Valencia and Barcelona finished their match on Sunday to a 1-1 draw at the Mestalla. Second place Valencia hosted the league leaders Barcelona for a clash of the two best teams in La Liga. The match was a tale of two halves, but before we get into certain specifics lets address the horrendous error by the refereeing officials. In minute 30, Lionel Messi shot the ball straight towards Valencia's goalkeeper who fumbled it into the goal. The ball went over the line. That means it was a goal. Yet, the goal was not awarded.
Barcelona dominated the first half. They were the more threatening and aggressive team by far. The Catalan side had around 70% possession in the first half and finished the half with 8 shots. Valencia defended as a unit, but seemed to play like a small club who respected their opponent too much. Barcelona were very frustrated and disappointed going into the half with no goals. Valencia weren't able to leave their own half for the majority of the first 45 minutes which was due to their poor passing. The valencia team had completed less than half of their passing attempts at the end of the first half. However, the second half saw a completely different Valencia side emerge from the dressing room.
The second half was noticeably better for the home team who came out pressing higher lines and attacking Barcelona's goal. Los che threatened on the counter, especially on the left side where Gaya and Guedes had a great combination to score the first counted goal. Semedo had a rough day defending Barcelona's right side. Valencia went up 1-0 and almost could have extended their lead if a penalty was called on Umtiti's tackle on Guedes inside the box. The call wasn't made and play resumed and Barcelona tied the game with a superb pass from Messi to find Jordi Alba on a perfectly timed run to one time it behind the keeper and into the net.
There were whispers going around that Valencia's Owner, Peter Lim, is going to go speak with Paris Saint-Germain on acquiring Goncalo Guedes on a permanent basis. Guedes is a talented young man who has a bright future where ever he plays his football, but Mr. Lim should also travel to Milan to speak to the Internazionale side on getting Geoffrey Kondogbia to stay in Valencia on a permanent basis as well. The Frenchman demonstrated his strength and capability to read the game from the midfield position. Kondogbia prevented Busquets from effectively passing the ball to Iniesta and Paulinho, disrupting Barcelona's midfield game plan. This lead to Busquest having to play deeper, to the point where he seemed to play as a third centerback in between Umtiti and Vermaelen. In addition to disrupting the opponents midfield, Kondogbia also connected passes that lead to quick counter-attacks. This allowed for Dani Parejo to join the forwards high pressing line. Iniesta was eventually subbed off in the second half by Valverde. Kondogbia accomplished a job where most coaches put two players to prevent Barcelona's midfield from cutting them apart with their precision passing. Kondogbia was a joy to watch from a fan's perspective.
Obviously, Kondogbia wasn't on his own as Valencia is a well organized team that demonstrated in the second half to be real title contenders. There is still a lot of games left to play, but Marcelino's side revealed that his young Valencia team isn't undefeated by accident and has no plans on easing up any pressure on the league leaders.
Monday, November 27, 2017
Monday, November 20, 2017
La Liga: A Two Horse race ?.....again.
Valencia will host Barcelona at the Mestalla on Sunday November 26. Barcelona is leading the Spanish La Liga with 34 points while Valencia sits in 2nd place with 30 points. It will be an enticing match between first place versus second place.
Valencia hasn't played well in their last two matches. Their opponents were the better aggressors in those matches, yet Valencia were able to win both those matches with a combined score of 5-0. Valencia have had the biggest turn around from any team from last season that was disastrous from the start. A lot of credit should be given to their new manager, Marcelino Garcia Toral, who reorganized the team on the field and changed the locker room mind set. Veteran players were sold and a few new players were brought into the squad. Valencia is well organized and attacks well on the counter. Barcelona will be without Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez due to suspension for accumulating yellow cards. Barcelona's head coach, Valverde, said that the team will appeal to the league to overturn the players' suspensions. Valencia are not immune to suspension as they will be without their head coach due to be seeing sent off on Sunday's match against Espanyol. There was a bit of confusion why the head coach was sent off and the team plans to appeal to the league on overturning their coaches suspensions.
