I think that's pretty sad. I know for many players, the main reason they're there is to play football but to have the mentality that you're only here to play and to forget about school is absolutely ridiculous. I don't care if your school is top tier or one of the smaller state colleges, an education is education. It's worse since Ohio St. University isn't just a small college. It's one thing to try and fail but to flat out and say, "who cares about school. I'm here to play football" is ridiculous.
As a responsible, law abiding citizen and older adult, I agree with your statement, but...
I will fully disclose that during the first three years of college I majored in partying, pot, and playing in rock bands. While I did read and had a pretty good set of scores getting into college, I don't know how many brain cells I had left over. I was totally not there for studying, academics, or the degree.
To me I just wanted to finish the degree, in whatever was easiest (business major), and return to being a rock musician which I did for years.
While I did well in last year and of half of study before finishing a degree and did have some professors and classes that I will always remember, I wasted three years and got little from the classes that had a lot to offer. An education is far more than four years or a piece of paper (took me five due to bad early years), and it's the journey and academic growth.
I wish I could have a place to criticize these athletes from but I was no more dedicated to my studies than they were to theirs and I am sure there are plenty of non-athletes who blew off classes and did the absolute minimum to get through a semester/year/degree.
Many of the student athletes had PAs, records, and got in more trouble with their crack habit (huge during 80s) more than the middle class kids with their pot or underage beer drinking. If we got into trouble, we had a lawyer we may have known growing up while the football and basketball kids simply went back to slammer and when they got out resumed playing sports as if nothing happened. Sure there's rules about the NCAA and how to get players, discipline them, and how to act but if not done from the top, then who the F cares! (and below list is far more typical and mild than what really happens)
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...he-16-scummiest-coaches-in-college-basketball
When I saw the Ray Rice incident with him hitting his girlfriend, I wasn't shocked since this type of behavior in a football player, and other things like dual assault/rape, were extremely common among the athlete community. Our school's stats had normal levels of robbery but a totally out of proportion set of assaults, rapes, and occasional attempted murder that seemed to follow the athletes. The school newspaper was littered with incidents involving student athletes and it got to the point that stories like this had no impact anymore. And sometimes the better the school in sports, the more the downgrading of that school's overall academics. It's not that this is good but it's something that exists as long as authorities really crack down on schools recruiting thugs. Tarkanian and UNLV isn't isolated and certain sports go with the territory of violence, crime, and sheer stupidity.
