The disgustingly unique American economic activity in the world: college sports

Most of my leftist colleagues, some who even proudly call themselves as "socialists," are ardent fans of college sports.  It is hilarious to me when I hear them in the hallways using "we" when talking about their favorite teams, usually the university where they earned their doctorates.  However, in all these years, I have never heard them loudly discussing and condeming sexual violence and college sports. And, boy, have there have been some cases!  Maybe they discuss them only the days I am not on campus (yeah, right!)

The latest violence?  In the very town where I live.

The university associated with the massive sports corporation called The Ducks is all over the news now after it was reported that three of its basketball players had been investigated over rape charges but are not being prosecuted because "the crimes cannot be proved beyond a reasonable doubt."

The female victim told police that on the night of March 8 she went to basket­ball player Johnathan Loyd’s house, where Dotson and Austin allegedly took her into a bathroom and forced her to have sex with them, according to a Eugene police report released Monday night. Artis stayed in a hallway outside the bathroom, the report said.
The victim alleged that the three players then took her to an apartment and continued to take turns forcing her to engage in unwanted sexual activity, the report said. The players allegedly stopped only when the victim began to cry.

What the hell is wrong with these student-athletes?  

The three have been kicked off the team, even though the criminal justice system will not pursue the case.  One of them apparently has a past record as well:

Austin originally signed with Providence last year but was suspended for the season and transferred to Oregon in January. He was not eligible to play last season. It was announced in March that Austin is being investigated in a sexual assault in Rhode Island.

Really?
Nobody bothered to ever find out why the player was suspended by a university?
Really?
What the hell is wrong with the coaches?

Sports in colleges as a big time economic activity, which is disgustingly a uniquely American thing, has taken over higher education.

On Facebook, I do not see status updates from users who usually otherwise post a great number about "their Ducks."  Fanatical sports fans yet strangely super-silent now.

Meanwhile, the real purpose of higher education--you know, education--gets maligned, and is thrown whatever crumbs are left after the party is over.  The people in all their wisdom enthusiastically support college sports, professional sports, and anything that is sheer entertainment, and are eager to pay for all that even with taxpayer money. Especially with taxpayer money.  But, ask them to spare a dollar from that for education, and it is murder.

The richest nation in the history of the world subsidizes all sorts of luxuries and inefficiencies. Football stadiums, bridges to nowhere, bases and planes that even the military does not want, churches, temples, cathedrals, and vacation homes. Yet in the present consensus on the future of our higher learning, the notion that perhaps we can afford a reasonable level of public investment in the inefficient institutions that gave us the Green Revolution and Google is deemed unrealistic. The public debate is locked on measurable outputs. But the opportunity costs of failing to reinvest never come up. What is the public expense, for instance, if we continue to gouge funding for research on communicable diseases or climate change? How do we measure the cost of failing to inspire and guide the student who might write the next great work of political thought that can guide us safely through the challenges of this century? Why can’t the richest country in the world afford to adequately support passionate potential scholars in the pursuit of their calling? We make explicit value choices in this republic. We have chosen tax breaks over history, poetry, and science. Nothing is inevitable. We can choose otherwise.

I suppose in condemning this supposedly market behavior, I will side with those "socialists."

Oh well, this local rape story will go away.  The college football season will begin. "My team" people will only care about the wins, and not care a shit about education, and not care a shit about violence--physical and sexual.  As long as "we" win!  "Just win, baby!"

I hurriedly clicked this guy wearing a "I love my Ducks" ...  when waiting for the crosswalk green light ...
in Tampa, Florida! Diagonally across the continent!

Obama, basketball, and the madness

I hate the multimillion dollar business that Division I sports have become. I mean, to such an extent that sports team logos of universities don't even include anymore the "U", which stands for "university" in their names. Even here in the state of Oregon: the University of Oregon goes simply with "O", and its rival, Oregon State University matches that with "OS." As my former neighbor jokes, he was surprised to find out that there are real buildings and people associated with the football team! (notice how athletics have their own domain names that has nothing to do with the "edu" of their universities?!)

So, naturally, I didn't care a shit when the President took time off his schedule to participate in the "March Madness"--another term I have come to dislike. On top of everything else, I agree with this excerpt from a report in the Christian Science Monitor:

USA Today columnist Christine Brennan is taking him to task saying that he “absolutely should have acknowledged” the women’s tourney.

“As the father of two athletic daughters, President Obama should know all about the importance of sports for women and girls,” she writes. “Which is why he should have filled out not only a men’s NCAA tournament bracket but also a women’s tournament bracket in his well-publicized appearance on ESPN last week.”

On the air

She also appeared on NPR this morning to discuss the snub.

“Even if one [tournament] completely overshadows the other, wouldn’t it be nice if the president showed some interest in the one that’s a bit smaller?” she asked

“And for those little girls playing basketball in the driveway, maybe say to them I care about your tournament too,” she said.

Adjectives

She’s got one more gripe with him. He didn’t specify that he was filling out the brackets for the “men’s” tournament.

“Those who don’t use that pesky little adjective — and you know who you are — are acting as if there’s no women’s tournament at all, or it’s so beneath them, it’s not worth mentioning. This is rather silly. It is 2009, after all.”

A university associated with the Oregon Ducks?

A neighbor says this joke at get togethers almost always.  But, it is not tiresome to listen to it though.  The joke?  "Hey, I just found out the other day that there is an university in town, with a whole lot of buildings too, with the same name as the Oregon Ducks football team" 

Yes, ha ha, indeed.  As much as a sports fan as any average American, this neighbor is unhappy with the huge amount of resources and attention that the university's athletics programs--football and basketball in particular--receive.  Well, he has a number of fellow travellers, including me.

Nathan Tublitz, a biology professor at the university, has a sharp op-ed in the paper.  He writes there:

The University of Oregon recently triggered this reaction by rescheduling the 2010 June Commencement Ceremonies to accommodate the NCAA national track and field championships.

Move graduation for a track meet?

This decision to prioritize athletics over academics, inconveniencing thousands of students and their parents, might have been excusable were it not the latest in a long line of similar decisions. For example, the Athletic Department’s current football plans include moving the Civil War game to the Saturday before exam week, holding more Thursday night games, and establishing an annual Thanksgiving Day rivalry game against the University of Washington Huskies. Never mind that students need to study for finals, attend Friday classes, or spend Thanksgiving with their families. Oregon athletics and the university administration are again reaching for a quick payout at the expense of academic quality and institutional integrity.

Kobe Bryant's quest for gold at the Olympics

Hilariously satirical and sarcastic, from Slate:

USC's coach, Pete Carroll, earned more than $4 million

That is right. Four million dollars to coach a university football team. For one year--in 2006. We will know about his 2008 compensation sometime in 2010, and we will find out it is even more than five mil. This beats the data in my earlier post on the ridiculous compensation for university sports coaches.

Adam Rose, in the LA Times blog, provides the breakdown of Carroll's earnings. And that of the other highest paid USC employees. Nope, the university president is not the highest paid employee, but Carroll is. An Assistant Football Coach earned almost as much as what the Dean of the medical school there earned. One works with hundreds of people to save lives and improve the quality of our health. What exactly does the other one do? Pathetic!

Full disclosure: I earned my graduate degrees from USC :-)