WaPost article: Meet the Cal cross-country runner who wants to dismantle the NCAA

we already had a thread bashing him last week

Editor's note. Here is the thread last week about Mr. Cooper:

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=10204562

cramister wrote:

we already had a thread bashing him last week

Last week he self-published. LRC wanted to shut him down. Now he's in a national newspaper. Time for a new thread. Maybe LRC can prove its cultural irrelevance; it sure seems desperate to.

I saw the original thread. Started and fueled by right-wingers who misunderstood his main point. Typical letsrun.

New thread same problem. I this article advocating for change. Here is a quote the exemplifies how this bro is no more than an attention seeker... “I run cross-country at Washington State. How can I represent the interest of a basketball player at Arizona?” Cooper spent a few months designing a system that could better serve athletes, but he said his proposal went nowhere.”

Bro you have a chance to talk to a national newspaper and you share that you designed a system that would create better athlete representation and you decided not to share that proposal with us... wtf.

Quit it with the problems what are your solutions!

I'm proud of Cooper. He always wanted to be famous and he figured it out. Stop hating on him for that.

Info tracker wrote:

I saw the original thread. Started and fueled by right-wingers who misunderstood his main point. Typical letsrun.

What's his main point? (and I'm not a right-winger)

I read the article and concur with others...this is a guy just looking to stir the pot. He was a fine athlete, but the Pac 12/Division I career 2nd stringer, who never made the squad for a conference track meet.

In terms of athlete/former athlete input I think it is best to look to those who found success at the college level. Those guys will be more genuine about the good and the bad of high level collegiate sports. Those who race at the highest level are more qualified to speak about the mental health, the pressure, and the life balance.

It irritates me when society looks to those who failed within a system to change or reform said system. Let competitive athletes decide the fate of DI athletics...and in my experience the athletes who have conference/national success (at least in T&F) do not feel exploited or abused by the system.

who cares if he made the conference squad? If he believes in this he should fight for it. All athletes can experience mental health problems No matter if they were Cheserek or the last place finisher in an open meet. Suggesting that someone needs to be fast to have an opinion is awful.

Exactly. Trust me, this is the last guy that competitive DI athletes, much less revenue athletes, want representing them. He makes some valid arguments (not all)...but you don’t want an emotionally unstable, victim player who never did anything at that level being your voice. I’m sure he’s basking in his martyrdom right now though.

I read the initial article. I've long felt the NCAA was is a corrupt organization. I do agree with a lot of his points about the the profits made off kids from low income families, usually black are used to support the other sports a lot of which draw from upper class white kids. Although more egregious in my mind are the administrators, AD's, and coached making millions.

The guy though seemed like he was very self-serving in this. I just get the feeling from reading the article that he's the type of guy that did not have the success he expected in his sport so the result is he's going to attack the system.

Sliding Scale wrote:

Let competitive athletes decide the fate of DI athletics...

The athletes at the top, are the ones who are the least interested in ruffling feathers. I don't think it should matter what the dude's performance level was. It only matters to naysayers like you, who arbitrarily think you need to be a 3x national champ before you're allowed to have an opinion. That's just gatekeeping, and it's completely arbitrary. Yes I used that word twice.

Rather than attack the guy for not being fast enough, turn that criticism around and investigate why you are trying to discredit the guy in the first place. Don't like his message? Don't like him? Oh, what am I doing, advocating for LRCers to introspect? Why did I even write this comment?

NCAA sure isn't perfect but all these wannabe leftist whiners please tell us specific changes for the better.

So far the only real change I see is to eliminate varsity athletics and let the kids do their own thing via school sponsored clubs. Fine and well but give it a year and you will be crying about lack of support from the school when you have to do your own fund raising.

Runner10287 wrote:

eliminate varsity athletics and let the kids do their own thing via school sponsored clubs. Fine and well but give it a year and you will be crying about lack of support from the school when you have to do your own fund raising.

Yes, one implication of eliminating varsity sports, will be that kids don't have the same amount of funding for their club sports. That implication is well-understood by those who advocate eliminating varsity sports. Don't think too hard, or you might start realizing OTHER obvious implications. Keep whining about the "whiners", who seem to have thought this through much more than you.

Mine honest take is since college athletics have allowed money to ruin the purpose that it is time to remove colleges from elite athletic pursuits. Sound mind in a sound body is the idea but big time college athletics have become win win win. Which over time destroys the mental health (no sound mind) and pretty much motivates coaches to over train athletes (not so sound body).

TheseKidsUnderstand24 wrote:

Runner10287 wrote:

eliminate varsity athletics and let the kids do their own thing via school sponsored clubs. Fine and well but give it a year and you will be crying about lack of support from the school when you have to do your own fund raising.

Yes, one implication of eliminating varsity sports, will be that kids don't have the same amount of funding for their club sports. That implication is well-understood by those who advocate eliminating varsity sports. Don't think too hard, or you might start realizing OTHER obvious implications. Keep whining about the "whiners", who seem to have thought this through much more than you.

I don't think they have thought it through. All you see is "we need change". So what and how?

Ok good for the mental health of many of these athletes if they took the holistic approach to life. However when ones life is based on whining and crying one will find something new to complain about.

Runner10287 wrote:

I don't think they have thought it through. All you see is "we need change". So what and how?

your deliberate failure to understand the varied reasons for this movement, does not register as a legitimate argument in this debate. I refuse to engage with you. My only advice: learn the reasons why people might advocate for this type of thing (sincerely try), instead of just regurgitating your reasons why you think it's bad. You'll never get anywhere this way, so if you choose to keep engaging in bad-faith arguments like this, LRC will continue to be your prison of ignorance. I sincerely mean that.

Simple solution for all colleges.

Keep the sports that make a profit.

Eliminate most sports that operate at a loss, after considering Title IX implications.

Is it the NCAA that is profiting from the athletes? Or could it be that the NCAA exists as a minor league for the NFL and NBA?

At least Major League Baseball has a minor league in place for athletes who are good enough to play professionally, and earn a living (albeit, a small one at that), but they get to focus 100% on their sport.

run surf run wrote:

At least Major League Baseball has a minor league in place for athletes who are good enough to play professionally, and earn a living (albeit, a small one at that), but they get to focus 100% on their sport.

Agreed. Time to stop entertaining the notion that most student athletes get a good education. Time to separate the people who are trying to earn a living at their trade (their sport) from those trying to receive an education. The two pursuits are so specialized at this point, that it's impossible to perform both simultaneously. Either you are at school for an education, and your athletics take a backseat and you just try and do good enough. Or you are at school for your athletics, and your education takes a backseat and you just try and do good enough. You can clearly spot the people who are on campus to perform physical labor (compete in sports). In many many many cases, they don't live the same lives as college students.