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…

Japan is victorious!

I watched the finals of the World Baseball Classic last night, Korea vs. Japan. It was a terrific baseball game, filled with everything a baseball fan could ask for: great pitching, clutch hitting, superb defense, the ever-illuminating commentary of Bud Selig, etc. I’m kidding about Selig, of course – his smugness was matched only by the utter meaninglessness of his platitudes. Joe Morgan, for his part, made sure the American perspective was not lost. “Now, here’s another example of how the Asian teams differ from American baseball,” he kept saying. Throughout the evening, Morgan struggled to pronounce the names of the Japanese and Korean stars.

           

But enough snark. The quality of the game, as ever, rose above the foolishness. Ichiro Suzuki – the face of Japanese excellence in the sport for the past eight years in America – won Japan its second straight WBC title with a two-out, two-RBI single in the tenth inning. That was after Korean star Bum Ho Lee forced a tenth inning with a two-out RBI single of his own, ripping a wicked Yu Darvish slider into left field in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at three runs apiece. Put simply, it was a game worthy of Olympic-level excitement, full of nationalism and tradition. The teams were talented, the players passionate, and the game as such reflected the mood of an international championship.             

 

Even 30 minutes after his team’s defeat, the manager of the South Korean national baseball team remained in the dugout, respectfully observing Japan’s congenial post-game affair. Carrying the resigned look of a man who had come agonizingly close to victory, he munched sunflower seeds as Japan’s newest national heroes grinned and laughed and held their nation’s flag.

A bittersweet March

What does it take to jolt a 21-year-old out of his spring break torpor? Why, a Sweet 16 appearance by his favorite team, of course!

Yes, March Madness is upon us, the past three days filled with the excitement of desperation. In short, it comes down to a simple maxim: win or go home. In no sporting event is this dichotomy so evident, the opportunities for glory and the prospect of despair so closely intertwined. And yes, Arizona, a team that faltered down the stretch, a team that lost to arch-rival Arizona State no fewer than three times (!) has defeated Utah and Cleveland State to advance to the round of 16, its dream of glory gaining strength by the minute.

But the tournament’s very nature dictates that Arizona’s success is not shared by all. Every game won means another good team has reached its season’s end. As you who follow this blog know, I’m a fan of both Arizona and Wake Forest. While Arizona has suffered the ups and downs of an unpredictable and frustrating regular season, Wake Forest’s tournament resume was never in doubt. Heading in to Thursday’s first round game, the Deacs sported 24 wins against only six losses, and was seeded fourth, making them a favorite to reach the Sweet 16 . Unfortunately, rankings and resume alone do not a tournament winner make. Cleveland State scored the game’s first nine points, and Wake never recovered. The Vikings controlled every aspect of the game — Wake never led — and when the buzzer sounded, I was left to wonder what might have been had the team that defeated North Carolina, Duke, Florida State, and Clemson actually shown up. Alas, in a fashion similar to the 2008 Chicago Cubs, Wake instead fades quietly into oblivion, setting the stage for those who, like Arizona, came ready to play.

Now, despite this disappointment, I’m filled with the hope of an Arizona run to the Final Four. More importantly, I’m proud of my team for having accomplished an improbable Sweet 16 appearance (especially after ASU failed to achieve the same). But the nature of divided loyalties means that regardless, it will be a bittersweet end to the college season.

You know it’s a monumental upset when…

…Even the Japanese are saying “What the heck!?” (in Japanese, of course).

The most compelling story of the past week comes out of the World Baseball Classic, which recently pitted the Netherlands — not a perennial baseball powerhouse, to say the least — against the massively favored Dominican Republic. Anyone with half a brain cell would bet against a Dutch team whose most prominent member is Sidney Ponson (those of you familiar with Baltimore Oriole baseball understand the shame of that distinction). Nevertheless, in not one but TWO DIFFERENT GAMES, the Netherlands bested a team that boasts a roster stuffed with 23 major league ballplayers. After such a feat, which qualifies as one of the great upsets of all time, what else is there to say? Naturally, David Ortiz finds the right words:

“These guys, they did it,” David Ortiz said. “They beat us. I tell you, the whole world is shocked now. Even in Japan, they’re like ‘What the heck?’ in Japanese.” 

Here’s to hoping the Dutch keep on keeping on, all the way to the championship. (Although of course I’ll be pulling for David Wright and co. in the meantime.)

