Dollars and Sense
So North Carolina took the championship as predicted (not by me of course). A second time, I have guessed wrong. However, that is not much a problem. I don’t work for Vegas and people are not hanging on my every word for the predictions. I’m not paid to do that. Rather, it is through the pure joy and exhilaration that I get for following sports and in this particular case, college basketball. I think that’s what the rest of America needs, the ability to enoy sport for what it is, sport.
These kids are amateurs and not every one of these players are going to be in the NBA. They will go on to different careers and follow different passions. We should celebrate the paths they choose in life nonetheless. In addition, they are at the university for the purported purpose of bettering their own lives through academics. It is within education and their creativity that they can propel themselves to the betterment of society. Within these kids that the future lies the key to humanity’s future
However, on the same token I understand that people outside of the court (TVs, coaches, administrators) are creating fortunes off of student talents. In our society, we believe that talents deserves praise. In the case of college basketball, we should not only laud kids for their athletic ability, but we should also pay these kids as well. Why? If a coach can get a raise for the student’s ability to play, doesn’t the student also get a “raise?” I understand that some of these students get scholarships, but is that really enough when college basketball and college sports in general generate millions of dollars through TV deals and advertisements. They should spread some of that wealth to the players, especially when the “higher ups” get their pay as a direct result of student athletic play.
Yes, college should be for education and not for profit. But at the same time, the standard should be applied to administration, coaches and school as a whole. You cannot have a dichotomy, a double standard.
What do you think?
