'Real Sports' Segment Mentioning OU Football

[Soonerwake]

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-football-...rticle/3946835

This is alot of nothing, especially since the OU advisors did nothing wrong.

[Soonerjeepman]

Maybe so...but the bad press won't be good. Yes, everyone realizes EVERY MAJOR D1 program does this but it's OU that they show. Why not bama, lsu, neb, mich, ut, even the beloved pac 12 schools....?

Why pair them with unc and memphis? really ? they are not crap in football...maybe they focus on bball with them.

As a teacher in an urban area, yes a LOT of kids are below grade level...can't keep all of them and repeat. It ALL starts at HOME.

[KantoSooner]

While OU does a generally solid job with its athletes (and provides very significant academic support for all students) it is an area in which the university should put in extra effort in order to excel.
We could, and should, make it into a selling point.

[badger]

Apparently the highlight of the show is a former Memphis defensive lineman Dasmine Cathey showing how he used to practice reading "Green Eggs and Ham" in his dorm room. Link

This is not the only time I've raised my eyebrows at OU issuing "multidisciplinary studies" degrees to athletes recently. But, athletes also are premed (Taylor Griffin) and biochemistry (Joanna McFarland), so you could argue that your student-athlete education is what you make of it

[picasso]

The story in the Oklahoman had more quotes from the OU player.
I commented that I should sue my alma mater for not steering me away from my fine arts major.

[Salt City Sooner]

Gabe Ikard ‏@GabeIkard ·9 hrs
Interested to see what @HBO 's Real Sports is going to say about my Multidisciplinary Studies degree. Wonder why they didn't interview me?

https://twitter.com/GabeIkard

[achiro]

I haven't seen it yet but based on what I've heard on various news outlets I'm going to say this. Your life is what YOU make of it. There are lots of people out there with lots of degrees that can't find jobs and they actually have to pay for their college education. If you don't like the classes you are in, change them. If you fail calculus, thats on YOU. If you go all the way through high school and college without the ability to read, thats on YOU. Having zero initiative throughout your life and expecting a college degree to magically hand you everything is all on YOU.

[badger]

I didn't watch yet (it was later so I DVR'd it). How did OU look?

Eric Mensik said here that he wasn't bitter and that he called his degree a "football degree" as a joke, not out of spite or frustration. He also said that it was his decision to pursue "multidisciplinary studies" after failing an accounting course, rather than take longer to graduate and continue pursuing a business degree.

Without seeing it, it sounds like they may have set him up a bit

[sooneron]

Without seeing it, it sounds like they may have set him up a bit

NEVER say anything to the press that is tongue in cheek. Especially, if it is not how you feel about a certain subject. Dumb on his part.

[badger]

Y'know, how many of us would have majored in football at the University of Oklahoma if given the chance. I mean, your department head is Bob Stoops and his tenured staff (well, till the offseason before last we all thought they have life contracts, heh) is one of the best in the country.

Of course, we might not be that employable after graduating with our football degrees, but wow it would have been fun for four years... six years if you blow two ACLs

[KantoSooner]

You have to understand that the press does not interview anyone as part of their 'research'. They interview in order to gain quotes and material to support conclusions reached long before they ever contacted the interviewee. If you don't have something of an ongoing nature that they want (and thus a hammer over their heads to enforce good behavior), you can count on your words being twisted into whatever the most sensational spin on them can possibly be regardless of the simple truth of whatever is being presented.
I don't especially blame journalists: most of life is mundane and they need to anchor butts to seats and sell soap flakes. That's their business.
Mensik is young and was simply collateral damage on the way to some journo's headline. Luckily he looks to be not too hurt by the affair.

[Herr Scholz]

Yes, everyone realizes EVERY MAJOR D1 program does this but it's OU that they show. Why not bama, lsu, neb, mich, ut, even the beloved pac 12 schools....?

Incorrect. UT doesn't offer a general studies/multi-discipline type degree. That's why it's harder for jucos to transfer to UT than other schools, because all of their credits have to apply to a specific degree plan. Probably why UT wasn't mentioned. Just an FYI.

[Soonerjeepman]

Y'know, how many of us would have majored in football at the University of Oklahoma if given the chance. I mean, your department head is Bob Stoops and his tenured staff (well, till the offseason before last we all thought they have life contracts, heh) is one of the best in the country.

Of course, we might not be that employable after graduating with our football degrees, but wow it would have been fun for four years... six years if you blow two ACLs

if you were a DECENT football person, I'd imagine SOME insurance company would love to employ a former football degree person...but again, it'd be up to you.

