Originally Posted by
Hingeknocker
5) Finally, as for the idea that it's possible for college sports to maintain some kind of purity that it once had? That idea has been a complete fiction since the very second schools realized they could recruit players instead of just relying on whoever happened to be on campus. So, since like year 2 of college athletics, the oft-lamented "glory days" have been a fantasy. Either we give up the idea of the fantasy, or we just return to the true original way of doing things and make it tryout-only based on the student body every year. Judging by the freshman intramural teams I played on in Randolph Dorm ~17 years ago, I suspect this is not the way people really want this to go. But I could be wrong!
"Some kind of purity it once had..." Apparently, in your view, that died when schools started recruiting athletes. Schools have been recruiting football players for over a century -- players even changing schools during the season. I am afraid you would have to go back to the "flying wedge" to get any satisfaction out of college football.
We have 20+ sports at Duke. Serious, high-dollar professional expectations happen only in football and men's basketball and to a lesser extent in baseball. Maybe in women's golf. And highly-paid athletic careers result for only a few -- a fairly high percentage of Duke basketball players and a very few from football (in the Not For Long league) and baseball. Sure, women hoopsters can have nice careers and there's the occasional soccer player with potential. Most of the athletes at Duke and elsewhere really will go pro in something else (as the NCAA says).
There's a lot to like in college sports. I don't know why "recruiting" of athletes spoils the competition. The best in every Duke sport (and other schools') are recruited to some extent, even if it is only an edge in admissions.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013