NCAA Football Players Have Every Right to Sit out Unpaid Exhibition Games
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Sitting here pays as much as playing out there
With the recent news that both Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffery are sitting out their team's bowl games, I want to give my take, as so many other writers, bloggers, journalists and sports anchors have done.
I was watching "PTI" yesterday, and both hosts had different thoughts on the players sitting out. Kornheiser was fine with it, because neither kid was playing in the playoff or one of the New Year's 6 bowl games. Wilbon was upset, claiming that people in the states where the games will be played, will not get to see the best players on the teams playing in that bowl game. I have heard other people defend these kids, claiming that the school makes so much money off of them, so why shouldn't they protect themselves for the NFL draft, they both declared early, and these kids see none of that money, except for their scholarship. I've also seen other people, NFL executives for example, call these kids names and say that actions like this are selfish and prove that they are not ready for the NFL. These takes are all over the place.
My take, I think these kids can do whatever the hell they want. I get what Wilbon is saying though. It would be a bummer if you lived in El Paso, were a big Stanford fan, and you did not get to see McCaffery play, but those are the brakes. This also comes from a guy that constantly defends NBA coaches when they sit star players. So, Wilbon continues to contradict himself. I get what Kornheiser is saying, but the fact of the matter is, you can get injured during any game, practice or workout. That is the game of football. It is tough and hard on your body. That is why football has the shortest career span of any professional sport. I do 100 percent agree with the people that are saying that these kids see no money, so if they want to sit out a pointless bowl game, so be it. And if their teammates are mad at them for sitting, they are being just as selfish as Fournette and McCaffery are being perceived to be by others.
Both LSU and Stanford have made millions upon millions of dollars on these 2 kids names alone. Both universities go out and sell jerseys, t shirts, bobble heads, all kinds of memorabilia with these kids names and likeness on them, and neither sees any of this money. It all goes to the school. The AD, coaches, presidents and higher ups at these schools have made money hand over fist for the last three years on these kids, especially Fournette at LSU. He was the star recruit of his class, and the moment he set foot on that campus, the people that market and sell things there put his name on anything and everything they could. If someone had anything that had to do with LSU football on their body, you can bet that it had Fournette's name on it. And he did not see one dime from that. That is really messed up.
This is one of the biggest problems with the NCAA. They have all these pointless, nonsensical rules, but damned if these kids get anything in addition to their scholarship. I also used to be one of those people that thought a scholarship was enough, but as I have grown up, I have realized how childish and stupid that was of me. As I keep saying, these universities have so much money coming in from these kids names, you'd think that they would see some kind of payback, but nope, it is against some stupid rule in the NCAA rulebook, that is about 5 million pages long. It is a crock that these kids do not get something. I know that there are other students at each university doing something more important, like trying to find cures for diseases, becoming teachers and doctors, but truth be told, those endeavors do not make any money for the school in the immediate future like athletics do. That is the cold, hard truth.
Then, for NFL execs and other people to name call and tell these kids that what they're doing is wrong, selfish and means their draft stock will fall is, quite frankly, inappropriate. For execs to call these kids names, and some no name execs have called them very hurtful names, is so childish. This is coming from multi-millionaire adults, but the way they speak, you would think it was a child. Then to say that your team won't draft these kids because of this, even if you need a running back is stupid. Fournette and McCaffery are the 2 clear cut best running backs in this draft, and if your team can get them, you better hope they draft them. I'm a Packer fan, and I'd love either one of these kids on the team. Ty Montgomery has been a revelation, but he is not the long-term answer at running back. Personally, I'd rather have Fournette because I think he will be a transcendent player, but I'd be happy with McCaffery as well.
What is all boils down to, and I said it at the top of my blog today, these kids can do whatever they
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He once sat out an
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