Last week it was announced that a California legislation could allow NCAA athletes to actually benefit from all of the bread (billions of dollars) that they generate for these schools. The “Fair Pay to Play Act” was unanimously passed by the California State Senate that will now allow athletes to be paid for the use of their name, likeness, and image without being punished. That’s a huge win for the most popular players on campus that have been getting exploited for years.
You would think that every athlete that’s ever been taken advantage of in this situation would be excited about the possibility of the young players at least getting what belongs to them. Well…everybody but Tim Tebow.
Ole boy was on ESPN’s First Take last week after the legislation was passed sounding like he was butt naked foamin’ at the mouth crazy. The former University of Florida Heisman Trophy winner was exploited more than any player in recent history, if not ever, and he had this foolishness to say.
“I feel like I have a little credibility and knowledge about this because when I was at the University of Florida, I think my jersey was one of the top-selling jerseys around the world. It was like Kobe, LeBron and then I was right behind them. I didn’t make a dollar from it, and nor did I want to because I knew going into college what it was all about.”
He goes on to say, “I knew going to Florida, my dream school, where I wanted to go, the passion for it and if I could support my team, support my college, support my university, that’s what it’s all about. But now, we’re changing it from ‘Us,’ from ‘We, from ‘My University,’ from being an alumni where I care, which makes college football and college sports special, to then ‘OK, it’s not about us. It’s not about we, it’s just about me.’
When you think the dun is finished he fired right back up with an even more ridiculous take by saying,
And, yes, I know we live in a selfish culture where it’s all about us, but we’re just adding and piling it onto that. Where it changes, what’s special about college football. We turn it into the NFL, where who has the most money, that’s where you go. That’s why people are more passionate about college sports than they are about the NFL. That’s why the stadiums are bigger in college than they are in the NFL, because it’s about your team, it’s about your university, it’s about where my family wanted to go, it’s about where my grandfather had a dream of seeing Florida win an SEC championship, and you’re taking that away. And, you’re taking that away so that young kids can earn a dollar, and that’s just not where I feel college football needs to go.”
It was like being with your buddy that’s drunk and he falls asleep after talking your ear off crazy and then wakes up still talking crazy.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! Tim Tebow grew up a little different bruh. His parents were missionaries so he doesn’t look at having bread to survive the same way we do. His family was always taken care of some type of way. Well playa…the rest of us had to figure out how to eat and be clothed.
So to say that players shouldn’t be paid for their likeness is crazy. The college players were being exploited so bad that several years ago that Ed O’Bannon sued the NCAA over the use of players names and likenesses in video games and won. That’s why they don’t make the college video games anymore. Kids that accept scholarships didn’t sign up to be used. They just wanted to play college sports.
I was on Facebook and saw others agreeing with Tebow simply because they don’t understand the process. Cats were saying that they’re getting a free education and that that should be payment enough. Well playa, that tells me right there that you have no idea what’s happening on college campuses.
If the university were having football games and folks were just showing up buying tickets to the game and selling peanuts and popcorn on a Saturday afternoon to pay the bills on campus I would agree. However, that’s not what’s happening. The university is not only selling peanuts and popcorn but they’re selling the star player’s jerseys in the bookstore for $100 a pop. And guess what? Those star players, because they’re student athletes, don’t get a dime of that bread and in the mean time they’re is broke on campus. Does that make sense to you?
Sure, he’s getting a free education but he can’t get a pizza on Friday night at 10pm because Big Momma can’t afford to send him extra money because she’s got 4 other kids at home to take care of. However, coach so-and-so told her when he was recruiting her son that he’d take good care of him while he’s at Boo-Boo State University.
Not only are they selling his jesrsey but they’re making a killing selling other merchandise that looks like him or with his name on it. When Terrell Pryer was at Ohio State I went to a game and darn near everyone of the 100K fans in the stadium had on his No.2 jersey at $100 apiece. After that same season he was banned from campus for like 5 or 10 years because he was driving a new car that a booster bought him when the whole Jim Tressel scandal popped off.
Now mind you, Ohio State made a fortune selling his likeness but he couldn’t even drive a new car or better yet the other players couldn’t even trade their bowl pants and jerseys for tattoos. I know that the rules are the rules but some rules are ridiculous. When Johnny Manziel was at Texas A&M after he won the Heisman. The university had him signing helmets that they auctioned off for $80,000 apiece. Manziel didn’t see a dime of that money but he was jammed up for making bread on the side for selling his own autograph.
It’s asinine to think that people believe that since a kid is getting a free education that he or she should be exploited personally. And by the way, the education isn’t FREE. They earn every bit of it by practicing and playing. It’s a full-time job being a college athlete. They don’t just give them a scholarship and cut them loose on campus. It’s a demanding job.
So for anybody to think that Tebow is making sense you need to check yourself. Stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.