Both teams are undefeated in La Liga heading into Sunday's match and at the moment Valencia seem like the only team that can slow down Barcelona as both Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid are 10 points behind and seem to have currently dipped in form. It is too early to call, but at the moment La liga looks a two horse race between Barcelona and Valencia. However, after Sunday's matchcomes to a conclusion it can either provide the answer to Valencia's title contender credentials or establish that this was truly a one horse race from the start.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Thou shalt not steal....stuff...unless it's free labor. That's cool
I tend not to pay much attention to college sports at the national level. I don't live under a rock and self-righteously avoid watching any college football or basketball games. I would just be terrible at a college sports trivia game due to the fact that I don't care for it too much. The UCLA basketball players caught stealing in China is a story that became entangled in a web with creatures from all over the spectrum. A member of the Ball family to the President of the United States are in on this act. A quick summary; Three UCLA basketball players were caught shoplifting from a Louis Vuitton store in China. The three college "students" were arrested and faced a harsh punishment for their crime. To clarify, stealing is wrong, but serving 10 years for theft is an easy case where the punishment doesn't fit the crime. This has lead to the President asking for thank yous and media condemning how dumb these three men are and stirred up all kinds of opinions from people in sports, politics, and everything in between.
What I want to know is why UCLA basketball team in China in the first place? This is a college athletic program not a professional team. The men that play on the team are "Student"-athletes. The word student is before athlete because they are students before they are athletes, is the interpretation of the NCAA president. I understand that the UCLA men's basketball team plays basketball, duh, but why were they playing in China? I think the excuse from UCLA athletic department and NCAA was that it attempted to educate the team about a different culture. But, come on! If that were remotely true-which I highly doubt it was-then why was the team at a Louis Vuitton store?! Shouldn't the field trip consist of seeing the Great Wall of China? That's an easy one to point to, but the rest of it just further reveals how the NCAA and college athletic programs are about making money. Playing basketball in China is not about goodwill or spreading the game as it already exist in that country. It was a clear marketing stunt tagged with the standard b.s. that comes with the two major college sports. The preseason exhibition games would be a poor excuse since there are plenty of basketball programs in the United States to prepare a team for the upcoming season without having to fly over the Pacific ocean. To be fair, I have not heard or read that excuse made because frankly that would be a really dumb excuse to use as a defense for those in charge.
UCLA is on a quarterly 10 week academic schedule which means midterms and finals come fast for non-athlete college student. "Student'-athletes have a busy schedule as is, now casually toss in a trip to China to promote the school's brand while those in the NCAA administration and sadly others regurgitate that "student"-athletes are not being paid because they are compensated by receiving the best education the top schools in the nation have to offer. This solidifies that the whole "student"-athlete is a joke. They are not receiving an education and happen to play top level basketball, they are top level basketball players that are forced to sign up as students in order to be eligible for their "compensation."
What I want to know is why UCLA basketball team in China in the first place? This is a college athletic program not a professional team. The men that play on the team are "Student"-athletes. The word student is before athlete because they are students before they are athletes, is the interpretation of the NCAA president. I understand that the UCLA men's basketball team plays basketball, duh, but why were they playing in China? I think the excuse from UCLA athletic department and NCAA was that it attempted to educate the team about a different culture. But, come on! If that were remotely true-which I highly doubt it was-then why was the team at a Louis Vuitton store?! Shouldn't the field trip consist of seeing the Great Wall of China? That's an easy one to point to, but the rest of it just further reveals how the NCAA and college athletic programs are about making money. Playing basketball in China is not about goodwill or spreading the game as it already exist in that country. It was a clear marketing stunt tagged with the standard b.s. that comes with the two major college sports. The preseason exhibition games would be a poor excuse since there are plenty of basketball programs in the United States to prepare a team for the upcoming season without having to fly over the Pacific ocean. To be fair, I have not heard or read that excuse made because frankly that would be a really dumb excuse to use as a defense for those in charge.
