I love sports, just as big a sports fan as the next guy. Is the glorification of sports, hurting us as educators? NCAA and Professional leagues need to take a leadership role and help our society set educational priories over pure entertainment priorities. Just think about Super Bowl Sunday and all of the LOST productivity on the Monday after! Needs to be fixed. Especially when we are talking about the NCAA and “Student” athletes. Might just change how some athletes think about school!
Classes should be the focus for ALL college students athlete or not. Would love to hear other educators thoughts on this, after you watch my video below.
Sweat to Inspire 
Todd,
Thoughtful post. As a sports lover and also a former coach, I recognize the positive impact sports can have on students. However, as a coach and educator, I always made sure that sports helped students learn life lessons and teamwork, but did NOT conflict with academic growth. I agree that when sports are pitted against academics (even unintentionally) it is not a good message to send to students. Thanks for sharing!
Jon
Interesting post Todd. As an ap and ad I wrestle constantly with academics vs athletics. I reconcile the two with one prevailing thought, athletics provides a structure that many students need for academic success. I was a fairly bright student, but without the motivation of sports I would have lost focus. We have had several students at my school who probably would not have made it to graduation without the extra motivation of dedicated coaches and having athletics in their lives.
To the other aspect of your post, the ncaa and NFL football schedule set up, you hit it head on as it is all about money. The Cardale Jones tweet is indicative of the fact that ncaa d1 football is essentially the minor league system for the NFL. As far as the nfl and media goes, they dictate their own policy. As much as we as educators might not agree with the timing of games and how they conflict with what we hold important, there are millions of diehard fans out there that couldn’t care less about the impact of a late night on kids.
Finding a way to make educating our youth and making it relevant to the masses is a huge endeavor.
Good post Todd