Do Student Athletes Deserve Better Grades?

Year after year, as the college football bowl games dominate television sports and college basketball begins conference play, the money involved attracts our attention. Yet, year after year, nothing changes.

I don't begrudge college sports for making money from their sports programs. Also, I don't have a problem with tax exemptions on the profits. That is, if we can redefine the educational value of college sports.

Kids who participate in sports devote disproportional amounts of time from their lives to what has become such a huge boon to the colleges they attend. Yet, the charade of traditional educational values conflicts with student athletes time allocation.

Kids who play sports almost always have fantasies about playing at the highest levels. They want to play in the major leagues. It doesn't matter if it’s the NFL, NBA, MLS, MLB,  or any other. There is nothing wrong with that. Those who make it provide fascinating entertainment to those who enjoy watching. So, as public funding for education fails to meet needs, why wouldn't schools look to sports and corporate sponsorship?

What disturbs me is that, although we love seeing these kids develop, perform, and achieve in the realm of sports, we don't respect the educational achievement their efforts represent. Why do all kids need to demonstrate academic knowledge in literature, philosophy, economics, science, or technology? There is an abundance of jobs in sports: managers, trainers, coaches, announcers, etc. Education should be about developing aptitudes as well as intellect. A student’s abilities may excel in sports, while falter in language. Who gets to choose which ability is more important?

Why is a kid’s desire to play sports any less important than the kid who wants to be a writer or a banker? Traditional values need to change with the cultural environment that we create. Sports entertainment is big business, just as any other. Why is it alright for an actor who scores big in the movies to earn millions of dollars and nobody is bothered by it, while an athlete is disdained? Why is it alright for a CEO to make big bucks and earn huge bonuses if stocks perform well when that CEO may personally have less to do with it than the employees who work for that company, and it not be alright for professional athletes to have million-dollar base salaries? How many of us will actually end up with the job we dreamed of when we were kids? Not every kid who wants to play will be able to reach their highest goals, but there are many careers surrounding athletics they can prepare for by participation in athletics that complement their efforts.

Colleges should give kids academic credits for their athletic endeavors. If a kid starts for one of the school's sports teams, that kid should earn an "A". If a student-athlete sits on the bench and never gets into a game, give them at least a "C" for participation. If a non-starting, far-down-the-bench player is an invaluable practice player, that could earn an "A" as well.

The NCAA, our colleges, alumni, and individuals need to show respect for the student athletes that contribute more to our culture and social environment than the average couch potato does.

I laugh at the Baseball Writers of America!

OMG, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America is boycotting the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. How dare they? Perhaps the era of enhancement drugs is wrong, but how do we actually know that? Steroids, their uses, and benefits are well known and like most drugs have side effects which give their application some need for risk analysis. Are sport writers, sports management, medical professionals, or even the public qualified to judge?

First, but surely not most important, I find it interesting that the New York Times would publish three quarters of a blank page to dramatize this year’s choices for baseball’s Hall of Fame. No wonder the newspaper business is in trouble. Who is paying for that space? Was there an advertiser to underwrite the void? It is difficult for me to respect these decisions by either the New York Times or the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

A word about steroids: how many of us have used steroids? My bet is that most have. How about hydrocortisone? We put it on bug bites, scrapes and scratches, skin ailments, and in inhalers to treat asthma. Hydrocortisone is produced naturally by the adrenal gland, but its manufactured form is widely used and its value is not questioned. Progesterone and estradiol are used every day by millions of women. Anabolic steroids are naturally produced by the body and promote bone and muscle growth. Synthetic versions are the culprit in controversies involving athletes.

Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens are probably the most known athletes that have dominated the news. Bonds and Clemens were both on the list of those nominated this year as candidates for the baseball Hall of Fame for the first time. Home run sluggers Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were also passed over by these sportswriters.  Babe Ruth, however, a man of some very questionable moral values, may stand at the highest level of esteem among our athletic heroes.

Let’s look at this issue from a different perspective. What about women who have enhanced their breasts? What about the privileged school children whose families can afford tutors to help them compete for academic success? What about our soldiers who have better weapons on the field of battle? What about Viagra? What about those of us who have ever gotten a job because we knew someone? There are many kinds of enhancements that we all use to get ahead in the world.

So, what’s right? Is it ethically correct for a politician to rely on the influence of lobbyists whose job is to educate rather than base their judgment on emotional ignorance? Is it the right thing for our colleges and universities to promise anything to student athletes other than an education? If we start thinking about these things, we can all come up with examples of the nebulous philosophical questions that we are all faced with.

Athletes are just as human as the rest of us. They seek approval. They seek attention. They love their sport. They seek success. There are any number of levels of dedication and commitment. Our culture encourages all sorts of ethical compromises and then arbitrarily makes judgments on those that we would like to feel we are better than. Athletes are natural targets for our hypocrisy. They were favored growing up. They dated the cheerleaders that we lusted after. They were popular. They earn more money. They make headlines for their personal lives that show they are really no better than the rest of us. They deserve what they get!

But wait, we are Americans! Altruism and high moral standards are an important part of our culture. We are also capitalists and most everything, including sports, can be viewed as a business. Do you think that the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY would exist if not for the tourists who see it as a shrine and make that pilgrimage visit? How many times have we heard questionable human behavior justified by the premise that “it’s not personal, it’s business”? It’s a competitive world out there and we need to succeed to survive. Just ask Darwin.

Therefore, I laugh at the Baseball Writers of America. I laugh at the pretentious New York Times that prints only the “news that is fit to print”.  I laugh at my fellow Americans, and I laugh at myself. How do we fix this?