Hey guys, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Jeff Lee. I attend Emory University if Georgia and love Bama football (my girlfriend attended school there and I have been rooting for Bama since Emory doesn't have a football team :frown
So the other day in our local newspaper, someone wrote an article bashing not only college football but Saban himself so I thought I'd write back to tell this New Yorker what was up (one thing you gotta know about Emory is there is no pride in any college football whatsoever and 35% of the school is from Long Island, NY. They only love baseball up there and have no understanding of college football). I also wrote because after the BCSNCG, someone wrote some ignorant article poking fun of Bama's racial past and why we shouldn't follow anything Bama does (on or off the football field) because of its past. So I got a tad bit riled up. Anyways, below is the link to the article and below that is how I replied. Tell me what ya'll think, I might have made an error here or there, but I think most everything is accurate.
More Money, Less Passion | The Emory Wheel
Dear Dan,
After reading your piece, "More Money, Less Passion", I felt very defensive for the sport of college footbal, particularly your use of Alabama's Nick Saban. While I acknowledge many of your points on how the spirit college football has become degraded, mainly due to financial issues, I also disagree with some of your points concerning how athletes and coaches play into the system. I think we can both agree that athletes can do nothing while administrators and AD's make all the moves in terms of university movement to different conferences, profts, etc. The whole conference moving was ridiculous on the teams' parts and left fans/players high and dry. However, with your point of athletes getting paid, I think you really underestimate what these athletes receive. Many people that argue for payment for athletes forget what a university is truly set out to do, what its mission statement is. These students receive scholarships that cover almost all expense thought of. My girlfriend attended the University of Alabama and out-of-state tuition is over $30,000 a year. Do you think Mark Ingram, originally from Michigan, could have afforded to attend the university if he was not an athlete? The athletic dining hall at Alabama serves some of the best food found in any college campus. I ate there once (for a ridiculous $15 while athletes eat for free there) and what they served amazed me. We're talking about fine quality steaks, loaded baked potatoes, soft serve ice cream, and even lobster tails on certain days. And the dormitories they stay in? They are easily on par or even surpass some of the newer freshmen halls recently built. Books? Paid for. They get Alabama and Nike branded clothing all the time. All at the convenient price of zero dollars. I mean, until you've seen what these players receive in return for being an athlete, you just would not understand. Visit Tuscaloosa, Alabama and see for yourself; I'm heading there September 11 to watch them take on Penn State. But I digress. Beyond all the expenses though, what is most important is what the players receive in class. And this is where I really disagree with your example of using Nick Saban as a "arrogant and hypocritical big-time college football coach". I'm not sure about any other universities, but being an extremely avid fan on all blogs and all Bama news, I know for a fact Saban is one of the most scrutinizing coaches when it comes to academics. If a player's grades are not up to standard, they are not allowed to play. In fact, Bama just lost a 4 star recruit in Alfy Hill because he simply could not make grades. Saban could have easily made a few calls to make exceptions to get Mr. Hill into a uniform and on the practice field (let's face it, Bama loves football more than they love school) but this was not the case. Saban values education and no one but fans and athletes see this; the media and newspaper writers? They don't follow the program nearly enough to realize what values are emphasized and what aren't being emphasized. If you follow SEC football, you will also notice that many players were arrested for drugs, alcohol, and other crimes (cough cough UGA) but guess how many criminal charges were placed against Alabama players this summer? Zero. What I'm trying to say is, Saban disciplines these kids because he cares for them and knows what they take away from Alabama (whethere they are in the NFL or not) will only help them down the road. If he didn't, he'd be a player's coach like Mark Richt and let his players get thrown into jail every other weekend. On another note, I feel like your use of Saban's quote is somewhat out of context. Nowhere has Saban left a team only to have that team face violations. LSU? No. MSU? No. I'm not sure how his quote really highlights anything to do with coaches who leave teams to be wrecked by violations by