UCLA is on a quarterly 10 week academic schedule which means midterms and finals come fast for non-athlete college student. "Student'-athletes have a busy schedule as is, now casually toss in a trip to China to promote the school's brand while those in the NCAA administration and sadly others regurgitate that "student"-athletes are not being paid because they are compensated by receiving the best education the top schools in the nation have to offer. This solidifies that the whole "student"-athlete is a joke. They are not receiving an education and happen to play top level basketball, they are top level basketball players that are forced to sign up as students in order to be eligible for their "compensation."
Monday, October 30, 2017
oh no, Monday!
La Liga- Valencia beat Alaves 2-1 to stay in second place behind league leaders Barcelona who beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0. Real Madrid suffered a shock defeat against Girona. The 2-1 defeat puts Real Madrid 8 points behind Barcelona. The most recent team to make up an eight point deficit and win the league was Valencia during Rafael Benitiez years. La Liga, which is looking like a 3 team race after 10 games, is going to be one entertaining title race to keep an eye on.
MLS Playoffs- The MLS Playoffs are well on there way, Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps played the first match to a 0-0 draw. All I could say about the match is that the drama concerning the Columbus Crew SC and there potential move to Austin provided more entertainment.
NFL- The best game of the week was between Seattle Seahawks vs the Houston Texans! Russell Wilson vs Deshaun Watson put on a show for the neutral spectator and almost put their two respective fan bases to suffer from cardiac arrests. 41-38 was the final score in favor of the Seahawks placing them 1st in their division ahead of the LA Rams.
NBA- It is great to have basketball everyday, still early in the season to make reasonable prediction on how the season will turn out. The Spurs started 4-0, but lost their last 2 games, The Cleveland Cavaliers are below .500 and the Warriors lost to the Detroit Pistons. I guess even if the finals are already set in the end, as predicted by some of the most intelligent NBA analysts, the regular season will provide plenty of entertainment.
MLB- The world series! OMG! Game 5 between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers went to extra innings, lasted over 5 hours, and the final score was 13 to 12 giving the Astros a 3-2 lead in the series. Games 6 and 7-if necessary- will be played in L.A. This world series has been fun to watch. The best part is that I get to enjoy it without the allegiance to either ball club. Yet, that hasn't prevented me from experiencing a range of emotions during a single inning. I love October baseball.
Monday, October 23, 2017
Oh No, Mondays!!
After a event weekend of sports here are a few thoughts on the variety of games I watched this past weekend.
MLB Playoffs-The ALCS proved the paradox that one team-in this case two- can be awful and great in the same series. The Houston Astros went on to beat the New York Yankees in game 7. Both teams were awful, really terrible when either ball club played away. Yet, when those same teams were at home they each played well enough where fans could argue that their team is world series caliber worthy. It was a fun series to watch from the neutral perspective.
NBA-The Los Angeles Lakers opened the new NBA season with a loss to the other L.A. Team. Lakers are going to be thriving in the loser column this season again, but the Clippers didn't look that much better than their rivals. It's the season opener and there are months ahead to play basketball, but I wouldn't be surprised if both L.A. teams do poorly this season.
MLS-Decision Day was entertaining. Having all games be played at the same time in order to keep the suspense to the very last minute is a good strategy to give each game an extra level of importance even for the teams that may be thinking about their holiday plans. The Columbus Crew will be the focal story during the off-season unless Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi decide to quick their careers in Europe and come to the MLS.
La Liga- Valencia beat Sevilla 4-0 taking Los Che to second place four points behind league leaders Barcelona. Under Marcelino's management, Valencia look well organized on the pitch and have enough talent up front and in the midfield to make the neutral observer enjoy a brilliant tactical display. It will be an entertaining to watch the league's big two teams be challenged by a team that used to be included as the big 3 in the early 2000 years. As usual Barcelona media accusing referees in helping Real Madrid and Madrid based media accusing referees in assisting Barcelona.
