On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver takes March Madness to the hoop and stuffs the hypocrisy of the NCAA – where penniless amateur athletes trade the best years of their lives to make billions of dollars for rich white guys. Some people believe student athletes get a sweet ride. In exchange for their athletic prowess. It’s argued that they get a ‘fine education at a state run university in exchange for utilizing their talents. The education they receive is ‘fine’ – only if the cache of adding ‘bilingual in Swahili’ will impress the right people, when proudly featured on your resume. If you have labored under the education for performance myth, I believe you’ll be shocked to see what kind of ‘education’ is offered to these kids. It is not because they are ‘dumb jocks’ (another misconception) these are busy kids!
John explains the amateur athlete racket in shocking detail. The only ‘winners’ are the schools, the administrators and the coaches. Oh yes…The athletes. Some go professional as a result of participating at the amateur level – a whopping two percent!
Most become injured – thus ending their educational and sports career, while others presumably starve to death.
For those who are injured, amateur status cleverly excludes them from workman’s compensation. They limp out the door without treatment, minus a second rate education or a career in athletics.
To give fans the experience of being of an amateur athlete, John’s staff created a video game,
“March Sadness 2015.”
The game takes you through what it’s like to be a player, a coach or an administrator.
If you choose Player: I beg you to reconsider.
You’ll thrill to verbal abuse by a screaming, white, middle-aged millionaire!
You’ll live in constant fear of losing your scholarship, either from a career-ending injury, or by accepting a free lunch when you’re hungry – which is quite often. Don’t even sign an autograph, in exchange for vending machine coins, you will be kicked out for ‘profiting’ while you are an amateur athlete! According to the NCAA:
“Making money is totally antithetical to the whole principle of collegiate athletics.” But only if you are one of the athletes. Everyone else is rolling in big money!
If you choose to play in ‘Coach’ mode:
What fun you’ll have screaming and verbally abusing sleep-deprived, hungry 18-year old kids! You can call them names their parents never thought of, else their children would be taken from them…and you get paid for it!
For your ‘inspiring guidance’ you’ll pack in millions in salary alone, and a few extra million from endorsements, apparel and maybe even TV and radio. The sky is the limit for you! You are worth every single million they pay you, for wrangling those poor, broke boys….And you don’t even have to show up sober.
Play in ‘Administrator’ Mode:
This is a challenging position. Your salary is also extraordinarily ‘comfortable.’ It’s up to you to spend the billions made by your all-volunteer team wisely. You rake in major advertisers – to aid cash flow. Then to spend the loot – I mean to manage expenses, you hire lots of staff, and you authorize the building of massive stadiums, spa-like locker rooms and whatever your heart desires. It is you who makes the end-of-the-year numbers read as if you are an obscenely well-paid employee of a charitable institution. Despite all of the billions you (and your unpaid players) bring in, you always end the year in the red. .
It’s the principle of the thing!
Take Dabo Swinney. His feelings echo those of others who coach in the NCAA. Swinney feels strongly that players should not be paid.
Says Swinny, whose name is licensed on shirts, shoes and apparel, making him one very wealthy hypocrite. Asked what he thinks about players getting at least some small compensation for playing, Swinney, whose name is ‘ Soybean Wind’ backwards, huffs,
“I’ll do something else, cuz there’s enough entitlement in this world”