain a little bit of freedom from being grown up - some days we need a lot of relief from being a grown up - at the very least we need to take a good hard look at how we are raising our children - can't we just let them "play" because playing is fun - instead of "play" becoming practice - practice is not playing.  Oh if only wishing could make it all come true.