NFL- The L.A. Rams shutout their divisional rivals in London. The Arizona Cardinals didn't get on the board mostly due to their poor offensive line and the rams defense shutting them down all game. Carson Palmer went out with an injury, reports reveal that he broke his non-throwing arm and will be out for two months. The rams are 5-2 now and are looking like a complete team on all sides of the football.
MLB Playoffs-The ALCS proved the paradox that one team-in this case two- can be awful and great in the same series. The Houston Astros went on to beat the New York Yankees in game 7. Both teams were awful, really terrible when either ball club played away. Yet, when those same teams were at home they each played well enough where fans could argue that their team is world series caliber worthy. It was a fun series to watch from the neutral perspective.
NBA-The Los Angeles Lakers opened the new NBA season with a loss to the other L.A. Team. Lakers are going to be thriving in the loser column this season again, but the Clippers didn't look that much better than their rivals. It's the season opener and there are months ahead to play basketball, but I wouldn't be surprised if both L.A. teams do poorly this season.
MLS-Decision Day was entertaining. Having all games be played at the same time in order to keep the suspense to the very last minute is a good strategy to give each game an extra level of importance even for the teams that may be thinking about their holiday plans. The Columbus Crew will be the focal story during the off-season unless Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi decide to quick their careers in Europe and come to the MLS.
La Liga- Valencia beat Sevilla 4-0 taking Los Che to second place four points behind league leaders Barcelona. Under Marcelino's management, Valencia look well organized on the pitch and have enough talent up front and in the midfield to make the neutral observer enjoy a brilliant tactical display. It will be an entertaining to watch the league's big two teams be challenged by a team that used to be included as the big 3 in the early 2000 years. As usual Barcelona media accusing referees in helping Real Madrid and Madrid based media accusing referees in assisting Barcelona.
NFL- The L.A. Rams shutout their divisional rivals in London. The Arizona Cardinals didn't get on the board mostly due to their poor offensive line and the rams defense shutting them down all game. Carson Palmer went out with an injury, reports reveal that he broke his non-throwing arm and will be out for two months. The rams are 5-2 now and are looking like a complete team on all sides of the football.
Monday, October 16, 2017
MLS, A False Promise
October 10, 2017 is a day U.S. men's national team (usmnt) lost to Trinidad and Tobago 2-1. The result of that score will keep the usmnt from booking a ticket to play in the 2018 FIFA world cup in Russia. The nation's soccer community were in frustrated disbelief, which were expressed by soccer analysts such as Taylor Twellman who's rant will be replayed over again until the men's team qualifies for the 2020 FIFA World Cup. A positive that can be taken from this outcome is that soccer in the United States matters a lot more than during its infancy stage. However, this is not time to look for positives. Now is the time to look at what sits right front of us. Most were aware of the poor symptoms plaguing US soccer. From issues such as pay-to-play, inequality issues, and the ambiguous path the current USSF currently has on how to "grow the sport." The failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia served as an amplifier of what has been obvious for some time. There is no secret that there are plenty of issues that need to be addressed. Major League Soccer is an issue that has been overlooked due to Don Garber, the league's commissioner, publicly overselling the value of the league. Garber and former usmnt head coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, didn't agree on how effective the MLS would be in benefitting the men's national team. Klinsmann advocated for players to seek to play overseas. Klinsmann wanted American players to challenge themselves and go play in stronger more competitive European leagues. Garber clearly did not agree with those comments and countered that if players stayed in the MLS they would get more playing time, which is essentially important to a player's development.
