14 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(11/14/07 5:00am)
The No. 1 ranked UNC men's basketball team will open up its season tonight against Davidson.
As a basketball fan, I should be beyond excited. The chance to watch a premier team seething with "next-level" talent should have me clearing my schedule to watch each and every game.
But it isn't. Instead, I find myself wondering if I can enjoy college basketball at all.
What's my problem? The NCAA's insistence that they are an association of amateur athletics.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the appeal. In a sports world where pro baseball players shoot steroids, pro football coaches ignore league rules and pro basketball officials fix games for cash, the collegiate athletic promise of something more pure is enticing.
The youth of the players and the visceral connection between student and school gives fans hope that the game they're watching isn't about the money.
But nothing could be further from the truth.
When it comes to college athletics, the only thing "amateur" about it is that the NCAA refuses to pay players anything above the cost of attending an institution.
The whole world of college basketball is about money. Coaches get paid a lot - Roy makes somewhere around $1.6 million a year. Refs don't do so bad - though they get paid per game, a full schedule earns a satisfactory salary of about $60,000 a year.
Coming in on the low end of the totem poll: the athletes. The cost of attendance for an out-of-state student at UNC is above $30,000 a year (and rising!).
It might just be me, but something about that seems wrong. After all, Roy's ties are entertaining, but it's his boys who I want to see.
Meanwhile, the NCAA's member institutions lurk in the background. A school like UNC makes serious money off its athletes. Football and basketball made the athletic department more than $6.6 million in TV revenues this year alone.
The NCAA could fix this disparity without much difficulty if they wanted to. They wouldn't even have to open the Pandora's box of paying players.
By allowing NCAA athletes to seek endorsements that don't conflict with existing contracts, they'd give players a chance to get a piece of the pie without ever having to pay a salary. Even better, it would give athletes a true incentive to stay in school until they're ready for the grind of the pro leagues.
But they don't. Instead, the restrictions they place on athletes go far beyond the field of play.
Consider the situation of UNC football player (and budding entrepreneur) Connor Barth, founder of the Outrageous Clothing Company. He founded the business as a way to fulfill his passion for making cool clothing.
Unfortunately for him, the football scholarship he signed prevents him from using his own name, image or his position on the football team to make money for himself.
Even though Barth's business has nothing to do with football, he has to hop around NCAA rules to be sure he stays eligible.
Why does the NCAA care so much about what its athletes are doing off the field and outside the classroom?
In the end, it comes down to control, and million-dollar athletes are notoriously difficult to handle. But by keeping athletes patiently waiting on a scholarship checks, the NCAA ensures a reasonable amount of control over it's athletes - control which they use to make sure their product appears pure.
Contact James Edward Dillard at jdillard@email.unc.edu.
(10/31/07 4:00am)
The NBA season kicked off Tuesday night, and I couldn't be more excited. Most people around here tend to be NCAA-inclined, but I prefer the NBA. The players are faster and more skilled. The egos are bigger and more fragile. Best of all, none of the money is under the table . except when it comes to referees. Forget I said anything.
So here's an NBA fan's perspective on the 2007-08 season: three teams to watch, three players to know and three stories to follow.
The Favorites
(10/17/07 4:00am)
Dear Marion,
Sorry it's taken me so long to write you. I hate to see another Tar Heel in trouble and not take the time to send my thoughts.
To say you've had a rough time lately would be an understatement. You've admitted to using steroids, lost your medals and fessed up about lying to federal prosecutors. And it's not over yet; the International Olympic Committee, already having agreed to erase you from the record books, is considering banning you for life - never again could you participate in the Olympics in any capacity.
Then there's the cash. I hate to go dollars and cents on you at a time like this, but the folks at the International Association of Athletics Federations are talking about wanting some prize money back. And let's not even talk about the jail time .
Then there are all the critics. You're a proud person - those emotional steroid denials taught me that. Listening to the press, even students from your own alma mater, call you a cheater has to burn. Worst of all, you have to live knowing that they're right.
If anything, I feel sorry for you. Yes, what you did was wrong. Yes, you deserve to be punished. No one has to tell you that - you gave up your medals of your own accord. But you do have to live with yourself. Some bad decisions along the way have cost you a public reputation years in the making. From this point on, you'll never again be Marion Jones, Olympic Champion. You'll be Marion Jones, Cheater.
But before you crinkle up this letter and throw it away, please recognize I'm not here to heap shame upon you. I'll save my indignation for Barry Bonds, Shawne Merriman and every other steroid user without the stones to apologize for what they've done.
Then again, as you would be quick to point out, that's easy for me to say. After all, you didn't break my heart. You were never my teammate or coach. Your poster was never on my wall. Unlike so many girls around the world, I never said, "I want to be like Marion Jones someday." You never betrayed my trust because you never had it. When it comes to your life, I was just a bystander.
But even as a bystander, I have some questions.
Did you really not know you were taking steroids? From what Ben Johnson (a doping ex-track star himself) says, there's more dope in track and field than any profession this side of hustling (well, except for pro cycling).
