Friday, September 24, 2010

For the health of the player or the health of the team?

Interesting Wall Street Journal article on the use of "medical redshirts," the NCAA-allowed practice of keeping an injured player on scholarship but off the 85-member roster.

The school examined: Alabama.

At least one of the kids interviewed felt pressured to give up his roster spot; others did not.

See what you think.

mg

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, the school offers to pay for the player's education. They get to campus, and don't live up to the coaches' expectations.

In the REAL WORLD (that is, business), you get fired.

But wait! Wait, wait. These fellows didn't lose their scholarship, they just lost their spot on the team. They could have transferred to another school and tried to play ball there, but instead they "stuck through the pain" and got a FRIGGIN' FREE EDUCATION WORTH TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS for being not good enough at football (according to them).

And they're bitter? Please, spare me.

Anonymous said...

An interesting read. As competitive as the SEC is, I'm sure 'Bama is far from the only one using this method of roster sorting.

Carey - Don't be so angry and judgmental. You would feel the same way the players do if someone offered you free training to do whatever it is you love to do the most, then later said, "You're not good enough to do what you love to do best, but we'll pay for you to be trained to do something else." Yes, they still got a free ride, but if they were pushed to take the medical out when they really thought they could play again, I can understand where some resentment could build up. And it's not as easy as saying, "OK, 'Bama doesn't think I'm good enough, so I'll just go to (insert school name here) and play." With that injury being the last thing anyone has of you on tape, there might not be any scholarship offers coming. So taking the medical scholarship might be the only way they can still get an education.