Garber's comments are not incorrect, but they should be analyzed on how it effects the US men's national team. There is no surprise in stating that the MLS is not at the same level as the leagues in Europe. (I understand that there are other leagues that exist that have a strong case in a debate on having a much higher standard than the MLS, but in this case Klinsmann meant Europe) I would argue that the Portuguese and Dutch league are still ahead in quality and player development when compared to Major League Soccer along with the top 5 leagues in the old continent. I am aware one could go case by case through individual cases when it comes to player development. Which are valid, but not the main focus at the moment. I provided a very unaesthetic chart that categorized players that represented the U-17, U-20, and U-23 teams in past tournaments and are currently affiliated with a MLS side. I searched the MLS website to attain the information regarding players' appearances during the season or past seasons if applicable. Most players from the U-17 and U-20 have limited appearance which can be expected due to the general difficulty in breaking into any professional team's starting line up. The U-23 players have an extra column. International cap (Int'l caps) is the number of times that player has played for the US men's national team.
Garber argued that players will get more playing if they sign with an MLS team. From the data I retrieved players who have league experience under their belt tend to be overlooked, unnoticed , or possibly deemed not good enough to play on the senior team. In this case, players with at least 50 matches played is what I consider "League experience." I highlighted the players with experience in purple, the only exception is Tommy Redding who currently has 37 appearance respectively. Jordan Morris has 24 caps and Kellyn Acosta has 16. These two players are the only players on the list that get called up regularly. Morris sustained an injury that prevented him from being called up to play in the last two world cup qualifiers. The other players have a combined total of 6 caps. Which is concerning on the cooperation and awareness between the US men's national team and the MLS. Keep in mind that there are players in Europe and veteran usmnt players playing in MLS that Arena relied on. The usmnt has been cursed in finding a reliable left back. Beasley and Villafana are the two players on the national team that share playing time at the left back position. Brandon Vincent who plays left back for Chicago Fire has only played for the national team once, yet has appeared in 50 matches for Chicago Fire over two seasons. Each player can be analyzed on individual situations on the limited or exempt from the national team. But, as explained on the left back position, it is shocking how neither, Kilnsmann or Arena looked more closely at Chicago's Brandon Vincent.
I'm not advocating that Major league soccer is not a good, competitive, of decent quality league, but clearly those who stay to play at home are not rewarded with justifiable opportunity to represent the US men's national team. This isn't a radical idea in any means, American players need to challenge themselves and play in Europe.
Garber's comments are not incorrect, but they should be analyzed on how it effects the US men's national team. There is no surprise in stating that the MLS is not at the same level as the leagues in Europe. (I understand that there are other leagues that exist that have a strong case in a debate on having a much higher standard than the MLS, but in this case Klinsmann meant Europe) I would argue that the Portuguese and Dutch league are still ahead in quality and player development when compared to Major League Soccer along with the top 5 leagues in the old continent. I am aware one could go case by case through individual cases when it comes to player development. Which are valid, but not the main focus at the moment. I provided a very unaesthetic chart that categorized players that represented the U-17, U-20, and U-23 teams in past tournaments and are currently affiliated with a MLS side. I searched the MLS website to attain the information regarding players' appearances during the season or past seasons if applicable. Most players from the U-17 and U-20 have limited appearance which can be expected due to the general difficulty in breaking into any professional team's starting line up. The U-23 players have an extra column. International cap (Int'l caps) is the number of times that player has played for the US men's national team.
Garber argued that players will get more playing if they sign with an MLS team. From the data I retrieved players who have league experience under their belt tend to be overlooked, unnoticed , or possibly deemed not good enough to play on the senior team. In this case, players with at least 50 matches played is what I consider "League experience." I highlighted the players with experience in purple, the only exception is Tommy Redding who currently has 37 appearance respectively. Jordan Morris has 24 caps and Kellyn Acosta has 16. These two players are the only players on the list that get called up regularly. Morris sustained an injury that prevented him from being called up to play in the last two world cup qualifiers. The other players have a combined total of 6 caps. Which is concerning on the cooperation and awareness between the US men's national team and the MLS. Keep in mind that there are players in Europe and veteran usmnt players playing in MLS that Arena relied on. The usmnt has been cursed in finding a reliable left back. Beasley and Villafana are the two players on the national team that share playing time at the left back position. Brandon Vincent who plays left back for Chicago Fire has only played for the national team once, yet has appeared in 50 matches for Chicago Fire over two seasons. Each player can be analyzed on individual situations on the limited or exempt from the national team. But, as explained on the left back position, it is shocking how neither, Kilnsmann or Arena looked more closely at Chicago's Brandon Vincent.
