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Comments about "Students cry foul over athlete perk"
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11 Comments on this article:
The University of Florida solved this problem by building a dining hall with an all-you-can-eat meal price/plan available to all students/visitors etc. The athletes pick their food from the same choices(many many different types) and check out at the same cash registers. They do have a separate room (semi-private) so that they and the coaches can eat "in peace".
This is something you would expect to read about at a place like Stanford - a place where students with the tacit approval of the administration paraded around in habits and Roman collars and papal garb for the halftime show at the ND-SU game a few years ago. Liberal morons! They are fortunate that Catholics are basically tolerant, unlike the Muslim brothers Stanfordites revere. I would invite anyone who complains about "training table" to spend a few hours in the athletes' shoes, then reassess the situation. Stanford students are a bunch of silver-spooned agnostic secular jerks.
You have got to be kidding me! I was a former student-athlete at Stanford. For these non-athletic undergrads moaning and groaning about "favoritism" is RIDICULOUS!!! Seriously, absurd. I have many friends from around the country that have played sports at their respective insitutions and they have told me of the things they receive. Stanford, BY FAR, does not play favorites with their student-athletes. Heck, if anything, we do (did not) receive enough attention from the university. These regular students should try, just for a day or a week, to live in a studen-athlete's shoes!!! That will make them reconsider their off-base remarks regaridng training table or "perks" we may receive!!!
Beat Cal,
Mike
If Catholics are basically tolerant, Marc, then you must subscribe to some other faith. Way to stereotype an entire population, jerk.
I think they should do away with the athletics program completely. We are here to learn, not bash our heads together on a field like idiots.
So let's feed the football players the normal dining hall slop so they have even less a chance of pulling out a single win this year. Great idea, Amin.
To the other Mike:
I'm not sure if you're simply indignant about "normal students" not appreciating the student-athlete's difficult life, or if you feel the University owes athletes more than it already provides. If it's the latter, I have to ask: to what additional perks should the athletes be entitled? A free education at one of the best schools in the world leaves you feeling underappreciated? Remember: athletes aren't the only people at Stanford who are committed beyond their means. I love Stanford athletics and I don't have a problem with the so-called "perk" addressed in this article, but it always rubs me the wrong way when athletes insinuate that other students can't relate to their tough schedules, or that the cost of their services isn't fully covered by free education.
Mike - you assume that all athletes at Stanford are here on a full ride or even any ride. This is simply not true. The majority of us are not receiving monetary compensation for our performance on the field/track/court. Yes, football, basketball, and baseball are more generous with their money because they have greater amounts of it - but for the rest of us our services are voluntary, hence why most of us don't complain about it. Just don't forget, we are here to give our service to the University asking only that they help us do so, not pave the way to a free education.
Its a silly question "is there favortism" shown by training table. What about teh lower sdmissions requirements, the tutoring, and for some atheletes the 40K per annum scholarship. OF COURSE THERE IS. Who cares?
First off, I don't understand why training table is considered a perk. The Big market teams like women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball and football are fully funded teams. That means that they must, through a binding contract, feed their players. It comes as a part of their full scholarship. This also means that any walk-on on any of these teams is not entitled to this food. They, like everyone else must also pay for their tuition and meals.
As far as the lower admission requirements, where do you think you attend? Flordia State? The requirements for athletes are just as high as they are for any other student. I am not sure where you are getting your information "ahh, Naive youth". That is why we could not get in football star Reggie Bush.
As far as B's comment, getting rid of the athletic program entirely? Is this really a smart thing to do? Why, because you don't like that people enjoy competing physically against opponents at other schools? If that is so, then let's get rid of our a cappella groups as well.
There are a lot of athletes that don't bash eachothers' heads all the time-- you aren't allowed to in basketball for instance. Golf is also another sport that does not require bashing heads on a field.
Mike, I think that the point trying to be made is not that athletes can't understand the time that non-athletes put into their studies and other activities, it's just that there is a lot of time unaccounted for. On more than one occasion I had to take a midterm on the road. For my team, that usually means a plane flight to the east coast. This does not sound like much, but having to get up at 3:30 in the morning to make to 4:00 bus for our 6am flight makes it a lot more difficult. I couldn't pull the all-nighter needed that night because I had a game the following day. While I understand why that statement would frustrate you, please understand where it is coming from.
One point I would like to make very clear is that none of the money for anything to do with the Stanford athletes comes from the University General fund. It is all paid for by the athletic department and its donors. This is a common misconception that leads many non-athletes to think that somehow they are paying for the athletes' educations and anything like training table. This is not the case at all.
Our department goes out of it's way to ensure that athletes don't get many extra perks and are treated just like everyone else, I can assume you this is not the case at other Universities.
On a side point if any non-athletes enjoy using the new Arillaga Rec center they might like to consider that it was the athletic department that was instrumental it getting it built so it's real proof that the athletics programme at Stanford really does benefit everyone.