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!

The University of Nike's Pigskin Palace. Knight is no Carnegie!

A couple of days ago, NPR aired a piece on the steel baron, Andrew Carnegie, who gave away a good chunk of his fortune to build public libraries throughout the United States.  Yes, public libraries. To be accessed for free.

In 1889 Carnegie wrote an article called "The Gospel of Wealth," in which he spelled out his views on philanthropy: "In bestowing charity the main consideration should be to help those who help themselves."
The rich should give, so the poor could improve their own lives — and thus the lives of the society. Giving was a code of honor. "The man who dies rich dies in disgrace," Carnegie said.
Nasaw says the steel master was in his 30s when he decided he was merely the shepherd of his wealth.
"It is his responsibility to give it back," Nasaw says, "to return it to the community because the community — all of those men and women who contribute to the making of Carnegie steel, the mothers who feed their children, the day laborers, the whole large community — is responsible for making this wealth and they're the ones who have to get it back."
So public libraries became instruments of change — not luxuries, but rather necessities, important institutions — as vital to the community as police and fire stations and public schools.

Yes, Carnegie was ruthless as a businessman, as a capitalist.  But, the legacy he left behind includes:

1,689 public libraries. Temples of learning, ambition, aspiration for towns and cities throughout the United States.

And then there was a contrasting story about the latest college football excess at the University of Oregon, thanks to Nike's Phil Knight:

The Football Performance Center at the University of Oregon features rugs woven by hand in Nepal, couches made in Italy and Brazilian hardwood underfoot in the weight room that is so dense that designers of this opulent palace believe it will not burn.
This is Oregon football. There is a barbershop with utensils from Milan. And a duck pond. And a locker room that can be accessed by biometric thumbprints. And chairs upholstered with the same material found in a Ferrari’s interior. 

The Oregonian's columnist aptly describes this as Pigskin Palace, and writes:

It's Phil Knight's money, of course, and there's a lot more where that came from. But the new structure does seem to send out a message to everything else on campus.
A University of Oklahoma president once told legislators that he wanted a university the football team could be proud of. Oregon might now hope for a university the football building could be proud of.

 We could have had by now a university that the state can be proud of if valuable and scarce resources are not invested in sporting facilities, right?

Carnegie left behind a rich legacy, despite his brutal business practices.  Vanderbilt too. The Ford Foundation contributed so much to the entire world.  Bill Gates and Warren Buffett seem to continue along in that old American tradition.

And then we have the awful ones like Knight who are all about self-aggrandizement.  It is even more awful that people love it all. Even more pathetic that the left-leaning faculty are always too keen on following football that is clearly at the expense of education. And students are always delirious with football success even when they are jobless after graduating from the university.  Oh the insanity!

“We are the University of Nike,” said Jeff Hawkins, the senior associate athletic director of football administration and operations. “We embrace it. We tell that to our recruits.”

I am ready to puke!

The insanity in (of) higher education--Oregon edition!

I so wish I had not picked up early in my life the bad habit of reading the newspaper every morning.  Life would have been so much easier.

Even though my eyes got to the headlines even as I picked up the paper from the porch, I had all the more the reasons to keep it for the last.  You would have done the same too when the headline blared:

UO begins a new era of bargaining
A sea change arrives as a union forms and oversight shifts

After reading through the comics pages (which were a dud!); the local pages (lots of dog-bites-man stories!); sports (Dodgers on top in the division!); opinions (nothing by me, so who cares!) I finally got to the front section and the main story:

It’s a cash problem.
“In most states, the legislators — along with the federal government — have reduced (support) and the proportion of their budget that goes to higher education,” Boris said.
That’s true in Oregon.
The state has steadily decreased its support for its universities over the past two decades until Oregon student tuition pays the lion’s share of the cost — 70 percent — while the state pays 30 percent, according to Oregon University System figures.
Scrambling for money became a way of life at the University of Oregon.

 So far, so good, right?  Finally, a recognition of the bottom-line that "it's a cash problem."

So, what are they gonna do about it?

Fasten your seat-belts. In case you feel queasy, look away from your computer and keyboard.

Ready?