I'm not advocating that Major league soccer is not a good, competitive, of decent quality league, but clearly those who stay to play at home are not rewarded with justifiable opportunity to represent the US men's national team. This isn't a radical idea in any means, American players need to challenge themselves and play in Europe.
US Soccer
U-17 M World cup Squad age ProMatches- play MLS team years played
GK Justin Garces 17 0 Atlanta United 0
DF Jaylin Lindsay 17 0 Sporting Kansas City 0
DF Chris Gloster 17 0 New York Red Bulls 0
DF James Sands 17 1 New York City FC 1
DF Tyler Shaver 17 0 New York City FC 0
DF Chris Durkin 17 0 D.C. United 2
DF Akil Watts 17 0 Portland Timbers 0
MF Andrew Carleston 17 1 Atlanta United 1
MF Taylor Booth 16 0 Real Salt Lake 0
MF Chris Goslin 17 0 Atlanta United 0
FW Bryan Reynolds Jr 16 0 FC Dallas 1
U-20 M World Cup Squad
Int'l Caps
DF Danny Acosta 19 15 Real Salt Lake 2
DF Justin Glad 20 51 Real Salt Lake 4 0
DF Erik Palmer-Brown 20 20 Sporting Kansas City 4
DF Tommy Redding 20 37 Orlando City 3 0
DF Auston Trusty 19 0 Philadelphia Union 2
MF Tyler Adams 18 23 New York Red Bulls 2
MF Derrick Jones 20 12 Philadelphia Union 2
FW Jeremy Ebobisse 20 12 Portland Timbers 1
FW Lagos Kunga 18 0 Atlanta United 0
FW Brooks Lennon 20 23 Real Salt Lake 1
FW Sebastian Saucedo 20 0 Real Salt Lake 0
U-23 M Squad
GK Cody Cropper 24 29 New England Revolution 2
GK Tyler Miller 24 2 Seattle Sounders FC 2
DF Tim Parker 24 74 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 3 0
DF Brandon Vincent 23 51 Chicago Fire 2 1
DF Kellyn Acosta 22 102 FC Dallas 5 16
DF Eric Miller 24 84 Colorado Rapids 4 0
DF Walker Zimmerman 24 89 FC Dallas 5 1
MF Paul Arriola 22 9 D.C. United 1
MF Dillon Serna 23 69 Colorado Rapids 5 0
MF Matt Polster 24 77 Chicago Fire 3 0
MF Fatai Alashe 23 73 San Jose Earthquakes 3 0
MF Will Trapp 24 125 Columbus Crew SC 5 2
MF Luis Gill 23 155 Colorado Rapids 7 2
FW Khiry Shelton 24 52 New York City FC 3 0
FW Jordan Morris 22 57 Seattle Sounders FC 2 24
Friday, September 29, 2017
Will Someone just think of the Players?!
The NCAA made the sports headlines on Tuesday in the only manner that it knows how. Another scandal. To be fair and accurate, the NCAA is not the one being charged by Joon H. Kim, the U.S. Attorney for the southern District of New York. The federal corruption charges are against four assistant basketball coaches from Auburn, Oklahoma State, Arizona, and USC along with sponsor executive, agents, and others. Ten personal at the moment are the ones facing the charges. There could be more given that the public conference that was held on Tuesday gave out a number for any one with additional information to call for this ongoing investigation. The NCAA may not be facing charges at the moment, but it doesn't exonerate the organization at all. It should not be a surprise to anyone that the NCAA is once again intertwined in a scandal. Most of the time the NCAA is the one that creates the scandals by coming out to state a punishment for a student or a school's athletic team for violating a NCAA rule. Which then causes a controversy in itself as no one seems to grasp whether the sports college governing body was punishing a school or student for actually breaking the rules or they were simply covering up for themselves. That isn't to say one doesn't have an accurate sense on what the NCAA does, but one should give credit to the NCAA for its ambiguity and complexity shields it from being struck down by anyone with authority. Yet, there is hope. This time the feds are involved and the NCAA may not be formally charged, but the organization is going to be forced into restructuring the college sports landscape if it wants to survive.
