any stipend that would go to football and baseball players would then have to be given to all athletes, who work just as hard as football players do, but just not in a money-making sport. that's a lot of stipends to be given out. football players are making an investment in themselves just like regular students are. either they get to play in the NFL and make a ton of money after college or they get a free education at a school the quality of a UW or Stanford or wherever. the NCAA had made a proposal a while back that i liked, allowing tuition to be paid for a fifth year of school, beyond their athletic eligibility. that's tantamount to getting paid. for all the kids who don't have the time to play football and take engineering classes, now they'll get that extra year to finish up. nevermind that other people are making money off of football programs, i just think about my experience compared to the football players, and they certainly have a lot of advantages already in school compared to what i went through. i couldn't get into UW because of grades, yet Rashard Griffith could barely spell his name and he gets to go. maybe they leave school with a little bit of debt, but it sure isn't the debt that i have because of school. and if a college football player wants to use the school as a springboard to the NFL, then he still has the option of going to Florida and taking "Football 101" classes and not really having to worry about academics. seems like they get a pretty good deal to me. and sure the schools are making a ton of money off of the big sports, but so be it. a school is a business regardless if it's a state school or a private one, and they have to put the football money back into the school to stay competitive. even if that money goes back into athletics instead of academics, that still brings in a lot of regular students. i'd love to see a minor-league football organization set up that could compete with colleges. a player could skip all the academic stuff and go there instead of a school. then they'd be able to play for a few years and get paid before they became eligible for the NFL.