Update:
Two days back , something happened in an NCAA basketball game that gave an interesting twist to the arguments we have been having on the quality of sports today. John Chaney, a supposedly ex-hotshot coach of Temple University's basketball team was unhappy with some so called "illegal screens" used by players of St.Josephs and the officials not noting them. He sent in seldom-used 6-foot-8, 250-pound Nehemiah Ingram for the single avowed purpose that he didnt like the way St.Joe's approach to things. What followed was one of the most shameful acts in college basketball history. Ingram became, in Chaney's own words, a goon to show he meant business to St.Joe's players. What was a 6 point game until then was lost on a 16 point margin but the message sure got delivered. John Bryant, the St.Joe's player who was the prime target for Ingram and Chaney is now out of action for the season.
What followed was even worse. Chaney, who has tremendous clout in Temple, took a self-imposed single game suspension for his act. Not the league, not the school, no one had the power to say, he must be suspended for the rest of the season, like the career of John Bryant, who is now going to watch the rest of the season roll by from the benches. This illustrates how much coaches matter in NCAA. A similar act in professional basketball or any other sport would have resulted in atleast 5-7 game suspension for the coach, not to mention sever fines and disrespect. Here, Chaney gets away with just a game, that too self-imposed.
Is this the way sports are going to played in the future ?. An all poweful coach, doing and getting away with what he wants and everyone else just sitting and watching ?
Original Post:
I remember a decade or more years ago when cricket was all that made sense to me. It was pure and blissful and kept me on my tenterhooks all year. And then the match fixing scandal broke out. While I tried rationalising that only a few players were tainted and the game as such was still as pure as it used to be, the enormity of the situation had started to sink in. Its professional and like any profession, there is so much of dirt in it that at this point of time was threatening to obscure the beautiful game that it was.
Fast forward to last year when the doping accusations in baseball started filtering in. BALCO and Barry Bonds were all over the papers and the SF Giants slugger was trying hard to convince the public that he had nothing to do with performance enhancers or steroids, while everyone from his friends in the game (Gary Sheffield) to his trainer to his ex-girlfriend spoke otherwise. Soon Jason Giambi and Sheffield were pulled in and the book "Juiced" released last week, ensured that infamy was here to stay in baseball.
Olympics over the last few years has been filled with doping scandals aplenty. Ben Johnson anyone ?. Late last year and early this year, owners and players of Major League Hockey in the US fought over who gets more money and the talks broke down last week and the announcement that there would be no hockey this season, followed. This time, money was the culprit.
Looking at all these, it begs to be said. Is there no more game in the game anymore ?
Is it all about winning and the adulation and money and not about the joy of being on the arena or the field and enjoying the sheer joy of playing the game ?
While its hard not to be cynical about it, are we at the end of the road for the spirit of sports or what is left of it ?
43 comments:
yes we are at the end of the road for the spirit of sports!
its no more mere sports, its pro-sports. so much is at stake, so many people's lives and jobs are at stake. what do you expect?
it is sad, but I think it won't change.
You want Spirit of Sports? Follow the Friday-night and Saturday-night sports - high school and college sports. They may be sloppy, but atleast for the most part they are honest-to-goodness sports and spirit of sports.
And however much you might want to rail against the NCAA, for your (and my) moneys worth, the college/high school games provide more spectacular finishes than the pro-game.
Saranyan
It was always the same-it meant everything to ppl concerned, lots of money by then standards but there were also ethics and morals that people in sport upheld...and as you say, they appear to be lost forever.
Daph
I am an avid NCAA person, atleast in football ( I root for my school team- VT Hokies who made it to Sugar Bowl this yr). Basketball is not my game and hockey- I dont get to watch much of the games and there is no home team- sadly.
Baseball at NCAA level is really no big deal and doesnt ever get attention. Most of the top league prospects are from Central America and dont go through the school system in the US.
NCAA football games do provide more thrills and upsets than NFL for sure. But what about the rest of the sports ?
Ranga, while pro-baseball prospects may not be going to school here in US, what you need to be looking for is the spirit of the players. But then again, AFAIK, pretty good NCAA baseball teams are all down south/south-east/south-west. Maybe its the weather cuz NCAA baseball season starts in mid-Jan or something like that.
And, why bother with the lack of attention for NCAA-baseball in the media? Maybe thats what makes it more palatable than most media-hyped sports.
