Here's the schedule for Dartmouth's 12 days of spring football practice (subject to change):
Tuesday, April 2
Thursday, April 4
Saturday, April 6Tuesday, April 9
Thursday, April 11
Saturday, April 13Week Off
Tuesday, April 23
Thursday, April 25
Saturday, April 27Tuesday, April 30
Thursday, May 2
Saturday, May 4
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By way of contrast, William & Mary wrapped up its offseason practice in Virginia yesterday with its spring game. (LINK)
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Headline in a story on the WHYY radio website (LINK):
Philly City Council passes law to help student athletes navigate financial deals
The city will partner with Temple University School of Law to help high school and college athletes navigate NIL deals by providing free legal and financial advice.
The story begins this way:
Colleges have long raked in billions from student athletes’ sweat and talent as the players themselves never saw a cent.
Green Alert Take: Oh please. Let's use a school I know well as an example. Current tuition, room and board for an out-of-state student at Penn State is $51,635 per year. That's $206,540 over four years that wide receivers who can run a 4.4 in the 40, or average a double-double don't have to pay. While it's technically correct that that Nittany Lion football and basketball players on scholarship may "never see a cent," they also never see a yearly bill for $51,635, and that doesn't seem like such a terrible deal to someone who not long ago did see those kinds of bills. Should the athletes in high-profile sports at big-time schools earn more? That's for others to decide, but please don't tell me scholarship kids never see a cent.
Green Alert Take II: One more thing. Penn State isn't an Ivy League school but admission to the University Park campus is relatively competitive. In addition to not having to pay a "cent" for tuition, room and board, scholarship athletes who might otherwise have been consigned to one of the school's branch campuses are rewarded with a spot at the main campus, a dream scenario for so many non-athletes who instead are stuck spending two years in Altoona or Schuylkill. That Certain Nittany Lion '16 played in the national championships with the Penn State club golf team, but he had to work hard at Hanover High School just to be one of the lucky ones to spend four years in State College instead of getting a free pass.
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EXTRA POINT
Did you remember to spring ahead last night? We might be less than a month away from the Big Green hitting the field again but it doesn't look much like spring outside the BGA world headquarters this morning. And you know what? After too many winter days with temps in the 40's and even 50's, that's fine by me!