the NCAA. Maybe a Lane Kiffin or Rich Rodriguez quote would have been more applicable. Why Nick Saban? Because he is the gold standard of coaches? Because he wins? Even if that was your train of thought, you cannot throw all coaches in a bag and label them as "X" or "Y". Sure Saban may be arrogant, but why shouldn't he be? He will go down as one of the best coaches of all time if he continues to win like he does. But why label him a hypocrite? What is he hypocritical about? If he hasn't left a team behind with violations up the wahzoo, what is he guilty of in your eyes? Leaving the NFL? Coaching is a job and the last time I saw, people can quit and find new ones. How is Saban leaving players out "in the cold"? If you ask me, all the seniors that graduated earned a degree to use in the future, learned discipline no UGA player will ever learn, and some of them, in fact, are multi-millionaires playing on Sundays. I mean, you use NCAA and Nick Saban to describe their cold actions towards players, but what I don't think you realize is that Nick Saban is not out there to screw over his players. Maybe the NCAA is, but don't confuse the two. I just have no idea what the Emory sports writers have against Alabama. I wrote this because last semester I also read an article about how Bama ran an old-school offense and the writer ended with a question about why we would want to follow any lead in Alabama in the first place given their history racism. A witty ending, but an ignorant one at best. Two points, A) sports and racism are unrelated, they shouldn't be mixed like that writer did and B) If that writer had ever been to Alabama, which I doubt (the guy was from New York), he would have been amazed at the change that has occurred there. As an Asian who frequents Alabama alot, I really feel at home there, the people are very caring, and they truly accept everyone. Sure there are some bad apples, but every single state has their share of them too. Anyways, just wanted to see what all the Bama-bashing was about- I figured when you're the best, you've go the biggest target on your back.
On a personal note, in my own opinion, I think athletes receive enough and that the sport is a business. If you told me I could only watch sports that weren't out to make money and hadn't been tainted in the process and I guarantee you I'd be watching badminton and beach volleyball for the rest of my days. So until then, I will be extremely glad I'm not an independent, that I have an amazing Bama team to root for, and I can't wait for the tailgates and wins this football season. Roll Tide and God bless.
Jeffrey
So the other day in our local newspaper, someone wrote an article bashing not only college football but Saban himself so I thought I'd write back to tell this New Yorker what was up (one thing you gotta know about Emory is there is no pride in any college football whatsoever and 35% of the school is from Long Island, NY. They only love baseball up there and have no understanding of college football). I also wrote because after the BCSNCG, someone wrote some ignorant article poking fun of Bama's racial past and why we shouldn't follow anything Bama does (on or off the football field) because of its past. So I got a tad bit riled up. Anyways, below is the link to the article and below that is how I replied. Tell me what ya'll think, I might have made an error here or there, but I think most everything is accurate.More Money, Less Passion | The Emory Wheel
Dear Dan,
After reading your piece, "More Money, Less Passion", I felt very defensive for the sport of college footbal, particularly your use of Alabama's Nick Saban. While I acknowledge many of your points on how the spirit college football has become degraded, mainly due to financial issues, I also disagree with some of your points concerning how athletes and coaches play into the system. I think we can both agree that athletes can do nothing while administrators and AD's make all the moves in terms of university movement to different conferences, profts, etc. The whole conference moving was ridiculous on the teams' parts and left fans/players high and dry. However, with your point of athletes getting paid, I think you really underestimate what these athletes receive. Many people that argue for payment for athletes forget what a university is truly set out to do, what its mission statement is. These students receive scholarships that cover almost all expense thought of. My girlfriend attended the University of Alabama and out-of-state tuition is over $30,000 a year. Do you think Mark Ingram, originally from Michigan, could have afforded to attend the university if he was not an athlete? The athletic dining hall at Alabama serves some of the best food found in any college campus. I ate there once (for a ridiculous $15 while athletes eat for free there) and what they served amazed me. We're talking about fine quality steaks, loaded baked potatoes, soft serve ice cream, and even