[NU Sports] Define your terms

[Hakirsch at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/13/2007 2:57:26 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
tbng at comcast.net writes:

> <Are you kidding me ???  

> 
> No, Harry, I'm quite serious.  I'm an historian.  I need evidence that the 
> problem you allege is unique to, or especially egrigious in, college sports.  
> Anecdotes, unless accumulated in large quantites, are not definitive 
> evidence.  I also need to see proof that the NCAA or individual institutions are 
> sweeping known scandals under the carpet.
> 
> <How about Chris Webber getting paid $350 K under the table to play at 
> Michigan ?
> 
> Chris Webber paid a penalty for breaking the law, and Michigan did as well.  
> Obviously their behavior was unacceptable to authorities.  You may recall 
> that Maurice Clarett did not get away with his underhanded doings either, and 
> neither did several Northwestern athletes.
> 
> <How about having atheletes never show up for class and have their exams 
> taken buy someone else ? 
> 
> You mean no English major ever paid another student to take an exam or 
> complete a project for him?  Please tell us the extent of this problem in college 
> sports today.
> 
> <How about altering high school transcripts?
> 
> No chemistry major ever did that?  Are you accusing universities of having a 
> general policy of altering transcripts to get athletes on their teams?  Do 
> you believe that any university official caught doing such a thing would not 
> be immediately fired and prosecuted?
> 
> <How about atheletes who break all kinds of laws and social mores being 
> given a pass because of their athletic abilities?
> 
> Lord, man, you live in a city where breaking social mores and heaping 
> incredible abuse on Judeo-Christian religions and the U.S. military (to name just 
> two) is an every-minute experience.  The passes athletes seem to get for bad 
> behavior frequently extend back to a player's Pop Warner and high school days. 
>  As I recall, Joe Paterno cleaned out Austin Carr's locker the moment he 
> heard the rape allegations and did not wait for the court decision.  If you are 
> saying that mankind sometimes gives in to temptation, you're right.  If 
> people had indomitable wills, rock stars would live sober, celibate lives, and San 
> Francisco would be a conservative town.
> 
> 

I call these abuses--perhaps you do not--that's your choice.  And I contend 
that no one would pay Chris Webber $350 K  to attend Michigan if college 
basketball wasn't so profitable --The fact that he paid some price for it doesn't 
negate in my mind that is an incredible abuse .  

No I am not accusing universities of having a general policy of altering 
transcripts, or passing kids who don't attend classes--But there are myriad of 
examples of this occurring--Again, I would define these as incredible abuses due 
to the high payoffs of intercollegiate football and basketball

When I was  the high school sports editor of the school newspaper, I wrote a  
piece that told of one  basketball player transferring from one college to 
another and 6 months later his former school had him getting 3 C's and a D for 
the semester that he want even enrolled--obviously no one knew he had left 
school, yet still he obtained passing grades !  --Perhaps you don't think this is 
abusive or would have occurred anyways without collegiate basketball being a 
big time money maker, but I don't

Harry





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