PhotoDude.com

Sun. Sep 22, 2002

Walk-Ons Blown Off

Walk-Ons Blown Off – "’If you’re not going to get your uniform dirty during games, you shouldn’t be on the team,’ said McNeil, who is also the chairwoman of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s committee on women’s athletics. ’I believe there is still an opportunity for a walk-on to bloom on our teams, but there has to be a cutoff date for those who just want to hang around. We can’t afford it. It’s time to tell these students: ’You’ve got other talents. Go write about sports at the school newspaper, join the debate team, or maybe you’ve got a nice voice and belong on the stage. Some guys just like to be part of the group. Then 10 years later they will talk about being on their college team, when the fact is they never played.’ "

Go back to your dorm room, join the America’s Team Obesity, and find some other way to learn about adversity, team work, goals, and testing limits. If you weren’t identified as ”special” coming out of high school, it’s too late for you. Washed up at the age of 18 because no one recognized your skills.

Even the phrase ”walk-on” doesn’t mean the same thing anymore, it’s got a new qualifier – "a recruited walk-on. Recruited walk-ons are high school athletes who are told they will not receive a scholarship but will be accepted on the team. Some colleges even guarantee their recruited walk-ons a spot on the team roster in writing."

We’re college sports. And we’re a tightly run business now. We’re no longer really a part of the education system, we just suck off of it like a parasite. We’re the reason some students come to our school, to get a scholarship on our team when they wouldn’t otherwise be here. Only those pre-selected students will be allowed to be a part of our business, not just any ol’ member of our (tuition based) community. Title 9, and our success, superceed any benefit for the larger student body, or any individual student.

Ignore whiners like Drew Hill: "I wanted to end my athletic career on my terms, not someone else’s terms. If I never get into a game, it won’t be a failure. I wanted to try."

That’s not why college sports is here.

Get over it, already. Go grab a beer and some pork rinds, hit the couch, and try to enjoy watching some athletes whom you’ll never be given a chance to prove aren’t better than you.