The Student-Athlete

For some time now there’s been a debate about college student-athletes and whether they should be paid to play. The answer is an emphatic no. For most premier division-I athletes they do not have to pay to attend school, as their athletic prowess has earned them a free education. The cost of attending one of these large schools in today’s world is astronomical and almost all of the kids attending school need some type of scholarship, loan, grant, or financial aid. The last time I checked having your education paid for is, in essence, being paid to play.

Why should today’s student-athletes be paid to play on top of a free education? They are already being paid and do not need to receive added benefits on top of this. This is turning into a labor union scenario where, in the beginning, the union tries to get basic needs for it constituents. This always quickly turns into asking for more vacation time, and then sick time, and then they need their birthdays off, and even in some instances unions have asked for their spouse’s birthdays off. This seems odd to me, but maybe I’m just crazy. In the end the union asks for so much it ends up like the little boy who cried wolf and the situation turns into something ugly. If we pay our student-athletes to play what will they want next? It is irrational and ridiculous to give kids free education at some of the best schools in the country and have to pay them on top of that.

Many colleges in these hard economic times are having a tough time as it is allocating enough money for scholarships for their players, paying salaries for coaches, and, oh yeah, that little thing called education too. How in the world are they going to be able to pay for all that AND pay for their top athletes to play too? This will result in schools cutting sports, reducing money that should be put into education, and all in all making it hard for colleges to get by. Where did the joy of playing sports just to play sports go? The best athletes in NCAA sports will end up getting paid in a short time anyway, once they go pro.

The beauty of watching NCAA sports is that the kids are playing for the love of the game. They play because its something they’re good at and that they have enjoyed doing for their entire childhood. They don’t do it for the money, the fame, or the publicity. For every John Wall there’s 25 Mark Tituses. They play because on Saturday afternoons they get to hit people for millions of people to see, because on Wednesday nights they can throw down a monster dunk on national television, and they play because in the end its what they love to do. They don’t need to be paid, let the fans enjoy this last stronghold of innocence and let’s protect the beauty of the student-athlete.