Academic Progress Rate

David Burrick, columnist

The Daily Pennsylvanian

“All the APR shows is that athletes haven’t flunked out of school. We have no clue as to how well athletes performed compared to their non-athlete peers. Thus, if programs don’t want to lose scholarships, they are encouraged by this formula to do everything possible to keep athletes academically eligible.

“Schools can allow athletes to major in silly subjects like underwater basket-weaving. They give them excessive ‘tutoring.’ There’s even pressure to inflate grades just to keep them on the team. If a school chooses to hold its athletes to the same standards as the rest of its students, however, it will likely have to face a loss of scholarships.

“Unfortunately, there seems to be no good way to fix the APR. Adding a component to the formula for GPA would only further encourage athletes to take easy majors, and some sort of standardized test would be far too cumbersome.

“So for the time being, the APR should simply be eliminated. It’s nice to see the Ivy League ranked atop the NCAA for a change, but the current benchmark for measuring academic progress only seems to punish those schools most unwilling to bend the rules.”

Basketball fans

Dick Vitale, college basketball commentator

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“The Internet has hurt (college basketball). One of the worst things ever conceived, at least to me, is chat rooms. I think it’s great that fans — true fans — have a place to talk about their favorite players, their games, all that stuff. But so many of those rooms are just negative pits. Players, who, remember, are still kids, are ripped like they are pros. Coaches, who have done amazing things, these so-called fans demand that they be fired.

“It doesn’t matter that none of those ‘fans’ would have the first clue on how to coach a team on the court and even less of an idea how to deal with athletes off the court. But, hey, just fire the coach or verbally attack a kid. That will solve it.”

Sports wagering

Jeff Marotta, manager,

problem-gambling programs

State of Oregon

Human Services Department

Associated Press

“About one college student in 20 has a gambling problem, but it’s an issue that’s very much under the radar. Most colleges seem to view student gambling as a harmless extracurricular activity, yet we know that for a certain percentage of student gamblers, it can lead to serious problems. ...

“The way that they’re paying off their gambling debt is through financial aid dollars. Some of them are having to take semesters off to work because they can’t afford to pay tuition and books and all the expenses that come along with being a college student. And I think this is happening a lot more frequently than people realize.”