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Message: [QUOTE="manleyzoo, post: 2507343, member: 519"] This talking point that it's a free education is no more than a talking point. It's not free. Playing D1 athletics is a full time job. So for the players the equation is work full-time at your sport and work full-time in school. In exchange, we'll pay for your education while you're here (that you can't finish because you've worked two jobs while you're here) and we'll take all the money you've made for us and then some. Of course, we'll tell you that you're a pure amateur even though everyone knows it's crapola. The amateur thing dates back nearly 200 years and is long outdated. It's set up so that the players aren't employees, they're contractors. You can thank the scam the NCAA dreamed up 70 years ago to call players 'student athletes,' which holds the NCAA liable for pretty much nothing while the 'student athlete' is enrolled. If the players were correctly categorized as employees required to take classes to fulfill their contract with the school, they'd be paid for the services as they should and receive appropriate worker benefits. If you want to get agents out of the game put them at the recruiting table with coaches, players and parents. The only way to really get this resolved is to shine a light on all the stakeholders involved. Right now everyone pretty much hides in the shadows. Get it all on the table and then see what happens. The notion that college sports are somehow morally superior because the players don't get paid benefits no one but the NCAA and the schools. If I'm reading you right you're comparing dining hall access as a privileged existence in college measured against regular students who eat Ramen. Or was it just sandwich envy? The players pay for that dining hall access with two full-time jobs. And the money that the school makes in the time the athlete is enrolled is exponentially more than what's paid out in supposed extra value in the dining hall. My son played D3 baseball, where the balance between academics and sports is held up as more appropriate to the college experience. Even at that level, his commitment to baseball was 20 hrs a week including the off-season what with hitting, throwing, lifting, etc. Combine that with his regular academics, a 20 hr a week lab load for his major, a work study job and he was working more than two full time jobs. There are supposedly no athletic scholies at the D3 level but he was a high level, well recruited player. The day he committed, miraculously 20K showed up in grants for him. I considered it wages. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?