Taylor Branch’s new article, “The Shame of College Sports” in The Atlantic‘s latest issue, is a fascinating exposé about the NCAA, going so far as to call the organization a “cartel,” designed to use college athletes freely without paying them or compensating them for injury. The article combines a staggering breadth of reporting with historical information to give an expansive, detailed look at how the NCAA started, what’s happened, and where the institution is today.
One of the more shocking quotes, from Dale Brown, the retired longtime basketball coach at LSU: “Look at the money we make off predominantly poor black kids,” Brown once reflected. “We’re the whoremasters.”
Read the full article here.
We all know college sports is a tremendous business here. Taylor Branch’s article makes it frighteningly unsavory.
This article appears in Sep 15-21, 2011.
Hey, good job, Kellie Mejdrich on getting this one out there! Red Star couldn’t figure a way given the main concerns are Chuck George, the Garret Dangerfield mud flood over at dat park, and of course the OMG DMAFB lockdown hysteria…
thanks.
hey i’m wondering something here… if college sports are such “whoremasters”, then who is paying these kids tuition? oh that’s right, a majority of the athletes get scholarships, so they aren’t paying a dime for their education. on top of that check out some of the classes they’re majoring in. pretty weak usually. so no, i’m not gonna feel too sorry for the athletes for not gettin payed.