Your ex-husband, C.J. Hunter (also a doping ex-field star), has claimed that he injected you with steroids himself. Now I'm sure that whatever he injected you with didn't come with a giant red label that said "STEROIDS," but how could you not be at least suspicious when a mystery substance made you faster and stronger?
If you knew - and I think you might've - I'd love to know why you did it. Was it the money? Corporate executives cut corners all the time, so who can expect athletes to be any different? Was it to get ahead? Everybody gets their priorities mixed up sometimes.
Or did you dope to level the playing field? If the rumors are true, then everyone else at the top is doping too, and we can hardly single you out for shame. If you tell us, make it public, perhaps we'll remember you for your work in cleaning up the sport.
As it is now, we can only speculate. The fact that two other women from your 2000 bronze medal relay team, in addition to numerous other track stars, have served doping bans since then seems to suggest you weren't the only one breaking the rules.
Still, you're the one who has to face the wrath. Thank you for having the courage to come clean and apologize.
Stay up,
James
Contact James Edward Dillard at jdillard@email.unc.edu.
(09/19/07 4:00am)
Since the Patriots were caught filming the defensive signals of the New York Jets last week, Patriot haters everywhere have been fighting for the chance to pile shame on the New York Yankees of the NFL.
Some have invoked comparisons to Dick Nixon and Watergate. Others have said that this incident taints each of the team's three Superbowl seasons. Still others have called on the NFL to ban the Patriots from the NFL playoffs for the next two seasons. From the sound of things, it would seem as if the Patriots invented cheating.
Bending the rules in sports isn't anything new. When it wasn't steroids and stealing signals, it was spit balls and corked bats. But these days, cheating seems to take center stage in the sports world more often than ever before.
As it stands right now, major cheating scandals have rocked four major sporting events within the last three months. Let's recap.
NFL: Before Bill Belichick and CameraGate, there was Rodney Harrison and Human Growth Hormone. Harrison, the Patriots safety, was suspended four games for using HGH, a violation of the league's steroid policy. The good news for Harrison: With the full extent of Patriots' cheating still coming to light, he can sleep easy knowing he's not alone.
MLB: Everyone knows about the Home Run King, Barry Bonds, and the steroid controversy that will never die, but few people picked up on the story of Rick Ankiel. The Saint Louis Cardinals pitcher-turned-outfielder recently showed up on a list of a Florida pharmacy as having received shipments of HGH in 2004.
NBA: NBA players might not play defense, but at least they don't cheat. Problem is, their referees do. In perhaps the worst sports scandal ever, referee Tom Donaghy didn't just break the most sacred code in sports, he broke the law. The veteran official, whose skills (legal and perhaps otherwise) presided over such playoff debacles as Game 3 of the Spurs-Suns series, allegedly passed inside information to the mob and shaved points on games.
Cycling: Forget about the 2007 Tour de France, where four riders were caught doping. Authorities are still trying to figure out whether or not Floyd Landis cheated to win the 2006 Tour de France. Landis claims the test he failed was due to the incompetence of a French laboratory, but the arbitration panel that heard the case is still deciding. An announcement is expected within the next week.
And those are just the recent examples.
In the sports world these days, it seems everyone has adopted the unofficial Patriots motto, coined by Chargers running back and Patriots hater LaDainian Tomlinson: "If you're not cheating, you're not trying."
And Tomlinson would know. His Chargers got mollywhopped by the Patriots on Sunday night. Maybe they should've tried cheating .
So why is cheating so in vogue these days?
Take another look at the Chargers. Linebacker Shawne Merriman (Tomlinson's teammate) was suspended four games last year for violating the league's steroid policy, but made the Pro Bowl anyway.
When it comes to cheating in sports, the message is clear: Crime does pay. There might be a fine or a suspension, but as long there are wins and stats, plenty of teams are willing to pay once the penalty is served.
Just look at Belichick. Despite all the negative press he received this week and with the ink barely dry on his check for the $500,000 fine, the Patriots rewarded him with a multiyear extension to his current contract.
And they say cheaters never prosper.
Contact James Dillard at
jdillard@email.unc.edu
(04/28/05 4:00am)
While money continues to flow out of North Carolina, the General Assembly is stuck.
(04/12/05 4:00am)
Nicole Darnall, a professor of public administration at N.C. State University, is leaving home.
(03/31/05 5:00am)
In 1991, the economy was slow, there was a war in Iraq and the N.C. General Assembly had a $1.2 billion dollar budget gap.
(02/16/05 5:00am)
Annual changes in Pell Grants are expected to place great strain on North Carolina’s need-based student aid program.
(01/31/05 5:00am)
The nitty-gritty of the political process began last week as the N.C. General Assembly returned to session.
(11/24/04 5:00am)
Milk farmers have been trying to stabilize their industry for years.
(11/16/04 5:00am)
The recent passage of a California bill could change the face of embryonic stem cell research in the United States, putting the state at the forefront of a field restricted by federal policy.
(11/10/04 5:00am)
The N.C. House might be consolidating in the upcoming session.
(10/27/04 4:00am)
The secretary of state's office is the referee of North Carolina business, keeping the game flowing and ensuring that rules are enforced fairly.
(09/29/04 4:00am)
The latest bipartisan agreement in Congress comes on an unlikely issue: taxes.