Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Paying student-athletes Amateurism in college sports has always been akin to puritanism in escort services. But on Thursday, college sports finally gave up the charade. The NCAA and the Power Five athletic conferences agreed to pay student-athletes. And the legal right student-athletes won recently to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL) will be the… Read more.
NCAA treated Bush like a servant In 2010, the NCAA made a public show of stripping Reggie Bush of his Heisman Trophy. They condemned him for accepting so-called illegal benefits, claiming that brought the amateur status of college sports into disrepute. Mind you, Bush merely accepted petty cash from boosters to help his poor family make ends meet. Yet,… Read more.
Wellesley promotes itself as a women’s college. The “My Wellesley” page proclaims its mission is to educate women. But that mission got turned on its head this week. Wellesley students voted to admit trans men. Wellesley students vote to admit trans men Their vote triggered a national debate. Even Congress will soon debate a bill… Read more.
Coach and player in master-slave relationship For years, I have been decrying the master-slave relationship between coaches like Nick Saban of Alabama and his football players. I’ve always believed that colleges should pay players. In this regard, I refer you to commentaries like “Reggie Bush Forfeits Heisman Trophy” on September 16, 2010, and “Salaries of College Coaches Reflect Enduring Master-Slave Relationships”… Read more.
Juneteenth commemorates the news Union soldiers delivered to enslaved Blacks in Galveston, Texas, of the Emancipation Proclamation that freed them two and a half years later. But if you think that was belated, what do you make of it taking another 156 years for the US Supreme Court to tell colleges they can’t treat student-athletes… Read more.
Episode 17: Think of Football Fields as Glorified Sweatshops Listen.
It has become axiomatic that as goes California, so goes the nation. Sure enough, just weeks ago California made it legal for student-athletes to hire agents to help them profit from their names, images, and likenesses. Now comes this: The NCAA’s top decision-makers voted unanimously Tuesday to start the process of modifying its rule to… Read more.
[Most ‘student athletes’] not only graduate with degrees not worth the paper they’re written on; they actually enter college aiming to do nothing but make themselves more marketable to professional teams – as no less a person than last night’s star, Cardale Jones, asserted in a refreshingly honest tweet years ago: ‘Why should we have to go to class… Read more.
Thank God I never bet anything more than my pride on sporting events. And it’s a damn good thing I have so much of it. (“2013 NCAA Basketball Tournament,” The iPINIONS Journal, April 10, 2013) True to form, not a single one of my picks made it to the sweet sixteen, let alone to last night’s… Read more.
The Heisman Trophy is easily the most coveted award in college sports. Indeed, it is so respected and revered among Football players that I suspect many of them would rather have a Heisman Trophy in their home than a Super Bowl ring on their finger. The Heisman is awarded annually to: … the outstanding college… Read more.
