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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1987)
SIDELINES Television revenue increasing corruption in snorts So pro football players are on strike. So what's new? In only a few decades, sports at all levels have become increas ingly glamorous, lucrative, and therefore, corrupt. The high salary a pro football or baseball player makes today allows him to drive around in a Mercedes. When a star quarterback ends his NFL career, he often can go on to an even higher celebri ty plane when he makes movies and does play-by-play announcing. Meanwhile, the seamier side of the world of sports is becoming increasingly exposed: drugs, gambling, crime. Commentary by D.M. Holiman Here’s a brief listing of the more celebrated cases of the last few years: •Several members of the Minnesota Iwsketball team are accused of raping a female guest while playing on the road in Wisconsin The coach resigns in disgrace. The Gopher basketball team limps through the rest of the season • Southern Methodist University is severely penalized by the NCAA for recruiting violations and other forms of cheating. The team's schedule is erased for one year. The next year they are allowed only seven games, all away, which forces the university to cancel the 1988 season as well. Meanwhile, the football players transfer to other universities. Those players with enough years of eligibility left will probably be able to acquire a col lege degree, if they want to. but those transfer players who are juniors and seniors will in all probability not Another example of athletics coming before academics. •Len Hias, the Maryland basketball star, dies of cocaine poisoning just days after he was made the number-one draft pick of the NBA champion Boston Celtics Mis friends and family maintain that Bias never before indulged in drugs. • Basketball players for Tulane Univer sity are investigated for participating in a gambling scheme in which they affected the outcome of games so insiders could benefit from pre-game oddsmaking The players deliberately altered their play in order for Tulane to win or lose outside the margin of odds, thus enabling the in siders to safely make money off their bets. The players were paid off for their services. There are many less celebrated cases too. ranging from the discovery of athletes using steroids and other illegal drugs to rather "commonplace" recording violations, lust this fall, several players, including Chris Carter, the Ohio State All-American wide receiver, were denied college eligibility because of illegal contact with profes sional sports agents and the passing of money. Carter, by the way. was allowed to enter the NFI. supplemental draft Me was selected by the Philadelphia Fogles and negotiated a relatively lucrative contract. So what's going on? Are the scandals, crime, and corruption new to the world of sports? Of course not They've always been around. Even big money has been around fora long time Bain* Ruth made much more money than the president of the United States (Conlidge) back in the '20s And the Bambino didn't have to pay any income taxes either. And there have always iieen scandals Remember the Chicago "Black" Sox? What about Denny McLain and his gambling shenanigans? So. no. the headlines aren't new But what Is new is the scope and magnitude of the wealth, fame, anil corruption, anil we can thank television for that Television, by the very fact that millions of people can witness the spec tacie of sport, providing for bountiful advertising revenue, has magnified the arena of athletics. People can become famous "overnight." Ami wealthy. Con sider Len Bias. Here was a voting man, 21 years old. a university student (of sorts) At the time of his death. Bias wasn’t enrolled in the university. At least he wasn't taking any classes. Yet he was still rooming in the athletic dorm Bias, if he had lived, would have made perhaps $1 million a year playing for the Celtics. Ur take Brian Bosworth. the former Oklahoma All-American and now Seat tle Seahawk linebacker Bosworth. known for his rather outrageous antics, signed an Slt-million contract. Welcome to the wacky world of sports, where excess and obsession is tiecoming the name of the game. And why? Because it pays Why else would otherwise healthy, normal, young women train eight hours a day for seven years just to win an Olympic medal? But this is what the American women's vollnytiull team did. Of course, a female volleyball player is not likely to acquire a lucrative advertis ing contract with Pepsi or Wheaties or anything, but there are smaller, still handsome contracts to be had with smaller companies where the athlete celebrity. even a relatively obscure one like an Olvmpii volleyball player, can push some product in a specialty magazine And. of course, other opportunities appear as well, such as coaching, giving lectures and sponsoring workshops This is not to say that these athletes, especially the Olympic athletes, aren't impressive in their dedication to their sport, in their diligence, in their talent They are. Hut there is something disproportionate, and curious, about people spending most of their lives Im mersed in a game because, after all. that is all sports essentially are: games And there is another concern about our society's obsession with sport [am ple who become so expert at their sport, who spend 12 hours of the day in the pursuit of excellence, who train so rigorously, who regulate every aspect of their lives from diet to sleep habits to sexual practice, so as to "optimize” their performance are, ironically, making themselves into freaks and thus lessen ing the impact of their athletic feats So we have sports evolving into some weird wonderland where the par ticipants are freaks, not only by virute of their height and girth, but because of their earning power, their celebrity status, their narrow specialization. Graduate Teaching Fellow Federation MEETING TOMORROW Thursday, 5 pm, Room 106C, EMU TO DISCUSS THE UNIVERSITY’S LATEST OFFER WITH THE GTFF BARGAINING TEAM NO MOVEMENT ON: HEALTH CARE-The University has refused to implement a GTFF proposal to deduct the cost of ASUO insurance from GTF’s paychecks. EVALUATION-Currently GTF’s may be dismissed as a result of student evaluations. The University has refused to provide evaluation criteria in the contract. NEWSLETTER CENSORSHIP-The University wants to have prior censor ship over the union newsletter. APPOINTMENT-REAPPOINTMENT-The University refuses to provide information to GTF’s who are denied reappointment. uln Unity There Is Strength” GTFF 870 E. 13th Upstairs 344-0832