lobster tails on certain days. And the dormitories they stay in? They are easily on par or even surpass some of the newer freshmen halls recently built. Books? Paid for. They get Alabama and Nike branded clothing all the time. All at the convenient price of zero dollars. I mean, until you've seen what these players receive in return for being an athlete, you just would not understand. Visit Tuscaloosa, Alabama and see for yourself; I'm heading there September 11 to watch them take on Penn State. But I digress. Beyond all the expenses though, what is most important is what the players receive in class. And this is where I really disagree with your example of using Nick Saban as a "arrogant and hypocritical big-time college football coach". I'm not sure about any other universities, but being an extremely avid fan on all blogs and all Bama news, I know for a fact Saban is one of the most scrutinizing coaches when it comes to academics. If a player's grades are not up to standard, they are not allowed to play. In fact, Bama just lost a 4 star recruit in Alfy Hill because he simply could not make grades. Saban could have easily made a few calls to make exceptions to get Mr. Hill into a uniform and on the practice field (let's face it, Bama loves football more than they love school) but this was not the case. Saban values education and no one but fans and athletes see this; the media and newspaper writers? They don't follow the program nearly enough to realize what values are emphasized and what aren't being emphasized. If you follow SEC football, you will also notice that many players were arrested for drugs, alcohol, and other crimes (cough cough UGA) but guess how many criminal charges were placed against Alabama players this summer? Zero. What I'm trying to say is, Saban disciplines these kids because he cares for them and knows what they take away from Alabama (whethere they are in the NFL or not) will only help them down the road. If he didn't, he'd be a player's coach like Mark Richt and let his players get thrown into jail every other weekend. On another note, I feel like your use of Saban's quote is somewhat out of context. Nowhere has Saban left a team only to have that team face violations. LSU? No. MSU? No. I'm not sure how his quote really highlights anything to do with coaches who leave teams to be wrecked by violations by the NCAA. Maybe a Lane Kiffin or Rich Rodriguez quote would have been more applicable. Why Nick Saban? Because he is the gold standard of coaches? Because he wins? Even if that was your train of thought, you cannot throw all coaches in a bag and label them as "X" or "Y". Sure Saban may be arrogant, but why shouldn't he be? He will go down as one of the best coaches of all time if he continues to win like he does. But why label him a hypocrite? What is he hypocritical about? If he hasn't left a team behind with violations up the wahzoo, what is he guilty of in your eyes? Leaving the NFL? Coaching is a job and the last time I saw, people can quit and find new ones. How is Saban leaving players out "in the cold"? If you ask me, all the seniors that graduated earned a degree to use in the future, learned discipline no UGA player will ever learn, and some of them, in fact, are multi-millionaires playing on Sundays. I mean, you use NCAA and Nick Saban to describe their cold actions towards players, but what I don't think you realize is that Nick Saban is not out there to screw over his players. Maybe the NCAA is, but don't confuse the two. I just have no idea what the Emory sports writers have against Alabama. I wrote this because last semester I also read an article about how Bama ran an old-school offense and the writer ended with a question about why we would want to follow any lead in Alabama in the first place given their history racism. A witty ending, but an ignorant one at best. Two points, A) sports and racism are unrelated, they shouldn't be mixed like that writer did and B) If that writer had ever been to Alabama, which I doubt (the guy was from New York), he would have been amazed at the change that has occurred there. As an Asian who frequents Alabama alot, I really feel at home there, the people are very caring, and they truly accept everyone. Sure there are some bad apples, but every single state has their share of them too. Anyways, just wanted to see what all the Bama-bashing was about- I figured when you're the best, you've go the biggest target on your back.
On a personal note, in my own opinion, I think athletes receive enough and that the sport is a business. If you told me I could only watch sports that weren't out to make money and hadn't been tainted in the process and I guarantee you I'd be watching badminton and beach volleyball for the rest of my days. So until then, I will be extremely glad I'm not an independent, that I have an amazing Bama team to root for, and I can't wait for the tailgates and wins this football season. Roll Tide and God bless.
Jeffrey
