This question with Young won't ever go away. If the test was improperly graded, why did he take another? The article states any player can retake the test.... that is the first time I ever heard that. If the test was improperly graded, why not just grade it correctly?...duh. The NFL does not want people to think that big time college programs are allowing barely literate kids to play ball. The next thing I'm waiting to hear is what Young scored on his SAT's, which I'm sure some reporter is researching for right now. The NFL, unless it comes clean with EXACTLY how this all happened, appears to be covering up an embarrassing situation. They just want it to go away now, but it won't.... it will follow Young around forever.
Actually Winston, you are wrong. The only places in this country where raw talent, and ability are placed above education are in the sporting arena, and jobs that require hardhats. In corporate America, an idiot will be removed at the first opportunity. And to say that they are "worth" more than anyone else is just sad. The plain and simple fact is that they are only "worth" what the fans are willing to allow. If people suddenly decided to stop paying for tickets and merchandise, the Vince Youngs of this country would be asking you if you wanted to Super Size your meal. This is why Japan takes our products and builds them cheaper and more reliably. This is why China now holds 20% of America's cash. This is why jobs are being outsourced to India, Mexico, and Canada. Americans are too damn lazy to actually learn in school, while these other countries work their asses off to gain ground on us. We will see in 20 years when America is a shell of its former self, and all of these other countries are dumping their waste on our shores like we have been doing to them for decades. You can watch the Daewoo Super Bowl on your Hitachi tv, while you eat some Indian dish you can't pronounce, all while dreading going to the sweatshop sock factory for work at dawn. BTW: I am willing to bet that I can do my job better than Vince Young can do his. I am so confident that I would stake my paycheck on it.
Merely being well educated doesn't necessarily equate with outstanding achievement. Society, every society, has and will always put a premium on raw talent coupled with performance regardless of the venue, sports, business, art, music, etc. You may be a savant at what you do, Vince Young has already proven himself to be one of the greatest college football players in the history of the sport. You and I would both be guessing if we were to predict his future as an NFL player as would every one else on this board. That's not just true of Vince Young, it's true of every player entering into the NFL for the first time.
Good post, Alio. It's just another example of the dumbing of America. Set the standards low enough and no one fails. Trouble is, no one excells, either. I heard Mike Francessa talking about Young's score briefly while in the car awhile ago. He wasn't passing judgement but did point out that teams like to see better-than-average numbers with QBs. Both Pennington and Tom Brady scored 44 and 45 respectively, for example. Leinart came in around 39, I think. Cutler scored a 29 (if memory serves?) Anyway, maybe it's not an issue, as people have been saying, but it could go a long way in explaining Young's playing style. The ball is snapped, the receivers are running their routes and all of a sudden, he doesn't know WTF is going on or who's going where... busted play about to happen... which play is this again? No problem, I'll just run the freakin' thing myself!
Very true TBird. I thought about that too, why not just re-grade the test? Hell, when I was in school, if anyone felt a test was graded incorrectly, they demanded the teacher look it over again, and if it needed fixing, they weren't giving up without a fight. They are allowing barely literate kids to play ball. Hell, even if they can't play ball, they are allowing them to advance. Hence the public furor over these so-called "standardized tests." People are afraid little Bobby won't go to the fourth grade because he can't read anything more complicated than Curious George. When I was a kid, those kids would be sent down the hall to the "special kids" room. I would love to see VY's SATs. I would be extremely surprised if he scored better than a 500, and for those that don't know, you are spotted 250 points if you can spell your name right.
Really? He was a science and math tutor. He also had a 2.8 GPA at UTexas, which is known for its academic rigor. I wouldn't be surprised if he's smarter than you in all honesty. Math and Science are subjects that most people avoid because of their difficulty.
http://www.unc.edu/~mirabile/Wonderlic.htm Pennington scored a 25 Brady scored a 33. Manning on the Giants has one of the highest numbers with a 39 along with Brian Griese. Elway had a 30, Favre a 22 and Marino a 16. Pat McInally is the only one to get a perfect 50, he was a punter who went to Harvard.
People would rather write whatever they want rather than actually check sources and research before claiming their opinions as fact, or even asserting any degree of truth to them. I wish I could do that in my field. It would save me soooo much time and effort. I insult journalists/the media for this very thing, yet TGG is proving itself to be no better lately.