And no, I am not trying to justify anything thats happening in pro-sports. But what we can control is what we see/watch, and I am trying to put my money where my mouth is - in college sports.
And the name is Ramesh, though I sign off as Daph!
cricket ... I expect many guns to shoot me down as I say this, but I for one wish cricket to die down in India. It is a leech sucking out other sporting talents and resources. Do any of you remember Kutraleeswaran the childhood prodigy swimmer? well, after many unsuccessful attempts to get sponsorship for international events, he eventually quit swimming and is now doing MS here in US. His story came in some past issue of anandha vikatan.
Is'nt it pathetic and disgusting to see a nation of 1 billion joyously celebrating 1 or 2 olympic bronze/silver medals? Indians are not physically inferior or incapabale of winning anything the fault lies in the system. With cricket cornering off all the limelight other sporting talents are forced to pick at the bones tossed off by fat ass cricketers.
Don't get me wrong, cricket as a game is very good but Indian/south asian cricketers are despicable because they are contributing to the death of other sports in their countries. I for one was rooting for Kenya in the last cricket world cup. you know why, here is an interesting comparison ...
It seems Kenyan cricketers had barely enough money to buy even their kits. Some players had to take personal financial hits as their country was getting into world cup but they still persevered and won. Now, compare that with the Indian cricketers who in a 50% below poverty line nation fight against the board for hiking match fee from 3-5 lakhs(illustrative numbers and not exact figures) on top of all the sponsorship money they earn. who do you think is more honorable here? Give me a gun and I will gladly shoot an Indian cricketer and choose the Kenyan guy because he has true spirit of the game and has chosen to play cricket for the love of cricket and not because he has chosen to earn lakhs/millions by sponsorship and match fee. Thats the reality of cricket in India, people aspire to get in it with a money mind and not a sporting mind.
I personally do not give a rats ass about the "talents" of an Indian team, I feel like laughing my ass off when I see these clowns posing for stylish pictures after being elevated to demi-god status just because the population has not followed other games(yep, the above line comes of as immature but thats really what I feel). Who are we kidding here, if anything cricketers will be on the lower rung of athleticism in the sports ladder.
PS: Have any of you faced an "honorable" question from a non-Indian during Olympics on how many medals India won and whats the population of India?
I second what arun said about cricket. people go crazy when we say anything wrong about it. I am not sure whether these guys will be equally ticked off if their motherland is bad mouthed the same way as cricket.
Even worse, there are many cricket "fans" who will be very freakin happy if sachin scores a century and doesn't really worry about India's performance in the game. Oh god, please don't make me face another "fan" like that in my life -ever.
As much as I like pro sports in US, I am not all that worried about the lockouts. In a way it will help the game to evolve.
Pro-sports are more of an entertainment industry with all the collective bargainings, revenue sharings, players unions, coaches unions, owners associations, salary caps and all. We should keep it deep in our minds that these leagues provide the populace with the modern day gladiatorial events. I hate to admit this but that is the truth. This will help keep things in perspective.
NCAA sports for one is full of spirit. With the rivalries, the pageantries and the traditions-its "the" place to look for a spirited display of sportsmanship.
but the money involved in NCAA football makes me worry about losing it to the wolves (read the greedy corporates). Already we are seeing the gap grow between the have's and havenot's.
for example the sooners football generates 48 million dollars a year and operates on a 30 million dollar budget. I see this only grow big in the future. already there are talks of offering a "share" of these revenues to the college players.
heavens and the football gods forbid, such a thing should never happen and the sport should be restored to the bygone days (of which I have only heard and read ) of smash mouth football where the glory that comes with a win alone mattered.
Ramesh
Good points..and Ill probably take your tip and try to watch more of college sports from now on. Maybe Ill try March Madness for starters. I have barely seen any baseball action on TV thats not MLB and will try to see if there is any, where I live.
Arun
Ill get to your comments in a bit.
Hellboy
To the second part of your comment, I agree that pro sports is an industry with all the trappings off a hollywood movie spanning a year, every year. There are stars, the mavericks, the money makers and what not. Given the Tv ratings for say a superBowl or a World Series baseball championship, its hard to think that its only a game and no more.
College football is no more the thing you do if you are strong and good. The college draft and scouting is getting to be as complex and touted as NFL draft system.
