LEGISLATION MISSES THE POINT …
By FITSNEWS || S.C. Senator Marlon Kimpson – an uber-liberal trial lawyer from Charleston, S.C. – wants to force the University of South Carolina and Clemson to pay football players a stipend of $150 per week. He also wants the schools to pay into a new trust fund for graduating athletes.
Um … really?
That’s peanuts, dude … and more to the point, Kimpson’s ridiculous legislation neglects to privatize these schools first.
Seriously … sports (as much as we love it) is not a core function of government, a point we made abundantly clear in opposing taxpayer funding for a low-level bowl game in Charleston, S.C. Also, last time we checked South Carolina pays a disproportionately large percentage of its budget on a bloated, inefficient and duplicative system of higher education – one being fed by a bubble that’s about to go pop.
Anyway … this website has written extensively on the racket that is major college athletics, publishing a lengthy post earlier this year in response to the autograph scandal involving University of Georgia running back Todd Gurley.
Here’s what we had to say on the matter …
… the issue is much bigger than just paying athletes. The entire system has to be scrapped – and started from scratch.
Most importantly: The ongoing government subsidization of higher education must stop. The co-mingling of public and private funds – which are funneled in, through and around college programs – leads to chronic incestuous corruption. More importantly, subsidizing colleges (academically or athletically) is simply not a core function of government.
Cops, courts, roads, bridges, an army … those are all legitimate government expenses.
“Higher education?” Hell no.
And even if it were a core function, our country simply can’t afford it anymore.
Like … at all.
We get Kimpson’s arguments regarding the inequity of the current system – i.e. the tens of millions of dollars generated by the programs annually with nothing but scholarships going to the players. Hell, we’ve made the same argument ourselves. And unlike Kimpson, we’ve been on the record in support of paying college athletes for years.
Here’s the thing though … unless the system is privatized first, all Kimpson is doing is perpetuating inequity – not solving it.
Unless of course you think $150 a week is the going rate for a player with Gurley’s abilities …
Athletes should be paid. Not just a little, either, or uniformly like communist soldiers … but paid based on what the market can bear (which is to say, based on their abilities). The NCAA deliberate distorts this free market, which is why we’ve called it what it is: A “glorified 21st century slave market.”
Kimpson’s legislation does nothing to fix that …
Privatize higher ed … all of it … then the payment of players would take care of itself.
15 comments
“Back in my day, I was paid a shiny new nickle for delivering papers each day. I’m proposing we pay these student athletes $150 a week! Why, in one month, these young men will have enough money to start their own computer business. Go down to the Radio Shack, buy some parts, build a computer, and you’ve got the next Bill Gates! To say that $150 a week isn’t enough is balderdash!”
-Marlon Kimpson
There’s nothing more damning that simply quoting an idiot and letting people make their own judgements.
Why build a computer when you can steal it, and childishly spray paint your name on it?
-$cam Newton
Yeah, It’s not going to be an issue really quick. :-D
Just football players? Good luck defending that.
His name is Klimpson? Is his nickname Tater?
Maybe it is time to do away with all College sports except spelling bees? Quit BSing about “Student Athletes” and open sports academies. Maybe that would let Colleges focus on educating people capable of being educated?
Just take the money out of Spurrier’s/Dabo’s check. Problem solved.
And even if it were a core function, our country simply can’t afford it anymore.
What our country can’t afford is the student loan bubble, brought on by students who have been told all their lives they need to go to college to succeed, take on a huge load of debt that can’t be done away with in order to do it, and have a hard as shit time finding a decent-paying non-internship job during the 6 month grace period after they stop going to school. Pretty sure that affects both private and public colleges, too.
The difference is, public colleges used to spend a lot less, and used to get a much, much larger amount of their budget from state appropriations, so decades ago students could actually afford college without getting into too much debt. If they wanted to go to a private school, that’s on them, but they had an affordable, manageable option if they wanted/needed it.
Privatizing public universities will just ensure they remain part of the problem, as it’ll sever what little control we have over them, and the lost revenue via state funding is hardly significant anymore. Who cares if the future generations are hung from a private noose instead of a public one? I’d rather get rid of the noose altogether.
The solution is getting an actual affordable solution on the table and smacking some sense into the kids that are making extremely bad decisions with their higher ed choices. Public higher ed used to fill that role. Private higher ed has yet to do so to any substantial degree.
Why are you always wanting to take money out of somebody else’s check?
Section 8 housing, an EBT card and Medicaid is not enough?
Let athletes sell their autographs and endorsements. The market will decide their value.
The fact that a lawmaker would believe this is a topic that the legislature needs to address speaks volumes! This state is an absolute mess and we are concerned about paying college athletes?. How about a bill that will “Fix” the mess at SC State instead of the taxpayers clipping off 6 million here, 12 million there because they cannot manage money? How about a reasonable solution to “Fixing our roads? How about educating our children?
We are simply screwed people. And we have nobody to blame but ourselves. We are led by a bunch of parasitic idiots that we keep re-electing to screw us again and again.
Sports is and should be a function of government. Remember Bread and Circuses. It is to keep non-productive citizens occupied with a government approved activity. It is for the good of the community.
Mr. Kimpson, How is this proposed legislation going to jive with the NCAA regulations? Do you want Clemson and USC to compete in the NAIA??? Maybe Robert Ford wasn’t so bad after all. What a moron!
Slave market???? I am not black nor were my ancestors slaves but to the best of my knowledge there were not any volunteer slaves. You don’t want to play ball – don’t play ball.
I’ve got a better a better idea, why don’t we just eliminate scholarship-based sports at colleges and return them to what they started out as… extracurricular, club level activities played by real, genuine, authentic students. Oops, I’m sorry, is my suggestion too racist for you Mr. Kimpson?!