I fully grant this the point of this film isn't to create a "conversation" or provide commentary on what college athletics has become, but I found myself comparing and contrasting the story of this historic college athletic team to the current state of American college athletics.

"The Boys in the Boat" tells the true story of the 1936 Washington Husky "JV" rowing team that won the national championship and the gold medal at Hitler's Olympics.

The interesting thing about that team is that they were kids from the backwater of the US that were raised during the depression. They had zero money and zero privilege. But they came together under a great coach, worked hard, beat the odds, represented UW and represented the United States. The poor kids beat the Yale kids.

It's a true story. Much of the story surrounds the plights of one particular guy who didn't have two pennies to rub together. He wanted to make the team for the meals it would feed him and plus, when on the team, the university would give him a job cleaning the cafeteria.

So contrast all that to what we have now…

It's really been corrupted by money. There's no denying it.

What made college sports so compelling and popular was the RA-RA of rooting for your school and it's players were classmates. That's gone. It's a mercenary pro league now. And I think, unless things really change, college sports is in real danger of completely losing its appeal.

This isn't just a rant about players getting paid. Maybe they should be paid something but I'd argue that a full ride scholarship plus the national exposure to put your talents on display for NFL opportunities was already tantamount to be paid pretty darn well.

Coaches are also obscenely over-compensated. Our Jimbo Fisher is the most egregious example. The Olympic winning coach of the 1936 UW squad wasn't getting rich by 1936 standards and there is a scene in the film which drives this home…

Somehow college athletics needs to be brought back down to earth. More parity needs to be created. I think I'd start by tiering and capping how much teams can pay coaches. Then look at how much money a schools athletic program are allowed to "keep" from TV deals - e.g, that money should go to facilities and then back to the academic pursuits of the university and non-athletic scholarships.

Anyway. Great movie.

Looking forward to seeing it. Based on a true story is our favorite kind of movie.

I'm not reading the OP because I didn't see SPOILER ALERT!!!

Is that because there are no spoilers? Or because you neglected to alert us who haven't seen the movie yet?

This is a story that needed to be told and shared, glad that it now is. As OP says, it stands in stark contrast to the products we now see on the field and courts of college athletics.

Today you have 5-star recruits, assigned that rating by some individuals who never played a snap of football at any meaningful level. These recruits are then coddled by everyone in their universe as their priorities change from being the best football player they can be into the instant gratification of seeking the most NIL money they can get.

As they lose focus of what got them there to begin with, both their character and football skills erode. When it's showtime, they get exposed and abused by 3 star opponents on the football field who haven't lost focus. They are kicked off not only their original team but also the one or several to which they transferred. Then they flip burgers for the rest of their life.

This doesn't happen to all of them, but it does to many and maybe most. It's gotten to the point where I don't expect quality football from most of them.

Then you have Ohio State follow up A&M's Opt-Out Entitlement Bowl with a three point outburst with their third string QB in the formerly prestigious Cotton Bowl.

From the late, great Mike Leach, a legend in this forum for telling it like it was:

"You've got an obligation to the place that helped build and develop you and finish it out in the bowl," Leach said. "That's part of it. You owe it to your team, you owe it to your fans, you owe it to your coaches and it's the most bizarre thing in the world to me."

I don't agree with artificial mandates and transfer restrictions keeping teams together through bowl season. The only thing that's going to fix college football has to come from the heart, and the only way that happens is after it burns to the ground.

The book is a good read.

Times were different back then...period. Cannot even compare...and crewing is different too as no one is clamoring to pay NIL for rowers (they get paid by US Olympics...so paying for amateur athletes...hmmm, sounds familiar).

ObviousLazyRiverIsObvious said:

---

I'm not reading the OP because I didn't see SPOILER ALERT!!!

Is that because there are no spoilers? Or because you neglected to alert us who haven't seen the movie yet?

---

It's based on historical events.

That's like saying, "Don't tell me how the movie Pearl Harbor ends, I haven't seen it, yet."

Jimbo is not the most obscenely compensated. And you avd other fans refuse to acknowledge that you cannot execute a contract with a sitting coach at another school without significant guaranteed money that in effect pays off their current contract and leverages them out of their current job on top of that. Plus in effect absorbs a goodwill liability for the competition you felt were chasing them from time to time.

The movie has little to do with today's college athletics and emphasizes the primary reason for the shamateurism of the elite universities: racism against blacks and other minorities. It took until the United States was this many years old for SCOTUS to outlaw discrimination in admissions due to ethnic background.

Confirmation bias of our own opinions is a mighty, magic-thinking inducing elixir…aka "helluva drug."

If you want to see College Athletics return, then quit going and watching college football.

You know who goes to see Rowing? After the participants, coaches, and organizers... you might get a dozen... two dozen people who walk up for free having paid $5 for parking.

When I was at A&M, I enjoyed going to the Women's Soccer and Women's VB games. I even went to Men's Lacrosse and Men's Rugby.

College Football is a Pro sport. It has always been a pro sport. You are just now realizing it because like Slavery, it has changed from an Owner-advantaged job to a Worker-advantaged job.

College football players are woefully underpaid! That scholarship is a drop in the bucket compared to the $3 billion television contract the SEC negotiated with ESPN.

It is true that there needs to be tiers because it makes no sense for schools like A&M to play smaller budget schools like McNeese St. That basically amounts to a "body bag" game for the smaller school and a competitive scrimmage for A&M. The fans still pay full price.

Those "ra-ra" days are gone for big money college sports thanks to us, the fans, who will pack a stadium 100k to watch a sport.

Embrace it!

