
Death threats and denial for woman who showed college athletes struggle to read - codelion
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/us/ncaa-athletes-unc-response/index.html?c=homepage-t
======
zainny
Can anyone explain the interrelation between sports players and college for
me? We don't really have such a concept in Australia as far as I'm aware. Am I
understanding correctly that to play a sport professionally a person must
first attend a college and complete some degree? Why does the US even have
this system? Do any other countries do this as well?

~~~
jasonwatkinspdx
It depends on the particular sport and the leagues involved, but most future
professional players will play a couple years at the college level. High-
school super stars in some sports may go into the professional league directly
but it's uncommon. In many sports no matter your skill level you cannot build
the physique necessary to compete until a bit later in life (american football
for example). Also, some leagues have implemented rules designed to prevent
direct recruitment from high school, notably the NBA.

There's typically no requirement to finish college however. It's relatively
common for athletes to move up to the pros and skip the last years of their
academics.

The US's system is mostly due to history, but the current structure continues
because it is worth an extraordinary amount of money. The schools with top
athletic teams bring in revenues of 100 million or more. The governing body
for college athletics generally prohibits significant payments to the athletes
themselves, so all that income goes to coaches and other staff, as well as
supporting businesses. College coaches are usually the highest paid people on
campus. This continues to be a bitter political topic, because many people see
it as unfair that college athletes are generating so much money for everyone
but themselves. The other side points out that allowing paid recruitment and
player endorsement/advertising would have a corrupting effect as well as make
it difficult for smaller schools to be competitive.

As far as I know, our system is unique, and that's probably because we were
televising college athletics earlier and more heavily than other nations.

~~~
djrobstep
> College coaches are usually the highest paid people on campus.

Not only that, in most states they are the highest paid of all public
employees: [http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672861/infographic-whos-your-
st...](http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672861/infographic-whos-your-states-
highest-paid-public-employee)

~~~
ams6110
However, unlike most public employees, they are always one or two bad seasons
away from being fired.

A typical public sector job, particularly a university job, is almost the
closest thing you can get to lifetime assured employment (most often at a
salary that's not great, but with very good benefits and enormous amounts of
paid time off).

Coaches though are much more accountable for their performance. If they don't
win games, they get fired.

Edit: also it's only the head coaches of elite revenue-generating football and
basketball programs that are very highly paid. The coaches of non-revenue
sports have much more modest salaries.

~~~
mikeyouse
Also unlike most public employees, they are typically entitle to massive
buyout clauses if they are fired. For instance, UCLA's new men's basketball
coach would be entitled to $10.4mm if he were fired prior to 2016.

1\. [http://www.sbnation.com/college-
basketball/2013/7/9/4505884/...](http://www.sbnation.com/college-
basketball/2013/7/9/4505884/ucla-bruins-coach-steve-alford-buyout-clause)

------
thenmar
College football, at least, might as well be a minor league. The stars play
for two years, abandon their degree, and join the NFL. You'd have to be very
naive to think that the athletes at top div 1 programs are true "student-
athletes". Look at Penn State for a prime example of toxic "athletics are
everything" college football culture. Look at the numerous recruitment
scandals in which players or players' families were offered money or perks in
exchange for matriculation. So they can't read? Play calling cards are images
anyway. That's the attitude at these schools.

~~~
drusenko
although your point may be valid in general, you're pretty wrong about penn
state:

[http://news.psu.edu/story/293418/2013/10/30/athletics/penn-s...](http://news.psu.edu/story/293418/2013/10/30/athletics/penn-
state-football-graduation-success-rate-top-10-percent-among)

~~~
thenmar
I was actually referring to the Sandusky scandal and how Paterno knew Sandusky
was sexually abusing children and let the legal process die with minimally
plausibly deniable effort.

~~~
drusenko
> The stars play for two years, abandon their degree, and join the NFL. You'd
> have to be very naive to think that the athletes at top div 1 programs are
> true "student-athletes" [..] So they can't read? Play calling cards are
> images anyway. That's the attitude at these schools.

This is what I was responding to, and at least at Penn State, it's measurably
false.

> I was actually referring to the Sandusky scandal and how Paterno knew
> Sandusky was sexually abusing children and let the legal process die with
> minimally plausibly deniable effort.

I don't disagree with you on that point, football culture can absolutely be
toxic, and Penn State is a perfect example of how it can go wrong.

------
corin_
Who's sending death threats? People who make money off having good athletes in
universities regardless of their education levels? Athletes who are afraid of
being kicked out? Other? Four death threats seems awfully high for such a
topic.

And what was the university thinking? Seems like denying knowledge of the
report and claiming they can't comment on it without data (to CNN, not to a
high school newspaper) was a terrible move given they had not only been given
the reports, but had paid for the data which was in them.

