It's In The Game

As of July 18, 2013, the NCAA will no longer be partnered with EA Sports in any of its video games. This is in response to a lawsuit filed by former players stating that the NCAA has illegally used their likeness to sell games, jerseys, and other memorabilia. Not only is this a win for the athletes both former and current, it also could lead to potential compensation for the players who generate millions of dollars because of the acclaim their athletic prowess brings. I personally am happy for the players, but forgive me for being pissed off as well. Once again John & Joan Q student is being forgotten about in this debate. Why are the regular students being cast as rich snobs who have mom and dad paying for everything when that couldn't be further from the truth? Why are the needs of the few outweighing the needs of the many? This is not a rant against the hypocrisy of the NCAA's bylaws (many of which I don't agree with), this is about regular students who also deserve a voice on their struggles in college and the unfairness and difficulties they encounter.
I came to the University of Illinois with my two suitcases, my mom's old television, and ten dollars to my name! I had a part-time job in the cafeteria in my dorm but their was no way I could have had a full-time job during the school year. I was new to the Champaign-Urbana Area, didn't have a license let alone a car, and I didn't have the luxury of a limitless bank account to draw from whenever I needed it; hell if not for my roommate, I would of had to use the payphone to make phone calls home! I don't mention this to gain sympathy, only to show how I was far from the kid that had a silver spoon in my mouth.
If you talk to the average college kid, most of them are broke! Sure their parents can give them money, but how many of the kids were really receiving money in the thousands, particularly when you consider that 74% of the student body at U of I receives financial aid (http://www.osfa.illinois.edu/).

This is not an attack on the former and current players involved in the lawsuit, this is a call to discuss the inaccurate perception of many college students. Various media outlets, from ESPN to CBS Sports, denigrate the NCAA's treatment of players while also trivializing the struggles normal students go through. The prevailing theme is that regular students are able to obtain jobs and do not have to travel the way student-athletes do while also trying to maintain a respectable GPA. When the argument of scholarships for the athletes is brought up, we are inundated with the line that the scholarship often does not cover the institution's full cost of enrollment. Proponents who bash regular students to buttress their claim that the athletes have it so rough are being very disingenuous. Regular students currently do not have the following privileges that athletes enjoy: picking first for classes, having a scholarship that covers at least 75% of the cost of attendance (most yearly scholarships are full-rides), access to the best tutors and academic resources on campus, and people constantly giving you preferential treatment because of your athletic prowess. College students don't take out financial aid for pocket change; without it, there is no way two-thirds of the students could even attend many universities. I am fully aware that talented people get the benefit of the doubt in life; it is what makes us human. As I have stated above, I feel for the athletes and am glad they finally have a voice to express their frustrations about being exploited, but where is our voice? Where is the voice of the kid swimming in thousands of dollars of debt while working at a minimum wage job because corporations bemoans their lack of experience? Where is the outrage at the continuing rising cost of tuition and fees, fees that partially go towards the athletic department? Where is the sympathy for the dwindling funding of college departments as universities look to save money in a volatile economy? Where is the discussion about the true reason behind this sympathy for athletes? It subliminally supports the stereotype that minorities are always looking for a handout. Whether its government assistance or an athletic scholarship, minorities are not seen as being a self-sustaining group capable of doing it on their own. That is a far greater battle that needs to be fought. The day the assumption that minority students are only there because of sports is no more will be a day that the term student-athlete has a legitimate meaning.

Perception Vs. Reality

Racism is alive and well! That is the post I just saw on a friend's Facebook page. Mind you this friend is White so I was some what surprised. I immediately thought "If he can see the prejudice stereotyping that goes on in our society then perhaps there is hope for the future after all". I could point to the coverage of the Trayvon Martin trial or the Paula Deen incidents as examples, but where I saw it rear its ugly head was in a sports story. On the surface, NFL star Aaron Hernandez's arrest for murder is simply a case of a young man needlessly taking another young man's life. The shame of it all is that Hernandez seemed to be glorifying a lifestyle that is both unseemly and foolish for a man with his income and his perceived background. If convicted, Hernandez is wrong and deserves to go to jail for ruining two families lives (the victim's as well as his own). What floored me was the racist venom that spewed from the various comment sections about the case. Though Puerto Rican, Hernandez has been called every Mexican racial slur in the book. There have even been instances where they called Hernandez the N-word (because Hernandez's fiance is Black).

As galling as that story was, the Paula Deen fiasco has caused an even bigger outcry. While Hernandez has become the target of scorn and derision, Deen has been portrayed as both a clueless racist, and a sympathetic figure! The common refrain from many was "She was fired for saying the N-word? Isn't there more important things to worry about? Black people use the N-word all of the time! That's reverse prejudice". Never mind the fact that Deen was accused of several vulgar racial incidents (which are highlighted in the link below), never mind that Deen wanted to host an antebellum-themed wedding complete with Black "slaves", it was not even a Black person that complained on Deen; it was a White person!

The perception of race relations in America versus the reality bubbles to the surface when issues such as these are at the forefront of our conscience. Black people are often criticized for having the gall to actually discuss race and discuss their frustrations with racial prejudices and how it affects their life experiences. The common refrain is that we too often live in the past and should embrace the melting pot that is our society here in America while enjoying the freedoms we too often take for granted. Those freedoms are ones that until the 1960's, many minorities did not get to enjoy. Too often, we turn a blind eye to the obvious social prejudices that exist today. Not every Black person that complains of racial profiling is looking for a handout. Not every Mexican looking to obtain basic inalienable rights and a livable wage is affiliated with the cartel. Not every minority is crying for help because we lack the wherewithal to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps the way our forefathers did to make it in the greatest country in the world. I yearn for the day when Aaron Hernandez can be ridiculed only for the heinous crime he is accused of committing; its commentary free of racial overtones and prejudice innuendos. We need to quit running from the reality of race and stop clinging to the outdated perception that Martin Luther King's dream has come to fruition His dream is an evolving dream, one that is far from over because we allow perception to trump reality.   





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