Contributions from the university’s general fund to athletics has long been a bone of contention with UO faculty. The athletic department gets much of its revenue from sales of tickets and television broadcasting rights.
This past week, administrative bargainers handed the union documents confirming that the university — as opposed to the athletic department — pays about $2 million annually to provide special tutoring to student athletes exclusively at the John E. Jaqua Center for Student Athletes, the shimmering glass building at the campus entrance.
That amounts to roughly $4,000 per student athlete; the university spends a fraction of that for special tutoring of non-athlete students. In May, the university senate formally asked Gottfredson to require the athletic department to pay for the tutoring at the Jaqua Center.
At the bargaining table last week, the union’s professional negotiator, David Cecil, told the administration’s professional negotiator, Sharon Rudnick, he would evaluate the university spending on tutoring student athletes.
“We’ll let you know if we think it’s a wise investment,” he said.
Gleason said the union is entitled to an opinion, but the decision is management’s to make. 

You read that correctly.  Everybody recognizes that there is a cash problem. But, dammit, there is no way we are going to touch that expense item on athletics.  

Wait, there is more.  

That was the insanity from the management side that it was their decision to make, even if the investment in athletics is an unwise one.  Faculty can be insane too--after all, we faculty didn't pursue our doctorates for nothing, and typically the deans and presidents were once faculty!

 United Academics of the University of Oregon wants 16 percent increases in spending on faculty salaries over the two years for the 1,900 members in its bargaining unit. In the past week, the administration offered 10.5 percent. “That’s the one that’s the greatest challenge for all of us,” said Tim Gleason, dean of the School of Journalism and Communications and an administration bargaining team member.
The union’s proposal would cost the university $20 million more than the current two-year budget for faculty salaries. The administration’s proposal would be $14 million more — a $6 million difference, according to the administration’s figures.

16 percent. 10.5 percent. Oh well, we might as well give them a 20 percent raise. 

Oh, wait. Whatever happened to the bottom-line:

It’s a cash problem.

I suppose we can pay-it-forward!

The most underpaid in America: college football coaches!

Remember this post from some time ago, which included this graphic?

I wonder how academic salaries with compare with the compensation for football coaches at the University of Oregon, given the following report in the newspaper, today, about the assistants:

 The UO football team’s nine assistant coaches each received a $40,000 raise as of July 1, bringing their guaranteed salaries for 2012 to a combined $2,759,500. That’s a 15 percent raise over what the assistants were slated to make this year, before signing amended contracts in June.

Aren't we glad that we have the welfare of football coaches way up in the priorities!

So, how much do they get?  Am so glad you asked:

Yes, please go ahead and sympathize with them for the ridiculously low compensation!  Because, this is nothing compared to how much the head coach earns :)

Meanwhile, apparently there aren't enough fabulous facilities for football at the university.  Which is why it is important that you keep buying Nike shoes--so that its founder, Phil Knight, can continue to "play" ball the way he likes:

Massive concrete pillars to hold together the $68 million operations center that Nike’s Phil Knight is building for the University of Oregon football program are shooting up next to Autzen Stadium.

The new center will feature two skybridge-linked buildings — on the north and east sides of the Casanova Center — that will rise six stories on top of underground parking. ...

Football coaches will have a private hot tub and steam room, each with a waterproofed video center, next to their locker room, so they can watch games while taking a soak.

Yes, it is extremely urgent that the millionaire coaches are able to watch games while soaking in the hot tub.  We wouldn't want it any other way.  No, sir!

What, you disgusted with this?  Come on!

On the top floor will be a 2,285-square-foot players lounge and deck, the blueprints show. On a lower floor will be an industrial-sized kitchen, 150-seat dining hall and a 50-seat private dining room.

“The cafeteria is for all student athletes,” said Craig Pintens, a UO athletics spokesman. “We’re extremely excited about that. It’s going to help our entire Athletic Department.”

The football players will have 124 climate controlled lockers, each equipped with an iPod dock and charging station. The showers will feature custom shampoo holders painted UO green.

So, now do you feel nauseated enough?  Look away from the screen before you barf.