~~~
epistasis
As I get older and more aware I see rampant misogyny popping up wherever a
woman challenges pretty much anything, and often merely for just existing. For
something highly emotional like sports, such a reaction seems perfectly in
line with what I see day to day, sadly. It's probably nobody with any power of
even making any money off sports, quite the opposite, I'm sure.

~~~
yummyfajitas
Because clearly, men don't get death threats or get investigated by the FBI
when they challenge the football establishment or other sports stars.

[http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/men-indicted-
threat...](http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/men-indicted-threatening-
lance-prober-tygart-article-1.1403726)

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2337813/Anonymous-
ha...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2337813/Anonymous-hacker-
helped-publicize-Steubenville-football-players-social-media-NINE-years-prison-
convicted-rapists.html)

Nor would a man ever get death threads just for the lulz.

[http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/4chan-bullied-the-og-
youtub...](http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/4chan-bullied-the-og-youtube-
fitness-guru-off-the-internet)

It doesn't take a lot. I write a not very popular blog, most of which is posts
like "Scala is slow" or "Analyzing conversion rates with Bayes rule", and I've
gotten an email or two expressing hope that harm would come to me [1].

[1] "if u get your wish just wait the cops womt protect you when underclas
riot and hurt u". This was in response to a moderately popular blog post
advocating that you should do a back of the envelope calculation to see if a
public policy proposal makes sense (
[http://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2013/basic_income_vs_basic...](http://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2013/basic_income_vs_basic_job.html)
).

~~~
codygman
No one implied men didn't get death threats, settle down. However, it is true
that women are targeted much more (especially when they are challenging mens
sports).

There exist many in this world who wish all women were in the exact same
position they were in the 50's.

~~~
johnbm
A study in the early 90s found women featured 35 times as much as victims in
Canadian news headlines than men. Not a typo.

Yes, this is just one data point, but it's a pretty unambiguous one. And of
course, such studies tend to only happen once, as people with feminist agendas
tend to ensure they do not get confirmed.

Do you think this might skew your perception of how often people of either
gender get harassed?

~~~
codygman
Give a link to said study or go back to /r/theredpill.

~~~
yetanotherphd
You

>However, it is true that women are targeted much more (especially when they
are challenging mens sports).

You

>Give a link to said study or go back to /r/theredpill.

Hypocrite.

------
jds375
Wow.... I can't believe it's that bad. While I can understand athletes
performing at lower levels than average students, there are certainly basic
minimums that must be met. If 8-10% are below a 3rd grade reading level as the
article claims, then just imagine how many are below a high-school level. Link
to more in depth article for those interested also on CNN:
[http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/us/ncaa-athletes-reading-
score...](http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/us/ncaa-athletes-reading-
scores/index.html)

------
the_cat_kittles
Why should an aspiring pro athlete be de-facto required / expected to be
scholastically proficient? It seems like the crux of the problem is that
aspiring athletes in America (except the very tip of the top prospects) need
to compete in college to hone their skill set... not that I am the first
person to say this of course. I think the universities are at 90% fault- they
are the ones who try and maintain the image of equal treatment. They are also
the ones who coddle athletes and enable their academic dishonesty. What would
happen if schools started offer athletic scholarships where all the "student"
does is play sports, and they don't bullshit about it? wouldn't that be
better?

~~~
streetnigga
"Why should an aspiring pro athlete be de-facto required / expected to be
scholastically proficient?"

A vast majority will not succeed in their venture and these are schools. Poor
career paths aside, the rest of the world expects you to be able to read and
comprehend the menu in the food court. This goes doubly so if the aspiring
athlete is working the till, which they often are before and after their
career path.

~~~
ams6110
_A vast majority will not succeed in their venture_

You are correct that the vast majority of collegiate athletes will not go on
to play professionally. However most of them are well aware of this and
actually can read and do take their academics more seriously. There are
countless numbers of people who were athletes in college and who go on to
success in professions other than sports.

The truly elite athletes who are very likely going to go on to play
professionally also know this and may very well not have any intention of
completing a degree.

------
marvin
At least we know that she is onto something. If people threaten your life over
your research, you can be sure that you're in the right ballpark, so to speak.

------
netcan
I don't really understand the US' college sports system. But from my very
flimsy outsider picture, it seems like a pretty good system.

It's flush with cash. I see complaints of how a lot of this is captured by
coaches and staff, but I'm sure some flows to (for example) less popular
sports too. It gives athletes a college education and an incentive to finish
high school. This article is obviously about cracks in that system. Overall
the effect on athletes' education is probably very positive, especially
outside of the super-elite players in more popular sports.

Compare that to european amateur sports systems that have nothing to do with
college: It is pretty hard for a 19 year old with a sport as the no 1 thing in
their life to get a degree at all.

------
augustocallejas
[http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-
sham...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-
college-sports/308643/)

------
deevus
I think English speaking society in general struggles with the English
language.

Social media is where it gets to me the most.

Personally, I think this is appalling.

------
cLeEOGPw
The problem is the requirement for athletes to have a degree. Why can't the
athletes be separated from the rest, and only those that truly want to learn,
attend lectures/exams? Professors wouldn't have to pass them and the degree
would not be an empty paper.

