Posted on 04/12/2011 9:40:48 AM PDT by GSWarrior
I don’t know about you, but I had a hard time stomaching the sight of Jim Calhoun holding the championship trophy after Monday’s final game of the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament.
Not because it was a lousy game (though it was), but because Calhoun, the pugnacious coach of the University of Connecticut “program” — as the big-money Division I teams are called — shouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near the gym. Just weeks earlier, the N.C.A.A. had sanctioned him for “failing to create an atmosphere of compliance” with its recruiting rules. To put it more bluntly: UConn cheated. Among the punishments meted out was a three-game suspension for Calhoun.
But this is the N.C.A.A. we’re talking about, an organization that bends over backward to accommodate big-time basketball schools like Connecticut that drive TV ratings, and marquee coaches like Calhoun, who, with his $2.3 million salary, is the highest-paid state employee in Connecticut. March Madness was right around the corner, so Calhoun’s suspension was (of course!) deferred until next season, allowing him to coach the team during the tournament.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Oh yes, the evil NCAA. Please. The students use the schools and the schools use the students. I think Calhoun sent a couple texts he wasn’t supposed to send. Jeez.
Whatever.
Well, with responses like that this should be a great thread!
The neo-socialists in the media don’t like Calhoun (who is an old-school Massachusetts liberal) because he told a community organizer-type to go take a hike at a press conference, when the guy asked him if he was going to give any of his salary back because the state of CT was in debt. “Not a dime back!!!” was his swift rebuke.
Well, other than using Calhoun as as example, do you disagree with the basic premise of the article that the NCAA treats big name schools differently than Podunk University?
Whatever, yawn.
When it comes to flagrantly lax professional ethics, few can match those of the New York TImes' reporters, editors, and management.
But even so, coaches like Calhoun are more likely to be scrutinized because they are in the limelight as opposed to Podunk University. The NCAA is a business. They do give chances to kids who should never step foot on college campuses. What the kids do with that chance is on them.
College athletes are treated like G-ds, don't pay a cent for food, tuition, or rent, they have free personal tutoring, they register for classes first, and so much more.
I only played NCAA DIII, but even I reaped benefits for being an athlete in college. And believe me, my sport didn't make my school any money. Ha...
The NCAA is rotten to the core. It should be audited from top to bottom to see where the millions of dollars are being spent. I suspect that the organization is rife with lavish salaries, benefits and expense accounts. If the chairman of the United Way would steal from the mouths of the poor, can we just imagine what the NCAA may be doing on the backs of the student athletes. The NCAA is about money and politics and not about the welfare of the student-athlete. I don’t care what their “we are turning pro in something besides sports” claim. It is PR to benefit the NCAA’s image.
I only played NCAA DIII, but even I reaped benefits for being an athlete in college. And believe me, my sport didn’t make my school any money. Ha...
Your post is further evidence about just how rotten the NCAA and college athletics is.
While the writer is wacko liberal who resents Calhoun’s answer on pay, the article is dead on right with the NCAA. It is totally biased that gives the major programs one set of rules and then penalizes a kid like Jones at Baylor and other individuals. It has become an absolute laughing stock and needs to be held accountable for it’s double standard.
I'd get home at midnight after a 5 hour bus ride and had a test at 9am.
Oh, wait, I got $8 meal money on game days so I could get a Eggs Over My Hammy plate at Denny's. That and girls were the major benefits. So sue me.
99% of the college athletes play by the rules and are better people for it. I wouldn't trade one day of it. Should a football player at a major school get more than I did? Absolutely.
Jones actually took money while he was in high school from a coach. He only got 5 games.
He impressed me back then as a person who was very respectful of other human beings, even to dweebs like me, even when he didn't have to be, and even when the people around him weren't.
He grew up in a Massachusetts mill town, like me, and I always thought he had that basic respect for common working people that I remember people having in that era.
I was overseas a long time and when I returned I was surprised to see how well he had done. I was happy for him.
I'm writing this post as my way of thanking him for treating me as a human being for no other reason than that is what I was.
I think the players should be allowed to accept as much money and gifts from boosters, alumni and future agents as they wish.
If there were a star chemistry student, and a company wanted to pay for his accommodations while he finished school, nobody would have a problem with it.
But for some reason it’s not ok for an athlete.
In your first post you implied that you reaped benefits from your tenure in college athletics. Then in your second post you denigrate what you recieved and and the personnel sacrifice that you had to expend to get what you got. I am confused. Exactly what is your position.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.