Left Field Sports -- Too Many Student-Athletes Slipping Through the System

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Too Many Student-Athletes Slipping Through
the System

It's become an all too common refrain, brilliant student can't hack it on the playing field. While many student -athletes have no problem spending countless hours in the library studying for exams, they are neglecting their work in the weight room and on the practice field of our nation's campuses.

And when the diplomas are handed out to literally thousands of student-athletes this spring a surprisingly large majority of them will have made little or no contribution to the athletic success, or lack thereof, of their school's sporting programs. I am not one to name names, but you see their names all the time in the paper agate type, no minutes played, no at-bats, no goals, no hits, no baskets, no take-downs….nothing. They just ride the bench free riding through college on their brains while someone else scandalously carries them through on the playing field.

In this writer's opinion, the NCAA is not doing enough to curtail these abuses. Chances are the abuses are worse then we even realize. After all, these athlete poseurs rarely show up in the sporting pages, due mostly to their lack of ability.

Yet, the press is complicit in this, because rarely do we read about the student-athlete who graduates, or passes with flying colors. We think we are doing them a favor by night bringing the harsh light of inquiry down on their heads, but are we really? When these young people leave school many of them will be ill-equipped to work in the professional sporting leagues that college was supposed to prepare them for. Many will have to settle for simple starting positions at low salaries. Some even more unlucky ones will end up in graduate school. Sure, we read about the ones who make it through with just their degrees, medical or law school, maybe.

But what about those forgotten after school let's out? Are we not failing our student-athletes when we let them slide by on the smarts alone? These are tough questions we must all ask ourselves.