College Athletics and the American Dream

The “American Dream” of many people is to become a professional athlete. Work really hard, practice constantly, get a great coach (“mentor” in American Dream language), and you can get signed to a team and get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A stepping stone for many on the road to becoming a professional athlete is the world of college sports. Now don’t get me wrong. I believe that clubs and activities, which includes athletics, are an integral part of a great university. I don’t feel like sports are getting out of hand, but I have to wonder how being a member of a major team (i.e. football at Penn State, basketball at Villanova) affects you and changes your attitude.

Some college athletes have obtained star status. They still go to class and are technically “normal students” just like everyone else. But I’m pretty sure anytime anyone has a Paul Posluszny sighting the whole world has to know. And I’m sure Paul recognizes that. They’re not normal students. They’re celebrities. At the Blue/White football game there was a line of over a hundred people stretched across a muddy field in the pouring rain waiting for Michael Robinson’s autograph. No one’s ever waited for my autograph.

Being quickly catapulted to star status changes everyone at least a little bit. For four or five years a college athlete on a major has many things handed to him. I’m not talking about grades because I hope that doesn’t really happen. I’m talking about money (not a salary, just little gifts here and there) and free portable DVD players and Playstations and instant access to the front of the line and fans. And if you don’t go pro, you basically lose all that. Not the gifts, those are yours to keep, but that status. How does this alter people’s perception of others and beliefs on how they should be perceived?

College athletics will seem out of hand to me if athletes are ever paid, which may happen fairly soon. Scholarships are one thing, but an actual paycheck for participating in an activity? Then shouldn’t the club sports get paid? And then any club? Absolutely ridiculous.