Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
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Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#2Conferences needed to die when nearly all schools became financially able to charter planes and buses, and the sport became the priority and not academics, and not for the reasons listed here.
> The sport has reached its end-stage-capitalism period
All credibility left was just lost
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#3[dead]
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#4Now that Stanford and Cal are in the ACC, there will be vastly more air travel, having environmental impact and lost time for academic study, which these two universities actually care about, and consequent fatigue for the players. Zoom classes on the long flights, or sleep?
Same for other left (over) coast teams, but less impact.
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#5[deleted]
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#6Conferences needed to die when nearly all schools became financially able to charter planes and buses, and the sport became the priority and not academics, and not for the reasons listed here. > The sport has reached its end-stage-capitalism period All credibility left was just lost
Right? It has just achieved end-stage serfdom.
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#7This conference realignment is obviously a bad outcome. The leaders of the universities and American academia are delivering very poor results: education is too expensive, academic freedom is limited by outsiders, and now this. What good do the conference realignments do for anyone? Who is happy or better off?
The Big 10, in particular, used to be both an athletic association and an academic one, sharing resources between their members, (almost) all AAU members (leading research universities). This year they had the chance to add Stanford and Cal to the academic association, and share their resources. And they turned them down, because the Bay Area college football market isn't big enough. The story I read said Fox Sports, the Big 10's main broadcast partner, made the decision. They had the chance to add Stanford and Cal to their academic association, and said no - if you restrict yourself to universities which compete in major college sports, you will never get a better opportunity.
For generations, college football avoided this absurdity. Long ago, maybe eight years ago, there was a crazy notion of people working together, cooperating for a greater good. Why do that? Because it was good, and because they could accomplish more by working together than by acting in anarchy. People now embrace law-of-the-jungle anarchy like it's a rebellious trend, instead of just well-established idiocy. The NCAA members could work together to make it better; they could arrange conferences so that they work for everyone, without students flying across the country; but what was the norm for generations is now so obviously absurd that people roll their eyes at me.
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#8Now that Stanford and Cal are in the ACC, there will be vastly more air travel, having environmental impact and lost time for academic study, which these two universities actually care about, and consequent fatigue for the players. Zoom classes on the long flights, or sleep? Same for other left (over) coast teams, but less impact.
I’m guessing that you grossly underestimate the academic support for athletes.
1. Most athletes take fewer and easier classes during their season, or the main part of their season. Missing credit hours can be made up for during the summer, which sometimes have easier classes.
2. Many athletes take easier majors in general.
3. Athletes have access to free tutors. Sometimes these tutors help, sometimes they help a lot, sometimes they just do the work for the athlete. I imagine that the ethics line is adhered to a bit more frequently at places like Cal and Stanford, but sometimes it’s a blurry line.
4. Athletic departments and athletes know which majors and which professors are easy to deal with for things like travel and workload. Word gets around.
Of all the things to worry about, the academic side for the athlete would be the least of my worries.
Re: Welcome to the end of college football as we know it
#9Now that Stanford and Cal are in the ACC, there will be vastly more air travel, having environmental impact and lost time for academic study, which these two universities actually care about, and consequent fatigue for the players. Zoom classes on the long flights, or sleep? Same for other left (over) coast teams, but less impact.
I’m guessing that you grossly underestimate the academic support for athletes. 1. Most athletes take fewer and easier classes during their season, or the main part of their season. Missing credit hours can be made up for during the summer, which sometimes have easier classes. 2. Many athletes take easier majors in general. 3. Athletes have access to free tutors. Sometimes these tutors help, sometimes they help a lot…
> Word gets around.
It's more organized than that. The Stanford Daily once uncovered the football team's official list of easy courses.[1] Stanford also has the Academic Athletic Resource Center, to help varsity athletes make it through Stanford.[2] "Student-athletes may avail themselves of 2 hours of tutoring per class per week for any reason."
[1] https://stanforddaily.com/2011/03/09/1046687/
[2] https://advising.stanford.edu/current-students/student-athle...