International soccer’s governing body has always been a punchline for corruption in sports. They make the NCAA look like UNICEF.
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Yes, my dear little brothers in sport, our retreat last week was all about this primary fact: We stink to high heaven.
What will we do about it?
Nothing.
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I mean, look up there. Two posts up. Headline Among the Company’s Expenses…
Do you seriously expect us to fuck with that?
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Sweetie, I hear you. But it’s too late to get rid of the scum. And our next President, Rick Perry, wouldn’t hear of it.
My best advice to you: Try to get a job at a school that’s not a sports factory. There are plenty of fine colleges and universities in this country.
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Another comparison.
“[P]rotecting and enhancing the integrity of intercollegiate athletics” … is the equivalent …of upholding the gold standard of the government of Somalia.
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And never forget who’s running the show.
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“It’s a circus. And the NCAA is running behind the elephants with shovels.”
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College football and men’s basketball are multi-billion-dollar businesses being run as an illegal cartel. So don’t say Congress or the President shouldn’t be “wasting time” on sports.
If the President and Congress make it clear to the university presidents that the system is completely unacceptable and they will lose all the tax breaks they currently enjoy if they do not do a complete tear-down, that will force action.
It sounds impossible. So did going to the moon. Sometimes you need to attempt the impossible. Especially when the current situation is completely sickening to witness.
August 15th, 2011 at 11:55AM
Yet there is something that can be done. See the final paragraph of Expensive Icing at http://ptable.blogspot.com/2011/08/twin-city-federal-stadium-university-of.html#links.
August 15th, 2011 at 12:21PM
The crucial difference is that as execrable as FIFA unquestionably is, they are not charged with the mission of higher education.
IMO, this difference makes the NCAA, who otherwise unquestionably pale in comparison to FIFA, comparable in their overall “transgressiveness.”
August 16th, 2011 at 8:00AM
From Inside HigherEd, 8/16/11:
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2011/08/16/essay_calling_for_elimination_of_division_i_football_and_basketball
“Here’s a suggestion that would put an end to the scandals: abolish Division I football and basketball altogether, because they are hopelessly and irreparably corrupted by billion dollar television contracts and multimillion-dollar endorsement deals.”
It would never happen, but it’s pretty to think so.