Bit of a difference between an actual regular season game and a meaningless bowl game.For all those supporting this would you have supported them sitting out Northwestern?
Bit of a difference between an actual regular season game and a meaningless bowl game.For all those supporting this would you have supported them sitting out Northwestern?
Absolutely. The regular season games matter to get the team into a better bowl game, therefore these guys played. The bowl games results don’t really matter for the future success of the team, so it doesn’t matter if these guys play. If these guys get hurt in this game it could cost them draft position and literally millions of dollars. They’ve proved everything need to at this point. I can guarantee that the majority of the team has no problem with it and want to see these guys get paid.Bit of a difference between an actual regular season game and a meaningless bowl game.
I agree and this idea probably came from a greedy agent or family member the 1st time it came about. Now its probably the 1st thing an agent brings up to a kid. Another angle where $$$ has ruined sports. What about the fans that bought tickets to the bowl game and took time off work to go down there?I’m of the opinion they should play. You worked hard all year so you can make the post season ( a bowl) and your whole career in college. Now I’m not going to go because I might get hurt. This trend over the last 5-10 yrs of opting out is a bunch of crap. Your yrs in college are the best. Most will have a very short NFL career. I know some are going to say don’t risk the $$$, but give some loyalty to your school and your teammates. Not going to be the same team without them. These guys got NIL money and a free education plus all the other bennies of being a student athelete at Illinois. Finish the season you committed to.
If people bought tickets just to see these guys and didn't give any thought to the fact that they might sit out then .I agree and this idea probably came from a greedy agent or family member the 1st time it came about. Now its probably the 1st thing an agent brings up to a kid. Another angle where $$$ has ruined sports. What about the fans that bought tickets to the bowl game and took time off work to go down there?
I agree and this idea probably came from a greedy agent or family member the 1st time it came about. Now its probably the 1st thing an agent brings up to a kid. Another angle where $$$ has ruined sports. What about the fans that bought tickets to the bowl game and took time off work to go down there?
Bit of a difference between an actual regular season game and a meaningless bowl game.
So wait, should we go back to the days of having teachers moonlight as coaches for very little pay, stop spending money on facilities, and just play on an open field and let spectators bring in their own folding chairs and refreshments like youth sports? Or are you just against $ in sports when it comes to the players?I agree and this idea probably came from a greedy agent or family member the 1st time it came about. Now its probably the 1st thing an agent brings up to a kid. Another angle where $$$ has ruined sports. What about the fans that bought tickets to the bowl game and took time off work to go down there?
Yeah, gigantic difference.Is there?
What I support is that the DIA from Whitman on down is unflinchingly, fearlessly and unapologetically embracing the future as change roils its way through college sports. That's what hailing and giving a media platform to these players making these decisions indicates.For all those supporting this would you have supported them sitting out Northwestern?
Interesting that you didn't answer the question.What I support is that the DIA from Whitman on down is unflinchingly, fearlessly and unapologetically embracing the future as change roils its way through college sports. That's what hailing and giving a media platform to these players making these decisions indicates.
You get players by being a program that embraces doing the best by players. You fall behind by having a curmudgeonly attitude about emerging realities you're powerless to change.
Now, as you all know, I sincerely believe college football is destroying itself, and this is very much a part of that. But Illinois Football is not in a position to swim against that tide, so Illinois Football is doing what it takes to succeed in the new reality.
Well, I don't consider the bowl game meaningless. And if someone considers a regular season game meaningless, what then? If Sydney Brown decides that the Northwestern game is meaningless, are you going to be the one to tell him it isn't? And what is your distinction between the two?Bit of a difference between an actual regular season game and a meaningless bowl game.
I'd say a bowl game is closer to a regular season game than the Pro BowlYeah, gigantic difference.
Bowl games anymore are just a reward and recognition of accomplishment for a team, and an opportunity for fans to celebrate said accomplishment. They're far more like the Pro Bowl than any regular season or playoff NFL game. Would you get upset with a player for skipping the Pro Bowl?
Just imagine the recruits getting that pitch. Rough, rough take.Dude starts for Illinois for 5 seasons. Put his body on the line day in and day out. Worked harder than almost anybody on this forum, while managing his school work. Played a pivotal role in giving us our best season in the past 15 years.
And you want him to pay his own way for his final semester of schooling because he wants to protect his body to secure his shot at playing in the NFL, his childhood dream - and has the potential to transform his family tree financially forever - so that you can watch him play one more game?
GMAB
Pro Bowl doesn't figure into final rankings, final record, or stats. So totally different. Pro Bowl is more comparable to Senior Bowl.Yeah, gigantic difference.
Bowl games anymore are just a reward and recognition of accomplishment for a team, and an opportunity for fans to celebrate said accomplishment. They're far more like the Pro Bowl than any regular season or playoff NFL game. Would you get upset with a player for skipping the Pro Bowl?
It's gonna get worse until people find ways to connect NIL money to actually playing.I also want them to embrace the future. But what if "doing the best by players" means they sit for every "meaningless" game, what does that involve? Does anyone with a possible NFL future sit anytime we get to 7 losses?
Yeah, gigantic difference.
Bowl games anymore are just a reward and recognition of accomplishment for a team, and an opportunity for fans to celebrate said accomplishment. They're far more like the Pro Bowl than any regular season or playoff NFL game. Would you get upset with a player for skipping the Pro Bowl?
There is no exact parallel for these non-playoff Bowl games but here's where I'm coming from:Pro Bowl doesn't figure into final rankings, final record, or stats. So totally different. Pro Bowl is more comparable to Senior Bowl.
Because the bowl game validates the success of the season. It's a celebration of the preceeding season's success.Then why should I as a fan care then? Seems to me like “bowl eligible” now means “able to play in a game that the players may or may not give a crap about.”
Then why should I as a fan care then?
What's bittersweet is that bowl games won't exist in 10 years.
I'm pretty much in your camp, although I'm not figuring that applause from me is going to change the mind of a four star recruit.It's gonna get worse until people find ways to connect NIL money to actually playing.
It's bad for the sport that Witherspoon and Brown aren't playing, let me be absolutely clear. So I don't "support" it at all in that sense.
But doing anything other than applauding them and doing whatever the program can do advance their NFL ambitions would be a net negative to our future ambitions on the field.
I get it. In the past I hated it when players walked away from his teammates. It's a new world. New values. New ideas. I adjusted. *sighI hate this. Team means we start together, and finish together. Sorry, just my opinion. The old school traditions are being lost. If they quit the team, should they pay their own way the last semester of college?
Thats a little extreme there buddy. But the average joe would agree that 300$ a seat NFL tickets has made the experience almost impossible for a lot of folks. 20$ beer and 50$ parking is all because of the inflated salaries and all that. Then all the influence Vegas has had on sports and tampering. Id say $$$ has a huge negative effect as well.So wait, should we go back to the days of having teachers moonlight as coaches for very little pay, stop spending money on facilities, and just play on an open field and let spectators bring in their own folding chairs and refreshments like youth sports? Or are you just against $ in sports when it comes to the players?
For all the ills money has brought to sports, it's also brought a lot of good too. Intelligent people go into coaching and bring Innovation to the game because it can be a lucrative career. Athletes compete through countless levels increasingly intense competition because of possibility of life-changing renumeration. If there was no money in sports, sports would be worse. Yes, the excitement of sports made sports luvrative. But the increasing lucrativeness of sports also then made sports more exciting. A virtuous cycle, for the most part.