High road, anyone?
Henceforth and forevermore let the record show that college sports is about one thing – and one thing only – the almighty buck…
And it’s about folks like us, trapped in flyover state cities, with nothing much better to do than feeding the dog, raising some kids and root for the home team while pretending they’re actually from anywhere near around these parts.
What it’s not about?
For decades – if not longer – it’s had zero to do with Lawrence, Kansas, Manhattan, Kansas or Columbia, Missouri breeding and raising world class, solid citizen athletes. They’re brought in from other cities, states – countries even – to stand up for the Sunflower and Show Me states.
Because with rare exception most anyone much any good that plays for our local teams are out-of-towners attracted and recruited by the lure of money and fame.
That’s why KU basketball deity Bill Self wants the school to build lavish living quarters for his athletes so he can keep a few of them from going to Kentucky. That’s also why the school just bought an $8 million luxury jet that the Topeka Capital Journal labeled a “high-flying perk for some of its officials.”
Money, power, greed – that’s what college sports today are about.
Dare to try and break away from that like the KU Student Senate did last year and you’ll get fly swatted by school officials cashing the six and seven figure paychecks.
Case in point, in response to the students cutting a measly $350,000 in fees from its budget, KU’s athletics department retaliated by taking away 120 prime student section seats for basketball games at Allen Fieldhouse.
Seats that will be sold to the highest bidders among deep-pocketed KU donors.
What’s more KU athletics department mouthpiece Jim Marchiony didn’t have the slightest compunction about letting everyone know that robbing the students of their seats had everything to do with the loss of those fees.
Funny word, “compunction.”
It means, “a feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by regret for doing wrong or causing pain; contrition; remorse” and “any uneasiness or hesitation about the rightness of an action.”
It’s come to that.
Jim Marchiony
That’ll teach ’em!
In spite of the athletics department reporting record revenue of $97.6 million for 2014, Marchiony shamelessly pointed the fickle finger at the students who dared to trim $350,000 from its record breaking, bloated budget.
And why shouldn’t they punish the students who are supposed to be the ones supplying what passes for school spirit?
KU basketball fans and boosters could care less about the ethics behind winning Big 12 championships and trips to the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight and Final Four.
Just win, baby – screw ’em!
After all, that’s all that really matters to most KU fans once the dog’s been fed, the mortgage paid, the beer on ice and the driveway’s clear.
And for the record, on its 2012 tax return, KU’s athletics department reports that it shelled out more than half a million bucks to KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little.You know, the chick who oversaw the now-brewing scandal “which saw academic counselors in North Carolina’s athletic department push athletes into a system of fraudulent, no-show classes to keep players eligible”. (BTW, former UNC athletes are now suing the school and NCAA for denying them “meaningful educations”)
And another half million plus was paid to KU athletics main man Sheahon Zenger.
Not to mention more than $4 million to Bill Self.
And just shy of a quarter million to Marchiony, who quite ably plays the role of the department’s bad cop and fall guy.
Go Jayhawks!
“Columbia, Missouri breeding and raising world class, solid citizen athletes. They’re brought in from other cities, states ”
To be fair, Missouri produces quite a big of D1 talent. None of them want to stay in state. Why would they? Mizzou has been a mess since Norm left.
“That’s also why the school just bought an $8 million luxury jet”
The school didn’t buy the jet.
“Money, power, greed – that’s what college sports today are about.”
It has been like that for 50 years. It is just everybody is good at it now and collusion is easy.
“Seats that will be sold to the highest bidders among deep-pocketed KU donors.”
Oh, you are doing this again. Trolling. Got me!
“And another half million plus was paid to KU athletics main man Sheahon Zenger.
Not to mention more than $4 million to Bill Self.”
And not a penny of that comes from public funds. Just like the jet.
Those are public funds, in that they use the imprimatur of KU to raise that money in a tax exempt organization.
Money laundering, anyone?
KUAC and the Endowment are private non-profit organizations.
Stop laughing, Hearne. It is true.
I will agree with you that college revenue sports are sleazy. Just don’t imply that taxpayers are getting screwed. It is just rich boosters polishing their hard ons for KU (or any other school) by giving lots of money for more access.
Setting up a non profit is about as easy as, well, setting up a blog…
Do wealthy donors deserve tax write offs so Bill Self can fly in an $8 million jet?
Etc, etc…
Yeah, they’re legit…technically.
But comes on, there are zero limits to the excesses they can spend on. Even though they fund scholarships as well.
But there’s so little policing that it’s a joke.
For example, on the jet, they use it also for KUMed’s outreach to smaller towns.
Do you seriously think they’ve had dropped that kind of dough if that’s all it was for?
Loopholes, may man. Loopholes.
Yup….. people are lined up at the borders to move into Kansas. What other fantasies do you have?
The argument that Self’s salary does not come from taxpayer is so old and deceitful.
Rot fake birds.
Ouch!
There is some hilarious paperwork available from that North Carolina scandal.
And butter wouldn’t melt in Roy Williams mouth, dadgummit!
“KU basketball fans and boosters could care less about the ethics”
I expect it from Glazer, HC, but you’re better than this. It’s COULDN’T care less. What you wrote means the exact opposite.
OK Hot Carl, let’s have some fun:
1. “In Defense of I Could Care Less
Sarcasm
A number of language writers have suggested that “could care less” has a sarcastic reading, conveying something like “Ha! As if there were something in the world I could care less about.”
2. Positive/negative phrase pairs
Why use “could care less” if we also have “couldn’t care less”? There are other pairs of phrases in English about which you could ask the same question.
