NCAA limits free speech

It’s no secret that the NCAA has cartel-like dominion over college sports. Likewise, most of us realize the source of their revenues: college athletes, themselves forbidden from financial compensation. Behind a pretense that only shallowly defends vague ideas of “academic integrity,” the NCAA is devout in its opposition to anything with enough influence to limit its power.

Hence, in the realm of college athletics, merely saying the word ”agent” is heretical, inherently anathema to the well-being of precious and vulnerable “student-athletes.” Likewise, “recruitment” — the ostensibly simple act of convincing 17- and 18-year-olds to play for your team – is tantamount to walking barefoot across a floor covered in broken glass. If you have any doubt about this, check out the rules themselves (hat tip: Beyond the Arc). Kinda’ like trying to drive a toaster through a car wash, as Tom Hanks put it, but such is the price of corruption.

To be sure, it is irrational to argue that recruitment regulations are, in their entirety, a product of a rent-seeking, power hungry institution. Certainly rules are needed as long as there are people like Kelvin Sampson in college basketball (and I think it’s safe to assume that there always will be). Just as a polity needs a government, so too does a massively lucrative and popular entity such as college sports require oversight and leadership. But beneath that leadership there must always be reasonable levels of individual autonomy, which brings me to the impetus behind this post, courtesy of NBC Sports:

College sports fans, be careful of the company you keep on Facebook.

You might get yourself – and the program you support – in trouble.

That was the lesson this week for Taylor Moseley, a North Carolina State freshman who expressed a common-enough opinion on campus when he started the Facebook group called “John Wall PLEASE come to NC STATE!!!!”

More than 700 people signed up for the group encouraging Wall – a local standout and the nation’s No. 1 basketball recruit – to pick the Wolfpack by national signing day next week.

But the NCAA says such sites, and dozens more like them wooing Wall and other top recruits, violate its rules. More than just cheerleading boards, the NCAA says the sites are an attempt to influence the college choice of a recruit.

Moseley got a cease and desist letter from N.C. State’s compliance director, Michelle Lee, warning of “further action” if he failed to comply. In an interview Friday, Lee said that people who act as boosters but fail to follow recruiting guidelines could face penalties such as being denied tickets or even being formally “disassociated” from the athletic program.

Just as civil liberties must be maintained for a free society to flourish, so must reasonable limitations be placed on the NCAA’s power to manage dissent. To limit the free expression of students, who have done nothing more than declare a shared desire to see Mr. Wall play basketball at their school, is unambiguously ridiculous. Think, for a moment, about the next step down this slippery slope. Does the NCAA truly think it has the authority to quash any and all discussion on matters of recruitment? If Facebook is off-limits, why isn’t MySpace? Hell, why isn’t the whole damn Internet under supervision?

Truly, this story needs to be told.  

Greg Paulus makes an (unconventional) comeback

Today I noticed a weird bit of news, courtesy of Sports Illustrated: Greg Paulus, having stumbled through his senior season at Duke, losing a starting job and his shooting stroke in the process, has apparently switched sports. Switched, specifically, to a sport he once was (and perhaps still is) very good at, or so the Green Bay Packers were led to believe…

Once the high school Gatorade Football Player of the Year, Paulus has scored an unusual opportunity in working out with the Packers, just weeks after Duke’s season — and Paulus’ college basketball career — was cut short in the third round of the NCAA basketball tournament. There is very little of me that believes Paulus will succeed in his new endeavor (if he does, even my Duke-hating self would be forced to tip my cap), but the part of me who does is imagining DeMarcus Ware flattening him into Texas AstroTurf.

Other than that, not much more to say. I’ve never liked Paulus, as those who read this blog may already know. At this stage in the game, however, his days of harassing Wake Forest point guards are over, and so my bitterness fades. At this point I’m simply curious, and left wondering if a college basketball player has done this before…?

The gym keys are locked away, let’s bring out the bats and balls!

Well, not much second-guessing to this one: UNC 89; Michigan State 72. A superb and worthy performance by the Tar Heels to be sure. One might argue it was the most dominant tournament run in recent memory (the closest UNC came to losing was against LSU in the second round, and they still ended up winning by 14 points). Michigan State played hard and stayed with the Heels for the final 25 minutes, but after the first 15, it was all over. Nothing to hang their heads about; theirs was a spectacular season. But the team of the hour is Carolina. I’ll bet Chapel Hill was rocking last night.

And, changing tack, I’m pleased to follow-up on my baseball ebullience from yesterday. Two of the day’s prettier results:

Orioles 10, Yankees 5 (C.C. Sabathia loses his first Yankee start. Was crushed, actually, is more like the truth. Obviously he should’ve heeded my warning.)

Cubs 4, Astros 2 (Roy Oswalt gets the loss, Carolos Zambrano pitches brilliantly, and Alfonso Soriano begins the Cubs’ season with a towering leadoff home run!)

Who’s ready for October?

The newest name in Tucson

The big news in Tucson, via YahooSports, is that Sean Miller, formerly of Xavier University, has been named the Arizona Wildcats head basketball coach. The importance of this move has yet to be fully realized, obviously, since Miller has done nothing beyond signing a contract, but at this point I’m cautiously optimistic. Miller has done yeoman’s work at Xavier, captaining them to a 120-47 record in five years, including two Elite Eight appearances and a Sweet 16 appearance this year. His name has been mentioned for head coaching vacancies across the country in recent years, and for good reason — Xavier, admittedly an established contender under Miller’s predecessors Skip Prosser and Thad Matta, has flourished during Miller’s tenure.

I don’t know much about this guy, so I will keep the uninformed commentary to a minimum, but there is one weird bit of info I’d like to point out. Namely, I find Miller’s extensive connections with current Arizona State coach Herb Sendek intriguing. Miller worked under Sendek when Sendek was the head coach at both Miami (OH) and North Carolina State, which would suggest he knows the man’s coaching style fairly well. I wonder if that didn’t play into U of A athletic director Jim Livengood’s decision, given the Wildcats’ current five game losing streak at the hands (or claws) of our rivals up north. Anyways, I’ll be doing research, and hopefully will keep the updates coming.

A very special Monday…

Today is one of those days sports fans live for. After the fanfare and ceremony of last night’s first Major League Baseball game – which featured, honestly, two teams I have little interest in, the Phillies and the Braves — we now move to the season’s first Monday — opening day for everybody else. As I write this, I’m watching the Mets and the Reds (another less-than-inspring matchup for this Cubs/Orioles fan, though Johann Santana’s electric fastball is always worth watching), which is sublime simply because it’s 11 o’clock on a Monday morning, and there are many more games to come. I’m looking forward to tonight’s Cubs-Astros game, which pits Carlos Zambrano against a pitcher I love to hate, Roy Oswalt. Finally, last season’s wounds can be put to rest, for a new season has begun!

Also, between innings, I’ll be tuning in to watch the NCAA championship game between North Carolina and Michigan State. Carolina killed MSU earlier this year, which prompted a post on this very site, and I will be interested to see if State, which has played close to perfect basketball in the tourney thus far, avenges the loss. I think I’ll be rooting for State, simply because they eliminated Louisville (making good on the Cardinals’ thuggish, classless defeat of my Arizona Wildcats in the Sweet 16). UNC, on the other hand, has a great team, program, and coach, and incidentally has a great man — my uncle — helming the admissions office. So I guess I’ll be content whatever the outcome.

I hope you all are as excited as I am. Not bad for a Monday, at the very least…