Whoa, we absolutely live off sports economically. Do you know how much money we generate in taxes from sports? The country would be absolutely crippled if all sports suddenly ceased tomorrow, I can guarantee that. If Windows support was just pulled off the shelves, Linux or Apple or a multitude of other OS would become the norm. MS makes money because it is the most popular, it certainly is NOT the only possible option. It is much easier to replace MS than it is to replace pro athletes. Almost anyone can be a programmer, but very few people can be pro athletes.
My fears now exactly. I was quite content to have Cutler come to us at #4, now this Wunderlic thing has us all screwed up.
Okay, I'll take your point and run with it. Yes, every individual has a responsibility to contribute to the overall society. Fine, VY can contribute right now to a team's hope of a SB win. What happens if suddenly, on a cold day in November, Ray Lewis comes calling for Young, and pops his knee so hard the cap shatters and the joints become spaghetti? (I am not in any way wishing bad on him, I wouldn't wish an injury on my worst enemy, it's just the point I am making.) What will be his contribution to society? He will have only banked a few million, which he will probably burn through in rehab and doctor fees. BTW: Bill Gates dropped out of an Ivy League school from boredom, Young left Texas to play pro ball. There is a difference. Bill Gates doesn't make money, Microsoft does. Bill profits from Microsoft, like any truly good business owner should.
Young would be one of the top 20 players on his team, there are 32 teams in the NFL, which would make him in the top 640 football players in the world. There are 6 billion people in the world. That makes him better than 99.99999% of the people at what he does. If you can do anything of worth better than 99.99999% of the population, you would be making quite a handsome income as well. About Bill Gates, yes, I understand he no longer writes code, but the point is, he had the talent to have a genius idea, and that led him to where he is. Your hypothetical does not work because it simply would not happen and is not relevant. People like football, and that's the way it is. I mean hell, even you like football, so I really don't get why you are so bitter.
Sports is entertainment. Why dont we start comparing these guys to others who make their owners/producers millions of dollars? What did Tom Cruise get on his SAT? Did Angelina Jolie ace her Geometry final? Did Jerry Seinfeld ace his philosophy test?
That is a ridiculous hypothetical. If anyone gets involved in an accident that prevents them from performing their profession, they would face the same situation. Anyways, good discussion, but I gotta get to class.
I am bitter about children wasting too much time worrying about things they can not control! What I am suggesting to you can not be written here!
I can't even continue with this conversation. Now it is becoming personal. No not everyone can be a computer programmer. I am. No if Windows was pulled off the shelves tomorrow, and MS products ceased to function, this country would be crippled. If the NFL collapsed tomorrow, people would cry a tear or two, then turn on the baseball, or hockey, or basketball, or skeet shooting, bass fishing, tennis, golf, air hockey, whatever. Besides, I am bitter about the attitude that someone can be less than average in intelligence, and it is wholly acceptable by our society. This is not relegated to Vince Young, or even pro athletes. It seems to be acceptable at any level throughout society these days. It's pretty sad when kids in High School are more proud that they can write 1 M L33T, but ask them what the capitol of New Jersey is and watch the dazed and confused look. What I am saying is that I am sick of this acceptance of inferiority. I watch the outsourcing going on in my industry, just like the people of Ford did when I was younger. It will come to all of us someday. Why? Because we don't give a damn enough to fix it. We would rather cheer a guy for being able to throw a ball 45 yards on a fly than a guy who can figure out a way to fix the ozone layer. Society is a mess, and those of you fighting me on this are just justifying my argument...
I don't want to be the one to break it to you, but assuming a somewhat symmetric distribution of IQ (a fairly reasonable assumption), half the population is less than avearge in intelligence.
So Vince Young isn't very book smart and may have a below average IQ? Maybe he has a high IQ and sold himself short by not taking full advantage of his educational opportunity? On the other hand by working his ass off and having great athletic vision, great football instincts, speed stamina and strength, coupled with a great work ethic he becomes a tremendous leader of a tremendous college football team and leads them to a National Championship. On top of that he shows great determination and personal integrity on and off the field. Why should anybody question that? In this country there is nothing wrong with working hard doing your best and succeeding. Putting successful people down because they don't have the IQ you expect but they have succeeded in developing their other strong suits is bordering on elitism. (This is not meant as an attack, just something to think about) By the way there is nothing wrong with Woods selling Meat door to door. Whether it's a Rapper, a painter, an athlete or a musician, there is an artistry, a brilliance to a great athlete that is not just about the body it is about the brain and obviously people are in awe of it and willing to pay to see it.
