Former Michigan OL Dan Samuelson Latest Victim of Awful NCAA Rules

Submitted by EastCoast Esq. on

This was posted yesterday by Jake Butt. Is there a worse American sports institution than the NCAA? I'm specifying American because FIFA seems to take the cake internationally.

 

Posted by a former teammate. Can the NCAA get anything right? Probably not. Common sense? Zero. pic.twitter.com/IK1ZT8rFev

— jake butt (@JBooty_88) December 7, 2016

 

Mr. Yost

December 8th, 2016 at 6:42 PM ^

My thoughts exactly...here comes the pressure, as it should.

What, NCAA...you think he's just getting his brains bashed in on the scout team for fun?

HE'S ON THE OFFICIAL ROSTER!! 

http://www.emueagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=7238&path=football

Every walk-on, every scout team player, every team manager should be on the flight to the Bahamas.

You don't want to pay players? Okay...fine, that's another topic for another day. But use that money that people want to use to pay players to take care of shit like THIS! (note for those that don't know...the NCAA pays/reimburses for travel and expenses for postseason play...all sports. They can't afford to bring everyone just like they started paying more for families to travel in post season play after Calipari complained).

uncle leo

December 8th, 2016 at 10:00 AM ^

Back as an undergrad at CMU. We had to buy our class book and the NCAA rule book. I've never read something so complicated and non-sensical in my life. The professor almost had us buy the book as a quasi joke to understand how ridiculous the organization is.

bluebyyou

December 8th, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^

I would suggest that the rules are complicated for the sake of gaining control over student-athletes.  Most student-athletes have neither the inclination nor the skill set to painfully go through the rules and digest the nuances and subtleties of the language.

Not so simple answer is to create four conferences with 80 or some other number of teams, devise your own rules that are sensible and present same in easily understood language and tell the NCAA to go stick it where the sun don't shine.  The organization's time has come and gone.

Hail-Storm

December 8th, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^

can't hire representation who could understand the NCAA rule books to help student athletes do what's best for them.

Wait a second, it's like these people making millions of dollars off of kids who have little representation and little power are making rules to keep it that way. 

grumbler

December 8th, 2016 at 10:05 AM ^

Sorry, but I'm not getting the outrage.  IS there a reason why people think players should not have to spend two semesters at a school before fully participating in NCAA sports, or is this just  one of those "NCAA, therefor bad" knee-jerk reactions?

julesh

December 8th, 2016 at 10:07 AM ^

If he had started at EMU as a freshman he wouldn't be required to spend two semesters there before participating. Do you think that should actually be the standard and the current system is wrong? Or you just think kids deciding to do what's best for them and transferring should be punished?

grumbler

December 8th, 2016 at 10:28 AM ^

I think players should be allowed to transfer (at least the first time, and am open to considering it every time they transfer) without let or hindrance.  That's the way it is for all but four NCAA sports 9this is the one-time waiver).

That isn't how the NCAA has set things up for football, however.  No first-time-transfer waiver there.  I don't like that, but can live with that disagreement short of I M OUTRAGE status.  Why can't others?  That's my question.  What is so outrageous here?

Magnus

December 8th, 2016 at 10:36 AM ^

Because the penalty is literally this:

"Thou must go home and hang out with thy friends and family over winter break."

Ouch. He's not being sent to prison or forced to do hard labor or pay a fine. He has to chill out, drink a beer, and watch the game on TV. It's a penalty in the same way getting suspended from high school is a penalty. "Oh, you mean I can't sit in a classroom all day and have crappy food, so I have to go home and play video games all day while eating pizza and drinking Mountain Dew?"

Sleepy

December 8th, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^

As opposed to "playing video games all day while eating pizza and drinking Mountain Dew," my dad decided it was a better idea that I go to work with him & spend the day as the maintenance guy's personal assistant.  I was not compensated.

EastCoast Esq.

December 8th, 2016 at 10:11 AM ^

To me, that's the wrong approach to the question. The correct approach is "Why should a student have to spend two full semesters before participating in sports again?" It's penalizing the student for moving to a potentially better situation.

Also, as Dan said, he isn't allowed to even travel with the team? What is the reason for that?

Magnus

December 8th, 2016 at 10:17 AM ^

"Penalizing" is a word thrown around too much, in my opinion. It's not a penalty. It's a rule put in place to prevent mass amounts of transfers that would throw the whole organization/school system into a tizzy.

When players decide to play sports in the NCAA, they acknowledge that they have 5 years to play 4, and that any transfer prior to graduation will require them to sit out for a year.