3. Implied comparison
Evidence for the use of “could care less” goes back to 1955, with “couldn’t care less” appearing only about 10 years before that. But long before that the phrase “No one could care less than I” was in use.
4. Idioms don’t care about logic
People might not have any thought of sarcasm, positive/negative phrase pairs, or implied comparison when they use “I could care less,” but when they use it, it’s as a set idiom, something they’ve heard before and learned as a unit. We have plenty of idioms that serve us perfectly well, despite the gaps in logic that appear if you look at them too closely.
—Arika Okrent, Ph.D. in linguistics
Virginia Scott Minor would be so proud of you, H man !! Surely Joel Martin as well !!
You left out F Scott Fitzgerald and Walter Winchell
As I pointed out Harley has the answers….
1.These schools are money making machines. I’ve said it a million times.
No time for screwing around…its all about dollars.
2. top recruiter (according to sports talk people) said self assistantgot
caught with pot…6 months supervision and off today. Just announced
but I’m sure self knew of this occurrence but did nothing and will do
nothing..he needs these one and dones and freshmen coming to ku
to keep so he says nothing.
3. whocares who sits in those high priced donor seatsat ku. They need the
money. interesting contrast….ku buys self 8 million dollar jet and kim
Anderson almost dies in a small plane on a recruiting trip. MU has
millions stashed away and they put their coach in a pos plane to fly
and recruit while bill self flies like Jamie dimon corporate bigwig.
Why??????
4. Coacheswant 30 second clock in college….they’ll get it.
5. students are just pawns for hiding the billions ncaa brings thru its
sports divisions. students? they fill the stadiu m so it looks good on tv
as part of our 100 billion dollar contract with college sports.
6. college athletics would make al capone blush. He only wishes he was
alive to get his hands on this kind of money. Its a racket….its like a cartel
witho8t the guns and ammo…..but Harley hears the rumblings coming….
ku is in trouble…k state is in trouble….but wrongdoings as an athlete
usually mean nothing. Ray rice beat up his girlfriend and had the media
not jumped on the story he would have not gotten in any problems.
7. guys its about the money. Hearne could take his headlineand write
it “THE RICH GET SLEAZIER AT __________________” put
any major college name in there and it fits.
Sohearne maybe you should get Wilson to get back underneath his
dashboard and follow the guys with the big long antennas…because
this story is just a continuation of what is happening …..the rich are
grabbing for everything…..
I hate to repeat myself…
BUT ITS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.
all of them are in this on this deal…..just shut up and go along. And hope
they leavethe crumbs for the middle class.
its not just ku or mu or k state or duke or Kentucky….they’re all in on
this big heist with their greedy hands out for a big check!
No argument
HC, if you need to cut and paste something that long in defense of a misused term you’d be better off using the correct term. I know you’re not the only culprit but it’s glaring when used by people who should be smart enough to know the difference. Glaze and prepubescents get a pass but you’re better than that.
Boy Hot Carl, so many backhanded compliments!
Just trying to return the favor and school you a little bit
Exactly! The hypocrisy of collegiate athletics knows no bounds.
As long as a coach is winning, a dirty program is tolerated. But the minute you stop winning, all of the sudden ethics matter again.
What the hell does the NCAA have to do with students?!?!?
Oh lordy, the hypocrisy.
I’m with One Guy…
But don’t take that the wrong way
And the assistant coach that successfully hid an arrest for pot in another state? Well, of course he’s suspended For a few games. Coach Self thought, being one of the guys, he would have confided in Bill when it happened. I sure hope it doesn’t mean an incomplete on his record.
Delusions of grandeur continue for the biggest ball of twine state.
I wonder what Greg Hall’s take on all this is?
Oh well, if only he could make a buck out of criticing local sports media.
810 scoops 610 once again…
another idiot bites the dust.
why don’t you take that site over kissel?
or maybe hearne should.
staff will be wislun/glaze/chuck/whinery/Harley…
now that would be one hell of a blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
saw in a article that Alabama made 53 million dollars profit on their football
program this year with 93 million incoming
Whats the matter with ku?
and where s all the money going at mu. They have 300 million in an
account in cash…but the numbers hhere make me think someone
has their hands in the cookie jar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
did I misread something or is something very wrong going on?
“And it’s about folks like us, trapped in flyover state cities, with nothing much better to do than feeding the dog, raising some kids and root for the home team while pretending they’re actually from anywhere near around these parts.”
Way to stick it to the college sports Joe SixPack. You think we’re dumb enough to willingly turn a blind eye to how the sausage is made as long as our team gets a high seed in the Tournament? And inserting “us” won’t absolve you.
First , it doesn’t matter to most true fans if the players – sorry, “student athletes” – come from Wichita or The Ukraine. They signed up to play for KU, wear its uniform, and represent the college to their colleagues in the Conference and the nation.
Secondly, no one who’s read Taylor Branch’s epic takedown of the NCAA in The Atlantic a few years ago will find any of the above surprising. [No I don’t have a link, sue me.] Except he did it without being such a sanctimonious scold towards the average fan.
Yeah, I root for Kansas. If they win, I’m glad; if they don’t, I’m bummed. But don’t think for a minute that people like me aren’t bothered by what the athletics department did to the Student Senate. Or that we don’t get queasy by disclosures of seemingly under-the-table payouts to certain individuals. KU wasn’t the first to go down this road and it won’t be the last. If you have a solution to clean all this up – not only in Lawrence but the entire country – we’ll be waiting. In the meantime save your darts for the “deep-pocketed KU donors” and administrators. As for those of “us” who can’t afford to attend even non-Conf games, please spare the guilt-tripping. After all, we’ve got a dog to feed.