Goodell stating that AD showed no remorse in his statements. Lesson: Say what your lawyer tells you to say, not whatever is really on your mind.
Goodell stating that AD showed no remorse in his statements. Lesson: Say what your lawyer tells you to say, not whatever is really on your mind.
It really makes it difficult to consistently discipline your children if you're not around most (if not all) of the time, which is the situation when you have multiple kids with multiple mommies, in addition to be a pro football player on the road for half the year.Originally Posted by Tear Down This Wall
I do not know who Adrian's money manager is, but it was reported that he turned down a vast majority of endorsement deal opportunities and just seemed to have a few national ones. This and all else suggests to me that Adrian listens to Adrian more than anyone else, not iffy (or sound) advisers.
Sadly, Adrian probably could have used other's help in situations like this.
Sadly, he's not the only one.
Here's another overarching problem: education.
These guys get their education paid for, but are shuttled into crap degree programs where they learn nothing valuable for three to five years, and then are cut loose to the real world.
And, again, that is why it is always laughable that some school's fans brag about their academics. They know full well the entrance standards are lowered for many athletes; and, that the degree programs the athletes are shuttled to are complete garbage.
So, Vince Young, Adrian Peterson, (fill in the blank with the name of most any superstar football player) are as stupid when they leave college as they were when they entered it. But, worse, they are then surrounded by hangers on and leeches who help them flush their finances down the drain.
Stupid.
"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
President Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987
Fair point, but what college degree is helpful in the real world? Even studying business, law, medicine, or teaching is only going to get you set up for those occupations upon furthering your education to the graduate level. I went to a really good school, and the best class I ever had at either the college or high school level was typing in high school. What college gave me was 4 years to grow up and mold my thinking around other folks my same age who had the same issues. It got me out of the shell that so many of us have when growing up within our family units or small towns. But still, most of what we knew that made us the people we are today was in place before we took off for college. They shouldn't be signing up for joke classes, but college is what you make of it. And college athletes, particularly big time college athletes, are going to tend to stay with the same type of friends (in this case, football players) that they hung out with their 4 years in HS and growing up. That is going to mold their behavior more than what their major is.
There are too many stupid things in there to untangle them all. The reason for college is to learn, not stay the same as you were in high school because of your friends.
These kids are getting out of college with worthless degrees in trade for their play. They are ignorant financially because they have wasted their time in African American studies, Communications, Sociology, and the full range of "Recreation/Kinesiology" degree programs.
With Adrian, it's already happening with the one stripper baby mama having to take him to court for child support payments last year. He's not even out of his NFL career yet, and he already cannot keep a grasp on where the money is going.
"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
President Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987
Fine. Then if the reason is to learn, then how does one learn if they don't get a degree that relates to their job skill, which in this case is NFL Player. If they get a degree in business for after their NFL career is over, how much of that are they going to retain while making tackles in the NFL and not applying that knowledge? No, they shouldn't just major in basket weaving, but the amount of degrees available that are going to have a practical application outside of football is highly limited. What good is a history or political science degree outside of the teaching profession? The value of such degrees is decreasing, and really only looks nice-- or nicer than the degrees you listed-- on a resume. In terms of actual practical learning value, there is very little. You're likely to learn more practical information during bong-fueled discussions with friends in college than you are in the classroom.
A business degree would be the most valuable asset they could have going into an NFL career. The ability to do cash flow statements, understand the time value of money, the 4 Ps, and supply and demand is crazy powerful when you have the kind of cash infusion and brand creation opportunities that they are going to get when they enter into the NFL. Heck, look at Peterson turning down endorsement deals. Had he taken finance and marketing and learned about concepts like "Opportunity Cost and Price Elasticity of Demand" he would have realized that you need to leverage those opportunities today because tomorrow they probably won't be there.
As anyone who has been on the Obama board knows, I'm more liberal than conservative but I have a problem with Goodell making a judgement on Peterson based on his refusal to abandon a perfectly acceptable form of discipline. (Whooping in general not what Peterson did.)Peterson showed "no meaningful remorse" and publicly said he would not "eliminate whooping my kids."
He made the judgement because it is easily consumed by the media NOW. When it gets overturned later in the appeal by the NFL Players Union, it will be back page news. Politics at its finest.
And how many star football players do you think are capable of grasping such intricacies? The Boz was an exception to the rule.
I'm not too worried about Sam Bradford's financial future either. Doesn't he have a business degree, or finance or something?
I would say a business degree is certainly applicable not only after the NFL but during their playing days. I don't have a business/finance/economics degree but I walked away from engineering with a strong sense of the the value of money, the time value of money, and how exponential growth can work for or against you.
