Lary Bloom
Writer, Editor, Teacher
The Bloom Blog
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Wednesday, February 15, 2006
The Student/Athlete Myth
Much has been made recently of the matter of Marcus Williams, an enormously talented UConn point guard, who last year demonstrated his ineptitude at committing crimes. He and another basketball player stole laptops and were immediately caught. It was a sad affair, particularly in that these were two young men were the already recipients of the great rewards of our athletic culture. Williams in particular seemed to be an NBA prospect. Worse, however, was the appearance of special treatment after the crime. Though UConn argued the punishment was one routinely given to students for such offense-- a slap on the wrist -- it gave no evidence to back up that claim. My view is that poor slobs who can't dunk are tossed out on their unheralded asses.And now, the New York Times has weighed in. It has done so because a Hartford Courant columnist, Jeff Jacobs, who has been on UConn's case for its light punishment of Williams, drew the ire of UConn coach Jim Calhoun. That, too, is a sad affair.
There was never a scandal, on the other hand, about Diana Taurasi, who may have been the most talented player UConn women's coach Geno Auriemma ever recruited. And yet in an interview she gave as a senior, when she was asked what her favorite book was, she replied that she had never read a book in her life, not even in college -- except for one on basketball strategy. I was surprised that nothing was ever made of this revelation -- that a person could get a degree at what is considered a state intitution of considerable merit without knowing anything but how to dribble behind the back, score from well beyond the three point line, and dazzle with no-look passes.
And so we go, pretending that athletes are student/athletes. We should accept the fact that although on occasion there is someone like Emeka Okefor, the talented NBA center who came out of UConn and who actually studied impressively there, most major in something other than finding out how the world works.
When I was a student in Athens, Ohio, I was outraged that hockey players were given the answer to the test in Music Appreciation in the days beforehand. It was an outrage. I should have seen it for what it was -- the price of our hero worship.
Posted by:Lary Bloom at 8:53 AM
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