With any luck, the trend will continue and two of the haughtiest governing bodies in sports–the National Collegiate Athletic Association and International Olympic Committee–will implode before our very eyes.
The more control these disorganizations lose over their crumbling domains, the better.
This should be a heady time for the NCAA, because March Madness fills so many pockets. But the NCAA is having a bad month anyway. It had to fork over $54.5 million as a settlement of a class-action suit filed by coaches who challenged the notion that their salaries should be restricted. That was just about money, however.
Of greater significance was the ruling in Philadelphia, where a federal judge rejected Proposition 16, which allowed the NCAA to determine eligibility for athlete-students based on SAT scores.
That’s about chaos, although it already exists in such places as the University of Minnesota, where basketball stars pay “tutors” to write term papers on subjects such as premenstrual syndrome and chronic eating disorders.
This is heavy stuff for NCAA types who fancy themselves as guardians of the games that bring in millions of dollars while young adults perspire for free. The sad reality is that the NCAA doesn’t protect athletes, but athletics, because that’s the revenue stream.
Of course, if the NCAA is summarily stripped of all power, what exactly would be its function? How could those windbags justify their existence? Their expense accounts? Their halos?
Meanwhile, this is a big week for the IOC, which shall convene in Switzerland for a “special general assembly” to address the ongoing scandal concerning who bribed whom to secure precious votes for Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The IOC promised to investigate itself, which is monkey business as usual.
Problem is, while the official Olympic press corps was off writing about pirouettes somewhere, Olympic sponsors gathered in New York to ponder a matter even more important than figure skating. That is, should they continue to fund an Olympic movement at long last exposed as corrupt? Naturally, no sponsors would mean no NBC, and what are the Olympics but a TV show?
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Juan Antonio Samaranch, the doddering little dictator who sits uneasily on his throne as IOC president, could be removed. Or he could receive a vote of acclamation with a round of applause. Or perhaps he will just be asked to return all his illegal gifts.
Whatever happens, Samaranch has left his fingerprints on his kingdom. Just recently, he raised his greasy palms and declared that American athletes–who won only 13 medals in 1998–“must improve” their performance at Salt Lake City in 2002. His pep talk might have something to do with TV ratings. What a man.
– When only 8,000 fans show up for a DePaul-Northwestern NIT game that was supposed to captivate this region, it proves again Chicago isn’t very interested in college sports, even when its pro teams play like amateurs. Rivalries featuring local schools have been suggested for years, but empty seats indicate there is no demand.
– Remember: Management did what it did so the Bulls would never, ever become awful.
– If Chris Chelios cares about the Blackhawks as dearly as he says, he should waive that handshake agreement with President Bill Wirtz and agree to be traded. This team will not win a Stanley Cup while Chelios is still playing, and he could return home with a ring from elsewhere to go along with his one from Montreal.
– Arnold Palmer asked, and Michael Jordan obliged. They will play golf together in Tuesday’s pro-am before Palmer’s Bay Hill Invitational at Orlando. Rest assured, this is not Jordan’s first round since surgery to repair his right index finger that was attacked by a cigar-cutter.