When one finds meaning in an unexpected place…

The perspective of a sports fan is a strange thing. We love teams and players and exciting upsets. We strive for championships and records and every once in awhile are struck by the intrinsic beauty of physical perfection. But rarely are we removed from our bleacher seats or television screens — removed from our “rooting” selves — and forced to comprehend the humanity of those we watch.

And in almost every instance, the way we perceive these athletes — as beings who compete against one another — and the way we view the actors in our daily lives represents a divide that is perfectly acceptable. Athletes do not require a nuanced breakdown of their character in order to succeed. For our part, we do not owe them such an examination. We watch them because we like how they play; we watch them in the hopes that they win.

All of this is to lead up to a discovery I made earlier today, tipped off by the charming and irreverent Deadspin. Do you remember Maurice Clarett, the Ohio State running back who, as a freshman, led the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2002? Do you remember Clarett’s subsequent attempt to enter the NFL draft following that season, only to be denied entrance? Do you remember when he was drafted by the Broncos, overweight and out of shape, but never played a down in the NFL? Years later, do you recall Clarett’s arrest, leading to the confiscation of assault weapons, a katana, bullet-proof vests, and copious amounts of alcohol found in his car? And do you finally remember the utter disgrace and failure Clarett had become to the public after he pled to a seven-and-one-half year prison term?

I say all this not because these incidents have somehow been misrepresented by television sensationalism. Nor do I naively urge you to feel sympathy for a man who, by all accounts, did many terrible things. But today I found out that Clarett has a blog, which if nothing else offers a completely different picture of the Maurice Clarett most of us grew accustomed to condemning off-hand. Written in prison, of course, here is one of the many worthy passages, where Clarett describes his relationship with a young prisoner: 

When I spoke a few sentences to him, you could see his eyes light up. It’s as if his spirit was awakened just from me showing some type of concern about his personal issues. He spilled out all of his life experiences to me. The essence of all of his tales was that he didn’t know how to logically manage his life. His emotions dominated his decision making and he was in need of a little assistance when it comes to managing his life. I offered up a few words and suggested some books to read. He agreed to read them for the sake of us building a bond. I am interested in seeing how he comprehends certain information. From my personal assessment, I’ll then be able to see at what pace I can bring him along. I want to help him raise his level of consciousness for the sake of him giving life some type of value. Hopelessness leads to anger and anger leads to danger. I’ve been there before so it is a must that I give back and lead how I am supposed to lead. I know and understand the feeling. I want to be his symbol of hope.  

When activism becomes the obligation of the well-known…

The flurry of racial controversy surrounding a recent New York Post cartoon — a cartoon which appeared to many to allude in an offensive manner to President Barack Obama — has now migrated to the sports world. In today’s New York Times, columnist William Rhoden makes the connection, criticizing the silence of black professional athletes in days following its publication.

To conclude the piece, Rhoden offers an anecdote focused on New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson. Rhoden apparently confronted Robinson on the issue of the cartoon, and Robinson, after denying that he had even heard of the cartoon in question, offered a simple explanation for his lack of opinion: basketball was his gig, said Robinson; “It’s what I do best. It’s what I know.” Everything else, he admitted, was simply beyond his expertise.

Rhoden’s follow-up to this anecdote is terse and smug, dripping with self-righteous understatement. His analysis of Robinson’s answer ends the column: “See no evil. Speak no evil. That’s one way to get through a career unscathed.” 

The piece, to my eye, reflects this vague and simplistic social condemnation in more ways than one. First and foremost, Rhoden’s dismissal of athletes who fail to speak of this racial consciousness rests on a basic premise that turns his argument upside-down. In a country with a Constitutional right to free speech, he argues, players should not shy from voicing their opinions for fear of roiling the waters of their fanbases. But look, the thing about free speech is that it inherently allows for the publishing of offensive New York Post cartoons in the first place. What would Rhoden have these athletes do? Call for the firing of the cartoonist? Boycott the Post? And wouldn’t these actions be a violation of this free speech that Rhoden so casually and one-sidedly employs?

Secondly, the Nate Robinson anecdote, used by Rhoden to illustrate the callous apathy of athletes, suggests to me something entirely different: humility. What is so terrible about a man who has recognized his ignorance? Is it wrong that he refuses to comment on an issue about which he has little knowledge? Would anyone be well served by Robinson opining on something he knows nothing about?

Of course, it isn’t as simple as all that, and I know too little of Robinson to completely let him off the hook. Indeed, I have little respect for those whose incuriosity spits in the face of opportunity. But to recognize one’s limitations as well as strengths, to know oneself and one’s failings; these are traits fully deserving of my respect. They are traits that William Rhoden might be well-served to adopt.