Remember how much publicity was given to LeBron when he was in school, planning to head to NBA ?
Its really no more a game, very sadly.
actually I would welcome the move to give some share to the NCAA players. all the talk about 'students shouldn't be paid anything other than a scholarship' is pure bull crap. If you guys don't know, the NCAA basketball coaches are paid by Nike, Reebok and other such companies to make their players wear those brands. the players never have a say on this. Duke's basketball coach, the famous coach K, gets paid in millions every yr by Nike!
if you really want the spirit of sport, go play some pickup games with friends and colleagues :)
as I said, this is pro-sports and its a big time business.
Paran
I do know NCAA coaches make a lot of money. 2 yrs back Jim Beamer (VT hokies football coach- one of the most respected) signed a 2m contract..With stuff like that, to expect players to play for a schol is screwed up. No wonder, many enlist for the draft the moment they are eligible.
exactly. and now the NBA si trying to bring an age limit to the draft. thats unfair to the players. its like ... "go play in college for 4 yrs so we can take all the money and then we will decide if we want you in the pro-league". this is business at its best.
Don't know if any of you watched SportsCenter on ESPN after the Spurs-Rockets game yesterday (Feb 23). They had this nice feature on steroids in America, and how even high-school athletes are now indulging steroids to improve performance. Pretty scary how the contemporary "win at all and whatever the cost" thingie is influencing the kids.
1960-9952-0505-2134-749
On one side we lament about highly paid starts in pro sports and on the other side we advocate introducing the same to the amateur NCAA athletes. This makes me wonder whether people will keep finding problems no matter what( if you don’t pay it is a problem and when the same players get paid then again it is a problem). Players playing for their schools is the last bastion of playing the game for its spirit. Now we have started talking about corrupting these kids with a share in the revenue.
Too much money involved in NCAA big two (fb and bb) is my whole concern. This makes winning an absolute must and hence ridiculously raises coaches salary and makes the school ADs dance to the sponsors tune. Providing “stipend” to the players will only worsen this.
the complexities of the college recruiting (college draft as you mentioned), scouting your opponents, making game plans and preparing your players for the same are all inherent to the game of football and shouldn't be considered as corrupting influences. as you know football for one has never been just a lineup, snap and go game. these things were going on even before money got involved.
I Love NCAA. Go Sun Devils...
I love NCAA Basketball and Futbol.. A few years back, Bibby, Jason Terry and Richard Jefferson all played for the same colege team in U.Arizona and that shows what kind of talent NCAA feeds into the NBA.
But even in college there were allegations of match fixing, a big scandal happend in ASU in our basketball games, a few years back
--Sud
Ramesh
I was listening to a conversation in the local AM channel where a high school coach was talking about how difficult it is to convince youngsters to not go in the direction of performance enhancers just to get their shot at fame. Its very sad state of affairs.
Sud
College sports are also mired in controversy time and again. Sometimes they dont surface..sometimes they do.
Hellboy
Now to your comment. I know the argument vacillates between why so much money and why deprive NCAA players of any money. I think the key is to balance things out in a way where money is an award for your performance and its not the money that determines your standing.
By the way, Ill probably update my blog with the latest scandal in Philly with John Chaney, head coach of Temple NCAA BB team, using aggresive tactics on St.Josephs Bryant. More on this soon.
AP
Cricket is a game that is deeply rooted in the Indian psyche, so much so that its hard to shrug the game off, come what may. You are right in saying the cricketers are over-idolized, over-payed and not held as responsible for the team debacles as they should. Butto blame it on India's obsession with cricket is not totally correct. Other games have also to share the blame. They just havent generated that amount of excitement.
While the PHL is making some progress this year with the league system, lots more needs to be done. Remember sponsors will come when there are charismatic and world class stars. And Kutraleeswaran definitely deserved better. But in a individual sport, to expect adulation without continuous feats is difficult.
I love cricket and will do so all my life. But I sorely miss the days when it was just pure excitement and not all the fixing and betting and advertising and politics it is today.
I agree with Arun's view about cricket and I am a Sachin Tendulkar madhater precisely for the same reason. I think the team and its players are overhyped, overrated, overpaid and over-worshipped. Imagine this, in a nation of atleast 35-40 million people playing cricket, only 11 gets to represent the nation. I think it is gross injustice. Many more devote their lives to cricket, play day in and day out, don't make it to the team and end up in bank jobs. I think this situation has to change.