[Herr Scholz]

Have you seen the HBO show? Your former O lineman, who graduated with this "multi-discipline" degree, is working an office job that doesn't require a college education. Your former advisor quit because he couldn't stomach funneling your players to a degree he knew was worthless anymore. Your own guys called this fraud.

[KantoSooner]

Herr, good to see you back. Now don't go ruin it with vast overstatements. Either that or we might start talking about the number of UT players who take some? the majority? all? their classes at other UT system schools in the area that are a bit more....eh....'non-rigorous' than UT Austin.
As I recall, more than a few UT players had to initial their pro contracts with a black crayon held in their fist with a tongue stuck out of the corner of their mouth.
Or we could talk about Vince 'Radio' Young, who seems about three steps ahead of Human Services appointing a minder...and proudly sports his UT degree. (Which, really, says it all. If Vince gets a degree, they must come in exchange for three box tops and $0.25 with a postage paid return addressed envelope. But, no, Vince wouldn't have been able to put that qualifying package together. Maybe someone from the team helped him on the return address part; "Where I sleep" is not enough for the USPS to go on, good as they are.)

[Herr Scholz]

Not overstating anything. I'm quoting your former advisor verbatim. He called it "fraud". You're knowingly keeping your student athletes eligible and the OU athletic department from being hurt from the new graduation rules by pushing kids into a worthless degree. Your former player and former advisor said it, not me. Blame HBO for pointing it out.

As far as UT goes, many students (not just athletes) take some core requirement courses (history, government, etc.) at jucos at home during summer months. And VY earned a degree in education. Call him dumb all you want but he worked hard for that and didn't give up on it. Good for him and he's the first in his family to earn a college degree btw. But if you want to talk about academic integrity of our respective institutions, I'd be happy to have that discussion. Our guys actually have to earn their degrees as evidenced by us having academic casualties every single season. OU cannot claim that.

[KantoSooner]

Oh, bull****. On the academic casualty thingie.
If you've stopped by to simply sling invective, then, great, you've achieved your goal.
If you've read anything about the article, you'd be pretty much in the camp that the quotes were twisted and the player himself is not torqued.
If you honestly are proposing that there are signficant differnces in IQ or academic acheivement between OU and UT players, then I must seriously question your academic credentials.

[Eielson]

Not overstating anything. I'm quoting your former advisor verbatim. He called it "fraud". You're knowingly keeping your student athletes eligible and the OU athletic department from being hurt from the new graduation rules by pushing kids into a worthless degree. Your former player and former advisor said it, not me. Blame HBO for pointing it out.

As far as UT goes, many students (not just athletes) take some core requirement courses (history, government, etc.) at jucos at home during summer months. And VY earned a degree in education. Call him dumb all you want but he worked hard for that and didn't give up on it. Good for him and he's the first in his family to earn a college degree btw. But if you want to talk about academic integrity of our respective institutions, I'd be happy to have that discussion. Our guys actually have to earn their degrees as evidenced by us having academic casualties every single season. OU cannot claim that.

You may not have "multi-disciplinary studies," but I'm sure you have your share of majors along the lines of human relations, sociology, communications, etc. VY is notoriously lacking in the mental department, so I find it odd that you could use him as proof that Texas players are earning their degrees. I'm very confident that VY had a few strings pulled just to get into a university like UT. You think he stood a chance to get accepted if he wasn't a football player?

I absolutely think the system is a joke, but don't call out OU for something that almost every legitimate football program in the country does. Sure, Texas has higher academic standards for their football program, but they have higher academic standards for their entire school.

Mensik was a grown man, and he made a decision. Do I think it was a poor one? Yeah, it probably was, but let's not pretend like a 12 year old was unknowingly taken advantage of. He knew what he was doing. Multi-disciplinary studies isn't a joke of a major unless it is abused. I know of more than one person going into pharmacy school that majored in multi-disciplinary studies. It allowed them to customize their degree to what best fit them.

Also, Mensik didn't switch majors until his Junior year, correct? Could he not go back to school for a few semesters and finish up what he had left in his business degree?

[stoopified]

I guess my niece(who is on academic scholly) is now an employee of Brown University.

[mainline13]

I haven't seen it yet but based on what I've heard on various news outlets I'm going to say this. Your life is what YOU make of it. There are lots of people out there with lots of degrees that can't find jobs and they actually have to pay for their college education. If you don't like the classes you are in, change them. If you fail calculus, thats on YOU. If you go all the way through high school and college without the ability to read, thats on YOU. Having zero initiative throughout your life and expecting a college degree to magically hand you everything is all on YOU.

My degree can't find a job either.