Long post guys so bear with me on this there's a method to the madness,
I'm not sure how many of you have or havn't played a college sport (varisty or club) at any level but as a Division 3 athlete at Bridgewater State its difficult to balance sports with academics. I play field hockey there (not a big time mainstream sport by any means) and in order to get to practices and games we are "suggested": 4 classes during the semester when your sport is in season (this leaves you about 15-20 credits short on graduating on time if you do this for 4 seasons) and to not to take classes that start after 12 (or you'll have to miss them for games or will be late for practices and you know what they say about not practicing in sports). I am currently trying to graduate on time so I take the 5 classes per semester and its not easy by any means. My social life is the time I get playing field hockey, its hard to really hold a job as well with the time commitment you have to put into it. After your season is over its preping for the next season and offseason team workouts, thus you are still avoiding late classes.
I'm saying this so that you can get a taste of a "small-time" athlete's life in school. Many of my teammates won't graduate on time (some will take as much as 2 extra years). Imagine what it is like for "big-time" athlete's who have much more along the lines of travel time, and expected workouts on their shoulders. Sure summer classes are there but I know that a lot of schools often offer the basic classes and don't bother offering the higher level classes for 15 or so students when during a regular semester they would have 40-50 in on the class. Thus, its tough, I give all the credit in the world to the one's who can pull it off, but I can see where Mike is trying to go with this and I like seeing it. Like someone said the NFL isn't full of Tom Brady's they have some P.K. Sams that might need a little help financially going back to school.
