J.A. Adande wrote that the final weeks of the NBA regular season will be more exhilirating than the NCAA tournament in an article on ESPN.com. I don’t totally agree with that, but I don’t totally disagree, either.
The craze of college basketball is rarely topped at this time of year, and the ratings will show that the NCAAs will be much more watched than the NBA during the next three and a half weeks. But today’s college game can drive me nuts.
Or more accurately, today’s college coaches can drive me nuts.
I feel like kicking in the television set every time I watch college coaches call timeout after timeout after timeout in the game’s final moments. It happens every time I watch a game (at least, it does at the big-time Division I level), regardless of the score, regardless of what’s at stake. This has been a trend during the past decade, and it’s killing the college game.
There’s also the fact that college basketball lacks stars. Yes, I know about Kansas State’s Michael Beasley and Memphis’ Derrick Rose — but ever since the top players began jumping straight to the NBA after a year (or, as the case used to be, without going to college at all), the game has lacked that special something.
These are no longer the days of Patrick Ewing and Larry Bird staying in school all four years. Heck, even Michael Jordan stayed for three.
But until the NCAA starts paying its athletes, at least a little something, everyone will be gunning to get to the bright lights and big cities (and big money) of the NBA as soon as possible. And unless that happens (highly unlikely), the NBA will possess the strong marketing arm it needs to overshadow the college game.
Even in March.
March 15, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more! It seems that all the timeouts during the final minutes of the game are just one more example of college coaches telling us how smart they are – followed by the announcers chiming in to tell us what a great timeout call the coach made.
We all know the NBA uses college basketball as its minor league system – at the same time as the TV networks and the colleges reap the rewards. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries and endorsements collected by the coaches. Isn’t it time these young players received a fair salary in addition to their college basketball scholarships? Or how about the NCAA letting the players share in the revenue they create?
Yes, basketball is a great game. But something is wrong when some young athletes cannot even afford a ticket home to see an ailing parent or hug a grandparent – and many parents cannot afford the tickets to see their children play. It’s time for all of us to speak out on this issue. (Note: Jerry Marcus is the author of the recently published novel, “Broken Trust – The Murder of Basketball Star Jack Molinas.”)
March 16, 2008 at 3:33 am
Jerry, thanks for the comments. Great book by the way. Interested readers can check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Trust-Murder-Basketball-Molinas/dp/0941394069
March 16, 2008 at 5:22 pm
College athletes ARE paid. It’s called a scholarship, training tables, free clothing, sneakers, etc. There is no way colleges can afford to pay athletes. You would not just pay the football and basketball players. You would have to pay everyone from the swim team to women’s lacrosse to the football team. Kids need to appreciate all they receive as college athletes and not whine about being broke. We have all been there.