Big problems: kids, the NCAA, and greed
I am writing this blog to vent a little. One of my favorite men Jim Tressel was nailed to the proverbial cross yesterday. This makes me both angry and worried about the future of college athletics.
I was a hard worker that played 3 sports in high school. I was never a star or someone that was going to get a full ride to play ball at a major college. Most of my friends and I played for the love of the game. I believe that this same principle guided JT as a coach and teacher. He fealt as if he was teaching good kids the value of being a teammate and about hard work. Little did he know that over the years scores of self entitled kids were taking advantage of his kindness.
This isn’t just a problem in collegiate athletics either. The more cosumeristic our society has became the more that undeserving young people think they deserve a piece too…even if they haven’t worked for it. I see it in children as young as 5 years old.
I am not attempting to get on a soap box. I have made mistakes as a young man, but at what point do we as parents and adults convey the message that “hard work pays well” and “you aren’t entitled to anything” or ” there are no such thing as short cuts to success”.
To tie this back in with Ohio St. I really feel that the NCAA is practicing damaging double standards. While preaching to student athletes that taking anything extra is inexcusable that its totally ok to contrive a mythical coalition ( BCS ) for the exclusive purpose of maximizing monies. What are we telling our kids? In my opinion we are basically telling them that its all about money and what you have. This is a bad message and one of the biggest problems in our country.