We should encourage franchise leagues in cricket, hockey and soccer. It will make a sports a viable career option as well...
--Sud
ranga,
after my last comment, i was worried whether i over stepped the line and rubbed either you or saran the wrong way( for arguments sake).
but after seeing your reply i realized that you are game for a good discussion by taking things in stride. a surprise to me, i dont run into people like that often. good.
Sud
Ill be lying if I said I hate Sachin. I still think he is one of the geniuses of the game. That said, Iagree that we need to encourage more participation and make the game more attractive than the 4 day dreary Ranji's. No one cares - including the players since selection to the Nationals is based on other things that have nothing to do with your game.
And soccer has its own cult following in India, esp in WB and Kerala. To push it in a much more grand manner with more incentives like English Premier LEague would do wonders for the game.
Hellboy
LEt me make this clear and I am speaking for Saran too. We are here to discuss. Good or bad, we let people talk. I dont think by closing my mind to other people's opinions is going to do me any good. Also, if the blog doesnt encourage people to express their opinions freely, what good is it.
I definitely dont want people telling me just how good the blog- occasionally thats fine..but the purpose is to stimulate interesting conversation and anything that works towards that is game :)
There is a groundswell of opinion going around in the various power circles that be, to mandate NCAA players (especially football and basketball) be paid for the amount of money they generate for their respective programs. I believe the Nebraska state legislature has even contemplated measures that would've forced the University of Nebraska to pay its student athletes.
It may seem a logical argument that the kids that help the schools earn millions be paid for their efforts. While I can see the merit in the argument, it is not going to do the system ANY favors. Unfair? Definitely. But then, so is life. (Pathetic justification, I know!)
Already, the NCAA system is rife with allegations that many star athletes just treat school as a pit-stop toward fame and money. And instituting payments to the student-athletes is only going to exacerbate their attitude toward school. And then we can start afresh voicing the same complaints we voice about pro-sports. Plus, if the kids get paid to play for school, will they not be professionals too?:P
Ramesh
Good points. A collegue of mine and Iw were talking about the proposed NBA draft age restrictions, which would end up being a farce of its own by creating something of a minor league, CBA, and then draft players at the right time. The kids will continue to be professionals anyways.
We were also talking about the monies as would be paid to top stars of the game to keep them in school as long as possible. I am not sure if paying college athletes is a good thing or bad thing since there are so many factors to consider and each one has its pros and cons. But needless to say, more money, less spirit and enthusiasm. That much is certain. And money means more competition and chances for all screw ups like doping and peer pressure.
very true!People will just lose interest..
thanks for speaking on my behalf Ranga.
well, i definitely feel that the NCAA players should be paid money. I don't think NCAA is that pure to be adulterated with money. their games are sold on television, advertisement slots costs millions. coaches play into the hands of sponsors. and in the case of futbol, the coach is the nerve center of the game. if he can be paid for endorsing, why not the players.
look at the positive side of paying the guys --
Not all guys get drafted into the pro-league. atleast the undrafted ones make some money while they take all those hits on the field. I don't think they have a 'bright' future after college.
and it also justifies in having the age limit for drafting.
otherwise its a clear case of EXPLOITATION!
Prabha
Thanks for stopping by.
Saran
As quite a few ppl pointed out earlier, one of the good things about NCAA is that it doesnt involve money for the players. It might seem a sore deal and as you rightly noted, what if they dont head the draft way..do they make money at all then ?
True, but putting in money in college sports could potentially make it less about the school pride and competitive spirit and more about, well, money.
About the ugly incident involving the Temple BB coach, well, lets get Bill Cosby involved. I know he has the clout at Temple to move things. But then, the recently failed attempt to implicate him in a harassment case may have taken that away.
Gary Barnett of U.Colorado in NCAA Football, and now John Chaney of Temple U. Long live the NCAA!
The athletes may not get paid monetarily but they are on scholarships. That is a pretty good deal if you ask me. The cost of attending a BCS school – some 65 of ‘em ( where the real money is) ranges any where from $65,000 to $100,000 (the UMichs and Stanfords.) So all these players get a free education and they don’t pay a penny. They also get a decent meal plan and scholarship checks. This may pale in comparison to the pro salaries, but we should keep in mind that 95% of college players don’t have a shot at making the pro-leagues and they themselves know that.
