Rod and Karen discuss Concerned Student 1950, NCAA college labor, Rumblr, RZA house party stabbing, Chris Brown security put woman in hospital, Russia halts flight to Egypt, Chipotle getting sued, TLC kick starter, police officer shows up drunk to MADD award, taking candy from your kids, cast-iron skillets, Ben Carson, officer hires hitman to kill side chick, TV reporter stops crime, Florida coach pedo and sword ratchetness.
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I am so glad that these students have survived and are making a stance against this abuse at Mizzou. The set up of college sports is so exploitative, I am proud that the football took the risk to support their fellow students. It’s something that I hadn’t heard about and likely wouldn’t have if the football team hadn’t stepped in. Even with the fall out that still continues in the aftermath, they helped shine a light on the racist and what I’d consider criminal activity that Black students and faculty have been subjected to. This was the right thing to and it also showed that these ball players have the ability to unite for an important cause.
As athletic programs like to keep these kids powerless, it would probably be very difficult to duplicate, However, they work hard and put their bodies at risk to help fund universities so what matters to them and those like them, should matter to the entire institution. I hope this prompts those in power at schools across the country to evaluate how they treat their students of color and maybe scares them into action.
I do enjoy my college sports. I was born in Michigan and I love my Michigan Wolverines. The flip side of growing up a Michigan fan is that I experienced the Fab 5 era closely, so I’ve always been anti-NCAA and even look at the University of Michigan itself skeptically when it comes to how student athletes are treated. With that background, I’ve always leaned in favor of the student athletes. I don’t even get that intense during games because I find it hard to get mad at kids younger than me for making a mistake while playing a sport for free. But my leanings were cemented when I went to grad school at an SEC school. It doesn’t take a wild imagination to see some disturbing parallels. How the tailgating and pregame events would take place on the front lawns of frat houses that looked strikingly similar to plantation houses. How the frat and sorority members would dress up in blazers, khakis and church dresses to attend games. The nonstop construction on campus of shiny new buildings built from athletic revenue. The stadium crowd on gamedays, with the wealthy boosters and college executives sitting up high in box seats looking down on the big, strong athletes creating millions in revenue in exchange for room and board. You can imagine the attitudes on campus towards the athletes in such an environment, especially if one messes up and causes a loss. So now I’m firmly for student athletes grabbing power, and I’m all for anyone willing to blow up the system, even if it makes college sports unrecognizable from how we now know it. I love what those kids stood for in Missouri.
I am so proud of the students of Missouri for recognizing their power and demanding the university experience they deserve and they paid for. And just as proud I am of them, I’m disgusted by all parties who keep taking that reality for granted.
Rod, you really touched on the reason I stopped talking about college sports with people I don’t trust a few years ago. As much low key and overt racism as there is with all sports, it’s particularly bad in college. I used to go on the message boards but the plantation mentality was just too much for me to take, even from supposed “fans” of these players. They don’t care about these kids, they don’t even see them as college students or the lie of amateurism (except when it comes to not paying them). They’re strictly labor, and you can tell so many of them got off of the notion that they owned them. I saw the vitriol towards players who left early to follow THEIR dreams after leading the team to championships, I can only imagine how quickly they would have turned on these kids if their strike lasted weeks. But people had the nerve to say what they did was easy because they weren’t undefeated? Miss me with that.
And I was reminded this is the same Missouri team that played with Michael Sam while knowing he was gay for a year before the media found out and we didn’t hear about peep out of them other than how he was embraced. For as much as we’re warned about how mostly Black athletes wouldn’t be open to gay teammates or taking political stands, I trust the players not to make these stories about themselves a lot more than I do the media. The breakdown of ethics because these Black kids had the nerve to tell them no was so telling. Anyway I could go off on this topic all day but great show as always. That Ben Carson remix literally had me cry-laughing on the train to the point someone came up to ask if I was ok. Now just waiting for my Baked By A Negro cookies to show up. They need to come off some of that sponsorship money! Appreciate both of you and keep it up!