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News & ArtsTuesday, December 11, 2012
Nepotism My Brother He Is a Writer Two
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 10:52 AM
When the TV money flowing into college football changed from a steady stream to a tsunami, Notre Dame surfed the front wave. Their 1991 deal with NBC for exclusive broadcast rights of home games helped ensure the slow death of traditional college football. You know: crisp fall Saturday afternoons on campus, tweedy professors, wholesome cheerleaders, projectile-vomiting frat boys. Back in the day, for far-away alums or fans, maybe the game would’ve been on TV, but probably not. Now, any time slot that doesn’t go up against the NFL has a college game scheduled, to feed the bottomless maw of ESPN and other sports cable outfits.
Yet the fact that Notre Dame is just another a football factory isn’t the issue: it’s the fact that Notre Dame acts as though it isn’t just another football factory.
Even beyond the money, Notre Dame’s claims of moral superiority are belied by events on the ground. When student videographers are killed in windstorms or a young woman commits suicide after allegedly being sexually assaulted by a football player, and Notre Dame’s administration circles the wagons around “the program,” well, they remind us there is no moral high ground in big-time college sports.
That all flowed right over my head! But good righting, Bill!
1
You may not get sports (neither do I), but he gets marriage equality. Nice of him to be at City Hall with you and Terry Sunday.
2
Put me in the 'hate 'em' crowd. I always wondered why their games were always on somewhere. And I know they have a huge following (lots of Catholics, y'know), but so does the University of Michigan, etc.
I guess my disgust for Notre Dame football started when I was old enough to keep up with rankings - team standings determined by coaches and sportswriters. Notre Dame could have a 6-4 season and still be in the top ten. How was that possible? Answer: a lot of sportswriters went to Notre Dame. They were also, I think, the first NCAA club to disaffiliate itself with a conference. They made more money being a free agent.
I guess my disgust for Notre Dame football started when I was old enough to keep up with rankings - team standings determined by coaches and sportswriters. Notre Dame could have a 6-4 season and still be in the top ten. How was that possible? Answer: a lot of sportswriters went to Notre Dame. They were also, I think, the first NCAA club to disaffiliate itself with a conference. They made more money being a free agent.
3
Certainly, ND are among the biggest bullshit artists of them all, but the whole system is corrupted by the money. Why in God's name is the UW building another stadium and making coaches the highest paid state employees?
At a bare minimum, the kids should be able to choose to defer and get a real education after they're college football or basketball career is over.
At a bare minimum, the kids should be able to choose to defer and get a real education after they're college football or basketball career is over.
4
That didn't seem too badly written - maybe a little crowded and run-on-ish, but not incoherent. Why are you giving him sh*t, Dan? (Of course, that's your right as his brother).
5
Paul Theroux again:
Even now, sports bore me stiff, with their bogus drama, their ill-will and their yelling.
6
I am a rugby and soccer fan, and footy is fun to watch, but not gridiron. I've never liked ND, but that is likely from watching them play USC with my dad. Plus as a straight women I find the lack of protective sportswear on soccer, rugby, and footy a lot more appealing to the eyes. Dan might agree.
7
Pretty much every word of this is true of any big college program? Circling the wagons? You mean like Penn State? Like the UW? Like the two dozen other major violators? And even the squeakiest, cleanest program has those wagons all ready to go just in case. The program must be protected at all costs.
Pick up a copy of "The Cartel" by Taylor Branch, or "Scoreboard, Baby!" by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry (about the Neuheisel Huskies) to see what's really going on.
Pick up a copy of "The Cartel" by Taylor Branch, or "Scoreboard, Baby!" by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry (about the Neuheisel Huskies) to see what's really going on.
8
I thought I understood this until I got to the part about the student videographer and the windstorm.
9
Good thing your bro teaches at Northwestern, whose college football traditions died during the Coolidge administration.
10
@7 Hey Fnarf, long time no chat. THat's my point: ND is no better or worse than any other program, but they act like they are better.