Someone who knows he's going to be making millions could certainly learn a lot more and pick some type of business degree. It doesn't take a lot to know whether or not your financial adviser is screwing you over.
I don't know the specifics of these deals he turned down but there is more than just money. Maybe he didn't want to spend all of his time pimping for 100 different companies. Maybe some of the deals would not have been good for his reputation.
And, frankly, I'm sure if you start signing too many deals the value of your endorsement may be compromised.
Keep in mind that the great majority of these players will never make it to the NFL or will have a very brief visit that will not sustain them for long. A business degree is valuable for just about anyone. But there are also many players that are not college material and are only there because football allows them to be there. If they could just be taught how to keep budget and some general wealth management principals to go along with their basket weaving skills, it would come in handy.
Not principals, but principles. Contrary to some on this board, a communications degree from OU can be pretty helpful.
I agree and I disagree that all those "easy" degrees are worthless in general. Sociology is certainly applicable to many professions. But I do agree that many of the high profile athletes taking them are not taking them seriously - just a ticket to get onto the field/court.Not principals, but principles. Contrary to some on this board, a communications degree from OU can be pretty helpful.
That's really the issue, isn't it? It's not so much the degree, as much as a. how much of the course material do you really learn, and b. what the heck do you do with it?
I agree that History and Poli Sci degrees are a huge waste of time. I know this from experience - I minored in Poli Sci back when I was young and naive enough to believe in politicians and political parties.
The value of the degree is decreasing because the vast majority of them are worthless in the real world. I think 50% or more of college students today would be better off just getting a job and an associates degree in business, especially finance or accounting.
Consider this, college students are required to take courses their first two years that, supposedly, make them "more well rounded." It's utter and complete bullsh*t, of course. I have not, in 21 years of business ever had to quote Shakespeare, regurgitate the Pythagorean theorem, or dissect a cat.
What colleges and universities need to do is be realistic about the world we live in - The 21st Century.
Skill sets needed today are vastly different than they were in the past century. And, now, more than ever, kids need to real life skills.
If I were designing a college curriculum, I would stop the nonsense of:
-English requirements: though this pains me to say because one on my degrees is in Literature, except for grammar and writing, which are still essential business skill.
-History/Government requirements: you learn state, national, world history and government concepts in junior high and high school. This is repetitive.
-Biology/Chemistry/Physics: so few people use these on a daily basis that these studies are simply (1) a repetition of junior high and high school courses which have already provided the basics of those subjects, and, therefore, (2) two a huge waste of time and money for those who are not entering major fields of study that require them.
-Any, any, any Art/Music requirement: I personally love to visit museums, enjoy going to the ballet, liked the Boradway production of Cats!, played the piano as a child, and continue to play the guitar today...HOWEVER, none of those things pay the bills or are in any way related to my every day life in business.
"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
President Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987
Those subject - English beyond grammar and writing, History/Government, Biology/Chemistry/Physics, and Arts - should be electives for any student who wants to take them, but not requirements.
Requirements should take more the shape of the world:
-Budgeting concepts: which everyone should do to keep from going into debt.
-Credit and financing concepts: something everyone will do if they ever purchase a car or buy a house...or, buy a business.
-Contracting concepts: at some point or another, everyone will sign some sort of contract; and, the vast majority will not understands any of what they sign, large print or small.
I do think Psychology is essential because you have to deal with your fellow man, and needs to be able to spot the psychopaths along life's long and winding road.
I think these concepts can be taught, along with whatever major area of study is chosen, in three years as well, instead of four. I think all college degrees have at least a year's worth of useless crap packed into them.
So, again, I say, a kid working and earning an associates degree or going to vocational school and learning a trade is every bit as valuable in the marketplace these days as some kids who sat through all of the pointless bullsh*t you sit through your first two years of school...and, for some degree plans, a complete waste of four years.
"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
President Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987
From my experience:
History is useful since most college courses don't go the whitewashed politically correct route. I took 2 history classes (colonial american and colonial latin american) that went into vivid detail about the brutality that happened on a daily basis. Most high school textbooks made it sound like they were sitting around campfires roasting smores.
Botany is by far the most useful science class I ever took in college. You'll use that class on your yard for the rest of your life.
Chemistry/Physics/Engin Math -> All of these are classes that teach you how to apply math. The biggest advantage to them is understanding the chaining logic for complicated programming in Excel (which is the most useful program around for 99% of the people in the world). You can use Excel for pretty much anything from complicated crafting in MMOs to determining resistance points for stocks.
Classes that I would advocate everyone take -> Speech, Listening, Statistics, Botany, Networking, Spreadsheets and Databases, a Foreign Language, IO Economics, Organizational Behavior, Logic, Sociology, and whatever the psychology class that is about human interaction.
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