Posted on 03/21/2015 9:14:14 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
Call it the Marxist theory of surplus value in high-tops . . . On Melissa Harris-Perry's MSNBC show today, David Zirin, sports guy at the far-left Nation mag, called the NCAA tournament nothing less than "the organized theft of black wealth."
Zirin expanded his accusation to call the tournament the theft of "youth wealth." Speaking of wealth, Zirin has made a living out of adopting provocative positions, from supporting the boycott of Israeli athletes, to attributing dislike of Barry Bonds to--you guessed it--racism.
View the video here.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
We all need to smile once in a while.
Is touch..eee...french?
My favorite moment was with Elias Harris, who was raised in Germany. I caught his attention by hailing him in German, as I still remembered a few phrases from my time in Germany. Our brief conversation was entirely in German, befuddling those standing near by.
The Ed O'Bannon case will cost the power conferences some cash, but they're awash in it, so no big deal. The top ten revenue producers bring in over $30 million a year...each.
Mr. Zirin would have been shocked, had he been a GU student when I was there, 72-76, in the years before political correctness. Sociology students loved to use us as lab rats for their "experiments".
One of those experiments occurred in our bookstore, which wasn't much larger than a couple of phone booths back then. It consisted of a black student and an Asian student, calling each other really bad names while smiling at each other. At first, my friends and I were looking for places to hide from the upcoming fisticuffs. About a minute later, we all realized we were being played, much to our relief.
When I was there, Gonzaga had maybe 2000 undergrads. You pretty knew everybody there, maybe not by name, but by sight. I couldn't have asked for a better college experience.
Liberals ALWAYS blame somebody else for their failures. It has to be someone else’s fault. They NEVER take the blame for their personal failures. Ever.
How could blacks have any wealth the way they’re discriminated against in America? /s
But getting back to the point of the original article, I'll bet the foreign players on Gonzaga were thrilled to be given a scholarship and a chance to make the pros. I doubt they feel they're being used.
Leftists like Zirin will never see non-white athletes (or other persons) as human beings who make choices. Sometimes those choices are very bad. But it's amusing for a leftist to believe that these black athletes would be making zillions of dollars doing other things. Big time college athletics gives many of them a chance to make big money. The truth is if they couldn't play sports, there's very little else they have the aptitude for. Nobody twists their arms and forces them to go to college.
And on a side note, I see David Stockton received a tryout with the Sacramento. Unlike his father, he was not a big star at Gonzaga. I saw him play last year in some games, and he looked like a decent but not too great player. Then I read some stories of his exploits in the D-league (NBA's development league). I watched a few of his D-league games, and he looks like a superstar. I guess his college coach kept him on a short leash. He actually looks better than Pangos.
Yup
What they should do is put these one and done types in the NBA D-league and be done with the sham student-athlete thing. There are many legitimate student-athletes (Aaron Craft from Ohio st. pre-med) for example) who stay four years and get their degrees. So it's not like all college players are simply in it for a shot at the pros.
But obviously many star college players have no interest in academics. They should be in the minors, the D-League, not college.
Pangos' stats took a hit this year because he focused on distributing the ball, to the detriment of his points. We aren't 33-2 without Kevin at the point.
Zags are becoming a school of choice for their development of big men. First, it was Kelly Olynyk, now it's Kyle Wiltjer. In 2016, it will be Zach Wilson, a top 50 recruit from Las Vegas.
One thing I know for sure: these players don't miss class. As small as GU's campus is, everyone notices when you skip class. That applied to me, as well, who was just another student on campus.
One last note: Shem Karnowski made the all-WCC academic team. That's impressive, the young man grew up in Poland. I couldn't imagine going to college in Germany after I finished my 4 year tour. I spoke the language well my last two years, but college? No way.
In what might have been his first pro game, Stockton had 18 pts. and 10 assists. I could see at that time he'd be a great player.
Very true!
Everyone except the NCAA and the athletic department and possibly the small proportion of NCAA football and b-ball players who make it into the pros.
I am a graduate of UNC. It is infuriating to read about the crap that has gone on in Chapel Hill. Everyone with any authority as turned a blind eye (at the very least) to stuff that folks should go to jail over.
Who benefits? Well, the NCAA benefits with lucrative TV contracts. The athletic departments (including coaches who make millions per year) benefit. A very small proportion of the basketball and football players benefit when they enter the NBA or the NFL.
Who loses? Well the players who do not make it to the NBA or the NFL are the biggest losers. They get no education. They work their asses off to entertain a bunch of students and mostly wealthy alumni. With the UNC mess, the taxpayers of North Carolina lose by subsidizing farm teams for the NFL and the NBA with kids who have no ability to do college work. Kids who have the ability to thrive at places like UNC, but do not get in because UNC admits kids who lack either the ability or the preparation to do college level work, lose. About 99.9% of the students lose because the value of their diplomas is lessened. Certainly there are others who lose by the scandal of college sports.
There are about 20,000 students at UNC. About 20 of those students will ever play in the NBA or the NFL. that is 1/10 of 1% of the so called students. Add to that about 50 - 75 coaches and athletic adminstators. So for about 100 people, UNC has sold it soul. About 70 kids who will never make it to the pros have spent 4 years of working their asses of and not getting squat in education. About 100 kids who had the chops to do the work at UNC were rejected to make room for the kids who could not or would not do the work who play b-ball or football.
When the NCAA passes a rule to the effect that every NCAA basketball player and every NCAA football player must be projected to be within one standard deviation of the overall student body’s projected first year performance based on SAT scores and high school gpa, I might be willing to pay attention to college sports again.
Thanks for that, Tom. Appreciate your perspective.
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