It's finally that time of year. There are brackets to fill out, rip up, and fill out again only to find that a five dollar wager in the office pool would have been better spent on... Well just about anything. However despite the seemingly impossible odds of filling out a quasi-successful bracket there's something about the nation's only true championship tournament that catches every year. The Cinderella upsets, the captivating solo performances, buzzer beaters, teams that assert their dominance, others that choke, and at the end of it all one team that fought through it everything to arise victorious The March Madness tournament is actually the biggest annual sporting event in the nation, bringing in more revenue than even the Super Bowl: over $1 billion. It should be obvious; everything from the instant replays, the court, the announcer's desk, the play of the game, the timeouts, and even the ladder used to cut down the net is sponsored by some blue chip company. As John Oliver said "Soon the only thing left to sponsor will be the sponsorships themselves." The thought that crossed my mind when I found out how much money the NCAA tournament is was; "how can an event that generates so much money be labeled as an 'amateur' event?" After all the, definition of amateur is "engaging or engaged in without payment." While the NCAA, Multiple corporations, coaches, athletic directors, universities, and even students who are employed by the university receive payment as a result of March Madness, the only amateurs left are those who actually make the tournament possible. Unfortunately March Madness is yet another exhibition of good ole' American exploitation. That's right, for months these so called "student-athletes" work what equates to a full time job of not only practice, but also strength and conditioning and film sessions coupled with required tutoring and studying sessions. During the season students travel two to three times a week sometimes halfway across the country, distracting them from the grades they must maintain so that they can stay enrolled at the university. While the University and NCAA make millions off of not only the labor, but the likeness of these athletes, the athletes in return get nothing except a many times watered down education. And in many cases, the education is watered down. Lets face it, the players that really make teams successful and bring in money aren't really at the universities to get an education, they are there to do what they do best; play whatever sport they play. The school work isn't an asset they are receiving, it is a required so that they can do what they really came to do which is play the sport and ultimately make it to the next level. Many times the players are being fed loopholes as was the case at North Carolina when basketball and football players were getting A's in three credit courses by submitting one paper at the end of a semester while never going to class therefore staying academically eligible. Further investigations found that many of the student athletes at North Carolina were only reading at elementary school levels. Let's stop kidding ourselves and perpetrating the lie that these kids are getting an invaluable education. Those kids that do end up graduating instead of going pro are receiving a diploma, not an education. It would be one thing if kids didn't have to go to college to go pro. However, the NBA and NFL have made deals with the NCAA which require kids to attend college for at least one year before becoming a professional in their craft. But even if students COULD go pro (and only less than 2% of men's basketball and football players do go pro), not paying them for their labor and their likeness amounts to indentured servitude. These kids are brought into a setting, forced to go through training, and work without pay except of in the form of housing and food. Sometimes they don't even get food. Shabazz Napier said after winning the national championship last year said that there were nights where he'd go home hungry, and that most of the time he only had one meal a day. To me it is ludicrous to think that coaches can get paid millions of dollars - in many states the highest paid state employee are football and men's basketball coaches - while the students they coach are sitting in their dorms and apartments scrapping for their next meal. Or that the kid working in the bookstore can sell a number 35 jersey and get eight bucks an hour, but the kid who busts his tail for 40 hours a week and wears the number 35 jersey on the field can't help his mom out with her rent. Or that I can write a book and get paid for my work while I'm on academic scholarship, but the hundreds of students just like me on Iowa's football and basketball can't get paid for their work while they're on an athletic scholarship. This post doesn't even dive into the issues of workman's compensation or the racial and socioeconomic aspects of the pay for play dilemma. So the next time you tune into an NCAA tournament game and see all the ads, sponsorships, and sold out arenas, just remember the a cost of March Madness. -515
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October 2018
Matt BruceViva DSM!! |