[Next Big Thing]

Originally Posted by Krimzon7 They're not innocent by a long shot...they ARE underpaid however! I played college ball, and it sucks to see packed stands, your jersey in stores, and coaches sign fat contracts based off of your merit...and you cant afford to gas up your car, or (more appropriately) you have to scrape together money for your next meal of hotdogs. The kids, that we speak of are immortalized in a highly successful, multi-million dollar, video game that they'll never get a goddam penny for. College scholarships mean shit in this economy, where this thing called unemployment is out of control. And 1 out of every 100 kids will make the NFL. The kids should cash in when they can. More importantly they deserve more of the millions AND MILLIONS of dollars they generate every year by filling them stands and playing football, that we watch on tv.

I gotta disagree with you there man. Let's be real, some of these dudes don't have the grades or GPA to get into the school on academic merit alone. They get a full ride. They don't have to deal with the FAFSA bullshit, apply for a loan from Sallie Mae, worry about meal plans or housing. And on top of that, they're pretty much celebrities on campus can walk into any bar and tag any girl. I can guarantee you that no player at Ohio State has ever had to scrape together money to eat a hotdog if he didn't want to. At 18 or 19 years old, what more could any of us want?

We all know someone who fucked up academically or personally and had to leave school. Did they end up getting a second chance at another one that was just as good as the one they left? Think about it. Cam Newton had a full ride to Florida, stole a laptop and got kicked out of school, and bounces back at Auburn. How many regular college students could pull that off?

People should stop looking at total revenues and instead focus on actual profits. Of 120 D1 Athletic Departments, only 14 broke even or made a profit. EA even lost money on the year. Hell, that's like Sony employees saying they deserve a raise because the company brought in $87 billion even though it had a total loss of $3 billion.

Plus there's Title 9 so women sports would also have to get equal compensation. Then how would it be implemented? Would you pay a football player at OSU the same amount as a football player at Boise State when one school generates so much more money than the other? Wouldn't Terrelle Pryor deserve more of a cut than his third string back up? If so, how would any of that be any better or different than a kid who goes to a school becuase the boosters offered him more money?

You go to college for the education, not the paycheck. No one is forcing these kids to play. If they think they're being exploited, they should just apply and enroll to schools as regular students and see if that life is so much better than having to be the starting quarterback at Ohio State and seeing their jersey in the window while all they get is all expenses paid. How can you say a college scholarship means shit in this economy when it allows someone to go to school free for four years? That's a hell of a lot better than not going to school at all or trying to pay out of your own pocket in this economy. I guarantee you that there are hundreds of thousands of college students who would rather play a sport and graduate from a top 50 school with a degree and no debt than have to stress over SAT scores and applications and then leave school with thousands of dollars in debt.