Andy Staples who writes for Sports Illustrated composed a plan on rewriting the NCAA rulebook. Which I agree with so much that if he were campaigning to be the next NCAA president (no one can run, it's not a democracy) I would wholeheartedly endorse Mr. Staples. However, as brilliant as that new rulebook may be, I find it difficult for the NCAA to ever move into a direction where it legislates themselves be that honest and transparent. I am not going to mock or expose the NCAA on their silly, laughable and ridiculous comments like "student-athlete" or their take on "amateurism." I will save that for a more opportunistic time later. In fact, I want to help the NCAA today. My heart is very generous on this lovely Friday.
My plan is simple. Extend athlete scholarships beyond their playing years. One of the many excuses the NCAA gives to the media is that these "student-athletes" don't get paid with money due to the fact that they are being paid in the best possible currency in America. The athlete will receive a quality college education. A college education is a valuable and instrumental tool to have in this country. Statistics show that those who have gone on to earn a college degree do a lot better than those who don't. A college education isn't cheap and extremely competitive to get in most schools. So being able to attend a prestigious college with an athletic scholarship seems upfront a great offer. However, college sports such as football and basketball have a very busy schedule that involves a lot of traveling across the nation to participate in their sport. This becomes a problem because football and basketball college teams tend to replicate professional sports teams when it comes to travel and game schedules. The NCAA brags about how most of their college athletes graduate at a high percentage rate, which is true. But, football and basketball players have very low graduation rates. One could argue that one of the factors for a low graduation rate in those two sports is effected by declaring for the draft. In football an athlete has to play a minimal of 3 years before declaring for the NFL draft in contrast to those in basketball, who only need to play in one year of college basketball to be eligible for the NBA draft. Yet, declaring for the draft shouldn't have an effect, if any at all, due to the very, very, very, low numbers on how many college athletes get drafted in their respected sport.
The extension for athletic scholarships should apply to all college athletes. Based on NCAA statistics the only athletes that would benefit the most from this new rule would be basketball and football athletes. For example, lets take player A, who plays football in college D1 school program. Player A played 4 years for the school, he declared for the draft his third and fourth year, but was not selected in either year. Player A will have the option to activate a clause that will be on his fourth year scholarship contract -since scholarships are year to year not "full rides"- to extend his scholarship for an extra school year in which the player will no longer be eligible to play, but have an entire academic school year to earn their college degree. I understand that some of the backlash will be that why should a scholarship be given to an athlete who can't play and technically isn't that an academic scholarship? To answer the first part, the scholarship is from playing their fourth year that has a clause to extend it for academic purposes. That way it won't count against the amount of scholarships a school has to offer new recruits and the player has an advantageous opportunity to earn their degree. And no, technically it will not be an academic scholarship because the money to support the college athlete will come from the school's college athletic department. I would add that any person who still have an issue and state something along the lines of "Why would a school or an athletic department support an athlete for a whole academic year?" Well mister (most likely an older white male who enjoys the way things are and doesn't want them to change), college sports collects millions, if not billions, of dollars due to T.V. broadcasting contract with giant television networks. Schools and athletic departments have the money to offer to help out the "student-athletes" they publicizing enjoy announcing that they help them receive a college education. The NCAA can finally have some merit when they state "student-athlete" and offer a valuable college education if they implement this new rule.
