Parents Become School Kids Again

Here is a piece that's a part of a project for 48 hours of football in a college town. You can check out the project as a whole here.

Parents Become School Kids Again

It seems as though every Friday night in the fall is similar. A cold chill fills the lungs, but it’s not the only thing that fills the air. Pride and excitement are what keep fans coming week after week to high school football games in Missouri. Most are parents that follow their sons from game to game and high school to high school.

The fans of Hickman High School are no exception to this. They travel to away games throughout the year. On a 43-degree night in Troy, Hickman fans arrive with the usual jackets and blankets that they have ready to battle the cold every week.

Mark and Mary K. Brown (left) watch Hickman
play Troy-Buchanan with their friend, Sandy Beair (right).

Among those fans are Mark and Mary K. Brown. Not long into arriving at the field, they’re meeting with friends and talking it up with other parents. Mary K. does most of the talking and even leaves Mark and their daughter Jessica to go find seats.

Eventually they meet up again along with their friend, Sandy Beair. The duo of Mary K. and Sandy chat up a storm at the game, talking about anything from their high school days to how the Trojans of Troy-Buchanan run onto the field.

After they run past the band and cheerleaders through a paper sign, Sandy asks, “Why don’t we do that?”

They also talk about their two young boys, Charlie and Shane.

Charlie Brown is a senior offensive tackle, and Shane Beair is a senior wide receiver for the Kewpies. The two boys are good friends just like their mothers. The boys also play baseball together in the summer and hang out at each other’s house “all the time,” says Mary K.

Shane Beair (2) and Charlie Brown (65) stick together.

According to Charlie’s sister, Jessica, the mothers and sons have some more similarities.

“You two are like little school girls,” says Jessica, referring to Mary K. and Sandy.

Mary K. gives her daughter a confused look.

“I’ll tell you when you’re older,” Jessica answered.

While Jessica cracks jokes and Mary K. and Sandy crack smiles, Mark Brown goes virtually unnoticed for much of the beginning of the game. While the girls are busy chatting it up and following along with the Hickman cheerleaders, Mark keeps a watchful eye on the team on the field, particularly number 65 on offense.

Mary K. makes sure he’s doing his job too after nearly every play.

She looks to Mark and asks, “How did he do?”  Mark gives her a quick nod and a short “Good.”

Paid to Play?

Eric Dickerson and Craig James were members of
the SMU team that almost lost it all.

The last thing I talked about what was whether those gifted with athletic ability should attend college or jump right into professional play. Much of my argument was for the different kinds of education that the athlete will receive in college both in the books and in life.

You Want 500 Dolla?

But what about when an athlete makes that decision to take his talents to the college level? Recently the idea of paying these athletes has become a popular topic. To me, this is absurd. If you really want to get paid then go pro. Otherwise, get your education and be happy.

That basically sums up what I'm about to talk about further. I've already mentioned that the reason someone goes to college, or what the reason should be, is to get an education. This is something that seems to have been forgotten, not only recently but for years. It's a common joke about athletes that cruise through school on their talent and not their brains, and jokes are almost always based on truth.

Terrelle Pryor has been in the center of
 much of the controversy at Ohio State.

But something more concrete has come to light in more recent years. Further back were the incidents at Southern Methodist University where players were played under the table and the university almost lost it's football program due to the severity. More recent issues have been found at Ohio State and Miami University. All of these have shown instances where money and benefits for players became more pivotal than their education.

The NCAA has handed out suspensions and penalties in each of these instances, and that is certainly a good thing to see. I don't necessarily agree with the NCAA all the time, but this is an important thing to happen. Some might say that it is their job, but it's still good to see. Unfortunately, these penalties probably won't change the mindset about college athletics and its athletes.

Most will shrug off these penalties and maybe make some small changes to their programs, but that won't change the big picture. These kinds of deals will continue to go on even after the NCAA is done, simply because the ideals have not changed.

I'm not going to pretend to have the answers, just an understanding of the problem. The true question is not about whether college athletes should be paid, but rather if we should acknowledge that we pay them. Players receive benefits and money all the time, but schools aren't willing to acknowledge it.

Of course, scholarships are one form of payment that NCAA is okay with, and I'm not against it either. Do athletes dedicate more of their free time than most students? Possibly, depending on your thoughts of the "joke" I mentioned earlier. If you don't buy the joke, then these players have the same school work as the rest of us but add all of their athletic obligations on top of that work.

If this is the case, and many would believe it's so, then there is absolutely no reason that some athletes shouldn't be allowed some sort of compensation for their time and representing their respective schools. However, beyond this basic compensation is where the issue begins.

The point of college is education. That is priority one. Some athletes believe that they are special and deserve special privileges, and schools oblige because they are afraid to lose the athlete.

This concern by the schools stems from universities being more business than education. Schools have become more concerned with image and filling seats for a game rather than graduation.

Blame doesn't sit with any one group. Athletes, schools, and even fans need to collaborate to change how we think about college athletics. Then the conversation of whether athletes should be paid wouldn't even be necessary. College is for education. If you want to get paid, go pro.