I Went to College and All I Got Was This Lousy Degree

I've come to the conclusion that college football players, and more importantly NFL Draft hopefuls, are lucky beyond belief.

Three hours ago, I finished taking the LSAT. For those of you out there that are outside of such endeavors, it's the law school entrance exam, which was more than likely created by the bad guy from Indiana Jones.

You pay $100 to have someone mentally beat the hell out of you and make you feel worse than former Governors of New York. The only solace I take from it is that it is over and I am one step closer to (hopefully) being accepted into a law program somewhere in this fine country of ours.

As I walked out of Albany Law School into the late afternoon June sun and drove back home for the night, I came across a flag football game at a local park and was reminded of how lucky some football players become in the NCAA.

NCAA Division I football and basketball (and to some degree baseball) players have it made—play to your hearts content for four years as a part of an amateur squad, make All-American at least once in your four years at the institution of your choice, and then get drafted into the combines of the NFL.

Get a deal in, you're golden. Don't? Well, there's always next year.

See, I was given all brain and no brawn. I got dealt the short end of the stick—I have to write diatribes about how much I love sports/the Internet/subcultures in post-World War II America, etc. to gain notoriety in college and earn my degree. The phenoms of the college world impress a few scouts and the contracts come flying towards them faster than a speeding bullet from Plaixco Burress' side arm.

Now I'm not saying they aren't worthy of the praise and affection of onlookers. Most of the players are stand up guys who have put their blood, sweat, and tears into the game all their lives and are grateful for the first chance they get at joining the pros.

Just that, every once in a while, there's a Ryan Leaf among them.

Yes, that one guy who will say the first thing he'll do when drafted to your team is, "Go have a weekend in Vegas."

Yes, for every 10 guys that were on that Bowl Championship team that deserved to be there, there is one Mr. Leaf that will make you hate them all for being good at the sport you wish you were.

And why the anger for Mr. Leaf and the like?

Because no matter how you slice it, they still come out with some big bucks after a few years of playing. They earn enough to pay off those non-existent loans they created after four years at an institution that is better known for football then their history department.

It hurts for the Average Joe, who had to study hard to get into the hallowed halls of academia (let alone get tickets to a game).

But I guess that's why we pay them the way we do. We can't all be like them because then we'd all be in the NFL, or the MLB, or the NBA. Instead, some of us have to take tests and put in the hours of book-learning to achieve our goals. We put our blood, sweat, and tears into books on accounting, legal briefs, and constitutional law for big paychecks and even bigger houses.

So really, the dream is still there for us too, but it just came quicker for them. And they get to play the game we had to give up when we were 17 for the rest of their lives. While football stars in college get to go on to careers in the pros, we have to sit behind a desk and make our money the old fashion way.

But look at it this way, I mean, who else are they going get to do their taxes?

Originally Posted on SportInformant.com