Do you ever wonder what a horrible life awaits the coaches after they retire?  Poor chaps, right?  I mean, think, for instance, about the plight of former UO football coach, Mike Bellotti--the guy is walking the streets begging for money, as I blogged a while ago. 

Only in America can we ever have a situation where a football team is affiliated with a university!

Can anybody do anything at all about this?  Nah!  Nothing ever.  Definitely do not look for the radical lefty faculty to raise any tough questions--they are some of the most ardent fans of college football and basketball :(

No, I am not an ideological lefty.  Radical, yes, much to the displeasure of those left-leaning faculty too :)

We need to spend more on college football ... for retirement options!

$40,000 per month in retirement. WTF, eh!

I wonder if students ever think about how this misplaced priority is screwing them!

The consolation here: at least he wasn't a Paterno! 

Oh, BTW, Click here to get astounded by the gazillions that college coaches earn. 

An analysis by USA TODAY found that in 2006 the average pay for major-college coaches was $950,000. ...

The average compensation in 2011 is $1.47 million, a jump of nearly 55% in six seasons.

In the six conferences with automatic Bowl Championship Series bids, the average salary rose from $1.4 million in 2006 to $2.125 million in 2011. That's a jump of about 52% — meaning salaries at schools in the other five major conferences are going up at roughly the same rate as they are at higher-profile schools.

"The hell with gold," higher education lawyer Sheldon Steinbach says. "I want to buy futures in coaches' contracts."

Critics find it troubling that this rapid rise for coaches comes at a time when instructional spending at many schools has slowed or declined amid economic struggles and shrinking state education budgets.

Ha!  I am willing to sell you a Taj Mahal for about 20 mil :)

Wind turbines kill ducks. So, ban 'em. Cuz, we want to hunt 'em :)

In pretty much every course I teach, I devote a week to environmental aspects.  The bottom line that I hope students get from that one week, and from elsewhere too, is that most environmental issues require tradeoffs.  And, therefore, it often comes down to political power. Examples abound--including this satirical piece on the ecologically sensitive Florida Everglades and wind turbines.

The Daily Show - Fowl Wind
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

This is, of course, not the first time that the Daily Show has pointed out the craziness with which those at either ends of issues launch their arguments.

In the following classic, the same Mandvi pokes fun of asbestos exports from Canada, which seems to otherwise walk around with some kind of a environmental smug attitude

The Daily Show - Ored to Death
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Equally hilarious, and tragic, is the following one by Wyatt Cenac about residents in Turkey Creek fighting to protect their land.  In this case, only the environmentalists could help them--and that too by fighting to protect the birds!

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

College sports and the lack of critical thinking

So, finally, the BCS national championship hoopla is over.  But, we have very little time to get some badly needed rest--the March Madness will soon be upon us!  Of course, I have already landed in hot water for comments about that one :)

The following letter to the editor shows how messed up our thinking has become when it comes to sports:

Shame on Oregonians who rooted for Auburn
I didn't attend OSU or U of O and neither did my kids. My husband was a professor at Western.
Monday night I was in front of the TV rooting for the Ducks not because I'm fond of green and yellow or I like Eugene better than Corvallis, but because that team was representing Oregon where, except for a trip to the Rose Bowl (which is no small feat), nothing amazing has happened sports-wise since the Blazers won the championship in the '70s.
For those who were spitefully cheering for Auburn, shame on you. This was about more than a game. This was the Whos from Whoville shouting, "We are here! We are here!"
We were people rallying together for a team who was representing our beautiful state. Yeah, it would have been great if they had won, but they played with great sportsmanship, class and heart right down to the last second.
They showed the country that we Oregonians are about more than just spotted owls and rust. I'm a proud webfooted hillbilly.

Says a lot about critical thinking, which is supposedly the reason why universities exist in the first place.  Increasingly though, it appears that universities are merely the convenient physical framework to offer non-stop sports and keep people entertained.

One commenter in the newspaper's site has this to offer:

Out of 120 kids on their roster about 25 come from Oregon High Schools.

Almost 50 come from California.

Another 45 come from other states.

Tell me again why I should be ashamed of myself for not rooting for them?

:)

Ducks and ducklings. An "awwwww" moment :-)

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.