Instead of planning on a way to hand out the money from the revenue, I would rather work on better graduation rates. A four year degree from a college in US is still your ticket to financial freedom. This way we keep them amateurs and also make sure that they get what they need to face life when they graduate. Some schools have this working perfectly. Also money generated from FB and BB are used to support the poor cousins of the Athletic depts(wrestling, gymnastics, field hockey, track and on and on). So we cannot spend it on the players itself.
On a lighter side (pretty serious to me though), I would like to respond to Ramesh’s info on Nebraska’s move to compensate the players. The football gods didn’t like that idea very much. See how the team has performed since contemplating the idea- first losing season in some 25 years, first season without a bowl game during the same period. :-)
shame on John Chaney. I'm telling you, college coaches are nothing but czars.
hellboy, agreed that they get free education and healthy meal plans. but do you really think that they spend some quality time on the education part? I know they are required to maintain some minimum GPA, but hey thats another load of crap.
my point is, if one guy (the coach in our case) gets all the dough and controls the whole program, then its ugly. there should be some leverage given to the players as well.
forgot to add this -
thats why I said this whole thing is a clever exploitation of poor kids. You say they are provided free education, boarding and meal plans. this is pittance compared to what the program makes out of these kids. so there you go - exploitation.
just by paying someone to do something doesn't justify it. it depends on how much you pay.
I wouldn't protest this much if the coaches are paid in thousands rather than in millions.
I rest my case saying that I (and hopefully all of us) see more positives than negatives in both Pro, NCAA games or for that matter any competitive event that has a outcome at the end of the play.
This makes me appreciate what these sports offer me in terms of competition, spirit and sheer enjoyment of watching a ball game. Also I (and again hopefully all of us) won’t allow the occasional transgressions, unethical behavior, shady tactics by some bad elements in sports rob me (us) of this joy.
romba pesitaen ;-)
I cant take sides since both Hellboy and Saran make sense. But I can throw in some stuff. At VT where football is by far the biggest sport, pretty much all other athletic departments were funded by the money from football revenues. If those revenues were disbursed among the students, it would be like an earlier comment..cricket in India, football at VT.
The educational requirements on students indeed get bypassed in some schools and students get away with just scraping through. But some of the top academic schools with a good BCS program also require students to perform atleast at average if not better to continue their NCAA appearances.
Agreed, schools make a lot of money from the NCAA sports. But is giving them the money, the solution ?
end of the day -- good conservation guys. I was just disgusted to see people making money out of kids, this is equivalent to child employment :)
hellboy, thanks for the comments man. correct a thaan pesi irukka :)
Thanks guys for a very interesting conversation. As the year evolves, with more controversies and also resolution to earlier ones, along with new rules, guidenlines and stuff, maybe we can revisit the topic.
came here after a while and its an interesting discussion... am not gonna add anything new here.. everything has been said, discussed threadbare... a very good post.
Chakra
Thanks for stopping by, even if late.
Thanks for your comment and yes, it was an interesting discussion that covered many facets of the problem.
I remember being a crazy fan of Azharuddin )at a time when every girl my age went gaga over anil kapoor and govinda)since my school days. and a fan i remained till the match-fixing scandal happened and broke my
h e a r t :-((
Ranga,
I hate beating a dead horse and dwelling on this topic again but I saw your post only today. I have to beg to differ with what you said.
Lets see, other sports are not picking up due to lack of sponsors, no following and lack of charismatic stars. The lack of sponsors and lack of following is like a chicken and egg problem. sponsors need an incentive to spend money. people follow only if you have charismatic stars and stars attain charisma and reachability only if you have sponsors. Seems like a vicious never ending cycle does'nt it? Note that I omitted talent here. Reality is no matter how much talent you have, its all political in terms of making the game/player reach out more to the public and sponsors.
This is where the so called "Indian system" has to step in and give a gentle initial nudge for key sports in terms of organizational, financial back-ups. Unless that happens India will never break out of that ridiculous cricketing obsession. Unfortunately I can never foresee this happening because the "system" is happy and content in sitting back and enjoying all the financial juice it can extract out of cricket alone.
Until then, 1 Billion of us have to endure the painful two questions each 4 years ... 1. what is the population of India? 2. How many medals did you win in Olympics? .... and be more and more ashamed of the land we come from each of those 4 years.
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