Bando Calrissian

October 24th, 2016 at 3:55 PM ^

Athletes have meal plans in the dorms, the same as non-athlete students.

It is not "jail food." I'm sorry, Trey, but this is on you.

Is it gourmet? Nope, but given the fact that even dorms with smaller cafeterias like East Quad have freaking gelato bars and vast food options for every meal, and the Hill Dining Center and South Quad have freaking palaces for cafeterias, you can cobble together something both nutritious and tasty. Yes, these renovations were happening when Trey was in school, but even the old cafeterias were pretty good.

bluebyyou

October 24th, 2016 at 5:49 PM ^

Sounds like Trey or his father got the fundamentals right.  If you don't save you won't have anything down the road.  

As for guidance with investment decisions, to expect you would be sophisticated enough to manage significant amounts of money after two years of college, that's just not going to happen.  There are many professionals ready, willing and able to help provide competent advice including many Michigan alums.

Unsalted

October 24th, 2016 at 5:11 PM ^

In the late 70s the basket ball team had a 'training table' contract with the Lamplighter on Liberty. For those of you who never got the chance to experience it, the Lamplighter had the best deep dish pizza on the planet. I'm guessing that the Lamplighter was gone by Trey's time other wise he would be talking about how great the food was.

I don't know about now, but in '75-'76, the meal plan had no breakfast, and only lunch on Sunday (13 meals per week). In retrospect, I'm not sure how the athletes got by with out breakfast. Most students got by with milk and cereal in the room or went without.

taut

October 24th, 2016 at 11:24 PM ^

In the early 80's I lived near Thano's Lamplighter. It was pretty common to see a big, old, green land yacht parked outside the restaurant. I believe it belonged to Butch Wade, but it may have been Richard Relford. The BB guys usually dominated over a large round table near the front. I used to think they had the hook-up there, sounds like it was legit. BTW, the car was really a piece of crap. One of the guards had a nicer, newer car but the big guys rode in the old ratty Grand Marquis or Town Car or whatever it was.


 

UMichStudent2019

October 24th, 2016 at 5:11 PM ^

I know some of the dining halls have undergone changes since Burke was a student here, and those ones (specifically South Quad) are great now. If I'm not mistaken, he was still a student after the East Quad renovations were finished. I eat there pretty regularly and I have nothing to complain about with regards to the quality or selection of food. I also see athletes, mostly basketball players, eat there. They never seem to have a problem with it.

Another theory, Burke has some kind of beef with Beilein right now. He did mention that it's the coach's responsibility to make sure players are well fed. To place responsibility on the coach specifically seems a little bizzarre to me. I wouldn't be shocked if a story broke that he and Beilein aren't on good terms.

CHUKA

October 24th, 2016 at 4:45 PM ^

Well, would anything he said have changed had he stayed for 4 years? Regardless I'm not really on Burke's side with this one. I feel like at the pro level it's your responsibility to have a good, trustworthy team of people to help you off the court. Some schools do a better job than others of teaching student athletes about life after sports, and I'm sure Michigan has the resources for that so I do kind of see what he's saying; but if he wanted that information he could've taken classes on the subject during his 2 year stay. As for the food, I can't speak on that, I didn't go to the university, but for the most part every school I've ever visited has very similar dining options.

uncle leo

October 24th, 2016 at 3:54 PM ^

Sorry that the food there wasn't top of the line. You had to suffer through two years of "bad food" to make millions playing a sport and basically not have to worry about anything involving real life.

And I don't buy for a second that he left Michigan ill-prepared for the pros. I may be critical of Beilein about a lot, but him preparing his kids for the pros is not one of them. How many articles can you find about how Beilein sits with his kids through almost every phone call and meeting with NBA reps? 

Trey, don't bite the hand that feeds you man. You could have wasted away at Penn State and turned into DJ Newbill. Instead, you reached the pinnacle of college basketball and are now making money playing basketball.

Mr. Yost

October 24th, 2016 at 4:09 PM ^

How is this surprising to anyone?

At this point it's safe to assume the majority of MBB and FB players share Burke's thought (and also are interested in being compensated in comparison to the revenue they generate).

And you're going to get a ton of fans, non-D1 MBB/FB student-athletes who completely disagree and call them spoiled babies.

This is the most redundant topic in sports, IMO.

Minds are never going to be changed.

At this point, I'd almost be surprised if Burke DIDN'T feel this way.

 

...but you know what, Burke will never know what it's like to be a "normal" student paying his/her way. And most of us will never know what it's like being a D1 student-athlete in MBB or FB, generating tons of revenue, watching it go in the pockets of a lot of folks other than your own (in relative proportion). 

