Re: OSU (469 Views)
Posted by:
moosepalm (IP Logged)
Date: January 14, 2015 07:46AM
The notion of "college" football is an incredible misnomer. For the majority of major football programs, the relationship they share with the institution that shares their name, other than financial, is mostly one of geographical proximity. It is akin to saying the shopping mall on the Gulfstream property is really part of the race track. Graduation rates often hover only slightly above 50% and many of those graduate through "made for football/basketball" majors.
The WSJ has valued the Ohio State program at 1.1 billion. I didn't mistakenly type a "b" there. These programs are clearly subsidiary business entities of the university. Their enormous financial growth, to a certain extent, parallels the growth of ESPN, and is not entirely independent of sports wagering. All of this is accomplished without overtly paying the athletes who provide the "entertainment." Yes, they receive scholarships and are ensconced in comfort for four years, but for many, the opportunity for a college education is merely a pretense, because they have no more business being in college than a 10K claimer has running in the Triple Crown. For their efforts and life-shortening injuries, roughly 2% will make a livelihood from the sport, and of those, it has been reported that anywhere from a half to three-quarters of them will be bankrupt in five years.
When he was at Florida, Urban Meyer coached a team that had 31 arrests in six years, and, miraculously, that didn't include Aaron Hernandez. Inherent in that number is the reasonable assumption, emphasized by reports of what transpires at their neighboring school in Tallahassee, that many football player-related crimes go unreported, or are just not pursued. Few of those arrested were ever disciplined within the program.
Having said all that, I happily put all principled concerns on hold, and would vastly prefer watching the college game to its officially designated professional counterpart seven days out of seven. I agree with most of P-Dub's assessments of Ohio St., but for a team that earlier on lost to Va. Tech, and barely escaped Penn St. in overtime, to end the season by burying a good Wisconsin team, beating a perceived invincible Alabama team, and dominating a flash-and-glitzy Oregon team, all with a 3rd string quarterback, is a move up performance that would be the envy of all of our own sport's usual suspects. However, no drugs were involved, at least no more than usual. It was just a helluva coaching job, and if history is any indicator, which I suspect all of us would believe to be true or why else would we be here, Ohio St., with all its returning stars and starters, will be the best bet against on the board for next year's national championship. Billion dollar business notwithstanding, it's still a great game.