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++++++++++++++++++++++COMING SUMMER 2008+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Endtroducing: THE “Amateur Athletikkks” HUSTLE
The NCAA (a.k.a. Niggas Can Achieve Athletically) makes over $6 billion annually—mainly from its Div. 1 & Div. II men and women’s basketball, football, and track and field programs. (Contrast that with the $2 billion the NFL—a pro league—makes off its TV deal with CBS. And while blacks only make up 13% of the country, they comprise between 45% and 100% of these rosters, depending on the team, sport and the school. Now contrast this with the sad facts that only around 52% of black collegiate athletes graduate and no student-athletes is allowed to profit off their play, and it becomes clear that the NCAA is an athletic pimp.
I used to run with some D-1 and pro athletes. Even streetball'd for a minute, too. Funny thing was when their mainstream alma maters fielded predominantly black teams generating millions from shoe companies, networks, and corporate sponsors it was all-good. White fans and alums never complained about the near 98% white coaching and AD ranks being “too white.” And as long as the ratings and revenues flowed the networks and sponsors kept quiet, too.
But when these athletes, who are also pressured not to get jobs while on scholarship, so much as take lunch money from a booster they catch hell—usually from the same sanctimonious hypocrites who profit off their talents. Then if they turn pro early, even the most “liberal” sportswriters and fans whine about how it’s “hurting the college game.” And whenever these athletes complain about any aspect of this hustle, they’re blasted as being “prima donnas,” “ungrateful,” or worse.
Conversely, when amateurs in predominantly white sports such as hockey, soccer (sans Freddy Adu), baseball, gymnastics, ice skating, golf, and tennis (sans Venus and Serena) to make millions as teens, there’s an unspoken understanding that they’re simply “chasing the American Dream” mixed with concern for their futures. There’s also little outrage when coaches bolt for their Dream Job leaving the athletes they recruited under false pretenses of “I’ll be your coach ‘til you graduate” stuck holding the bag.
At its best, the NCAA is a glorified farm system for pro leagues such as the NBA and NFL; at its worst, much of the NCAA embodies the generations old paradigm of black servitude for white profit and entertainment. If the black kid can run, jump, handle a ball or a microphone, then they’re “my nigga” as Denzel Washington once called Ethan Hawke. We’ll cheer for our niggas as long as they entertain us, smile for us and play our games under our rules. But too often, when that same black kid says, “You can’t exploit my talents for your profit and I want equal access and there’s extra nothing in it for you besides equity and fairness,” that same kid becomes just another nigger seeking a handout, as most anti-affirmative action folks would attest. (And to the “Free education as compensation” crowd: Just where do you think the money for those stadiums and scholarships comes from?)
And to all the BCS backers: Relax.
The NCAA will never have playoffs as long as the bowl format keeps raking in the loot, which it will, no matter what.
Why?
Simple: Bowl games are annual events; and annual events are marketable; way more marketable than playoffs. And for that matter, more appealing to Vegas. (That’s why the NCAA has added 29 bowl games just within the last 20 years alone.) Trust: Companies like FedEx and Nokia didn’t pay millions of dollars to sponsor the Orange and Sugar Bowls respectively, just to see them become early-round playoff games. You think OutBack and Doritos want to see their events turned into stepping stones for a championship game that people will argue about regardless? This is about ratings, marketing, and money, not football and definitely not “student athletes.”
What did Nino say? Oh yeah:
"This is big business... this is the american way."
==================KNOCK THE HUSTLE 2 EXCERPTS=============================
++++++++++++++++++++++COMING SUMMER 2008+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
=============================www.knockthehustle.com=======================
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