Ralph Nader, You Are A Fool

We are visiting my in-laws in SOWEGA this weekend, and are soon to eat lunch at Blackbeards on Slappey. A condition of this free lunch was to get drug to furniture shop with my wife and mother-in-law. It was that or a PB&J sandwich and dealing with my father-in-law’s goats. I hate goats, so needless to say I have found a comfy couch in the back of the store.

I meant to do something on this yesterday, but ran out of time. The Senator touched on this,also. Ralph Nader wants to abolish athletic scholarships (can’t get the link).

Nader thinks that these schools and agents are taking advantage of these kids during their recruitment and playing days. I can’t recall the article verbatim, but that is the general gist.

That is so dumb. There are seedy cases like Cam Newton and Tyrell Pyror. But by and large, athletic scholarships give kids an opportunity to improve their lives.

I would say there are a lot of guys on D-I Football who wouldn’t get an opportunity at higher education if it wasn’t for the athletic scholarship. These guys might not have the financial or academic means to attend college if it were not for their athletic ability. Why would an uber liberal like Nader not want to see young men get the best opportunity to make themselves better?

Some folks, like an Odell Thurman, can’t be helped. But there are some who can, at the very least, become college graduates.

And we tend to have a lot of attention to men’s football and basketball, but is Nader considering the Olympic sports?

Yes, there are seedy participants in college athletics. From corrupt coaches (Tressell), to corrupt parents (Newton) to seedy agents, there are legitimate problems. These problems are magnified when the governing body charged with the oversight-the NCAA-has inconsistent penalties and ambigous rules.

I don’t know how many athletic scholarships in D-I, D-II, D-III, NAIA or Junior College are given out. But it seems like quite a knee jerk reaction want to punish thousands of kids and prevent them from possibly having an opportunity to better themselves just because there are a few seedy situations.

Ralph Nader needs to shut up.

Corbindawg