March Madness is upon us and everybody and their baby’s momma, Uncle LeRoy and cousin Man-Man will be watching the NCAA Tournament. The crazy thing is, everybody will be watching it and most of the folks tuned in haven’t watched a lick of college basketball all season.
It’s the Big Dance!! It’s like the Super Bowl for two weeks. It doesn’t matter that most people watching it don’t know who or what they’re watching. It’s the thing to do this time of year. For that reason it generates more than 9 billion dollars in revenue. That all sounds great until you realize that the duns playing in the tournament aren’t getting a dime of the bread being generated.
College athletes are “amateurs” so the only thing they get out of the pot is a free bus ride/plan ticket to the event, free hotel, food and an opportunity for Big Momma to see them on national television. Oh, yeah they threw in the free education too.
Now I get that the free education is huge because a kid can play his way into an opportunity to walk out of college debt free but what does it really cost the university to stick a kid into a class that was already being held? I’m just sayin’. Sure the student-athlete is getting back if he stays the entire four years and graduates. Perfect situation right?
However, for the high profile kids like Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, Ja Morant and others it’s a scam. Step onto those campuses and walk into the bookstores and the schools are selling their jerseys for top dollar. They don’t even have to be the most high profile of players out there to be getting taken advantage off either. However, the best player on any campus is watching his jersey being sold or his likeness being pimped. The student-athlete didn’t sign up for that.
Then the NCAA Tournament puts it on steroids. I heard a number this morning on Good Morning America that more that 147 million people will be filling out brackets and betting on the tournament. That’s a whole lot of bread. Think about the TV revenues being made over the next two weeks. Think about the concessions, restaurants and bars getting back as a result of the tournament. None of that money trickles down to the student-athlete. None of it.
All the players get is what I told you earlier. Oh and once they lose in the tournament they’ll receive a box lunch to get back on the bus/plane depending upon how far they have to travel back to campus.
Yeah I know that it is what it is but it’s dead wrong that these student-athletes generate billions of dollars and if they so much as take a $100 from a booster they become ineligible, the program is put on probation and all of the wins are stripped. God forbid they make it to the Final Four or win a national title. The NCAA will take the wins back, take down the banner and ban a boy from campus for 10 or 15 years. Oh I’m lyin’? Ask Chris Webber if I’m just talking crazy’?
Ask the University of Michigan if they returned all of the money that the Fab Five made them over the two years they are getting back? Stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
2) Getting Back: verb – to take advantage of something or someone.