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Post by 78crusader on Mar 31, 2009 8:40:30 GMT -5
I heard last night that Kentucky is trying to lure away John Calipari and is willing to pay perhaps $35 million over several years to get him to coach there. This, for me, is a tipping point of sorts. I have not watched any of the tournament games this year, and don't plan on watching the last games this weekend either. D-1 college athletics -- at least as it is practiced in the "big name" conferences -- just doesn't interest me that much anymore. It's too over the top. Too much money. Too many games. Too much travel and not enough classroom time for those true student athletes who care about getting an education. Too many teams that are really nothing but farm clubs for the pro leagues. Too many coaches willing to do just about anything to get teenagers to come play for them. Too many teenagers who lack any sense of humility and balance in their lives. Too many schools that will schedule their teams to play at ridiculous times, just to get on ESPNU or whatever it is (VU is not immune from this scheduling insanity -- our girls' tennis team just played a match on a Sunday morning. C'mon!) Too many AAU teams. Too much emphasis on having the right "facilities." And, while I'm at it, too many tattoos. OK, that's my assessment...now I'll run for cover from the many negative posts that probably will come my way. Paul
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Post by valpo04 on Mar 31, 2009 9:08:17 GMT -5
I heard last night that Kentucky is trying to lure away John Calipari and is willing to pay perhaps $35 million over several years to get him to coach there. This, for me, is a tipping point of sorts. I have not watched any of the tournament games this year, and don't plan on watching the last games this weekend either. D-1 college athletics -- at least as it is practiced in the "big name" conferences -- just doesn't interest me that much anymore. It's too over the top. Too much money. Too many games. Too much travel and not enough classroom time for those true student athletes who care about getting an education. Too many teams that are really nothing but farm clubs for the pro leagues. Too many coaches willing to do just about anything to get teenagers to come play for them. Too many teenagers who lack any sense of humility and balance in their lives. Too many schools that will schedule their teams to play at ridiculous times, just to get on ESPNU or whatever it is (VU is not immune from this scheduling insanity -- our girls' tennis team just played a match on a Sunday morning. C'mon!) Too many AAU teams. Too much emphasis on having the right "facilities." And, while I'm at it, too many tattoos. OK, that's my assessment...now I'll run for cover from the many negative posts that probably will come my way. Paul I don't know what you mean, "balance in their lives."You mean, not every balanced, humble high school kid has an entire website/TV program dedicated to him and his college choice?
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Post by valpo89 on Mar 31, 2009 9:51:33 GMT -5
78Crusaders, I'm with you to a certain extent - I do watch the games, but I know big-time college sports can get pretty slimy and the way the NCAA goes out of its way to call the players "student athletes" is a fraud.
I think many of you have probably heard of Murray Sperber, a professor at Indiana who has written books about big-time college sport, has been on ESPN to discuss his positions and was a Bob Knight basher back in the day. I took a class of his when I was at IU, and it was probably one of the best classes I had. Even back then - late 1980s - he was denouncing big-time sports being associated with universities, and this was in the wake of IU's 1987 national title. He believes basketball and football players should be paid (I think), and I seem to remember him thinking that the players in the Final Four should refuse to play to make a point that they deserve payment of some kind.
Anyway, your post just reminded me of Prof. Sperber and every year at Final Four time, I think "what if the players refused to play?" Well, I'm still waiting for that to happen.
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Post by rlh on Mar 31, 2009 13:53:47 GMT -5
Interestingly, he was very "anti" Bob Knight, who runs maybe the cleanest program in all of college basketball, plus donated all of his shoe money to the Indiana University library. As I understood Sperber's position, it was more Bob Knight is too big for himself than anything to do with money and sports. I always had the impression it was as much a personal vendetta against Knight as anything else.
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