[jbduke]

Many in this thread have asked--explicitly or otherwise--what kinds of priority sets the coaches at the major programs have when they are producing numbers like the ones in the referenced article. Responses have varied: "ultimately the kids have to take responsibility as adults," "parents have to instill these values earlier; coaches can't be expected to do the impossible," "of course the coaches are just in it for the money." Despite the quotation marks, I'm paraphrasing here, but I think I'm capturing the spirit of the responses nevertheless.

There are grains of truth in all of these. But they all miss the big picture. What is so striking to me is not the low graduation rates. What is striking is the collective incredulity on the part of almost everyone whose reactions I have heard or read about when they see this or a similar article. The monster that is major semi-professional, er, college sports didn't just pop up. We created it. You and I. Every time we tune in to March Madness. Every time we pay $35 to get into a BCS conference football game. I know I'm guilty. Last Saturday I went to watch my favorite football school play. They're paying some of their players, and I know this. And yet I continue to give tacit approval to the system by showing up in colors (By the way, if you wonder if your favorite college team is cheating, you need only ask yourself the following question: Are they winning?).

We as fans have a nearly insatiable desire for coverage of these events. On at least some level, we realize that this interest means big money. We don't have any problem looking at what kinds of actions greed motivates in the non-sporting world, and in some cases it may even generate genuine outrage (Enron and WorldCom). But when it comes to decadence in the world of college sports, we feign disbelief. Maybe it's because we want to hold onto the notion that there is still something pure in college athletics. Well, there still is plenty that is pure in college athletics, but what there is, you will not see on television, which is why it's still pure. Television is, after all, the food that this monster feeds on.

I confess I am too weak to do what I know that I should do; what I would do if I had the courage of my convictions: never watch another college football or basketball game on television. Not even attempt to ever make it to DI basketball as an official. Because to do these things is to give tacit acceptance to a system that makes a farce out of the ideals of the university, and mocks, directly and indirectly, all of the people that study and teach in it. But I went to college at a basketball school. And I grew up in a state where college football is king, and those passions run deep. And I want to work that 9pm Wednesday ACC game of the week on ESPN someday.

But I am addicted...to watching those games, and pursuing this dream. So at this point, my tack is simply not to gasp when I see that Cincinnati doesn't make a habit of signing a young many to play basketball, and helping him to get a degree there within six years. I recognize that in many cases it's a joke to call these athletes students.

That doesn't mean I think they're bad people, the players or the coaches. They're simply products of a system. They are products of a system that I have created. So when I make value judgments on these people, I am looking in the mirror. I hope as fans we can all recognize our part in this tragedy, and act individually to change its ending.