“Orwell
and March Madness”
By JOE NOCERA
Published:
March 30, 2012
“If you’ve been
watching the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball championship — a
k a March Madness — you’ve undoubtedly seen the commercial.
It’s an N.C.A.A. ad that shows college athletes pumping iron, running sprints
and playing games. The voice-over, though, talks not about athletic achievement
but academic accomplishment. “African-American males who are student-athletes
are 10 percent more likely to graduate,” says the narrator. As the ad
concludes, a female athlete looks into the camera and says, “Still think we’re
just a bunch of dumb jocks?”…
“It was
amusing this week to watch Emmert trot out “the collegiate model” as he was
confronted with the reality of the “one and done” freshman. “One and done”
freshmen — or players who have no interest in college and are enrolling only
until they turn 19 and become eligible for the professional draft — have been a
hot topic in the runup to this weekend’s Final Four. That’s because John Calipari, the Kentucky coach, has become the master of recruiting
them — and his team is favored to win the championship. Calipari is completely
upfront about what he is doing: He is gaming the system by bringing in players
who need a way station until they are old enough to turn pro. Indeed, Calipari
tells them when he is recruiting them that he doesn’t expect them to stay for
more than a year.
“In his great novel about
totalitarianism, “1984,” George Orwell described the three slogans of The
Party: War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength.
“The
N.C.A.A. has its own equivalents. Athletes Are Students. College Sports Is Not
About Money. Graduation Is The Goal.
“Enjoy
the Final Four.
Cassi Creek:
I admit to a
lack of interest in basketball and football exceeded only by my lack of interest
in NASCAR. At least, the NASCAR drivers
make no pretence of being “amateurs” and don’t masquerade as “students” while
training at public expense to become recruits in franchises owned by
billionaires. So it seems there is a
measure of honesty to the act of driving in endless left turns that is not
present in those “games” involving a ball of some shape.
The concept
of the student athlete honed on the playing fields of Eaton and other British
institutes of academe is not matched by the reality of the American “student
athlete.” The entire NCAA scheme is
designed to control the concept that is fed to the public; leading that public
to believe that a difference exists between American “athletes” and gladiators
of the Roman Empire games.
Our public,
willing to believe that the modern-day gladiators might actually exhibit
loyalty to the school or franchise that pays them; is particularly willing to
believe a message of sponsorship delivered by a pneumatically enhanced female
in scant attire, proffering beer and/or junk food. Orwell knew that the message was of less
importance than the messenger.
Yesterday
heralded the beginning of tick and mosquito season. I felt one of the nasty little parasites
crawling on the back of my neck, looking for a place to attach. Last season was rather diminished in nature
due to the intensely cold winter that preceded it. The past winter 2011-2012, being much milder
in temperature, predisposes to a much greater population of biting
insects.
Ex-Officio
offers a line of “bug-away” clothing. I
have used it before with a lot of success.
We’ll use it again this year.
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