# More proof that college football promotes academic excellence **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 21, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320 "2011-10-21T01:49:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/1 "2011-10-21T01:49:54Z")
Michigan State football player William Gholston [has been suspended](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/10/20/michigan-state-gholston.ap/index.html?sct=hp_t2_a6) one game for punching a Michigan player and supposedly twisting the helmet of the Michigan quarterback during a pileup. Gholston had this elegant apology for his actions: _"“I deeply regret momentarily losing my composure late in the third quarter of last Saturday’s game against Michigan,” Gholston said Thursday in a statement released by the school. “Although provoked, my response was inappropriate. Coach Dantonio regularly reminds us that actions have consequences, and I will be better prepared to handle these circumstances in the future.”_ Isn’t that beautifully composed? It must be a testament to a superior English course Gholston took at Michigan State. And they say top college football programs neglect player education. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/2 "2011-10-21T02:09:08Z")
"I deeply regret \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. Although \_\_\_\_\_\_, my \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ was \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. Coach Dantonio a) regularly reminds us that actions have consequences b) is the greatest coach in the entire world c) wrote this statement , and I will be better prepared to handle these circumstances in the future." ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/3 "2011-10-21T15:25:49Z")
Simulposted to Twitter: > [@](#): > > F\*ck that. I’d kill that fucker right now if coach didn’t have me in lockdown. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/4 "2011-10-21T16:10:12Z")
You’re just annoyed that when Gholston leaves MSU he will make more money in his first year than the top earners coming out of Harvard, Yale and Princeton combined. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/5 "2011-10-21T16:21:29Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > You’re just annoyed that when Gholston leaves MSU he will make more money in his first year than the top earners coming out of Harvard, Yale and Princeton combined. Because that’s the only thing worth learning in college, how to make money. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/6 "2011-10-21T16:27:27Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Because that’s the only thing worth learning in college, how to make money. Considering tuition prices these days. Yeah, pretty much. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/7 "2011-10-21T16:31:15Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Because that’s the only thing worth learning in college, how to make money. It really helps if you can learn how to play football and basketball, too. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/8 "2011-10-21T16:37:52Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > It really helps if you can learn how to play football and basketball, too. Sports scholarships do provide poor students an education useful outside of sports, not everyone gets drafted. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/9 "2011-10-21T17:12:45Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > You’re just annoyed that when Gholston leaves MSU he will make more money in his first year than the top earners coming out of Harvard, Yale and Princeton combined. I’m annoyed about that, no question, but not JUST annoyed about that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/10 "2011-10-21T17:27:24Z")
He’s one of the most eloquent groin-punchers I’ve ever encountered. Truly men like Gholston are the future of America. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/11 "2011-10-22T13:20:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > He’s one of the most eloquent groin-punchers I’ve ever encountered. Truly men like Gholston are the future of America. He is NOT a groin-puncher! He’s a helmet-twister and a face-puncher. MSU handled it poorly, he should have been suspended by the school rather than wait for the Big Ten to do it for them. Coach Narduzzi made some incredibly stupid comments for which he was reprimanded. Dantonio has a little house-cleaning to do, let’s do it and go beat them Badgers tonight. Regarding the statement, who is to say that he didn’t write it? Or perhaps he had some help, but maybe it reflects his true remorse? Just because you’re a big badass football player and you play with emotion doesn’t mean that you’re incapable of regret once the game is over. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/12 "2011-10-22T14:09:14Z")
Not to defend Gholston but…I’ll bet you guys think corporate press release “quotes” aren’t written by PR departments too. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/13 "2011-10-22T15:14:25Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Michigan State football player William Gholston [has been suspended](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/10/20/michigan-state-gholston.ap/index.html?sct=hp_t2_a6) one game for punching a Michigan player and supposedly twisting the helmet of the Michigan quarterback during a pileup. I’m pretty sure the suspension was for the thrown punch alone, not for twisting the helmet. To me, though, twisting Denard’s helmet was the worse of the two. That one wasn’t provoked, and was committed on a defenseless player. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/14 "2011-10-22T15:51:33Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > You’re just annoyed that when Gholston leaves MSU he will make more money in his first year than the top earners coming out of Harvard, Yale and Princeton combined. Unless, of course, he falls down the wrong way sometime during the next three years. Then he’ll likely just be a muscular young man without job skills or career plans and about 2/3 of a degree in General Studies that he can’t afford to complete. Go State! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/15 "2011-10-22T18:15:50Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Because that’s the only thing worth learning in college, how to make money. > > Considering tuition prices these days. Yeah, pretty much. Heck, if there _ **is** _ something else worth learning in college, then learning how to make money now will let him pay the tuition to learn other stuff later! ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/16 "2011-10-22T20:48:47Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Sports scholarships do provide poor students an education useful outside of sports, not everyone gets drafted. Who most deserves scholarship money, poor students who with athletic ability, or poor students with academic ability? Scholarships shoud be reserved for scholars, and all else perverts the mission of education. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/17 "2011-10-22T21:41:00Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Sports scholarships do provide poor students an education useful outside of sports, not everyone gets drafted. A what? You’re seriously calling what universities give football players an _education_? To me that’s the worst part of this little scam - they essentially lie to poor undereducated athletes and tell them they’re getting a real college degree, and then when they don’t get drafted or break their knees or whatever they find out that whoops, no, your “football track” degree in Parks and Recreation Management (which is distinct from the poor kids who are taking the real version of that major) is absolutely useless and you can barely read. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/18 "2011-10-22T21:57:02Z")
> [@colonial](#): > > Who most deserves scholarship money, poor students who with athletic ability, or poor students > with academic ability? > > Scholarships shoud be reserved for scholars, and all else perverts the mission of education. Where do you suppose athletic scholarship money comes from? **Zsofia** , athletes can take any classes from any major they damn well please. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/19 "2011-10-22T22:06:56Z")
I’m sure there are coaches or assistants whose concerns lie more with the sports program than with the students, counseling them to take certain classes and avoid others. ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320/20 "2011-10-22T22:54:22Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Where do you suppose athletic scholarship money comes from? You somehow missed the obvious point of my simple, two-sentence post. I think the point is vital, so let me try again: _Academic ability_ and _financial need_ should be the _only_ criteria for awarding scholarships. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-proof-that-college-football-promotes-academic-excellence/600320.md?page=2)