Protests by African-American football players over alleged racist incidents at the University of Missouri that led to the school president's resignation this week set "a very dangerous precedent" for the athletes, New York Times best-selling author Mitch Albom told
Newsmax TV on Thursday.
"When you're 18 and 19 years old, taking a very strong stand on something may seem like the right thing to do at the moment, but you're at college to learn — not necessarily to act like you know it all," Albom told "The Steve Malzberg Show."
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Albom, a sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press, has written a new fiction book,
"The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto."
He told Malzberg that the controversy, which caused university President Tim Wolfe to step down on Monday, illustrated how powerful sports programs can be used against universities.
"Colleges have turned football into a multi-billion dollar industry," he said. "All of a sudden, they're faced with a team that's not going to play. That's going to cost them a million dollars if they don't play.
"You created that system. You milked it," he added. "You made a lot of money off of it. Don't be surprised when that power can be used against you."
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