What you fail to realize is that people in other areas who are as exceptional at what they do as Young is make about as much money as he will. People are different, Young's gift is athleticism, Bill Gate's gift is developing software. You can criticize Young all you want about being uneducated, but I'd like to see Mr. Gates run the 40 or try and see how many reps of 225 he can do. Yet, both are valuable commodities to our society. You can try and argue that Young is not really contributing anything productive to society, but you would be wrong. Professional sports provides all of us with valuable entertainment in addition to being an integral part of the economy.
I heard Mike Francessa quote the 44 and 45 scores respectively today for Penny and Brady... he must be wrong. Again, this wasn't my research, it was what Mike F said on the FAN. I have no idea where he got those numbers.
Interesting. I'm not sure I believe it at this point, but I will take your word for it for now. I wouldn't go so far as to say he is smarter than me. I don't in all honesty know how smart he is, but I graduated with a 3.4, Cum Laude. I took mostly Math and Science too, so it's apples to apples. My point is really that so little is expected of people these days. It used to be just the top-tier athletes, but it's spreading like a plague. Supporting it by saying now that Vince with his 6 or even a 16 is no big deal just exacerbates the problem. Don't get me wrong, this isn't an attack launched solely at VY, it seems Cutler score left a bit to be desired as well. I'm not asking for rocket scientists, but these guys got free rides through school, while we worked our asses off. The least they could do was take full advantage of the education offered to them, for free! Anyone remember Ickey Woods? He was on the Bengals when they made the Super Bowl years ago. You know what his job after the NFL was? He sold meat door-to-door! If that doesn't disturb you, you should be paying my student loans back for me...
Alio, the only duty each human being has is to be a contributing member of society. Now, how each one of us contributes is based off of our natural born abilities. Vince Young will be able to contribute to society without being smart or having to work hard at his studies but that's ok, because his job does not require it. You can be unhappy with Young getting a free pass because of his athletic ability, but many people also get a free pass because of their intellectual ability. Again, I'll go back to the Bill Gates example, he dropped out of college, yet is making more money than anyone.
I think that Young's score could mean a difficult decison for Mangini and Tannenbaum. I could easily see the Titans bypassing Young for Cutler. Then the Jets braintrust will have to decide what they are going to do. Me personally, I hope they don't pick Young. He has talent, but IMO he'll never be better than Aaron Brooks. What he did against USC was amazing, but in the NFL, there are linemen who can track him down. By the way, does anyone remember what Vick scored on the Wonderlic test?
Are you kidding me? People do not make the money Young will for the same level of talent in their respective field. Bill Gates does not have the gift of software development. He doesn't write code. He manages a company. A company he built off one mistake by IBM many many moons ago. I do not deny that pro sports has its place in our society. The thing is, if for whatever reason, everyone in this country woke up tomorrow morning and decided that they no longer liked football, what would Young do? Would he still be worth the money? People abhor Microsoft, yet you don't see people shutting down Windows for the last time. Sports has become an integral part of the economy through the actions of the fans. We buy the tickets, the jersies, the souveniers, etc. However, if we walked away from sports it would make much less of a dent in the overall economy than if Gates suddenly pulled support for Windows off the shelves.
Well, maybe not you specifically, but certainly he may have an edge on plenty of other members of this board that may be criticizing him. As you know having taken those subjects, science and math are generally a cut above most other fields. I certainly do not think VY can be considered "stupid". Perhaps there is less expected in general from the US populace; however, the very top of every field still usually requires that you are extremely adept at your field. I personally don't think intelligence is really required for most fields, but usually to be the absolute best in a non-physical field you need to be extremely intelligent on top of being naturally gifted. There is still a lot of competition for premier jobs. Pro athletes get these scholarships because they bring in revenue for the colleges. It's only called a scholarship because you can't actually pay them in college, but if it makes you feel better you can consider it a salary. I think you have to be a good athlete to, you can't just be a third string linebacker. It's not like they're aren't merit scholarships for academics however. If you are truly proficient academically, you should not have a reason to complain about an athlete, as you would be getting a free ride as well I'd think.
Is there an oxymoron in there somewhere? Seriously, you should be able to answer 90% of the question in that exam upon leaving high school. In fact many of them you should be able to answer by the sixth grade.
I agree! It is about time that we stop worrying about YOUNG. He will not be a JET so why all the fuss?
You're coming across very bitter in this whole discussion. Also you seem to be confusing someone's economic worth with their worth as a person. Fact is people are willing to pay millions to see Young run and throw a football, and they're not willing to pay you millions for whatever you do. That's supply and demand and capitalism my friend.
