03-08-2023, 05:16 PM
A lot depends on what we want to see as fans, and we have all had different experiences and seek different sources of enjoyment. For me, as an alum, former faculty, and longtime fan, my enjoyment is connected to the athletes themselves being Stanford students in the best sense of the term. That they come to Stanford and want to take the harder road that the fake-student-real-athletes at some other universities do not take. If we got a "whale" (sorry, I am learning these terms) who was a brilliant athlete and who could help us win but who was one-and-done or even three-and-done-with-no-degree I am left cold.
In fact, and I know this is naive on my part, the idea that a student would come to Stanford because of a lucrative money deal, and that they would not come otherwise--I find revolting. That to me shows that they are not genuinely interested in the best that Stanford has to offer, if they would sell themselves to a lesser university for money and give up a once-in-a-lifetime chance at a Stanford education.
I don't expect many on a sports forum to agree with me--this is not, after all, an "academic forum"--and I respect that many of you have different priorities and obtain your enjoyment in different ways than I do. But the very act of bidding on athletes to come to Stanford for money--at a time when 97 out of 100 dreaming applicants get turned away and have their hopes dashed--would destroy my attachment to our program.
I sincerely hope that the transfer rules and the NIL rules get modified, toned down, and the wild west of college athletes begins to look more like a settled west. If they do not and these issues continue to worsen and multiply, then I am ready to join an Ivy League, or drop football.
I also think that most of our non-revenue sports are doing fine and could continue to do fine under the new college sports regime provided we can pay for them. NIL rarely applies to those success stories--although WBB is in an in-between place. It would be a shame if the requirements to be successful at football--my oldest sports love at Stanford--wound up destroying a really good environment for all these other sports. For example, joining the Big 10 might save football, but it would be hideous for other sports, as WBB at USC and UCLA are about to find out. Tough luck to them, since they play second fiddle to the mercenary football army hired by their universities (thinking of USC in particular.)
Just a part of my "letting go" of prior loves and obsessions. It really does feel like a difficult break up. Maybe our football program will surprise me and be successful without compromising our standards. I'd like nothing better. But it seems as if craven and selfish interests all over the country are conspiring against the Stanford model of success, and there is not a lot of hope for people like me, who love football, but who have a very old-fashioned view of the student-athlete.
In fact, and I know this is naive on my part, the idea that a student would come to Stanford because of a lucrative money deal, and that they would not come otherwise--I find revolting. That to me shows that they are not genuinely interested in the best that Stanford has to offer, if they would sell themselves to a lesser university for money and give up a once-in-a-lifetime chance at a Stanford education.
I don't expect many on a sports forum to agree with me--this is not, after all, an "academic forum"--and I respect that many of you have different priorities and obtain your enjoyment in different ways than I do. But the very act of bidding on athletes to come to Stanford for money--at a time when 97 out of 100 dreaming applicants get turned away and have their hopes dashed--would destroy my attachment to our program.
I sincerely hope that the transfer rules and the NIL rules get modified, toned down, and the wild west of college athletes begins to look more like a settled west. If they do not and these issues continue to worsen and multiply, then I am ready to join an Ivy League, or drop football.
I also think that most of our non-revenue sports are doing fine and could continue to do fine under the new college sports regime provided we can pay for them. NIL rarely applies to those success stories--although WBB is in an in-between place. It would be a shame if the requirements to be successful at football--my oldest sports love at Stanford--wound up destroying a really good environment for all these other sports. For example, joining the Big 10 might save football, but it would be hideous for other sports, as WBB at USC and UCLA are about to find out. Tough luck to them, since they play second fiddle to the mercenary football army hired by their universities (thinking of USC in particular.)
Just a part of my "letting go" of prior loves and obsessions. It really does feel like a difficult break up. Maybe our football program will surprise me and be successful without compromising our standards. I'd like nothing better. But it seems as if craven and selfish interests all over the country are conspiring against the Stanford model of success, and there is not a lot of hope for people like me, who love football, but who have a very old-fashioned view of the student-athlete.