College player forced to sit out due to shoes

web page (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2194835)

basically this guy has torn up his knee twice and says he doesn't like adidads. however the school has a contract with adidas and says he can't play unless he wears them. he has offered to tape over the brand names of other shoes but they said no. i sort of think the player has a point. being comfortable in shoes could definitely affect your play, particularly if you have bad knees.
discuss.

[kschellenger]

I side with the university. I didn't read the article, but the university is giving the athlete ~$30,000 scholarship. This money has to come from somewhere. So if they sign an endorsement deal, the players have an obligation to honor that or find a different school.

[pokerdirty]

[ QUOTE ]
I side with the university. I didn't read the article, but the university is giving the athlete ~$30,000 scholarship. This money has to come from somewhere. So if they sign an endorsement deal, the players have an obligation to honor that or find a different school.

[/ QUOTE ]

are you [censored] kidding me? i'm sure adidas has posted their logo all over the [censored] arena as well. if the kid has actual discomfort (and isn't trying to show off his new jordans), then something should be able to be done. When you go to the game, you are watching the game, not looking at the team shoes.

I'd say just by this article alone, adidas has gotten more than their money's worth from this deal with Arkansas St.

[ QUOTE ]
I side with the university. I didn't read the article, but the university is giving the athlete ~$30,000 scholarship. This money has to come from somewhere. So if they sign an endorsement deal, the players have an obligation to honor that or find a different school.

[/ QUOTE ]

try reading the article.
what about the school changing during the athlete's career
are you at all familiar with the policies for transferring?

[HopeydaFish]

The funny part is that the end result is that now Adidas has some *bad* publicity as a result of this. Their shoes are being presented as being uncomfortable and contributing to knee problems. Adidas should thank the University for playing hardball with this guy instead of trying to compromise in order to keep this out of the papers. Now everyone comes out looking bad.

[HDPM]

This is why college sports are so bad. It is obviously unethical for an educator to subject a student to physical harm or pain for profit. That is what the school is doing because of the contract with a shoe company. This happens in intercollegiate professional sports all the time. The solution is simple, but will never be done of course. Amateurism should be restored, but whoring is much more popular.

[kschellenger]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I side with the university. I didn't read the article, but the university is giving the athlete ~$30,000 scholarship. This money has to come from somewhere. So if they sign an endorsement deal, the players have an obligation to honor that or find a different school.

[/ QUOTE ]

are you [censored] kidding me? i'm sure adidas has posted their logo all over the [censored] arena as well. if the kid has actual discomfort (and isn't trying to show off his new jordans), then something should be able to be done. When you go to the game, you are watching the game, not looking at the team shoes.

I'd say just by this article alone, adidas has gotten more than their money's worth from this deal with Arkansas St.

[/ QUOTE ]

If the university signed a contract with any company then the players that they are giving scholarships to are obligated to follow the terms of the contract. Period.

[kschellenger]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I side with the university. I didn't read the article, but the university is giving the athlete ~$30,000 scholarship. This money has to come from somewhere. So if they sign an endorsement deal, the players have an obligation to honor that or find a different school.

[/ QUOTE ]

try reading the article.
what about the school changing during the athlete's career
are you at all familiar with the policies for transferring?

[/ QUOTE ]

I am familiar with transer policies. But, if it were that serious, it's a viable option for student-athletes.

If the universtiy changes it's contract during a student-athletes career the athlete must still be obligated to follow the policies set forth by the university in order to uphold their end of their scholarship.

[Voltron87]

im definitely with the kid. if its one kid with a legitimate knee problem, let him switch. adidas looks really bad here.

[kschellenger]

[ QUOTE ]
im definitely with the kid. if its one kid with a legitimate knee problem, let him switch. adidas looks really bad here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here's the problem with that. If I'm Adidas or Nike or any company negotiating contracts with universities that haven't honored previous contracts, I'm either not going to deal with them or lowball them. Either way, this really hurts the university.

[HDPM]

What do you think of the ethics of an educator at a public university signing a contract with a company, the enforcement of which will cause harm to a student and a citizen of the state?

[kschellenger]

[ QUOTE ]
What do you think of the ethics of an educator at a public university signing a contract with a company, the enforcement of which will cause harm to a student and a citizen of the state?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not educators signing contracts. It's Athletic Directors and the like.

[HDPM]

I will parttially answer the question I posed to you in the post above. The university should put its student (and as a state funded school its citizen) ahead of Nike or Addidas. That may mean leaving the professional sports business and returning to education I grant you.

[kschellenger]

[ QUOTE ]
I will parttially answer the question I posed to you in the post above. The university should put its student (and as a state funded school its citizen) ahead of Nike or Addidas. That may mean leaving the professional sports business and returning to education I grant you.

[/ QUOTE ]

If a public university is interested in educating student athletes, the entire college sports world will change.

[SammyKid11]

[ QUOTE ]
It's not educators signing contracts. It's Athletic Directors and the like.

[/ QUOTE ]

Athletic Directors are (supposed to be) educators, first and foremost. The principal line of BS we hear from universities and the NCAA about how we have to keep payola away from the student-athlete, etc., is that the primary goal of all college athletics is to help educate young people and provide a positive influence to jumpstart their lives. AD's are part of that process, as well. This kind of crap destroys the credibility of what college athletics claims to stand for, and shows it for what it really is. A business that indentures athletes for profit...yeah, ~$30k in scholarships is nice...but the amount of money most of these football/basketball programs generate for their universities puts all the scholarship money to absolute shame. It's no excuse for behavior like this.

