tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1192549919626755177.post8446816085374956046..comments2023-10-31T04:49:14.391-05:00Comments on Idiot Letters: Rants and Raves: NCAA Sweat Shops....Paul "Paul" Rosa (NY City), 45.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02185205246951740556noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1192549919626755177.post-74807369397894449762007-03-18T12:42:00.000-05:002007-03-18T12:42:00.000-05:00Here comes probably the most unpopular comment tha...Here comes probably the most unpopular comment that will appear relating to this post. Sorry Paul, but this is total bullshit. I am currently in the process of trying to get my kid into a good college. He's always worked hard and has earned excellent grades, partly due to his natural abilities, but partly also due to his innate work ethic. He's concientious and focused.<BR/><BR/>At our first meeting this week with the college advisor I am finding that, as college applications rise so does the relative competitiveness of every school. I'm cool with that; may the most academically qualified applicants win. I must stress: ACADEMICALLY because, ummm, this is, after all SCHOOL, right?<BR/><BR/>Apparently not, I'm finding. I was told this week that at even the most competitive schools in the country, in fact sometimes especially at the most competitive schools in the country, that also happen to be NCAA schools, there are slots held open for kids, like those you're moaning about here, who just by the luck of the gene pool draw, can dunk a basket, or make a touchdown or blah, blah, fucking blah.<BR/><BR/>Who gives a rats ass? The schools, that's who. The above-mentioned slots are all-expenses-paid scholarships (including a spending stipend), which over four years total somewhere in the range of $200K. There are no mistakes in that figure: that's two hundred thousand dollars!!<BR/><BR/>Not only that, once these "gifted" athletes with an IQ of perhaps 88 are awarded these incredibly lucrative prizes, they are assigned individual, personal tutors to keep them at at least a C or D level so that the sham of their "education" can be kept up. The cost of that little service is not factored into my dollar value quoted above.<BR/><BR/>Sorry, Paul, for not feeling sorry for these kids, but their dumb asses are potentially keeping my hard-working, motivated student out of his rightful place in that school. And frankly that sucks and is just plain wrong.<BR/><BR/>If that coach wants to exploit this ridiculous paradigm for his share of the fatted calf I say: go for it, man. I feel no sympathy whatsoever for his poor, pampered athletes who are the embodiment of all that is wrong with the values in our society.<BR/><BR/>Let the rants of racism commence, as I'm sure they will.<BR/><BR/>Signed,<BR/>One Angry BitchAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1192549919626755177.post-13481848957100696412007-03-18T11:10:00.000-05:002007-03-18T11:10:00.000-05:00Paul is right. The way the NCAA has structured its...Paul is right. The way the NCAA has structured its sports is preposterous! In Europe, where football (soccer) is the equal of basketball in the US, the sport thrives on club teams, akin to minor-league baseball teams. The club team systems lacks the hypocrisy of our university-affiliated "amateur" sports system; young athletes play for the teams and are paid wages. If they are good, they advance to the bigger pro teams and that chance to make much more.<BR/><BR/>Such a system would allow smaller cities and towns to have home teams, instilling civic pride that is not dependent on having a university or college with NCAA potential. Unfortunately, there is too much invested in the current system for the US to adopt a more sensible club team model for team sports such as football and basketball.<BR/><BR/>GavinProgBloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16884695949271244096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1192549919626755177.post-33978216353512274392007-03-18T09:34:00.000-05:002007-03-18T09:34:00.000-05:00Nice post, my friend and timely with all the "acti...Nice post, my friend and timely with all the "action" going on. Although, let me reiterate that Drexel was hosed!<BR/><BR/>I must dispute your premise, though.<BR/><BR/>Sports and entertainment in general are just that - leisures performed by few for the masses. We live in a star-obsessed society where the "winners" receive adulation (lasting as Pittsburgher Andy Warhol is oft quoted "15 minutes") along with riches. I find it difficult to equate the hours of practice with toiling away sewing soccer balls together in Bangladesh. By the way, I love kicking around a soccer ball that was hand-sewn by 4-year-old hands!<BR/><BR/>I certainly don't fault the networks or sports-based "corporations" with making money, but I am increasingly disturbed by the fact that "real people" (read that lazy-ass Americans) can be so consumed, and thus CONSUME to the point where all it takes is a nicely placed reminder (mmm...beer) for 15-30 seconds while <I><B>watching</B></I> a sport to make good money. <BR/><BR/>Your "laborers" are really the ingredients or raw materials of the product known as "professional (or amateur in this case) sports. So perhaps we should organize the trees so that they get paid more because the magazine industry is doing so well? Huh?!?<BR/><BR/>Further, I think it's an equally if not bigger problem that a whole lot of these athletes (and their abilities is certainly not at dispute and in many cases awe-inspiring) place <I><B>all</B></I> their energies into crafting their 3-pointer or their 360-behind-the back slam dunk instead of reading or brushing up on other "basic" skills! So, where's the "fairness" in paying someone with sports ability $25M per year when that person's neighbor might have the raw material "brains" to come up with a cure for cancer, yet is stuck in the projects or more likely dies from a random drive-by shooting?<BR/><BR/>I will agree with one thing, and that is, in the words of Spike Lee's alter ego Mars Blackman, "It's gotta be the shoes!"<BR/><BR/>Harumph!<BR/><BR/>ee eeRichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371596419878173259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1192549919626755177.post-82518074511466917282007-03-18T08:56:00.000-05:002007-03-18T08:56:00.000-05:00The name of the tournament (little 't') is NCAA® D...The name of the tournament (little 't') is NCAA® Division I Men's Basketball Championship. Go Hokies!<BR/><BR/>Love, BJAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1192549919626755177.post-23877959411123967672007-03-18T02:57:00.000-05:002007-03-18T02:57:00.000-05:00I accidently attended a anti-war protest today, I ...I accidently attended a anti-war protest today, I held up a sign that said, "stop Paul's blog!"<BR/><BR/>--AbeytaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com