[Farm93]

Not many threads get this many comments.

For me this idea of some form of debt or contractual obligation to serve Stanford and "fans" seems really bad.  I keep having visions of all of those movies set in the 60s and 70s.  "Boy, way to get that TD for us today." Followed by a handshake with $20 to strengthen that implied servitude.

When neighbors or friends say, "Your boys really killed us on Saturday"  I inevitably sit there and wonder did my kids play against this person's family?  Slowly processing the idea that "my" boys are the young men playing on a Stanford team playing against his favorite college team.  So I realize others link themselves to these kids in ways I don't understand.

Still, athletes quit and retire across multiple sports all of the time at Stanford and other schools.  You can find kids that leave/quit/retire before and during seasons for so many different reasons.  Even USC's Browne left early just this year.  He could have practiced and played in the Rose Bowl, but opted to jump out ASAP to get a jump on his next team's playbook.  It happens.

And of course, at some schools the university actually kicks people off the team just to make room for the next crop of recruits.  That happens all of the time too.  NCAA doesn't think universities even owe the kids anything more than a one year scholarship.

In the end there are very few contractual obligations in the deal.  It would be nice for CMAC to stay, but he is not staying and nothing requires him to stay and play.  We know that to be true because he is not staying.  He left.

I am hopeful the players are not nearly as stuck on this topic as this board has been because that would seem to be a path to a bad bowl outcome.  Moving on...Next Man Up!

[Farm93]

Not many threads get this many comments.

For me this idea of some form of debt or contractual obligation to serve Stanford and "fans" seems really bad.  I keep having visions of all of those movies set in the 60s and 70s.  "Boy, way to get that TD for us today." Followed by a handshake with $20 to strengthen that implied servitude.

When neighbors or friends say, "Your boys really killed us on Saturday"  I inevitably sit there and wonder did my kids play against this person's family?  Slowly processing the idea that "my" boys are the young men playing on a Stanford team playing against his favorite college team.  So I realize others link themselves to these kids in ways I don't understand.

Still, athletes quit and retire across multiple sports all of the time at Stanford and other schools.  You can find kids that leave/quit/retire before and during seasons for so many different reasons.  Even USC's Browne left early just this year.  He could have practiced and played in the Rose Bowl, but opted to jump out ASAP to get a jump on his next team's playbook.  It happens.

And of course, at some schools the university actually kicks people off the team just to make room for the next crop of recruits.  That happens all of the time too.  NCAA doesn't think universities even owe the kids anything more than a one year scholarship.

In the end there are very few contractual obligations in the deal.  It would be nice for CMAC to stay, but he is not staying and nothing requires him to stay and play.  We know that to be true because he is not staying.  He left.

I am hopeful the players are not nearly as stuck on this topic as this board has been because that would seem to be a path to a bad bowl outcome.  Moving on...Next Man Up!