PabloSerna said:

---

College football players are woefully underpaid! That scholarship is a drop in the bucket compared to the $3 billion television contract the SEC negotiated with ESPN.

It is true that there needs to be tiers because it makes no sense for schools like A&M to play smaller budget schools like McNeese St. That basically amounts to a "body bag" game for the smaller school and a competitive scrimmage for A&M. The fans still pay full price.

Those "ra-ra" days are gone for big money college sports thanks to us, the fans, who will pack a stadium 100k to watch a sport.

Embrace it!

---

It's this OP. There is no putting that genie back in the bottle. Sorry you don't like the free market.

There are lots of other sports out there that they do it for the love of the game. Maybe try those. College football, ra ra is sadly over.

Agree with OP, and fantastic book as well.

PabloSerna said:

---

College football players are woefully underpaid! That scholarship is a drop in the bucket compared to the $3 billion television contract the SEC negotiated with ESPN.

It is true that there needs to be tiers because it makes no sense for schools like A&M to play smaller budget schools like McNeese St. That basically amounts to a "body bag" game for the smaller school and a competitive scrimmage for A&M. The fans still pay full price.

Those "ra-ra" days are gone for big money college sports thanks to us, the fans, who will pack a stadium 100k to watch a sport.

Embrace it!

---

Should companies follow your logic and have a set amount they should pay employees because of huge revenues they earn? You have decided college football players are woefully underpaid, by how much? Are all of them underpaid, or just some of them? Who decides what they should be paid? What all must come out of the $3 billion television contract, what expenses?

DallasAg 94 said:

---

If you want to see College Athletics return, then quit going and watching college football.

You know who goes to see Rowing? After the participants, coaches, and organizers... you might get a dozen... two dozen people who walk up for free having paid $5 for parking.

When I was at A&M, I enjoyed going to the Women's Soccer and Women's VB games. I even went to Men's Lacrosse and Men's Rugby.

College Football is a Pro sport. It has always been a pro sport. You are just now realizing it because like Slavery, it has changed from an Owner-advantaged job to a Worker-advantaged job.

---

Wtf? In what fever dream world did slaves ever have an advantage?

You got Hitler, the Depression and Seattle all in one book. Great entertainment.

Epicaggie said:

---

You crotchety old men need to get over NIL already. It's not going away and doesn't have any impact on your lives

---

I didn't say it has any impact on my life.

I, and many others, have said it is and will have an impact on the sport.

And it's not just the NIL, it's the NIL along with the ridiculous portal.

And, it's going to change because it has to and virtually every decision maker involved is acknowledging in one way or another that it needs to change.

So in a short sentence, you were wrong several times.

College football has survived and is surviving outrageous coaching contracts, players opting out for the draft, and NIL. Damaged but surviving…

However the portal is a different animal. If that isn't dealt with, it will make the games unwatchable.

Epicaggie said:

---

You crotchety old men need to get over NIL already. It's not going away and doesn't have any impact on your lives

---

Sure it does. It has ruined college football. Something I used to really enjoy.

Ncaa fb sucks.

Ouch. Burn.

I read the book. It was okay, not great. I liked 12 Mighty Orphans by Jim Dent better. Boys was a great story...maybe the prose just didn't seem memorable. I had forgotten most of the story until OP mentioned it.

As for NIL, I suppose it could kill Title IX once the big boys stop using scholarships on football. They'll be able to drop a bunch of women's sports. As a father of a D1 female athlete, that matters to me. Either way, I'll leave this earth before I give a red cent to any NIL crap. I've got 6 kids to put through school; wth would I pay a salary to somebody else's kid? Screw that noise.

I didn't think that it was anti nil but it was anti dei which really surprised me this day and age. They choose the strongest people to crew the boat and the the boat won.

There were no favorites, no race, no politics, no relatives involved, it was who was the best and the best won. The way it should be. Just an amazing concept.

Imagine how badly we would have beaten the Nazis with a little sweet NIL cash!

Why's ridiculous to me is the conference realignment where competitive diversity are becoming anti-competitive.

If you take all the winning schools and put them together you still only get one contract championship. Win-Loss records will get worse, but who cares about regional divisions of competition when universities make more money sending their football team and student athletes coast to coast.

The realignment sucks for the non-football sports and they should just be separated from the football conference affiliations.

I liked when conferences were smaller and everyone can play all of their conference mates each year, which is doable up to 10-12 members. Or with two divisions up to 16 members but play all of your division.

Also, the playoff should be conference champs. Include all of the conference champs, even the lower ones, it really won't matter as it will be a true proper competition where winners face winners and we don't have to have debates about strength of schedule.

Epicaggie said:

---

You crotchety old men need to get over NIL already. It's not going away and doesn't have any impact on your lives

---

You think the kids making 100s of thousands of dollars while not being beholden to a school's alumni beyond the year they were guaranteed a scholarship doesn't cause emotional distress? It's practically intentional from the third parties' POV.

Seamaster said:

---

Epicaggie said:

---

You crotchety old men need to get over NIL already. It's not going away and doesn't have any impact on your lives

---

I didn't say it has any impact on my life.

I, and many others, have said it is and will have an impact on the sport.

And it's not just the NIL, it's the NIL along with the ridiculous portal.

And, it's going to change because it has to and virtually every decision maker involved is acknowledging in one way or another that it needs to change.

So in a short sentence, you were wrong several times.

---

But don't deny some kid his uppity old man/clouds rant

Epicaggie said:

---

You crotchety old men need to get over NIL already. It's not going away and doesn't have any impact on your lives

---

I doubt these guys were complaining when A&M was among the first to get their NIL rolling and signed that historic class