Who wants to see my knee grow another knee?
So that happened.
Nick and I talk about the BCS which spins into a conversation about chaos in college football. That spins into a conversation about whether or not we’re rooting for Auburn to run the table and what that will mean if reporters have a month to investigate a team playing in the national championship game. Can you imagine the chaos if the team in the national title game is ruled ineligible DURING the lead-up to the game. Amazing.
Speaking of reporters salivating over a story, Nick and I follow up on Friday’s conversation with Josh Levin about the nature of anonymous sourcing which leads to a conversation about :
It’s a corrupt system and u have these slave-catcher reporters upholding the bullshat so they can get a pay raise. Period.
You may think college athletes should be paid (more than they are). You may think the system is unfair. But to equate a Division I football player — or any athlete — to a slave is inflammatory, disrespectful and flat out wrong. We talk about it on the show, but nothing NOTHING makes me madder than this. They are not slaves.
We briefly talk about before turning our attention to Keith Olbermann’s situation at MSNBC, which includes the news that he would have been fired if he talked to another news outlet about his suspension. Has his partisan rhetoric ruined the concept of MSNBC to the point where they can’t be trusted as a news source? How can an ego like that exist for this long?
So I agree with almost everything you said on the college athlete as slave. Whitlock is clearly out of control.
However, there is one problem with your reasoning.
The NCAA (at least in football) has a complete monopoly on football “apprenticeship”. They control the only road to the NFL. So when you say Cam Newton had the CHOICE of signing a letter of intent it is not really fair. Sure, he could’ve not signed, but then he could not go to the NFL. You are basically saying, you must put in 3 years of unpaid labor in order to make a living in the profession of your choice. And if you dont want to, go pick another job
Unlike basketball which has recently seen Europe arrive as a potential site for employment and training, NCAA football has complete control of who gets to play pro-ball. There are no alternatives. Is it really fair to have one institution have complete control over a profession? (the answer is of course no, and that’s why other monopolies with anti-trust exemptions are regulated by the government)
So once again, he didnt really have a choice.
[And yes, we tolerate other institutions of apprenticeship that require years of training before a worker or tradesmen or accountant is certified. But in all cases the unions or government oversee these requirements to ensure that the employees are fairly compensated. ]