So with that said, if you haven't experienced the other side...how can you truly get bent out of shape about it? I'm not saying you have to experience something to have an opinion on it. I'm asking why get so emotionally attached to either side if you haven't experienced both sides?

I laugh every time this topic comes up...because what do you expect? People form a lot of their own opinions through their experiences. So of course Burke is going to feel this way and of course your average MGoBlogger is going to feel the other way. In what way is that surprising to anyone?

Mr. Yost

October 24th, 2016 at 6:43 PM ^

I never said it was mature...I think it's incredibly immature.

But usually when you put a mic in these guys faces and they rant on things like this...I don't hear the most mature arguments.

I realize we're not talking about compensation, but it goes back to something I've said before...I hear the best arguments FOR paying college athletes, by people who've never played college athletics.

So I had no expectation that Burke or anyone else this could've been about was going to be mature or reasonable.

Anyway...being "checked out"...I took that as being checked out in terms of school. I may have read that wrong.

But I'm going to say most of the guys who flirt with the NBA and come back knowing they're going to leave a year later...those guys are "checked out" from anything other than basketball. And some are probably checked out from basketball as well.

Burke gave no impression to me that he LOVED college and couldn't get enough of that experience. I didn't get the opposite impression, but he wasn't Tebow soaking up every single second, IMO. If he was like "fuck this, it's all about basketball and I'm over everything else," I can't say that's a surprise to me. I also don't know if it's unreasonable either to be honest.

uncle leo

October 24th, 2016 at 4:15 PM ^

I don't hear comments about how a former player's college didn't prepare them for life as a professional very often. Especially those directed towards a team who is run by one of the most meticulous, honest, and respectful coaches in college basketball who no matter what, wants to do what's best for his athletes.

To be honest, I think you have a big swing and miss about how this is the most talked about. This isn't about compensation. It's about shitty food and poor prep work for the next level. You hear conversations about that a lot? I sure don't.

Mr. Yost

October 24th, 2016 at 6:32 PM ^

I guess it's because I work around these student-athletes every single day.

And just being around college students in general...I'm never surprised when a college student (athete or not) comes back and basically says "college didn't teach me shit."

Hell, I hear that from current students and student-athletes.

It has nothing to do with Beilein if you really think about it.

Beilein's job is to win basketball games, it's not to best prepare anyone for life after college. Sure he does some of that, so does Harbaugh, but it's not like they're main goal is to help you learn how to take care of you post-college and give you an honest taste of life after college so you can be ready to go. No you just may pick up lessons from them that you can apply later in life.

What I see is just another kid who went to college and had no idea what the real world was like. Doesn't matter if you're a star basketball player or me. There's going to be a transition for a lot of us and a lot of us leave college unprepared.

...I'm not a parent, but I'd imagine you could say the same thing about parenting. You can watch your parents, you can wait to have kids until you're financially stable, you can read books and take classes...but parents, let me know, does all of that REALLY prepare you for parenthood?

I personally doubt it. Maybe for some it does...for others it doesn't. Some folks just handle the adversity better than others.

--------------------And to answer your question/respond to your statement

I hear comments about shitty food at work every damn day and have for the 10+ years I've worked in college athletics. Sometimes I don't have time to get off campus or go home for lunch and I'll eat at these dining halls...then I'll tell my students about it and they act like I literally ate the trash off the bottom of the dumpster. And then they go get Cookout or Bojangles.

I think back to what the cafe served at my college and what these kids get now and I just don't see it. Especially with the health craze that's swept our country. There was no gluten free, healthy choice, etc. options for us...if you wanted gluten free, you drank water. #getoffmylawn

I don't think any of this is special to just being a star basketball player. I bet there are people who read this RIGHT now who feel like college didn't prepare them for the life after college. I'm not sure that's an uncommon train of thought. I know in my experience it's not.

pescadero

October 25th, 2016 at 1:08 PM ^

And just being around college students in general...I'm never surprised when a college student (athete or not) comes back and basically says "college didn't teach me shit."

 

I hear it too.

 

From the folks that didn't/don't take charge of their own learning.

 

College is where you can learn... but no one can teach you without your effort. People who get nothing educationally out of college generally put nothing in.

Big Boutros

October 24th, 2016 at 4:20 PM ^

What's surprising is that Burke said it is literally the coach's job to make his food taste good. That is a terrible look from any side of the debate and frankly it undermines the athletes' perspective on proper treatment, free market value, whatever. It's cannon fodder for the people that believe the student-athletes are already spoiled.