Programmers aren't exactly hard to come by. I can go to any university and pick out a few kids that can program. Or I can go to India and pick a few people off the street. They are a dime a dozen. Now a supremely talented QB, that is difficult to come by. Here's your mistake: you didn't limit it to level of talent. You left programmers in a general term, whereas you restricted football talent. To get to the NFL, you have to be extremely talented. Anyone can pick up a football and play (or most anyone) but most won't be in the top .1%. Just as anyone can learn to program, but if you restrict it to the top .1%, most can't do that be definition. If you were in the top .1% of programmers, you too would almost definitely be rich. You are most likely not. If I could play football with ability in the top .1%, I too would be an NFL QB, but I can not. Clearly not everyone can do either, but clearly everyone can do either on a general level. You did not argue this. I'm not making it personal, hell, I personally think I just helped you out for your argument since you're all over the place. Still, it doesn't really help you. Frankly, I don't even know what you are arguing anymore. But relax dude. Nobody here wants to make it personal. We're all Jets fans here.
That isn't true. It wasn't true 5 years ago, and it certainly isn't true now that the format has changed.
It seems people are confusing IQ with intelligence. They are not the same thing. IQ is a number supposedly measuring your natural ability to retain information and think logically. Intelligence is gained by studious effort. Winston, actually there is something wrong with Woods selling meat door-to-door. He went to the NFL and asked them to set up a fund so that no other player would have to deal with the situation he did. Fortunately, they tapped him to talk to players around the league about the virtues of saving money so they don't fall down the way he did. Obviously, he had a problem selling the meat himself. I don't deny I am one of those people willing to pay to see talent. I don't deny that someone like VY is a great player. I don't deny it takes loads of dedication to get to that level. I could talk about my own glory days, and the opportunities I gave up for my education, but I would sound like a jackass, and I don't personally like people like that, so I won't become one to fortify my point. Serphx, if you don't write code, don't say programmers are a dime a dozen. A college kid who can hack together a quick viral app is not a programmer, he is a cracker. Big difference. About as big a difference as me starting at QB for the Jets, or VY. You're right, I didn't limit the talent explicitly. To rip my argument apart on those grounds is a bit silly, but I'll submit to your point on that one as fair enough. I'm not trying to make it personal. I just wonder why VY is acceptable at such a low level of intellect, alo0ng with millions of other people around the country, simply because they can play a sport. My example of a career-ending injury in the thread is realistic. It's not like it has never happened before. Look at Penny. Look at Palmer. Look at Brees. These are guys who were at the top of their game right before significant injury struck. Now, there are question marks all over them. Sports is temporary. No one can take away your mind.
Well, I certainly hope not. But then, the likelihood that he will still be sitting in the green room when Paul Tagliabue walks up to the podium with the Jets' cocktail napkin is becoming more likely each day. I think we (the board) had better work out whether we love or hate the kid now. Call it peace talks before civil war, if you like.
Alzheimer's will take away your mind and leave you with plenty of physical ability and no way to control it. How's that? Bottom line: live your life. And live it for today. Be thankful for what you've got and do the best you can with it. Don't live in the past and don't rely on the future. Today is what matters.
Intelligence Quotient is supposed to measure intelligence. That's what the scale was designed to do. It all depends on how you define intelligence, of course... And the amount of intelligence (according to the common definition) you can gain through effort is minimal.
I don't really feel like posting on this much anymore. No one wants to pay attention to the argument I made, but just to clarify: intelligence quotient n. Abbr. IQ The ratio of tested mental age to chronological age, usually expressed as a quotient multiplied by 100. Basically, IQ is a measure of how much a person has learned, or can learn, theorectically, based on their actual age. And you are right, intelligence cannot be increased, since it is the capacity one has to acquire knowledge. So what I should have said was, Young's lack of knowledge is a problem. Three quarters of our nation's public school system suffers a lack of knowledge. Anyone remember a couple of years ago, when National Geographic ranked us 63rd overall across the world in regards to geography. Most of our kids have no clue how to find North Dakota on a map. But that's okay. As long as most of them can throw a football, I guess that's all that really matters around here. See you guys after the fall of Rome...
