extra credit

I watched the HBO documentary called "Student-Athlete" in which it followed the lives of 5 or six people associated with the NCAA, whether it was an aspiring athlete, a graduate, or a coach. I think this documentary did a very good job of showing the corrupt nature of the NCAA. One of the men, John, was an NC State football coach before being fired by the NCAA due to the school allegedly framing players' grades in fake classes. Meanwhile, neither John nor the students were even unaware of what was going on. After this, John went to another school to coach, where he spoke out against the NCAA on the ridiculousness of students not being able to profit off of their ability. He was fired again. The heart of John's argument is that the NCAA racks up billions of dollars, coaches make nearly 10 million dollars, the staff in total made about 20 million,  the facility cost around 150 million, and the players typically generated at least 100 million a year. All this being said, most of his players were below the poverty line. Not only are these players not getting paid but are also not allowed to profit off of their likeness on their own. After being fired John said that he texted/called 50 of his former players and asked them if they would rather a one million dollar locker room, with a flat-screen tv and a barbershop, or would they rather get the money to give to their families. 100% said they would rather the latter. One of the quotes I enjoyed from his portion was a "Kepp the players poor and powerless so the NCAA can have all the control." The other character who's story would fit well into my paper was Shemar, a former Rutger player who made It to the Chicago Bears training camp just to get injured and then kicked off the team. He claimed to have suffered four or five injuries and surgeries in college as well. After college Shemar was living out of his car working 5 jobs between the hours of 5 am to 10 pm every day and eating almost once every three days. A lot of these players not only have difficulty finding a job but also have to go through copious amounts of physical therapy (which costs a great deal of money) to keep them from becoming paralyzed before the age of 40. The other player was kicked out of the NCAA for accepting to live with his friends grandparents house because he was homeless, which against NCAA policy. The stories are endless.

This movie connected my paper by discussing the idea of oscillating migrant laborers and the athletes living two polar opposite lives. In general, all the aspects I discussed described how the NCAA is creating a Plantation System in which they are racking up so much money that they do not know what to do without.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0arOfqNnOM
Here is a link to the trailer. It can be watched on HBO.

Comments

  1. Michael GoellerApril 13, 2020 at 8:17 AM

    I like that quote: "Keep the players poor and powerless so the NCAA can have all the control." Is that John who says that? It sounds like him. He went from an assistant coach to an activist. The athletes are constantly at risk of losing their scholarships due to the NCAA rules or rules governing their behavior and performance on the team. So they have to just follow orders and not ask questions. It is as though the whole system had been designed to exploit them and deny them the ability to speak out against it. And they are constantly blamed for their situations, which they internalize and so are less likely to speak out due to their feelings of being a failure in the system. But it is not their fault; it is the way the system is designed. It is designed to constantly make them feel like failures and keep them in their place.

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