November 30, 2011--College $ports
While Penn State University continues to reel and cover up its involvement in the pedophile scandal surrounding its assistant football coach and Syracuse University goes through similar gyrations concerning its big-time basketball team's assistant coach, out in Ohio, at Ohio State, at that football factory, they just announced the signing of Urban Meyer as their new football coach.
Their football program too has been in trouble. More systemic trouble than at either Syracuse or Penn State--the usual mix of recruitment violations and money changing hands between player and alumni boosters.
But so much money is involved in the sports program that there is no stopping the cheating, shame, and exploitation of the young men who come to these places to play team sports in the unlikely hope of being drafted by one pro team or another.
At institutions such as Penn State, Syracuse, Ohio State, and almost all other Division I colleges it is unusual to see more than half the athletes graduates (many of those with Mickey-Mouse majors) and even fewer selected by the NFL or NBA. While their colleges reap tens of millions by appearing on TV or participating in bowl games, most of their athletes are taken advantage of--they serve as fodder for the fantasies of students and alums. The entire purpose of a college education is distorted while student bodies are fed a frenzied diet of fun and games.
Symbolizing this is the fact that the coaches are paid much more than their universities' presidents and report to the athletic department, not the president, which is often structured as a separate corporation so as to avoid being responsible to the institutions' CEOs or required to follow campus governance rules.
So at Ohio State, Urban Meyer's salary and bonuses (he will get extra if the Buckeyes get to a bowl game) will be at least three times what the president makes. While the team waits to hear what sanctions the NCAA will impose to punish them for its various violations, Meyer's new contract will pay him $4.0 million a year for four years. The president earns "only" $1.32 million annually.
The real scandal is not that some Ohio State players accepted tattoos as gifts--yes, tattoos--but that the adults who should be held responsible for their education and well being are encouraged and allowed to get away with turning their institutions into pay-for-play entertainments.
Their football program too has been in trouble. More systemic trouble than at either Syracuse or Penn State--the usual mix of recruitment violations and money changing hands between player and alumni boosters.
But so much money is involved in the sports program that there is no stopping the cheating, shame, and exploitation of the young men who come to these places to play team sports in the unlikely hope of being drafted by one pro team or another.
At institutions such as Penn State, Syracuse, Ohio State, and almost all other Division I colleges it is unusual to see more than half the athletes graduates (many of those with Mickey-Mouse majors) and even fewer selected by the NFL or NBA. While their colleges reap tens of millions by appearing on TV or participating in bowl games, most of their athletes are taken advantage of--they serve as fodder for the fantasies of students and alums. The entire purpose of a college education is distorted while student bodies are fed a frenzied diet of fun and games.
Symbolizing this is the fact that the coaches are paid much more than their universities' presidents and report to the athletic department, not the president, which is often structured as a separate corporation so as to avoid being responsible to the institutions' CEOs or required to follow campus governance rules.
So at Ohio State, Urban Meyer's salary and bonuses (he will get extra if the Buckeyes get to a bowl game) will be at least three times what the president makes. While the team waits to hear what sanctions the NCAA will impose to punish them for its various violations, Meyer's new contract will pay him $4.0 million a year for four years. The president earns "only" $1.32 million annually.
The real scandal is not that some Ohio State players accepted tattoos as gifts--yes, tattoos--but that the adults who should be held responsible for their education and well being are encouraged and allowed to get away with turning their institutions into pay-for-play entertainments.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
5:08 AM
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