I am aware that this one new rule may not be enough to change the scandalous atmosphere that surrounds the NCAA and I agree. I really prefer Staple's idea. However, this is a rule that could be implemented ,with a few regulation changes, by the NCAA and Universities in the following year. This rule is for the benefit of the college athlete. The intended target of this new rule is to eliminate those "paper-weight" courses and allow for the college athlete to experience the student aspect of there "student-athlete" life.
Andy Staples who writes for Sports Illustrated composed a plan on rewriting the NCAA rulebook. Which I agree with so much that if he were campaigning to be the next NCAA president (no one can run, it's not a democracy) I would wholeheartedly endorse Mr. Staples. However, as brilliant as that new rulebook may be, I find it difficult for the NCAA to ever move into a direction where it legislates themselves be that honest and transparent. I am not going to mock or expose the NCAA on their silly, laughable and ridiculous comments like "student-athlete" or their take on "amateurism." I will save that for a more opportunistic time later. In fact, I want to help the NCAA today. My heart is very generous on this lovely Friday.
My plan is simple. Extend athlete scholarships beyond their playing years. One of the many excuses the NCAA gives to the media is that these "student-athletes" don't get paid with money due to the fact that they are being paid in the best possible currency in America. The athlete will receive a quality college education. A college education is a valuable and instrumental tool to have in this country. Statistics show that those who have gone on to earn a college degree do a lot better than those who don't. A college education isn't cheap and extremely competitive to get in most schools. So being able to attend a prestigious college with an athletic scholarship seems upfront a great offer. However, college sports such as football and basketball have a very busy schedule that involves a lot of traveling across the nation to participate in their sport. This becomes a problem because football and basketball college teams tend to replicate professional sports teams when it comes to travel and game schedules. The NCAA brags about how most of their college athletes graduate at a high percentage rate, which is true. But, football and basketball players have very low graduation rates. One could argue that one of the factors for a low graduation rate in those two sports is effected by declaring for the draft. In football an athlete has to play a minimal of 3 years before declaring for the NFL draft in contrast to those in basketball, who only need to play in one year of college basketball to be eligible for the NBA draft. Yet, declaring for the draft shouldn't have an effect, if any at all, due to the very, very, very, low numbers on how many college athletes get drafted in their respected sport.
The extension for athletic scholarships should apply to all college athletes. Based on NCAA statistics the only athletes that would benefit the most from this new rule would be basketball and football athletes. For example, lets take player A, who plays football in college D1 school program. Player A played 4 years for the school, he declared for the draft his third and fourth year, but was not selected in either year. Player A will have the option to activate a clause that will be on his fourth year scholarship contract -since scholarships are year to year not "full rides"- to extend his scholarship for an extra school year in which the player will no longer be eligible to play, but have an entire academic school year to earn their college degree. I understand that some of the backlash will be that why should a scholarship be given to an athlete who can't play and technically isn't that an academic scholarship? To answer the first part, the scholarship is from playing their fourth year that has a clause to extend it for academic purposes. That way it won't count against the amount of scholarships a school has to offer new recruits and the player has an advantageous opportunity to earn their degree. And no, technically it will not be an academic scholarship because the money to support the college athlete will come from the school's college athletic department. I would add that any person who still have an issue and state something along the lines of "Why would a school or an athletic department support an athlete for a whole academic year?" Well mister (most likely an older white male who enjoys the way things are and doesn't want them to change), college sports collects millions, if not billions, of dollars due to T.V. broadcasting contract with giant television networks. Schools and athletic departments have the money to offer to help out the "student-athletes" they publicizing enjoy announcing that they help them receive a college education. The NCAA can finally have some merit when they state "student-athlete" and offer a valuable college education if they implement this new rule.
I am aware that this one new rule may not be enough to change the scandalous atmosphere that surrounds the NCAA and I agree. I really prefer Staple's idea. However, this is a rule that could be implemented ,with a few regulation changes, by the NCAA and Universities in the following year. This rule is for the benefit of the college athlete. The intended target of this new rule is to eliminate those "paper-weight" courses and allow for the college athlete to experience the student aspect of there "student-athlete" life.
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