[Voltron87]

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im definitely with the kid. if its one kid with a legitimate knee problem, let him switch. adidas looks really bad here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here's the problem with that. If I'm Adidas or Nike or any company negotiating contracts with universities that haven't honored previous contracts, I'm either not going to deal with them or lowball them. Either way, this really hurts the university.

[/ QUOTE ]

you are totally overreacting to this

[kschellenger]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's not educators signing contracts. It's Athletic Directors and the like.

[/ QUOTE ]

Athletic Directors are (supposed to be) educators, first and foremost. The principal line of BS we hear from universities and the NCAA about how we have to keep payola away from the student-athlete, etc., is that the primary goal of all college athletics is to help educate young people and provide a positive influence to jumpstart their lives. AD's are part of that process, as well. This kind of crap destroys the credibility of what college athletics claims to stand for, and shows it for what it really is. A business that indentures athletes for profit...yeah, ~$30k in scholarships is nice...but the amount of money most of these football/basketball programs generate for their universities puts all the scholarship money to absolute shame. It's no excuse for behavior like this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree that ADs *should be* educators. But they aren't. Without NCAA wide changes, they won't be educators either because college athletics has become a business. To stay competitive, ADs must act like businessmen. If they don't, they will lose their jobs.

[kschellenger]

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im definitely with the kid. if its one kid with a legitimate knee problem, let him switch. adidas looks really bad here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here's the problem with that. If I'm Adidas or Nike or any company negotiating contracts with universities that haven't honored previous contracts, I'm either not going to deal with them or lowball them. Either way, this really hurts the university.

[/ QUOTE ]

you are totally overreacting to this

[/ QUOTE ]

Not true. It's important for universities to maintain good standing business relations otherwise they won't have that funding and will have to get it elsewhere.

[SammyKid11]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's not educators signing contracts. It's Athletic Directors and the like.

[/ QUOTE ]

Athletic Directors are (supposed to be) educators, first and foremost. The principal line of BS we hear from universities and the NCAA about how we have to keep payola away from the student-athlete, etc., is that the primary goal of all college athletics is to help educate young people and provide a positive influence to jumpstart their lives. AD's are part of that process, as well. This kind of crap destroys the credibility of what college athletics claims to stand for, and shows it for what it really is. A business that indentures athletes for profit...yeah, ~$30k in scholarships is nice...but the amount of money most of these football/basketball programs generate for their universities puts all the scholarship money to absolute shame. It's no excuse for behavior like this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree that ADs *should be* educators. But they aren't. Without NCAA wide changes, they won't be educators either because college athletics has become a business. To stay competitive, ADs must act like businessmen. If they don't, they will lose their jobs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. College athletics needs to decide if it's an educational event or a business event. If it's an educational event, then ridiculous crap like this must stop happening. If it's a business event, then it's time to start treating college athletes like what they really are...employees (and that means paying them something for their work). If this story were taking place in professional sports, I'd say yeah - athlete's gotta suck it up and wear the shoes his team or he had signed a deal with...they're paying his bills. But in college, where the athlete is supposed to be there providing athletic services in exchange for education/help growing, maturing into the world...no way. It's gross.

[HDPM]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What do you think of the ethics of an educator at a public university signing a contract with a company, the enforcement of which will cause harm to a student and a citizen of the state?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not educators signing contracts. It's Athletic Directors and the like.

[/ QUOTE ]

This argument is the best one I have seen for abolishing scholarship athletics at universities.

[Voltron87]

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im definitely with the kid. if its one kid with a legitimate knee problem, let him switch. adidas looks really bad here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here's the problem with that. If I'm Adidas or Nike or any company negotiating contracts with universities that haven't honored previous contracts, I'm either not going to deal with them or lowball them. Either way, this really hurts the university.

[/ QUOTE ]

you are totally overreacting to this

[/ QUOTE ]

Not true. It's important for universities to maintain good standing business relations otherwise they won't have that funding and will have to get it elsewhere.

[/ QUOTE ]

fine, adidas is overreacting to this

[kschellenger]

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im definitely with the kid. if its one kid with a legitimate knee problem, let him switch. adidas looks really bad here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here's the problem with that. If I'm Adidas or Nike or any company negotiating contracts with universities that haven't honored previous contracts, I'm either not going to deal with them or lowball them. Either way, this really hurts the university.

[/ QUOTE ]

you are totally overreacting to this

[/ QUOTE ]

Not true. It's important for universities to maintain good standing business relations otherwise they won't have that funding and will have to get it elsewhere.

[/ QUOTE ]

fine, adidas is overreacting to this

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, I have to disagree. Adidas paid the university so the players would wear their gear and the university would be in violation of their contract if the kid didn't wear the gear. Adidas can't be out of line. They have a contract.

[PhatTBoll]

[ QUOTE ]
College athletics needs to decide if it's an educational event or a business event.

[/ QUOTE ]
College athletics made this decision about 50 years ago. Either accept it and learn to enjoy it or start rooting for Dartmouth.