My 2 cents on college athletics

With the final four raging on, a columnist basically asked me, and I’m paraphrasing some here, “Why don’t people care more about the scandals going on behind the scenes in college athletics?” Coaches in trouble. Programs with huge blemishes, and fans, congress and alums all seem to focus on everything but.

Here was my response:

You brought up a political issue, expect people to respond politically. Numbers are just tools

Bigger issue, you talk about collegiate athletics as a collective “they.” No one ever cares about “they.”

Jayson Blair, Kelly from USA Today, etc. If someone wrote about the collective ills of journalism and how we should ignore the best selling papers and go to the heart of the matter, would you care. After all it is your industry.

Sports are something people use to get away from the real world, not to try to understand or resolve the issues.

No one cares if wrestling is choreographed. It pulls the biggest ratings of all sports on cable. It’s a lot more fun to argue who will win the final four than to try to investigate the issues behind college athletics.

Personally, I think the NCAA is the problem. If we saw schools secede from the NCAA, admit they are professionals in training, allow their players to get paid and move on, we all would have a lot less hypocrisy in the sports world.

But that’s me.

m

9 thoughts on “My 2 cents on college athletics

  1. out of you naysayers out there…..How many times have you went up for a dunk and ate concrete? huh?

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  8. Mark,

    The only reason i can see that they WON’T change the rule is perhaps because YOU
    thought of it before THE LEAGUE did.

    It’s truly senseless! No one wins. If I had to
    pull that crap I wouldn’t wanna win. I’m glad
    the Mavs don’t have to stoop to that level.

    PREVIOUS COMMENTOR’S
    QUESTION :

    How do you propose a defender stop someone from getting to the basket then?

    ANSWER :

    Why not have them practice until their ability is on par to keep up with the game, and not
    silly contrived movements horribly referred
    to sometimes as ” Defense “. That un-neccessarily causes injury and missed high-light reels. John Stosselwould probably have to say, ” GIMME A BREAK ! ”

    The game should be about fun and
    entertainment for all, also that means
    the players get to go home uninjured from
    a play that no one would otherwise have remembered UNLESS it happens to CAUSE a
    serious injury.

    The officials already have a tough time anyhow-
    Why not speed up the game and make it more
    exciting and easier to call ?

    It sounds like a win/win.

    You don’t have to be an NBA OWNER to see
    the wisdom in that, although as I see from the
    other reply here – there are some requirements
    such as :

    Having an open mind that can think on it’s own.

    And by the way – out of you naysayers out there…..How many times have you went up for
    a dunk and ate concrete? huh?

    Or went to put that dribble down for a layup and realized unbeknownst to you, that you were really playing football. Football with goofy rules that sometimes reward an aggressor for his inability to fairly and courteously ( Not Carelessly! ) guard his opponent(s). NONE of you I would bet.

    By the way, about the hypocracy in college
    sports…….which is what this section is
    really about….Take away the need to be
    dishonest, and take away the scandals.

    Comment by s. taylor -

  9. Mark,
    I agree with most of what you have to say on this site. I think it’s usually funny and always entertaining. But no charges can be taken by secondary defenders? You would be changing the entire game. How do you propose a defender stop someone from getting to the basket then? And what determines a secondary vs. a primary defender when playing zone? Sounds to me like a comment from the owner of the best offensive/worst defensive team in the league.

    Comment by Zack Neren -

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