May Day quiz question

SDAddick said:

Charlton_Stu said:

Sarrf_London said:

Putting together a Charlton quiz. Who is the defender we signed who barely if at all played, much quoted with Shergar?

Cory Gibbs,?

Another fun fact, Cory Gibbs is Ivy League educated. He graduated from Brown, a very prestigious university. 

That doesn't overly surprise me to be honest - Isn't Football in America the same as other Sports

i.e. to get into the MLS dont you need to go through a draft system which is linked to the College teams?

Cory's route through that system (if that is the case) is certainly impressive though

RodneyCharltonTrotta said:

SDAddick said:

Charlton_Stu said:

Sarrf_London said:

Putting together a Charlton quiz. Who is the defender we signed who barely if at all played, much quoted with Shergar?

Cory Gibbs,?

Another fun fact, Cory Gibbs is Ivy League educated. He graduated from Brown, a very prestigious university. 

Just read on wikipedia he's married to one of the members of brit girl band Mis-Teeq 

How random 

Divorced in 2014, wonder if she got sick of him never making an appearance? 

ForeverAddickted said:

SDAddick said:

ForeverAddickted said:

SDAddick said:

Charlton_Stu said:

Sarrf_London said:

Putting together a Charlton quiz. Who is the defender we signed who barely if at all played, much quoted with Shergar?

Cory Gibbs,?

Another fun fact, Cory Gibbs is Ivy League educated. He graduated from Brown, a very prestigious university. 

That doesn't overly surprise me to be honest - Isn't Football in America the same as other Sports

i.e. to get into the MLS dont you need to go through a draft system which is linked to the College teams?

Cory's route through that system (if that is the case) is certainly impressive though

Traditionally yes, particularly when he was coming up. That's starting to change now. But yeah uni remains the most common way to get to MLS. 

American unis, including my own, are known for lowering academic standards for athletes. That's much less so the case in the IVY League, especially for a soccer player in the late 90s. So he's definitely a smart bloke, at least at certain things. 

Do the sterotypical films have it pretty spot on in the regard that if Sports Jocks dont get the neccessary grades then they're not allowed to play the Sport they've got a scholarship for etc.?

I suppose Alex Willis will be an interesting one to watch in a year or two as guess if he remains good enough there is a chance he'll go through the MLS Draft?

Yes that happens where if they don't get a certain level of grades, they're not allowed to play. But it happens pretty rarely, especially in the bigger sports (namely American football, basketball, and baseball to an extent). Athletes tend to be put on specific academic programs for athletes that both make it as easy for them to pass their classes, but also accommodate to the fact that they basically have full time jobs as athletes. Without going into the whole "should they be paid" (which is a big debate right now), they do require certain luxuries to allow them to also be students. And along with that, it usually means that they pass.

It should be said, this is mostly for the larger sports, and also that a lot of universities uphold their standards of academic excellence, even for athletes. A lot of the upper-echelon private schools, the Ivy League, Stanford, etc. are known for this. My alma mater, Cal Berkeley, is pretty good for this. Beyond that, it kind of varies school to school and program to program.