My Response

This is my response to the article published in the Daily Universe (see my post "WOW" below for the article).

To the Editor

If I am reading Matt Payne’s article, More honesty about true student, athlete treatment correctly the main issue that Matt Payne has is not “with the fact that athletes get preferential treatment…but rather with the way some schools pretend that this preferential treatment doesn’t happen”. Well I guess my only rebuttal to this is Who is pretending? I am pretty sure most students, student-athletes, administrators and professors are aware that there are certain privileges that student-athletes are awarded that are not offered to the rest of the student body, and why not? After all, the student-athletes deserve everything they get.

Maybe I have to see the commercial to understand how South Carolina was pretending to treat normal students the same way they treat student-athletes, but based on Matt Payne’s description of the commercial, they weren’t pretending anything. They were simply showing a young high school athlete choosing to participate in athletics at South Carolina, while also choosing to study in one of the top international business schools in the nation. But I guess I’ll have to take Mr. Payne’s word for it as he apparently knows quite a lot about how things are run at the University of South Carolina.

What Mr. Payne failed to mention is that student-athletes are not the only people on campus receiving finical aid. Scholarships are awarded to many students based on them just being them, for example their ethnicity, religion, heritage, and other such traits. Sometimes receiving these scholarships requires some work, like filling out an application, or finding the best scholarship that works for the student’s specific needs. There are also academic scholarships available to those that qualify just as there are athletic scholarships for those that qualify. For these kinds of scholarships, one must work hard all through high school and perhaps even earlier than that, developing talents, habits and abilities to obtain such preferential treatment.

While student athletes are given great facilities to not only train in, but also to study in, the rest of the student body is not left to study by candle light in the basements. BYU has one of the best campuses for students in the nation. The BYU business program is one of the best in the nation, and is housed in one of the better buildings on campus. The business program is ranked in the top 10 programs in the nation, and our football team is struggling to stay in the top 20 right now. But, the business program is never going to sell out La Vell Edwards Stadium for an Investors Club Meeting.

I offer a challenge to Matt Payne:

For one month, actually, just try one week, wake up at 5:45 am on Monday, and go work out for two hours. Now, this is not just a light jog and some yoga, I challenge you to work out at the level of a NCAA Division I athlete for 2 hours, then spend 3 hours in class, awake and taking notes. After your classes, work out for another two hours at the same intensity as the morning. When afternoon practice gets out at 5:00 pm, ice, shower and then go study for another few hours. Then do this for four more days, Tuesday through Friday. Finally, spend your weekend hosting high school recruits, or away at a competition. Do that for one week and tell me that student-athletes don’t deserve a pair of sweat pants. I bet if this was your schedule you wouldn’t have had time to watch the South Carolina game on Thursday. Even student-athletes that are on a full tuition scholarship, book scholarship and receive a rent and food allowance could make a lot more money working at Subway in the Cougareat. And believe me, there are not as many student-athletes receiving that amount of scholarship, as you may like to think.

The few instances in which student-athletes have broken rules are known publicly because student-athletes are looked upon in the public eye, and in all those instances fair treatment was given. Reggie Bush is under investigation, and Jim McMahon was kicked out of school. Don’t tell me normal students have never cheated in high school to get better grades to increase their collegiate opportunities.

Another reason as to why student-athletes deserve some sweats and shoes is because, whether you like it or not, student-athletes are representing the university on a much larger scale than any other student. While students are receiving national attention in many academic fields, it is athletics that draws the most attention, and that is just how it is. You will never see national coverage for a normal student deciding what school to go to. Why? Because, quite frankly, no body cares. That doesn’t mean that normal students aren’t important, or that they don’t deserve recognition for the hard work that they do, but that is just the way it is. At the end of the day, life is just not fair, Matt. Some people are going to get bigger, better, nicer things than you, and you know what, they might not deserve any of it. But that is just the way life is.