They say speed kills. If that’s true, SPNW’s Doug Farrar should join the Peace Corps.
Farrar is down in Carson, CA, at Athletes Performance with several college and NFL folks who are doing offseason training. Farrar had always wanted to run, if a not a legit, at least a timed 40-yard dash. The folks at API set him up, Farrar handed his Flip Cam to Clemson defensive end (and likely top 10 pick) Da’Quan Bowers, and the above is what happened. It speaks for itself.
Disclaimer: Farrar’s athletic efforts are not representative of the entire SPNW staff. Just the majority of it.
6 Comments
looks like there was a stiff head wind that day..
This really all comes back to the press and the public feeding off each other. They have blown the spectator sport of watching young boys and girls play sports into such a big thing that–given human nature–the corruption we see as a result is inevitable. Remove live TV and radio coverage from college sports and watch what would happen over time.
A rehash of the same old story. Too bad you have to read it to find out. Thiel is proof that the bottom of the class goes to sportswriters…
Doodah,
Thanks for joining me at the bottom. Of the story, I mean.
The only solution to this, and it’s fairy easy, is the institution of a fine system, as pro sports have for their athletes.
Infractions can be categorized into a few categoeis (bad, worse, worst, etc) and the fines levied against the HEAD COACH AND the UNIVERSITY.
A scale of say $10,000 for a minor offense to both, $50,000, then $100,000 or higher, believe me, will cause 100% of the NCAA institutions AND coaches to pay attention.
This is not difficult and for a coach to say there are too many athletes to keep track of – guess what? TOUGH LUCK! Businesses don’t have much problem policing the actions of their employees and they are much larger organizations.
One place I’d start is all athletes must live in the dorms – not paying rent or for meals takes a huge financial issue away from the athletes, therefore lessens the pressure to scramble for cash.
If put before a group of corporate HR people, a detailed draft proposal to solve this ongoing issue could be completed in very short order for the NCAA.
The only thing I can see missing is the will to staighten out the system.
PS: Paying the athletes is foolish – there are at least 110 D-1 universities with tens of thousends of athletes. How do you pay a football player and not a swim team member? If a kid, after dorm and meals are taken care of (see above) together with their monthly stipend still isn’t enough, guess what? Maybe in the off-season they can GET A JOB! Maybe they don’t need a CAR. Maybe they can go to a JC their first few years, as Warren Moon did.
To say simply “let’s pay them” is a lazy solution where solutions already exist.