@9 NU is better lately, but I still hate college football. We've been to bowls four or five years running, but usually lose.
@8 Two years ago, during a windstorm that shut down local airports, ND football practice proceeded as normal, which included a young man acting as a videographer up in a cherry-picker. He tweeted that he was scared to death. Then the wind blew the structure over and he died. The University spokesman said the wind was no big deal, blahblahblah. When the INdiana version of OSHA found ND complicit, they fought the judgment.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story…
google Declan Sullivan.
For the rape case, go here.
http://deadspin.com/5897809/this-is-what…
@9 NU is better lately, but I still hate college football. We've been to bowls four or five years running, but usually lose.
@8 Two years ago, during a windstorm that shut down local airports, ND football practice proceeded as normal, which included a young man acting as a videographer up in a cherry-picker. He tweeted that he was scared to death. Then the wind blew the structure over and he died. The University spokesman said the wind was no big deal, blahblahblah. When the INdiana version of OSHA found ND complicit, they fought the judgment.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story…
google Declan Sullivan.
For the rape case, go here.
http://deadspin.com/5897809/this-is-what…
11
This is why I'm glad I go to a Div. 1AA school- football here is big enough to justify having a marching band and big enough to have the big football game atmosphere, but not big enough to have tons of money involved or significant TV presence. We're not a feeder for the NFL, so the athletes aren't really treated differently from athletes in our other sports.
13
I love football, including college, but it's definitely true that the power of the large programs is ridiculous. Circling the wagons the way they always do is abhorrent. I'd personally like to see the NCAA be much tougher, especially with respect to safety and criminal behavior.
15
what about the part about how Alabama is going to kick their asses and shatter their pretense of being a top tier program?
and how 6 or 7 teams from the SEC could do the same?
and how for years the midwest sends its best teams down south to get bitchslapped by the SEC?
what about that?
and how 6 or 7 teams from the SEC could do the same?
and how for years the midwest sends its best teams down south to get bitchslapped by the SEC?
what about that?
17
You'd think there'd be a market for at least one college which just taught subjects, and had amateur sports if any.
Perhaps there are enough people who'd like to go to such a college, but no money.
Perhaps there are enough people who'd like to go to such a college, but no money.
18
@17 there's tons of schools that don't have competitive sports teams......... And you don't hear about their sports teams, so you don't know they're there.
@ChicagoFan: Huge ND fan here. My dad taught there when I was a kid, and we went to a few games in 1988. The windstorm thing made me pretty sick, as did the university's treatment of Willingham, followed by their overlong time with Weis.
The thing that I've been pleased that ND does better than other schools, is that it educates the athletes. Their overall graduation rate is tremendous, and their African-American graduation rate is third in the nation. Given that most schools don't teach the black kids, and it's go pro or dropout, I think ND is better than a lot of the other schools.
That said, college football is too big, too self-protective, and the kids get way too little at most schools for what they generate. The people running the bowls make millions off of the sweat and blood of these kids, and many of them don't even get a college degree out of it.
ND is clearly ahead of the pack, but the whole race is being run far short of where it should be.
@ChicagoFan: Huge ND fan here. My dad taught there when I was a kid, and we went to a few games in 1988. The windstorm thing made me pretty sick, as did the university's treatment of Willingham, followed by their overlong time with Weis.
The thing that I've been pleased that ND does better than other schools, is that it educates the athletes. Their overall graduation rate is tremendous, and their African-American graduation rate is third in the nation. Given that most schools don't teach the black kids, and it's go pro or dropout, I think ND is better than a lot of the other schools.
That said, college football is too big, too self-protective, and the kids get way too little at most schools for what they generate. The people running the bowls make millions off of the sweat and blood of these kids, and many of them don't even get a college degree out of it.
ND is clearly ahead of the pack, but the whole race is being run far short of where it should be.
19
My school, the University of Chicago, barely does intermural athletics. But I believe we're the only college undefeated against Notre Dame in football.
20
University of Chicago owns their position in the Big 10 and merely rents out the position to Michigan State. They can restart their football program anytime they want.
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