I talked about not being able to travel elsewhere, but bowl costs are ridiculous anyway, and the price of going to a bowl usually puts a program in the red, anyway. Why add thousands and thousands of dollars to bowl/road game costs by bringing along transfers, walk-ons, etc. who can't participate?

ak47

December 8th, 2016 at 10:35 AM ^

Except nobody would be forcing EMU to bring him.  It should be the schools choice, not the NCAA.  If he can't play and the school decides him traveling isnt worth the cost they can say no, if they think having him there benefits the team he can travel with them as a member of the team.  Teams also often bring injured players who can't play, Peppers was at the bowl game last year.  It should be a school decision. 

Magnus

December 8th, 2016 at 10:47 AM ^

That's a fair point, but as a taxpayer and/or tuition-paying student, I don't necessarily think we should be paying for a bunch of extra players to go to the Bahamas, California, Florida, etc. If you leave that up to the school, then that gets passed on to someone else until it trickles down to 72-year-old Eleanor Smith who pays state taxes in Ludington for someone like Samuelson to go to the beach.

ak47

December 8th, 2016 at 10:55 AM ^

If I'm a taxpayer and or tuition paying student I don't want the football team going to a bowl if that is how you look at it.  You want to help 72 year old Eleanor Smith deal with schools having to gaurantee ticket sales and work your way down from there.  Especially since this rule isn't to protect Eleanor Smith, its to make transfers less appealing by making the period of transfer as miserable as possible to give power to the schools over the players.

ak47

December 8th, 2016 at 11:28 AM ^

I think its a reach that its a financial decision, if that were true injured guys wouldn't be allowed to travel either by rule.  Its a rule designed to punish transfers.  Defend it on those grounds and we can agree to disagree about whether its right for the NCAA to control the movement of kids attempting to do what is best for them and their future, but don't try to frame this as the NCAA looking out for the taxpayers of the state of michigan, they don't give a fuck about that and neither does EMU.

Reader71

December 8th, 2016 at 11:36 AM ^

The NCAA does allow him to bang his brain against another's every day in practice, though. The bowl trip is part of the payment for his services.

I was injured during a bowl game. Couldn't do anything but work out the lower body and run. They brought my useless ass along anyways, because Michigan had the decency to recognize the trip for what it was -- something the players on that team -- which includes the starters, transfers, reserves, coaches, managers, water boys, et al -- will never forget.

The NCAA lacks that decency. Maybe you're right and it's a money-saving measure. That does not make it any better for the kids who get fucked to save that money.

Reader71

December 8th, 2016 at 3:21 PM ^

Yes he is. He was deemed enough of a teammate to sacrifice his blood, sweat, and tears but not enough of a teammate to travel to a bowl game. The school, and all of the schools who make up the member institution, get the benefit of a body in practice without having to pay to have him reap the benefits of his work along with his teammates.

I know your argument is that he knew the deal and signed up for it when he transferred. That's true, but doesn't make it any less of a fucking. I had to work for free as part of my law school educational requirements. It was a condition of entering the legal profession -- it was also a patently unfair rule that guarantees law firms a permanent free portion of their workforce.

Reader71

December 8th, 2016 at 3:55 PM ^

I know the rules exist in all manor of fields. That doesn't mean that it isn't getting fucked, it just means that many people are also getting it.

Aside from penetration, I can't think of any more of a fucking than being made to perform a task and not being compensated for it. At least I get a sort of deferred payment.. Samuelson doesn't even get that. The bowl trip is the deferred payment for the hard work.

APBlue

December 8th, 2016 at 10:49 AM ^

Yeah, I get the rule. I don't agree with it, but I get it.
Using the word "penalty" or "penalized" isn't right either. It wrongfully confuses the actual circumstances.
Sounds like maybe he was caught off guard by the bowl aspect of this rule. Maybe he didn't consider the possibility that EMU would make a bowl. Lol.

panthers5

December 8th, 2016 at 11:20 AM ^

This is comical coming from the supposed coach.

Well the opposite of a penalty is a reward, as in guys who have busted their ass for an entire year in the weight room, class room, film room, meeting rooms, etc. It's an experience that many will never forget regardless of if they are particpating in the game or not. 

Your reasoning is silly and childish at best. The guy who busted his tail for you all season long on scout team should in your words "go home and play video games, drink a beer, watch the game, hang with buddies" instead of be with the team that he gives sweat equity to? Come on coach, youre better than that.