
Choosing a Rhodes Scholarship over the NFL? - tortilla
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/090115
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ShabbyDoo
I live in Cleveland, and it was a "controversy" a few years ago when LeBron
James entered the NBA instead of going to college first. People said, "He's
giving up this great opportunity for an education." Huh? When Nike pays you
$90M for endorsing shoes, you can afford to pay the authors of your favorite
text books to come to your house and tutor you. Playing basketball in exchange
for $50K/year (max) in tuition reimbursement when you could be playing for
millions is idiotic. What if you get hurt? And, you're giving up what are
literally four of your best earning years.

Even if not via a Rhodes scholarship, wouldn't Oxford still accept this guy a
decade from now? What about attending in the off-season? I once met a guy who
played football for the Cowboys in the early '80s. He attended a top-tier
medical school part-time while playing and went to law school at Stanford when
he finally "retired." Was he rational?

I'm all for education (or, more precisely, becoming educated), but if someone
had offered me $10M/year to stare at a wall for 2000 hours a year in lieu of
college for four years, I think I'd have taken the offer. Think of all the
learning I could be doing now if I didn't have to have that day job!

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JoelSutherland
It isn't exactly fair to compare opportunities in the NBA and the NFL.

The average NFL career lasts less than 3 years. I would expect that the median
lifetime earnings of a Rhodes Scholar to be higher than that of an NFL player.
As a bonus a Rhodes scholar doesn't have to deal with the lingering injuries.

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krschultz
Not to mention when a lot of those injuries are to the head, I worked for a
guy who played on the Jets for 4 seasons, and still had recurring problems due
to concussions.

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markessien
There are thousands of people who studied what he studied and have made no
impact. Most likely, he will also make no impact in the field he studies.

In my opinion, he's making a poor decision - you have many many years to study
anything you want, but just a few years where you can be a great athlete.

And this story is not relevant to any other players - they found the thing
they love and they became great at it - just because they do not go study
public health or some other irrelevant thing to them does not make them any
lesser.

The journalist probably studied somewhere where intellectualism is supposed to
be good just for itself. So for her, 'good' is defined by intellectualism. One
could just as well turn this argument the other way round, and the pro
football players could mock her for being so weak at sports.

This person has some passions and he's following them. This does not mean that
every other person who has a passion in some field has to also have a passion
in some unrelated subject that just happens to be offered at oxford.

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neilc
_Most likely, he will also make no impact in the field he studies._

Opening a free medical clinic in the Bahamas is not something I would describe
as "no impact". He might not fundamentally change the world, but even doing
something as small as that makes the world a better place.

 _this story is not relevant to any other players_

Sure it is: it's an example of a first-rate athlete who is also a very capable
student, which is part of the whole idea behind college sports. That's
certainly not the norm, in American college football at least.

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fallentimes
But he could likely make a greater impact investing his NFL earnings (and time
post-retirement) in to such endeavors.

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captainobvious
Only if you callously assume that the NFL player who gets his spot in the NFL
won't do the same.

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fallentimes
History is a good indicator :)

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antidaily
I remember when schools were recruiting this guy and he said academics were
very important to him. I chuckled when he went to Florida State (not a knock
on FSU, but they're not a top public school). But apparently, he was pretty
serious about academics. Great story. Happy for him.

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dhimes
Hell, I chuckled when _I_ went to Florida State. But I loved it.

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iamdave
I'm going to completely rewrite my comment:

That was a terrible article. While I applaud and wish this young man the
absolute BEST of luck, this journalist did him absolutely NO justice by
throwing in such random and completely pointless hyperbole, making knee jerk
references to other NFL players who aren't living up to some imaginary line of
a standard, and then she follows this up by insulting the readers, saying we
are

 _"infatuat[ed] with talented athletes who are hopelessly immature and
irresponsible prevents us from fully appreciating someone like Rolle and
giving him the attention he deserves."_

Mr. Rolle, I commend what you are doing, good luck thank you for proving this
journalist wrong by your actions, not your words.

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sachinag
One, he's putting the NFL off for just a year - given his physical gifts,
he'll still get drafted.

The man made a decision for his personal happiness - he decided that this
would make him happy. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are
enshrined in our Declaration of Independence as the inalienable rights of man.
The founders made a conscious decision to step away from Locke's framework of
life, liberty, and property (although Locke used the word estate). They did so
for a reason. And if you think the "pursuit of happiness" is meaningless,
Loving v. Virginia should disabuse you of this notion.

Good for Rolle. I wish more people did what made them happy instead of what
would make them the most money. It's the real American way.

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dkasper
Exactly, I wish people would quit talking about what the "best" decision is
and just applaud the guy for doing what he loves and wants to rather than what
people tell him he should do. Isn't that what we are all doing here?

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lallysingh
Good for him. He'll still do fine financially, and the education will make the
experience of his life better.

(I'm exaggerating for effect here:) Would you rather be a rich moron, or a
smart upper-middleclasser?

