[76lsjumb]

Regarding "future earning potential", Christian is in a very unique situation in that, unlike any of the other players on this team, he can predict with a high degree of certainty what contract he will get come next spring, and he has nothing, zero, to prove to anyone in the NFL. From that perspective, jeopardizing those earnings by playing in an exhibition would be irrational.

College football is largely about and driven by money. Games run excruciatingly long due to TV contracts. We had a "Toyota Red Zone" for awhile, for crying out loud. Ads everywhere. Coaches making more than all of the humanities professors at a school combined. Schools reaping XX millions every year. It's a cheap/free farm system for the NFL. Given all of that, I have zero problem with Christian's choice here. His lifelong dream has been to play in the NFL. The only way for him to achieve it was to go to college that played big-time football. He paid his dues. Now his lifelong dream (I'll say that again for emphasis) is finally within reach. And now we are disappointed in him for doing everything possible and rational to fulfill that dream? Get over ourselves.

How do people feel about Tyrone McGraw from a few years ago? Didn't he "quit on the team" to go to medical school? So selfish, that guy.

For me, at least, this is the source of the disappointment:

"I wanted to get this out of the way so that it's not a distraction to the team. I want to focus, and I want my team to focus, on beating North Carolina. I'm thankful for the chance to get to play another game with my teammates and to work as hard as I can to make that victory possible."  -- Christian McCaffrey, 12/07/16

The person who wrote that was really inspiring to this Stanford fan.  So... what happened to that person?

[76lsjumb]

Regarding "future earning potential", Christian is in a very unique situation in that, unlike any of the other players on this team, he can predict with a high degree of certainty what contract he will get come next spring, and he has nothing, zero, to prove to anyone in the NFL. From that perspective, jeopardizing those earnings by playing in an exhibition would be irrational.

College football is largely about and driven by money. Games run excruciatingly long due to TV contracts. We had a "Toyota Red Zone" for awhile, for crying out loud. Ads everywhere. Coaches making more than all of the humanities professors at a school combined. Schools reaping XX millions every year. It's a cheap/free farm system for the NFL. Given all of that, I have zero problem with Christian's choice here. His lifelong dream has been to play in the NFL. The only way for him to achieve it was to go to college that played big-time football. He paid his dues. Now his lifelong dream (I'll say that again for emphasis) is finally within reach. And now we are disappointed in him for doing everything possible and rational to fulfill that dream? Get over ourselves.

How do people feel about Tyrone McGraw from a few years ago? Didn't he "quit on the team" to go to medical school? So selfish, that guy.

For me, at least, this is the source of the disappointment:

"I wanted to get this out of the way so that it's not a distraction to the team. I want to focus, and I want my team to focus, on beating North Carolina. I'm thankful for the chance to get to play another game with my teammates and to work as hard as I can to make that victory possible."  -- Christian McCaffrey, 12/07/16

The person who wrote that was really inspiring to this Stanford fan.  So... what happened to that person?